“Did you at least tell Mom? You know she’ll be heartbroken if you got married without telling her.”
There was a short pause before Matthew said, “I flew her out for it. She was our witness.”
“Good.” And it was. Their mother had had enough heartbreak in her life. Byron didn’t want to add to it. Still, the fact that Matthew had seen fit to invite their mother but not Byron or Frances stung, if only a little.
“So, yes,” Matthew went on, “I am capable of unplugging for a little honeymoon with my wife. She’s working with a horse, and I’ve got an hour to deal with the priority issues. If you’re not bailing on the restaurant, what’s up?”
Okay, so even if Matthew had gotten married without telling Byron, at least he was still a priority. “I have a problem.”
“I’m listening.”
Was there any good way to say this? Probably not. “You remember how I wanted you to invite Leon Harper to Phillip’s wedding reception?”
“And his family, if I recall correctly. A request that struck me as so odd that I looked into Harper a little more. Apparently he has two daughters.” Matthew sounded as if this were no big deal.
“And you remember how I went to Europe for a year?”
“Paris and then Madrid, yes. Are you telling me these two facts are connected?”
Byron kicked at a pebble in the driveway. He just had to get this out. It was his mess, but he needed help cleaning it up. “Three days ago, I discovered that Leona Harper—Harper’s oldest daughter—gave birth to my son about six months ago. His name is Percy.”
There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line—a silence that lasted more than a few moments.
Byron couldn’t take it. He plunged ahead. “I’ve asked her to move in with me and—”
“Into the mansion?” Matthew spluttered. “Are you insane? A Harper living in the Beaumont Mansion?”
“As I was going to say before I was interrupted,” Byron said, trying not to snap at his brother, “I’m buying a house for us. And I’ve asked her to marry me. For our son’s sake.”
Again, there was another painful silence. “Jesus, Byron,” Matthew finally muttered. “I’d have thought, after our father left bastards scattered to the four winds, that you would have been a little more careful than that.”
The condom failure from last night popped into his mind. “I was careful. But sometimes things don’t work like they’re supposed to. I need a prenup. We have to get married as soon as possible to make sure her father can’t declare her incompetent and take my son away.”
“No,” Matthew replied flatly. “You absolutely cannot marry her. She’s Harper’s daughter for God’s sake! Frances didn’t tell me the details, but she made it pretty clear that someone had broken your heart and that’s why you left.”
“I am well aware of what happened. But I am not leaving any bastards to be scattered to the winds. He’s my son and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep it that way. Even marry a Harper.”
“Are you into pain or something? You enjoy being Harper’s punching bag? Because if you tie your horse to his wagon, that’s all you’re ever going to be,” he groaned in exasperation again. “I don’t think there’s a prenup in this world strong enough to stand up to Harper’s sharks. He could use you to take down the entire family. He already took our business from us, Byron.”
“I know that,” Byron snapped.
“Oh, for God’s sake. Just take the boy. Legally, I mean. She didn’t tell you about the baby, I take it?”
“No, but I’m not going to—”
“So we’ll sue for full custody on the grounds that she’s unfit to be a mother. And for the love of everything holy, do not sleep with her again.”
Byron winced. He couldn’t bring himself to deny it, but he couldn’t confirm it, either.
“You already have, haven’t you?”
“Yes.”
Matthew let out a long, low growl of pure frustration. “Did you at least use protection?”
“We did. It failed. Again.”
There was a noise in the background that could have been Matthew kicking or throwing something. “You have got to be freaking kidding me. Come on, Byron! Stop thinking with your dick for once!”
“I am not thinking with my dick, damn it. I am trying to make things right. I thought you’d appreciate that—isn’t that what you do? I got her pregnant. I wasn’t there when the baby was born. I missed the first six months of my son’s life. I’m trying to make up for lost time. I don’t care what you think about her—Leona and Percy are already my family. I want to make it official. And if you won’t help me, then I’ll do it myself.”
Another long silence. Byron would bet money that Matthew was now rubbing his temples and grimacing comically.
“Does Harper know you’re back?”
“I don’t think so. Leona took her sister and basically ran away from home after I left. They don’t have any contact with their parents. But she was worried her father would try to take the boy.”
“He wouldn’t win,” Matthew said decisively. “You’re the boy’s father.” Then, a moment later, he added, “There’s no doubt about that?”
“None. The boy looks like me. Red hair and everything.”
Matthew sighed heavily. “There’d need to be blood tests to confirm, but you must realize Harper wouldn’t win. You’re the child’s father. You don’t have to marry her to protect the baby.”
“But he’d try,” Byron insisted. “Harper would sue anyway and that would be almost as bad. He’d drag Leona through court and smear her name in every patch of mud he could find. Not to mention how much it’d cost to defend against him.” When Matthew didn’t immediately respond, Byron added, “You know what Dad did to Mom.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I’m not saying the situation is ideal,” Byron went on. “But I can’t let that happen.”
“And—despite all the facts of the matter—you trust her not to turn you over to her father? Not to use this kid to bankrupt the entire Beaumont family?”
Byron hesitated. Deep down, he believed that she wouldn’t turn back to her father again. But...did he really trust her not to rip his still-beating heart out of his chest and hold it up for him to see? Especially after the way she’d driven off and stranded him here with the Realtor, all because he wanted to buy a nice house?
“That’s not a good silence over there,” Matthew observed.
Byron started pacing. “We’re still working through a few issues.” There. That was something that Matthew would understand.
“A ‘few issues,’ huh? And you want to marry a ‘few issues’? Man, you are nuts.”
“It runs in the family,” he shot back. “You’re the one who wanted me to get arrested to distract the press so you could canoodle in private with an actress.”
“That’s not exactly what happened, but that’s neither here nor there,” Matthew replied calmly. “So what do you want me to do?”
“I want a prenup that protects the rest of the family from Leona’s father and guarantees that she and I will always have joint custody of Percy.”
“You always did act impulsively,” Matthew said in an offhand way. “Running