Baby Be Mine (Spinsters & Casanovas Series Book 1) (16 page)

She so wasn’t looking forward to it. The
last nightclub she went to turned out sour. Then her dilemma about
Anton, the art-of-seduction notes, and the potential baby sperm
resurfaced in her mind again. She felt a nervous shudder run
through her. She shook her head to free herself of this feeling.
She was here in Queenstown anyway, the land of fun, so there was no
use sulking and having panic attacks over these issues. She’d sort
it out once she was back in Auckland.

Yes, let’s present this talk with dignity,
poise, and confidence.

***

Who was she kidding, presenting the talk
with dignity, poise, and confidence? Pah! There was nothing
confident or poised about her right now as she eyed her audience,
her nerves a shivering mess. Her hands shook like she was having an
epileptic fit. Thank God she was standing behind the podium and her
mini episode was unseen. Otherwise, an ambulance would be called
and she would be admitted into Queenstown Hospital. And it wasn’t
because she was scared of public speaking. No, far from that. She
was actually nervous because Anton was here, at the Dental Hygiene
Conference, sitting near the exit, talking to a few of the other
hygienists.

What in heaven is he doing here
anyway?
was the first question that came into her mind. Yes, he
was the owner of the hotel chain, but did he have to make an
appearance now of all times? She didn’t even know he was here in
Queenstown. Just when she was thinking about him this afternoon, he
suddenly appeared.

She was about to make her presentation and
she didn’t want to think about him just now. It just reminded her
of how perfect the man was for her baby. To be so close yet so far
away. She should just muster up the courage to ask him for that
sperm. Just one single sperm. That’s right. It would be her goal
when she got back to Auckland to just ask for his sperm. At that
moment, while her mind was still mulled up about that prospect,
Anton turned his eyes toward her.

Anton couldn’t help admiring the woman
standing on stage before him, exuding a look of poise, confidence,
and dignity. She was about to present her talk on dental implants.
She was so beautiful, well mannered, delicate and small, like a
china doll that needed to be treasured or else it would break. He
wanted to be the man that would treasure this china doll.

Clarice had to swallow to wet her dry mouth
because that staring contest with Anton was making the back of her
throat feel like sandpaper. Turning to her audience, she finally
broke eye contact with Anton and began to speak.

“Dental implants…” She began, eyeing the
dental hygienists and dental therapists who flew from all over New
Zealand to Queenstown for this particular conference. “How do we go
about caring for implants for our patients…?”

Once she got going, she realized she lost
sight of time, place, and even Anton, who was sitting there
watching and admiring her from afar, her focus solely on her
presentation.

After an hour presenting the many cases of
implants she had preformed and the many ways the hygienists could
help care for them, Clarice found herself with a bottle of wine in
hand as a parting gift and claps and applause on all sides.

The wine, Clarice knew, she would dispose of
through Gracey, since she herself couldn’t drink even a lick of
alcohol, what with her memory still fresh from that embarrassing
episode from that night at the club on the day of her thirtieth
birthday. She could still remember that foul taste of liquor on her
taste buds, and no thank you, she would
not
be repeating
that experience ever again.

As the applause continued, Clarice basked in
the glory of her audience for an extra full minute before she was
led offstage to find Anton patiently waiting for her.

He hadn’t left yet? Suddenly, her heart
thumped nervously. Could he have known about her plan for asking
for his sperm? She cringed. But she didn’t have to worry herself
long, because Anton walked toward her, then made his intention
clear.

“Can I speak with you in private, Miss
Clarice?”

Private? Why would Anton want a private
meeting with her? What was he planning on doing to her? No one had
ever requested a private meeting with her before. Not ever. Was he
one of those playboys too, like that Casanova Hunter? Did he have
evil designs on her? Or was this her God-given opportunity? Was she
supposed to take the opening and ask him nicely now? Clarice found
herself shaking once again. What to do? What to do? She must calm
herself.
Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe
out.

“Clarice?”

“Yessss?” She almost jumped into midair, she
was so startled at hearing Anton’s voice next to her ear. Then she
came to realize they were now in very close confinement in an empty
office with the door shut. Her pupils grew larger than a golf
ball.

Anton gave her a warm smile when he realized
he startled her. “I just want to say that I was really impressed
with your presentation today.”

“Ugh… thank you,” was all Clarice could
say.

“Would you be willing to give a presentation
about your cases to our guests at the hotel in Auckland? We want to
provide the extra service for our VIP guests, and since they are of
the older generation, I thought dental implants and oral care would
be perfect to entertain them.”

Oh, is that all?
Clarice thought.
Phew! She wiped her forehead that was dotted with sweat droplets.
Then she turned to Anton.

“That would be a splendid idea.” Clarice
agreed, hyping up all enthusiastically. “As health professionals,
we always thrive to encourage our community to take care of their
oral health,” she said proudly, and even suggested, “I could even
ask our hygienist in our practice to come along too so we could
collaborate.”

“That’s an excellent idea. Thank you. We
would really appreciate that.”

Anton smiled warmly. He had never seen a
woman this enchanting before. The first time he saw her was when
she accidentally bumped into him. And he was smitten. Then when he
realized she was the guest speaker for the conference, he had
planned to come along too, just to see her again.

She was professional when she spoke on
stage. Now he wanted to know her even more, so he’d come up with
this plan, for her to present her work to his guests back in
Auckland. That way he could continue to liaise with her and see
her.

In all of his thirty-one years, Anton had
been searching for the right woman to become his wife, to bear his
offspring. He was disgusted with women these days, what with their
lack of respectable wear and their provocative nature. Yes, he was
sure. He was really sure his search for the right wife would end
soon, because he had a really strong feeling that woman would be
Clarice.

“Well then…” Anton smiled at her again. He
wondered if it was okay to ask her out tonight, but then he
remembered he needed to entertain his guests at Torque. Feeling
that neglecting his responsibility wasn’t the way to go, he decided
to see her back in Auckland instead. “Here are my contact details.
I’ll see you when you get back in Auckland,” he said, his voice
shaking with nerves.

“Oh, you can have mine too.” Clarice offered
her card to him, then paused and wondered if it was best to ask
Anton now, but she shook her head. No, she didn’t know him well
yet. It was best to know him first before asking. That way she had
a higher chance of getting that sperm.

As they both exchanged business cards,
Anton’s hand couldn’t help shaking a bit when he accidently brushed
against Clarice’s.

“Have fun for the remainder of your stay,
Miss Clarice,” Anton said all too quickly. After glancing back one
more time, he walked briskly out the door.

“Yes. Thank you,” Clarice said, smiling as
she watched him leave.

CHAPTER 13

By tonight, he would score himself a hot
babe to warm his bed, Hunter thought as his eyes scanned the crowd
in one of his favourite bars. Torque was an established high-class
bar set on the busiest street of Queenstown. He frequented there
quite a bit when he was in this part of New Zealand. Not that he
wanted to be in Queenstown in the first place, but his dad managed
to con him after he ditched Caroline at the Cambodian
restaurant.

Since arriving in town, Hunter had felt like
he was trapped in a cage, with Caroline sticking to him like glue.
Now that she’d gotten over her initial stage of being shy, she was
such a hyperactive person, grabbing his arm here and dragging him
along there as if they were a couple in love.

Well, at least his dad would be happy now.
Caroline could report his behavior as being the perfect host, even
though he’d wanted to grind his teeth many times at her tactics. It
was like she was bipolar, undergoing a one-eighty change from that
timid mouse to a sly cat with sharp claws. Where was the quiet girl
from before? He just hoped she wasn’t the clingy type.

Hunter almost gasped when he had a look over
their itinerary upon arriving. Their day was filled to the brim
with activities, like jam-packed sardines in a metal can. At this
rate, he wouldn’t have any room to breathe at all. In the morning,
Hunter took Caroline up to the Gondola, and for lunch they ate at a
fancy restaurant, followed by the Earnslaw boat lakeside viewing
along Lake Wakatipu, and in between they went shopping at all the
high-end boutiques in the area.

Hunter felt like his arms were about to fall
off his shoulders, what with all the bags he had to carry for her.
He couldn’t believe a girl could spend that much money on clothing
and accessories. All the time, he was cursing under his breath as
he followed her from one shop to the next. If not for his father,
he wouldn’t be seen holding anyone’s baggage like a bellboy and
following her footsteps like a damn loyal dog. But now, as the sun
set along the horizon of Lake Wakatipu, showing off its brilliant
orange hue on the lakeside, Caroline had finally voiced her
tiredness and asked to retire to her room.

At last he was free, he thought, almost
weeping with joy. At last, tonight he could enjoy before dawn
appeared and he would be dragged into Caroline hell again.

Where was the best place to enjoy, to wind
down for the night, but at Torque? But he soon came to the
realization that his joyful night would once again be ruined when
Anton came to his suite and asked him to stand in as the face of
Silverton Enterprises for his VIP guest social gathering at Torque,
the same place he planned to have fun.

Yeah, he wanted to go to Torque to have fun,
but not as the face of Silverton Enterprises. He didn’t want to
deal with business right now. Why did Anton have to come and ruin
his night like this? Wasn’t it enough already to be punished by
Caroline?

Bastard,
he wanted to yell at Anton.
Just because he didn’t have the social skills to entertain people
like Hunter, now he had to take over. He wanted to tear out his
hair. He’d never been so utterly frustrated before. But if he
didn’t go in Anton’s place, then Anton would simply cut off his
credit card spending spree, since his dad had given Anton full
authority over his spending. What a way to blackmail him.

Anton must have something up his sleeve to
ignore his responsibilities like this. Hunter couldn’t think of
anything Anton would be doing if not work. Could he have caught a
maiden here in Queenstown? Unlikely. Anton was the type to work at
all hours around the clock. The only woman who would attract his
old-fashioned cousin would be someone boring and old.

“Anton, you bastard.” Hunter couldn’t help
cursing his cousin under his breath. Now he was sitting here
grinning like an idiot, with his facial muscles aching from all
those fake laughs and smiles, pretending to crack up at any lame
joke those old croons came up with, like he was having the time of
his life, when in actual fact he just wanted to kick the backsides
of all of them to get the hell out of Torque so he could have some
real fun with the ladies and maybe end this miserable day on a more
pleasurable note.

After a grueling two hours of entertaining
the old croons, though, they all managed to disappear, much to his
relief, without a lot of fuss. If they started moaning and groaning
like fifty-two-year-old ladies who have gone through menopause,
then he would surely kick their backsides for real.

Finally, Hunter sighed in relief as the last
guest left the bar, feeling free for the first time since arriving
in Queenstown. His eyes scanned his playground from where he stood
on the VIP platform.

So many foreigners,
he thought. What
was he thinking anyway? Of course Queenstown was the land of
tourists, so all kinds of people would frequent here. From Asian to
Caucasian and from African to Americans. You name it, Queenstown
would have it. Definitely a multicultural country, New Zealand.
They even let Asians serve liquor now,
he thought when he
saw the Asian bartender tending drinks.

“A Speight’s, mate,” Hunter barked when he
got down to the lower floor where a majority of the people were.
“And put it on the tab,” he instructed.

“Under who, sir?” the bartender asked.

“Anton Silverton.” He was forced to play
this role, so there was no way he was going to pay for all the
liquor he consumed tonight. The least Anton could do was this.

“Yes, sir,” the bartender replied, then
handed over a pint of Speight’s.

After taking a gulp, he realized his foul
mood wasn’t going to get any better. There were people dancing and
the music was melting in his eardrums. His blood was thick with the
beat of the music, yet his body just wouldn’t move. Instead, he
just sat at the bar, sulking, drinking his beer, thinking about the
night he met that
avocado
. He wondered why he started
thinking of her all of a sudden. Probably because the bar was
playing J.Lo’s “Papi,” the same song playing on the night he met
her.