Black Ties and Lullabyes (9 page)

“Your coffee is brewing,” she said. “I’l have it for you in five minutes.”

“Thank you,” Jeremy said, as he swept his office door open. He headed for his desk, only to realize that somebody was sitting on the sofa. Slowly she turned around, and his heart missed a couple of beats.

Bernie?

Jeremy’s shock disappeared immediately, replaced by the strangest feeling of relief.
She’s come back.

She’s going to work for me again. She’s—

Then he saw the look on her face—an intense, narrow-eyed expression he’d seen more often than he cared to count, and every single time it had been on the face of an adversary.

“Bernie,” he said, striding nonchalantly past her to his desk. “What a surprise. Ms. Keyes didn’t tel me I had a visitor.”

“That’s because I didn’t pass by your gatekeeper.”

“Then how—”

“I stil have a key to the back elevator, which means you need to have a word with your security people.” He put his briefcase on his desk. “I’m afraid this is a bad time. I have a meeting in five minutes.”

“They’l wait. After al , you’re Jeremy Bridges.” She said the words matter-of-factly, but Jeremy heard the hint of derision in her voice.

“Clearly you have something you’d like to discuss with me,” he said.

“That’s right.”

“Sounds like business.”

“Not entirely.”

“Then meet me later at my house.”

“This is a private matter. There’s nothing private about the inside of your house unless you intend it to be. I’m stil not completely certain where al the audio and video recording equipment is in that palace of yours.”

“And you think it’s any safer here?”

“Now it is. You real y do need to have a word with your security people.”

Jeremy eyed her careful y, taking note of the way she was dressed—jeans, boots, black T-shirt, even in this heat. He had a feeling she owned about a dozen of each, which probably constituted her entire off-duty wardrobe, even in August. As always, no makeup.

Zero jewelry. She looked no more sexy or al uring than she had any other time in the two years he’d known her. So why did just the sight of her make his temperature shoot up ten degrees?

Because he’d experienced the fire beneath the ice.

He sat down in his chair, elbows on the armrests, steepling his fingers in front of him. “Al right, Bernie,” he said evenly. “Why don’t you tel me what this is al about?”

“It’s about a certain evening we spent together in your safe room.”

Jeremy held his gaze steady at the same time his nerves felt anything
but
steady. His thoughts shot back to those hot, intense moments when he’d backed her up against that wal , kissing her and touching her in ways he never could have imagined before that night. He only hoped those thoughts didn’t show on his face, because if they did, this woman would have him at a disadvantage before he knew what hit him.

Then he noticed she was tapping her fingertips against the sofa cushion. Just the slightest bit of movement, but for Bernie, who control ed every move she made, she might as wel have been chain smoking. What did it mean? She was nervous, yes, which meant that maybe
she
was the one at a disadvantage. But why was she nervous? He had no idea. What could she possibly—

And then the truth came to him. He froze for several moments, turning the thought over in his mind. He couldn’t imagine that a woman like Bernie would ever do such a thing, but what other explanation was there?

Then he got angry.

He stood, grabbed a few papers he needed for his meeting, and shoved them into his briefcase. “I don’t have time for this right now,” he said, zipping the briefcase shut.

“Wait a minute!” Bernie said. “Where are you going?”

“I told you I have a meeting.”

“Five minutes,” she said, standing up. “For God’s sake, at least you can give me that.”

“It’s not necessary. Just give me the name of your attorney; we’l let the professionals handle it.”

“Professionals?”

“Though you must know that I hire only the best.

Think twice about what you’re doing, Bernie. My people wil eviscerate yours in court.”

“Court? What the
hell
are you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“I’m afraid I don’t. Maybe you’d better fil me in.” He took several slow, menacing steps forward and stared down at her. “Don’t insult me. I can hear a sexual harassment suit coming from a mile away.” Her mouth fel open. “A
what
?”

“Save it. I know where this is going.” She barked out a tiny laugh. “No, I don’t think you do.”

“You’l say I coerced you. But you and I both know it was mutual. You’l tel me I was in a position of authority over you so there was no such thing as mutual consent. Then I’l tel you that most of the time we were having sex, you were over
me
, so the very idea that—”

“I’m pregnant.”

For the count of five, Jeremy stopped talking.

Stopped moving. Stopped
breathing.
When his power of speech final y returned, his voice was choked with disbelief. “
What
did you say?”

“You heard me.”

Pregnant.
The word bounced around in his head, refusing to stay put long enough for him to absorb it.

His gaze traveled south, looking for some kind of indication—

“Wil you cut that out?” Bernie snapped. “There’s nothing down there to see. Not yet, anyway.” He jerked his gaze back up and assumed an air of nonchalance. “So you’re pregnant. Congratulations.”

“Congratulations to you, too. You’re the father.” Jeremy’s heart jolted hard. “No, I’m not.”

“Believe me. You are.”

A tremor of apprehension crept up his spine. There was no way. He
knew
there was no way, but stil …

was no way. He
knew
there was no way, but stil …

Just then his office door opened, and Ms. Keyes came in holding a cup of coffee. She looked at Bernie with surprise, then turned to Jeremy. “Mr.

Brandenburg and the others—”

“Not now,” Jeremy said.

“Your eight o’clock meeting—”

“Tel them to wait.”

“I have your coffee—”

“Go!” Jeremy snapped.

Ms. Keyes backed quickly out of his office, her heels clicking like machine-gun fire, and closed the door behind her. With a deep, silent breath, Jeremy sat on the edge of his desk and folded his arms, slowly turning his attention back to Bernie.

“Do you even know for sure you’re pregnant?” he asked her.

“You’re insulting me. Do you think I’d be here if I weren’t sure?”

He remembered with total clarity the expression on her face as she left his safe room that night. It was the look of a woman who’d had more than enough, who’d stepped over a line she’d never meant to cross, who couldn’t wait to put every moment of it behind her.

He’d thrown al kinds of money at her, but nothing had brought her back.

Until now. Until
this
.

“So,” he said careful y, “you’re pregnant, and you think I’m the father?”

“I

don’t
think
you’re the father. Unless I’m experiencing the second case of immaculate conception in recorded history, I
know
you’re the father.”

“If there have been other men—”

“There haven’t. You can insist you’re not the father, but you and I both know it’s a waste of time.”

“Since you’re tel ing me about this,” he said, “I assume you intend to go through with it?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Are you sure? You must have just found out. Have you real y had a chance to think about it?”

“Don’t patronize me,” Bernie said. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Why would a woman like you burden herself with a child?”

“I have my reasons.”

“Which are?”

“None of your business and never wil be.” Jeremy felt this situation slipping out of his control, his mind spinning in a dozen different directions. He had stay on top of it.
Get a grip, and get it now.

“Fine,” he said. “You’re pregnant. But I’m tel ing you

—the baby’s not mine.”

“I know you’re thinking that because you used a condom, it couldn’t have happened,” Bernie said. “But they’re not a hundred percent effective, and you know it.”

“They certainly make pregnancy much more unlikely.”

“So you think I’m lying?”

“Are you?”

Bernie narrowed her eyes, her lips tightening with anger. “Once the baby’s born, DNA testing wil prove you’re the father, so why would I bother lying now?” He made a scoffing noise. “That’s pretty clear, isn’t it?”

“No, I’m afraid it’s not.”

“Let’s cut to the chase. How much money do you want?”

Bernie’s mouth fel open. “You think that’s why I’m here? To extort money from you?”

“You wouldn’t be the first woman to try it.”

“But if you think I’m lying and you could eventual y prove it, what would be the point of my asking for money now?”

She was right. And with her staring back at him the way she was right now, her eyes unblinking, her expression resolute, he was reminded once again that she wasn’t like some women he’d known, who would sel their own souls to have access to his bank account.

“If not money,” he said, “then what do you want?” When she turned to the sofa, reached into a manila folder she’d brought with her, and pul ed out a stack of legal-sized papers, Jeremy’s mouth went dry. Papers like those meant she’d retained an attorney, and that was
always
a red flag, tel ing him he’d damned wel better stay on his toes.

She rose from the sofa and tossed the papers on his desk. “I want ful custody.”

Jeremy blinked with surprise. “What?”

“You heard me. Sign these papers, and you never have to see me or this child ever again.” Jeremy was stunned. “I never took you for a fool.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If you real y are pregnant and you believe I’m the father, why aren’t you demanding child support?”

“Because it’s better for a kid to have no father than a lousy one, no matter how much money that lousy father is forced to give him.”

Jeremy was surprised at how much that stung.

“What makes you think I’d be a lousy father?”

“Are you tel ing me you’d be a good one?” The question caught him off guard, and it was a moment before he answered. “Quite frankly, I’ve never even thought about it, since I never planned to be one.”

“In other words, if you ever got a woman pregnant, you figured you’d just pay her off and that would be that?”

“Do you real y think so little of me?” She paused, looking away. “Sometimes I don’t know what to think of you.”

“Most of my enemies don’t.”

She whipped back around. “Damn it, I’m not your enemy!”

“Then stop acting like one. Do we real y have to drag lawyers into this?”

“I’m just trying to handle this situation in a way that’s best for both of us.”

“By shutting me out completely?”

“Come on, Bridges. I’m doing you a favor. You’ve said time and time again that you’l never marry, much less have a family, and you like it that way. Do you real y
want
to be a father?”

No. He didn’t. Or at least he hadn’t up to now. But he’d also never been faced with a situation like this.

“If you’re so sure I want nothing to do with this child you say I’ve fathered,” Jeremy said, “then why al the legalities?”

“You’re a businessman. If there’s something you want, do you rely on a handshake, or do you get it in writing?”

“If I sign these papers, what do you plan to tel this child about his father?”

“That I don’t know who he is. And not only wil my child not know, nobody else wil , either. I’l leave it blank on the birth certificate, and I won’t tel a solitary soul. The truth wil go with me to the grave.”
The baby will never even know who you are.

For a moment, Jeremy felt a stab of anguish. A child growing up in this world without a father was a very specific kind of hel no kid should ever have to experience.

But was this child real y his?

If she thought he was the father, she should at least be demanding some kind of shared custody. But she wasn’t asking him to sign papers to ensure he did something. She was asking him to sign papers to ensure he did nothing.

Which meant she was tel ing the truth.

He picked up the papers. Looked at them but didn’t
see
them. Page after page of legalese that could have been written in Chinese for al he comprehended it right now. He flipped to the last page. Saw the signature line. His name typed beneath it. Even those words seemed to blur until he was having a hard time reading them clearly.

He needed time. Time to think about this. Time to come to terms with the situation.

“I’l give you my decision tomorrow.” Bernie blinked. “What? Why not now?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

“I don’t get it. What is there to decide? I’m not asking for money. I’m not asking you to take any physical responsibility for a child. I’m not asking you for anything. So why not just sign the papers and be done with it?”

“I may very wel do that. Tomorrow.”

“Why the delay? So you can run it past your attorney?”

“Again, that’s no concern of yours.” He stood up and held out the papers to her. “I’l be in touch.” She stared at him dumbly. “You’re
such
a control freak.”

“What?”

“I could hand you the keys to heaven, and you’d tel me you need time to consider whether you should take them or not.”

“You’re probably right about that. But it changes nothing. I’l be in touch tomorrow.”

She yanked the papers out of his hand. Without another word, she left his office, shutting the door behind her so hard that the glasses on his bar clinked together.

Jeremy circled around his desk and sat down, feeling weirdly dizzy and disoriented. Fatherhood.

Just the possibility of it rattled him like nothing else.

But Bernie wanted him to go away. To have nothing to do with this baby. To be out of the picture for good.

He had mil ions, and she wanted nothing. Instead, she was tel ing him what a dismal failure he’d be as a father and doing everything she could to make sure he never even laid eyes on his own child.

He knew what Bernie wanted. The question was, what did
he
want?

His office door opened. He spun his chair around to see Phil walk in with two members of the acquisition team in his wake.