The Millionaire's Unexpected Proposal (Entangled Indulgence) (4 page)

The next article announced the engagement of Camilla Billington to Daniel Stanford Winthrop III, and linked to a series of previous articles about an accident that had left Winthrop—the heir to a pharmaceutical fortune—a paraplegic. Photos of the former playboy and the man in the wheelchair didn’t look like the same person. There wasn’t much doubt in Sam’s mind what Camilla had seen in him. With her stepfather’s fortune gone, Camilla had apparently not wasted any time finding a man who could support her in the style to which she’d become accustomed.

After all, if she’d married Winthrop for love, what had she been doing in Vegas having wild and crazy sex with Sam the week before her wedding?

It was abundantly clear to Sam why Camilla was so reluctant to publicly acknowledge him as the father of her child. Her four-year-old son was now the heir apparent to the Winthrop fortune. A legacy that would be quickly challenged if the in-laws suspected the truth about the child’s parentage. To keep control of her son’s inheritance, she had to keep custody of her son. Which is where Sam supposed he came in.

Sam put his hands behind his head and considered his options. In order to protect his son, he would have to marry Camilla. He could refuse and demand a paternity test, but the boy was born while the mother was married, and the father was not only identified on the birth certificate, but had acknowledged the son as his own for four years. It would take time, and a judicial proceeding, to compel Camilla to consent to the child’s being tested.

And meanwhile, he had no way of holding Camilla and the child in the state, or for that matter, even the country. If she had access to Winthrop’s money—or if the rumors of the stepfather’s offshore accounts were true—she could take the child and her sister and disappear.

There was no way around it; he would have to marry her. But a woman who had a two-week affair the week before her marriage to a man she wanted only for money and prestige, a woman who concealed her pregnancy from the child’s father and passed him off as her husband’s heir, then showed up on his doorstep with a plan to snare herself a new husband, was hardly a fit mother. Not for his child.

Sam’s own father had discarded him, and his stepfather had considered him nothing more than an inconvenience. Sam’s son was not going to grow up that way.

He’d go along with her plan, for now. But when it was all over, he’d be the one with sole custody of JD, and Camilla would get exactly what she deserved. Nothing.

Chapter Three

When Camilla stepped off the elevator this time and crossed the lobby, the receptionist greeted her warmly and ushered her to Sam’s office. But that did nothing to ease the anxiety burning a hole in her stomach.

Sam was sitting at his desk, looking every bit the ruthless trial lawyer who chewed up hostile witnesses and spit them out.
He can think whatever he wants about me, as long he helps me keep JD.
After everything she’d been through, humiliating herself to keep her child was a small price to pay.

He nodded to her curtly, and she sat down on the visitor’s chair opposite his desk.

“Here’s the deal,” he said, glancing at the stack of papers in front of him, then returning to stare directly into her eyes. She met his gaze directly, unwavering.

“We will get married as soon as reasonably practical. Since we’re keeping JD’s real parentage a secret—
for now
—we’ll come up with a story about meeting somewhere, oh, maybe six years ago. We had a brief romance, but we were both too young.”

“You’d have been older than I am now.” She was the one who’d been young and naive.

He ignored her. “We’ll say we met in Vermont. On a ski holiday. Keep it simple.”

“I guess sitting in front of the fire in a ski lodge sounds a little more romantic than sitting at the roulette table.”

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly in a smile, and she knew she wasn’t the only one who recalled how romantic it actually had been at the roulette table. She remembered how desirable she’d felt when he watched her face instead of watching the little ball spin round and round the wheel. The warmth of his hand resting lightly on her knee. How he’d kissed her with the taste of champagne on her lips as the stack of chips grew in front of them and called her his lady luck. Then left the table in the middle of a winning streak to go back to his hotel room.

“Why not just stick to Vegas, a year later?” she asked.

The air between them seemed charged with that same attraction they’d felt years ago.
Was he remembering the same evening she was?
Then his eyes narrowed, and the connection between them was gone so quickly she wondered if she’d imagined it.

“That’s not a good idea.” If he’d been softening toward her, his face didn’t reveal it now.

She shrugged. “The closer a lie is to the truth, the less likely you slip up.”

“You should know.”

She felt her face heat and bit back a sharp retort. She needed his help.

“Considering the fact that your mother started out her marriage career as a Las Vegas showgirl, I think it’s best if we don’t do anything to encourage that connection.”

“You had me investigated?”

“Believe me, I intend to. No, Camilla, that little fact turned up with a quick internet search. Tell me, are you trying to beat your mother’s record for how fast you can remarry a wealthy man after your first husband dies?”

“Since you think you know everything, you can just draw your own conclusions. And you can keep your opinion to yourself.” She needed him right now, but she wasn’t about to let him walk all over her. Her mother had been far from perfect, but she’d done the best she could in situations Sam knew nothing about.

“It’s just the facts, Camilla. As a lawyer, I deal in facts. Now, let’s get back to our agreement.”

“All right.”

“We will schedule a small civil ceremony. Some sort of honeymoon will be necessary, or it would raise questions. Before and after the wedding, you will accompany me to social functions, and to all outward appearances we will be the perfect, devoted couple. I have a reputation in this community, and I expect you to uphold it, not destroy it.”

“Of course.”

“You, your sister, and JD will move into my home immediately.”

“Is that necessary before the wedding?” JD still had nightmares and woke up crying for his father. She’d assumed that once she got Sam to agree to her plan, there’d be time to introduce JD to him slowly, to ease the transition.

“I want you where I can keep an eye on you.”

She bristled. “What do you think I’m going to do, take JD and leave town after I’ve already put myself through all of this to get your help?” She leveled her voice, tried to speak calmly, reasonably. “I think it’s better if you take it slow with JD. Let him get to know you before we are all living in one house together.” Surely he could see this was the best approach.

She continued. “If we just give it a few months, then—”

“
A few months?
” There was cold fury in his voice and in his eyes as he stared her down. “Every
day
that goes by before my son is under my roof and in my care is a day too long.”

“Listen, I understand how you feel.”

“You have no idea how I feel.” Sam’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve made all the decisions about my son for the past four years on your own. That changes now.”

“I’m his mother. Trust me, I—”

“Trust you? That’s amusing.” He leaned toward her. “I was going to give you a week to make plans, but I’ve changed my mind. I want you moved in tomorrow.”

“I think that’s a terrible idea.”

“Too bad. I’m calling the shots now.”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “And if I refuse?”

He picked up an expensive-looking pen and tapped it on the desk. “If you’d prefer, we can forget about the whole marriage idea, and I’ll file a petition for a paternity determination. And make sure your in-laws are advised of the proceeding.”

She kept her voice calm. “That won’t be necessary.”

“I didn’t think so.”

He’d won this round, but if he thought he was going to steamroll her where JD was concerned, he’d find out it wasn’t going to be so easy.

“So, are we done here? I need to talk to Olivia and JD. And start packing.”

“I have a few more things to discuss with you. As soon as we’re married, we’ll start the process for me to legally adopt JD.”

She felt her eyes widen in shock. “Adopt JD? I don’t understand.”

“I have no legal rights over him. As his sole surviving ‘parent’”—he hesitated a moment, then continued—“it’s a relatively simple matter for you to consent to your son being adopted by his stepfather. Once JD is legally my son, your former husband’s parents will have no legal basis to attempt to remove him from your custody. They would have to show that I’m an unfit father. And I assure you, there will be no basis for a determination of that nature.”

“I see.” It did make sense. If Sam adopted JD, the Winthrops would be unable to interfere, and the issue of biological parentage would be moot. She could honor Danny’s wishes, protect the heritage Danny had wanted to pass down to JD, and—hopefully—make up in some way for depriving Sam of any role in the first four years of his son’s life.

He leaned forward over his desk and looked at her, his eyes cold.

“Now, why don’t you tell me the real reason the Winthrops think they can take JD away from you? Aside from marrying their son for his money, what is it exactly that makes you an unfit mother? And don’t even think about lying to me.”

She felt her skin heat. “What difference does it make what they think? Once we’re married and—”

“It’s going to take some time for the adoption to go through. I need to know what we could be up against.” He pulled a legal pad in front of him and waited, his pen poised over the page.

She took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. “It’s simple, really. They think I killed my husband.”

He’d expected drunken parties, jetting off to exotic locations and leaving the boy with nannies, indiscriminate sex, and maybe even some prescription drug abuse. But this one definitely caught him by surprise.

“The news reports said your husband died of complications from his original injury. Is there a suspicion of foul play?”

“Not directly. My husband was a paraplegic. His parents accused me of encouraging him to take unnecessary risks. They think I planned it because I wanted his money.”

“How much did you inherit?”

“Very little,” she said, but she wasn’t meeting his eyes. “I signed a prenup, and Danny didn’t live long enough for its terms to increase the amount I’d receive under the will.”

“So he was worth more to you alive than dead.”

She looked up, her eyes conveying hurt. “I happen to have loved my husband very much.”

“Which is why you spent the two weeks before your wedding in my bed.” Sam still couldn’t believe he had misjudged her so much back then.

A flush crept up her neck. “That wasn’t what it seemed.”

“Well, what exactly was it?”

“I wasn’t in love with Danny when I married him. I never would have let you pick me up in that hotel bar if I’d been in love with someone else! It started out as a business arrangement. But that all changed later on.”

“Just exactly what kind of ‘business arrangement’ did you have?”

“Look, I was broke at the time. And I had Olivia to take care of.”

“And of course you couldn’t just go out and get a job.”

“Do you have any idea…” She closed her eyes, seemed to be struggling with some painful memory. Then again, maybe she was just a very good actress. “Look, things were really complicated.”

He just wasn’t buying it.

“Nothing marrying a paraplegic millionaire wouldn’t cure.”

She gasped, and he wondered if maybe he’d gone a little too far. Camilla wasn’t the first woman to solve her financial problems by marrying for money. Then he hardened his heart as he thought about the years he’d missed with his son.

“I don’t owe you any explanation about my relationship with Danny,” she said stiffly. “You’ve made up your mind about me, regardless of anything I could say.”

Whatever decisions Camilla had made in the past, it was JD’s future that mattered now. “Your feelings for your former husband are hardly relevant at this juncture, anyway. I’m concerned only about my son. And I have no intention of having him taken to Connecticut with his grandparents, no matter how attached they may be to him.”

“They’ve been threatening me since the funeral. If they find out where I am…”

“So they don’t know anything about this trip?”

“No.”

“If they are close enough to their grandson—the child they
believe
is their grandson,” he amended, “to want custody, then keeping them in the dark about his whereabouts is only going to make them move more aggressively.”

Her eyes flashed with anger. “Close to him? Before the funeral, they’d never even
met
JD.”

He stared at her.

“Danny was estranged from his parents.”

The pieces were beginning to fall into place now. “Over his marriage to you.”

“Among other things.”

“So they’re motivated by guilt? Since it’s too late to reconcile with their son, they’re trying to atone by taking care of his child?”

“Hardly. What they want to take care of is JD’s trust fund.”

Sam leaned back in his chair, considering. “How much?”

“What?”

“How much money is in the trust fund, Camilla?”

“About ten million.”

“And you’re the trustee?”

“Yes.”

No wonder she wanted to keep JD’s parentage a secret. His son was the pawn in a power struggle between an ambitious, unscrupulous gold digger and her uncaring in-laws. It was sickening.

“So you believe your in-laws’ interest is solely in getting their hands on the money.”

“No, that amount is a drop in the bucket for the Winthrops. Their interest is in keeping
me
from getting
my
hands on the money.”

“Can you blame them?” He stared her down, waiting for her to show some reaction, but her eyes never wavered. Then, just as it looked like she was about to say something, the door to his office opened.

“Hey, Sam, you want to knock off for a while and—oops, didn’t realize you had a client. Sorry.”

“Ritchie.” Sam gestured to his partner. “Come on in. I’d like to introduce you to Camilla Winthrop.”

He turned to Camilla. “This is one of my partners, Ritchie Perez.”

If he could get this one past Ritchie, the Miami social scene would be a breeze. “Camilla is a very dear friend of mine.” He came around the desk and put his hand on her shoulder. “She’s in town with her son and her younger sister. They’ll be staying at my place for a while.”

Ritchie reached out and shook Camilla’s hand while his eyes measured her. “So what brings you to Miami?”

Sam waited to hear how Camilla would answer it.

“My son.” She glanced up at Sam. “There are some things I’ve been wanting him to experience here in Florida.”

“How old is your son?”

“JD’s four.”

“Well, you’ll have to head over to Disney while you’re in the area. Right, Sam?”

“Absolutely.”

Ritchie glanced down at the conspicuous diamond on her ring finger. “So is your husband joining you on this trip?”

“Camilla’s a widow,” Sam said.

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s part of the reason for the trip,” Camilla said. “Sometimes a change of scenery is the best thing.”

“Well, I’ve interrupted long enough. Camilla, it was a pleasure meeting you. Sam, I’ll catch up with you later,” he said, giving Sam a look that told him Ritchie wasn’t buying it.

“So,” Camilla said, after Ritchie left. “How do you think that went?”

“Fine.” He’d have to come clean with his two partners, but there was no reason to share that with Camilla right now.