She's Having the Boss's Baby (12 page)

“There wasn’t much to do,” Ellie said. “This setting is perfect just as it is.”

“It’s my favorite spot on the island,” Grace said shyly.

Ellie smiled. Her friend had confessed to finding the hidden lagoon while spore hunting one day and had returned to enjoy it many times with Logan.

Ellie wished she could return here someday with Aidan. It had to be the most romantic spot she’d ever seen. That thought reminded her of Aidan and she glanced over at the handsome twin brothers standing by their father’s side.

As the ceremony began, Ellie paid special attention to the vows the couple spoke. The words were so simple, yet filled with so much emotion and love that Ellie was almost overwhelmed by everything she was feeling. As Grace passed her a tissue, Ellie chocked it up to the simple fact that this was a wedding, after all. She’d choked up during her sister’s wedding, too. And Logan and Grace’s nuptials had been lovely, as well.

To keep herself from dissolving into tears, she stared straight at Aidan, knowing his presence would help to ground her. He looked so incredibly handsome standing with Logan and Tom, surrounded by all that natural beauty.

At that moment, Aidan turned and winked at her. Ellie smiled at him. And realized it didn’t matter that someday he might be the father of her child. Didn’t matter that they’d signed a legal agreement. Didn’t matter that she seemed to have succumbed completely to being her mother’s daughter when it came to obsessing over one man. Didn’t matter that she’d never expected to fall in love and marry a man. The plain fact was that she loved Aidan Sutherland with all her heart and wanted to be with him for the rest of her life. Even if she was never lucky enough to have a baby, she would always want to be with Aidan.

And that was impossible.

All of a sudden, she couldn’t breathe. She stood abruptly and stumbled to the aisle. Grace grabbed her hand and Ellie mumbled an apology as she left the ceremony. She made her way along the flower-petal-strewn path and staggered down the hill until she reached a bend in the trail. There she was able to sag against the trunk of a coco palm tree out of sight of the others.

“Oh, God. Oh, God.” In a panic, she struggled to get enough breath into her lungs so she wouldn’t pass out. Because she was suddenly struck by the immensity of her feelings. She was truly and irrevocably in love with the man.

Yes, yes, fine, she had always been attracted to Aidan. She’d always cared about him. But this was so much bigger than what she had felt before. Her heart ached with the enormity of it all. Did it show on her face? How could it not? There was no way she could return to the ceremony now.

“You fool,” she whispered. She’d known all along that Aidan would never settle down with one woman. He clearly had some aversion to commitment that would never allow him to give himself to Ellie alone. Just look at the endless line of bikini-clad women he’d dated over the years. So now what?

“Ellie?”

She whirled around and saw Grace tiptoeing toward her. “Are you all right?”

Ellie gulped back tears. “You should go back to the ceremony, Grace. Logan will miss you.”

“Logan’s fine. I’m more worried about you.”

Ellie shook her head, but didn’t say anything.

“Oh, what’s wrong, sweetie?”

“I can’t talk about it,” she whispered.

Grace sighed and took hold of Ellie’s hand. “Weddings can be treacherous events, can’t they? So unfair to us sensitive types.”

“It’s true,” Ellie whispered.

Absently, Grace pushed an errant strand of Ellie’s hair behind her ear. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Ellie nodded.

“Is it Aidan?”

Ellie’s eyes widened, but she clamped her mouth shut for fear that if she spoke one word, her eyes would let loose a flood of epic proportions.

“I know you love him,” Grace said gently.

“Oh, God,” she moaned. “You can tell?”

“Of course, sweetie,” Grace said, nodding. “It’s obvious to me how you feel, but apparently not to him. Men can be such dolts.”

Ellie giggled. She wasn’t prone to giggling, but she couldn’t help it around Grace, who was such a brilliant scientist, but whose words were completely down to earth.

“Especially Sutherland men,” Grace added. “They can be a real bummer to a girl’s self-assurance. But who can blame us for falling for them? Let’s face it, they’re hot.”

Ellie sighed. “I’ll say.”

“I’m just impressed that you were smart enough to recognize the signs for yourself.” Grace shook her head in dismay. “I was totally clueless.”

“But you’re a genius,” Ellie protested.

“Some genius,” Grace scoffed, then smiled wickedly. “But I’m getting smarter every day.”

“Then you must see how useless my feelings for Aidan are. He has no intention of ever settling down.”

“No, of course he doesn’t,” Grace said seriously. “Never. Not Aidan. No way.”

“You’re not helping.”

Grace laughed lightly. “Ellie, Aidan would have to be a complete fool not to fall in love with you. And my husband’s twin brother is no fool.”

Ellie smiled. “I appreciate you saying that, even if it’s complete nonsense.”

Grace laughed and rubbed her arm. “You look like you’re feeling a little better. Can I coax you to come back to the wedding?”

“I guess so,” Ellie said. “But will you promise not to tell anyone how stupid I was?”

“You’re far from stupid, but if it makes you feel better, I promise. Now let’s get back before the Sutherland men miss us too much.”

Nine

S
he caught the bridal bouquet.

Aidan was standing on the sidelines drinking a beer with his brother and their Duke cousins as the ladies all gathered on the dance floor behind Sally. Without any warning, Sally heaved that big bundle of pink and white flowers and ribbons over her head, directly into the hands of Ellie, who had the good grace to look terrified by her good luck.

Sally turned and when she saw who’d caught the bouquet, she laughed. Clapping her hands happily, she called out, “I was aiming right for you, Ellie.”

“What the hell?” Aidan muttered to no one in particular.

Earlier, during the hors d’oeuvres and champagne portion of the party, Aidan had caught Sally and Ellie deep in conversation again. He’d had a moment of concern but wouldn’t have thought much more about it, except that Cameron had walked up at that exact moment.

“Listen, Aidan,” Cameron had said, nudging his chin toward Sally and Ellie. “I’ve heard that you and Ellie have something going on, so I have to warn you. My mother has these weird special powers. You know that, right?”

“I’ve heard stories,” Aidan said, not willing to agree and sound completely deranged.

Cameron shrugged. “Well, everything you’ve heard is true. So unless you and Ellie are planning to take your own trip down the aisle one of these days, I’d go over and nip that conversation in the bud.”

Aidan frowned as Sally and Ellie laughed quietly together over something. Then he noticed that another few yards beyond the two women, his brother, Logan, stood with Adam and Brandon Duke. The three men were staring straight at him. When Aidan scowled, they all began to laugh uproariously.

He turned to Cameron, who had obviously been goaded into giving him grief. “Okay. Thanks for the warning, man, but I think I can handle it from here.”

“Really?” Cameron said, raising one eyebrow. “Are you feeling lucky?”

So that had happened, and Aidan had quickly brushed it off as a practical joke played on him by his moronic twin. But then Sally had deliberately thrown her bridal bouquet straight at Ellie, who hadn’t even lined up with the other ladies to catch it. What was that all about? Wasn’t there some bizarre old omen that the woman catching the bridal bouquet would be the next to get married? He was going to have to look that up. Fast.

“Nice catch, champ,” Logan said to Ellie, who laughed and grabbed him in a big hug.

The Dukes’ wives all gathered around Ellie to congratulate her.

“Guess you’re next,” Trish teased.

Aidan felt a hard lump of something cold and near-panic-like settle in the pit of his stomach.

“I don’t think so,” Ellie said, but she blushed as she held the bouquet up to breathe in the floral scent. “I wasn’t even trying to catch it.”

“Then it’s doubly meant to be,” said Kelly, Brandon’s wife.

Aidan frowned.

“Doesn’t she look beautiful holding those flowers?” Sally said fondly.

Aidan jolted, then looked down, a little disturbed to see Sally standing next to him and staring directly up at him. He’d been so distracted by the flower toss that he’d let her sneak through his defenses.

He debated whether to call her out right then and there. Because really, this little matchmaking act of hers was beyond obvious, at least to anyone paying attention. Unfortunately, Ellie seemed to be the only one who wasn’t paying attention.

A little desperate now, he glanced around. What about the Duke brothers? Was there no solidarity among males anymore? Where were his cousins and twin brother when he needed them? Instead of coming to his aid, they were all standing back enjoying the show. What the hell?

They’d all been innocent victims of Sally’s relentless attempts to get them all married off. And she’d succeeded! Aidan was the last line of defense. The least they all could do was rally to his side when he needed them most. They were all brothers now. They needed to band together. But no. Looked like they were all anxious to see the last of them fall.

“Aidan, dear, are you all right?” Sally said with a concerned pat on his arm.

“Huh? What? Oh yeah, Sally. Fine,” Aidan said, feeling like a cornered rat.

“Well, then?”

He had to mentally retrace their conversation. “Oh, yeah. Absolutely right. That was nice of you. Ellie looks great with the flowers.”

“Yes, she does,” the older woman said softly, tucking her arm through his. “Such a beautiful girl. You’re so lucky to have her.”

“As a business partner? That’s for darn sure.” That was all he was willing to say. Lucky? Damn straight he was lucky. He had thought he’d lost her to Blake, but now that he had her back, he wanted her for however long it lasted.

He followed Sally’s gaze across the room and found Ellie. Sally was absolutely right. Ellie looked flat-out gorgeous today, flowers or no. She was wearing her hair up on top of her head in that sexy style he’d grown to like so much, if only because he couldn’t wait to pull the pins out one by one and watch as each of her thick strands of hair draped gently across her shoulders. The pink roses she held in her hands looked perfect against her soft skin and rosy lips.

Still, Sally was up to no good.

The orchestra members came back from their break and began to play a slow, romantic love song. Several couples walked out onto the dance floor and began to sway to the melody.

“Oh, the music has started back up,” Sally declared, and patted Aidan’s arm once more. “I want to see all my sons dancing.”

He had no argument with her there. Turning to her, he smiled and held out his hand. “May I have this dance, Mom?”

She let out a little gasp and Aidan had the distinct pleasure of watching her eyes well up with tears.

*

Two days later, the Dukes left the island and Ellie missed them horribly for an entire day. She loved having all those wonderful women around. They had included her in everything and it had turned into a sorority party. Or at least, it seemed like every sorority party Ellie had ever heard of or seen in the movies, since she’d never been involved in a sorority herself. The night before the wedding, Sally, Trish, Julia, Kelly, Grace, Ellie and Sally’s two best friends, Beatrice and Marjorie, had stayed up late gossiping and laughing and sharing secrets and plans for the future.

“You’ll come visit us in California,” Sally had said, just before they’d all piled into two limousines to take them to the island’s airport. She had gripped Ellie’s hands and then hugged her so tightly that Ellie had felt tears prickling her eyes.

It wasn’t an exaggeration for Ellie to feel that, for a few days, Sally Duke had been the mother she’d never had. She was warm and kind, older and wiser, a woman who loved unconditionally and would always be there for her children, no matter what. During their conversations, Sally had made her laugh and think and wonder and dream. Ellie hoped she could be that same sort of mother to her child someday, and she tucked Sally’s California invitation away in a special place in her heart.

And now that things on the island had calmed down a bit, Ellie decided to follow Sally’s advice. The older woman had made it sound so easy. Just tell him how you feel, Sally had said. Honesty was always the best way to go.

So with a deep, bracing breath, Ellie called up Aidan and invited him to her cottage that night for dinner. Tonight she would tell Aidan she loved him. Excited and more than a little bit nervous, she left the office early to set the scene for the most romantic evening ever.

*

Aidan set the phone down carefully and stared out the window.

“What’s wrong?” Logan said, sitting across the desk from him. “Who was that? You look like you just received a warning from the grave.”

“Close enough,” Aidan said numbly as his eyes narrowed in thought. “That was Ellie. She’s invited me to her place for dinner tonight.”

“Jeez, man, I thought something terrible happened.”

“Maybe it did.” His mind was racing, trying to stay a step or two ahead of the gorgeous woman who was taking up way too many of his thoughts lately. “Who knows what she has in mind?”

“Aw hell, you’re right. This is despicable.” Logan smirked. “A dinner invitation? Man, that’s low. How could she do this to you? I hope you told her to take a hike.”

Aidan made a rude gesture. “Go ahead and mock me, but this isn’t funny. Ellie spent the last four days conspiring with Sally Duke at every opportunity. Now all of a sudden she wants to make dinner for me?”

“Oh man, that’s sneaky,” Logan said. “Yeah, you’re right to be terrified—”

“Who says I’m terrified?”

“You should be. She could slip some aphrodisiac into the mix and turn you into her love slave.”

Aidan tried not to dwell on the sudden image of Ellie carrying a satin whip and wearing a little black mask. And nothing else.

He gulped in air and pushed his chair back. “I’m finished talking to you.”

Logan laughed. “You can’t really be paranoid about this, can you? It’s just dinner. And probably wild sex afterwards. Is that a problem?”

He frowned. “Maybe not.”

“We’ve all been giving Sally too much credit,” Logan said sensibly. “All we’re really talking about is dinner and sex. End of story.”

“It’s not the end of the story.” Aidan glared at his brother. “Are you blind? We have empirical evidence of Sally’s power.”

Logan was laughing so hard, he had to rest his elbows on his knees. “Oh man, I want to hear this.”

Aidan held up his fingers and ticked off the evidence. “One, Sally talked to Grace. Two, you’re now married to Grace. And
that’s
the end of the story.”

“My God,” Logan said, feigning shock and dismay. “You’re right.”

“Thank you.”

Logan grinned. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“I already told her I’d come for dinner.”

“Call and cancel,” Logan said easily.

Aidan frowned. “I don’t want to do that. It would hurt her feelings.”

“What do you care?” Logan asked. “You could be dodging a bullet here if she’s truly plotting to get you to marry her.”

“I know.” Aidan thought about it and then sighed. “No, she’s going to a lot of trouble to make a nice dinner. That’s all this is. She doesn’t want to get married. Hell, at first she was going to have a baby through a sperm bank so there’s no way she’s interested in getting married. It’s ridiculous to worry about it.”

“Then why are you worried about it?”

“I’m not,” Aidan insisted. “We have an agreement. We even signed a
contract.
There’s nothing else going on, so why am I letting Sally and all of you guys get to me? That ends here and now.”

“Does it?”

Aidan blew out a breath of frustration. “I don’t know.”

Logan shot him a look of profound pity, then said, “Tell you what, bro. If it’ll make you feel any better, I’m willing to work the Switch for you.”

Aidan’s eyebrows shot up at Logan’s suggestion and he weighed the possibilities and drawbacks for a moment. The Switch was an old twin trick they’d used a few times in the past. As recently as a few months ago, they had pulled the Switch on Grace, but she had seen through the ruse within seconds and had laughed when Aidan tried to insist he was his brother.

As far as Aidan was concerned, that was as close to a declaration of love as you could get. After all, their own mother had never been able to tell the twins apart. Since then, they’d met no woman who could differentiate one twin from the other. Until Grace. That’s when Aidan had realized that she was the perfect woman for his brother.

“Wait,” Aidan said. “This won’t work. She can already tell the difference between us. Remember that day in the office? You were sitting at my desk, but she knew it was you.”

“That could’ve been a fluke,” Logan said logically.

“I guess so.”

The only thing Aidan knew for sure was that if he didn’t take Logan up on his plan to do the Switch, his brother would issue a final decree to put up or shut up. So ultimately, Aidan’s choice was a simple one.

“Fine,” he said finally. “Let’s do it.”

“Cool,” Logan said with a grin, as he rubbed his hands together. “Just don’t tell Gracie. Now. What time is dinner?”

*

Ellie had just finished lighting the row of twinkling votive candles on the mantle when her doorbell rang. Thousands of butterflies in her stomach fluttered to life and she commanded them to calm down, but they just ignored her. Rubbing her tummy, she had to accept that she would always have this tingly fluttering reaction whenever Aidan came around.

She opened the door and smiled at him. “Hi.”

“Hi.” He extended a small bunch of pink and purple flowers toward her. “These are for you.”

“Oh, how beautiful. Thank you.” She took them and waved him inside. “Come in.”

“Thanks.”

Ellie started to ask Logan what he was doing here, but something made her hesitate. Aidan couldn’t be sick or Logan would’ve said something right away. So what was wrong here? Maybe Aidan was on his way and Grace was planning to join them, too. That would be fun. Ellie had made enough pasta for ten people. But finally she decided to wait and hear what Logan had to say before she asked any questions.

“You look beautiful, Ellie,” Logan murmured.

“Thank you. You look nice, too. Would you mind opening the champagne?” She pointed to the coffee table, where she had laid out a platter of appetizers, a bucket of champagne and two flutes.

“I’ll be glad to,” Logan said. He went through the motions, popped the cork off, filled the glasses, and handed her one. “What shall we drink to?”

Ellie smiled as she realized Logan wasn’t going to say a word. They were teasing her! She wondered if Aidan was hiding out on the veranda, waiting to burst the door open and shout
surprise.

“Let’s drink to surprises,” she said, and clicked her glass against his.

“To surprises.” He took a sip, then set his glass down on the table. “Come here.” He reached for Ellie and took her into his embrace. “Mmm, this feels good.”

Ellie tried to sigh, but it was no use. She began to giggle. Her shoulders shook until she finally managed to push away from him—and laughed out loud.