Chapter Ten
Brady
At any other time, I might have been quite amused by the myriad of emotions that slithered over Dana’s face. First, a blank stare, followed by lifted eyebrows, eyes wide with surprise, mouth dropped open. Her lips moved but no sound came out. And then, quite delightfully as far as I was concerned, her cheeks turned red. The emotions flickering over her face lasted only a couple of seconds.
My instinctive humor dissipated as her eyebrows lowered, and you know the saying, if looks could kill? That was exactly how she looked at me. My head began to pound again, and I glanced at Nick, watching Dana warily.
She moved so fast it was over in the blink of an eye. She stood and walked out. My gaze followed her for several seconds, my brain not really comprehending.
“Go after her, dude!”
Nick’s words propelled me into action. He was right. The pretty brunette might be my only chance to get out of the mess that I had dug for myself. I bolted up and quickly made my way through the tables of diners, odd glances cast my way, barely missing a waiter bearing down on a table with tall glasses of tea and bowls of salad.
By the time I reached the lobby, she was just stepping over the threshold of the building and onto the sidewalk, heading for the parking lot. I trotted after her.
“Dana, wait!”
She didn’t stop. She quickened her pace as she headed down the sidewalk fronting the building, shoulder-length hair bouncing in rhythm with her steps and the warm afternoon breeze. Shoulders stiff, those tiny hands of hers balled into fists.
“Dana, please, wait.”
She stopped and turned around so fast I nearly barreled into her.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she demanded, though keeping her voice low.
A golfer pushing his cart back to his car glanced over curiously and then purposely looked away. “Dana, let me explain—”
“What’s to explain?” She shook her head, arms crossed, her tone sharp. A quick glance around. “I don’t sleep with men for money!” she hissed. “How dare you! I’m not a—”
“That’s not what this is about. Not at all,” I said, trying to soothe her, arms hanging loosely by my sides, afraid that if I made any move toward her, she’d run. “Actually, that’s only part of it.” I paused, an idea popping into my head. “Actually, we don’t have to sleep together. Artificial insemination—”
She gasped. “Are you insane?” She half turned, then swung around, a pointed finger poking into my chest. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you and your friend. Playing games like that with people.”
Her voice shook, but not with fury. Her eyes filled with tears. No, that shaking voice was filled with hurt and desperation.
“Dana, please, hear me out.”
She turned, slashing her hand through the air. “You’re crazy,” she muttered and walked away.
If I wasn’t mistaken, that was a moan of despair I had heard. I caught up with her. “What if I offer you five hundred thousand dollars?”
She stopped dead in her tracks and stiffly turned, eyes wide with incredulity. Her body tensed—the stiff posture, the lips pressed into a thin line, and her face pale in the hot afternoon sun displayed shock. And then, unbelievably, her eyes glistened with tears. What the hell? I just offered her a half million dollars and that’s the response I get?
“How dare you play with people’s emotions,” she choked out.
“I’m not playing, Dana. I’m completely serious.” She obviously didn’t believe me.
“You’re willing to pay me a half million dollars for marrying you and having your baby?” Arms once again crossed over her chest, her head tilted, eyes narrowed with suspicion.
I felt a burgeoning of hope. My heart thumped as I nodded. “Look, I know this sounds crazy. No, it is crazy. It’s the craziest, stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life… I think… but I’m desperate. I’m out of ideas.”
She stared at me for several moments, as if trying to discern whether I was telling the truth. But the longer she stood there, the greater the chance that she was actually contemplating it. And why not? A half million dollars was a good chunk of change. She blinked rapidly, color returning to her face.
“This is for real?” Eyes still narrowed in doubt. “Seriously?”
I nodded. “Yes. I swear to you, on my dead mother’s grave, that I’m very serious. And I’m running out of time.”
She heaved a heavy sigh as she stared off into the parking lot, the breeze gently blowing that silky hair away from her shoulder. Such a gorgeous neck. Actually, she was beautiful, with a perfectly proportioned figure that caught my interest. She wore a flowy charcoal gray floral skirt, no idea what kind of fabric that was but I liked it and a sleeveless, V-necked blouse. Her trim arms displayed some muscle, and her hands… oh, such lovely hands. Short nails. I wondered what those fingers would feel like wrapped around my—Stop. Stop right there. The deal was in negotiation.
She stared and stared as if something out there was going to give her the answer she was looking for. I glanced over my shoulder toward the entrance to the lobby, grateful that for once Nick had shown a bit of restraint even though he must be inside dying of curiosity.
“This may be the craziest thing I’ve ever done in my life, and I think you’re certifiably nuts, but I’ll be blunt. I need the money, desperately.”
She looked up at me, again her expression changing from consideration to a threatening scowl. “You’d better not be jerking my chain, or you’re going to regret it,” she began. “And there’s going to be some conditions. For one, I’m not your sex toy. There won’t be any sex, you got that?”
I nodded again, although I doubted that the artificial insemination idea was practical. Took a long time for that, didn’t it? Wouldn’t it just be easier to— “I’ll have a contract drawn up. Everything we agree upon will be stipulated in that contract.” I paused. “I’m not going to force you, Dana, I want that to be clear. But I do have to produce a child within a year. You understand that, don’t you?” She said nothing. “So, doing the math. That gives us, what… less than three months to do the deed and have it take?”
Her expression changed again to dismay. Her cheeks flushed. She closed her eyes and gave the slightest shake of her head, inhaling deeply before releasing the air in a gush. Disbelieving that she was even considering it? I was anxious to close the deal.
“You don’t have to stick around after that,” he said. “Until then, we’ll have to keep up appearances though, so we’ll have to live together in my apartment—” She opened her mouth to disagree, but I softly interrupted, “My father is a powerful man, Dana. He’ll perform his due diligence. You can bet that we’ll be watched to make sure that everything is on the up and up. But I promise, after the baby is born, you can go your way, do whatever you want to do.”
“That simple?” she said, voice tinged with sarcasm.
“It is. It’s that simple. My dad wants an heir. I want to keep my inheritance. You need money.” I shrugged. “Everyone gets what they want, right?”
She turned away from me again, muttering under her breath, “You’re such an idiot.”
She didn’t move to walk away and I stood quietly, my heart pounding now, anticipation and excitement surging through me. This is it! My problem soon to be solved. I couldn’t think beyond the immediate future. Just to see the look on my dad’s face…
She turned around and looked up at me, her eyes boring into mine. “I’m going to need a down payment, upfront.”
“What for?”
“None of your business,” she snapped. “Is it a deal or not?”
“How much do you need?”
“Fifty thousand.”
I didn’t blink. Okay, that wasn’t much, considering I had just offered her five hundred grand. I didn’t know why she needed the money and didn’t feel this was the time or the place to ask. I didn’t want to do or say anything that would cause her to change her mind. My credit cards were still blocked. So was my access to my bank account. Shit. I would have to see Frederick about that.
“Agreed,” I nodded. “I’ll have the money by tomorrow. You’ll need to go with me to my dad’s estate for this get-together on Saturday.”
We both stood silently for several moments, as if we were both sizing each other up. I just thanked God that I didn’t have to resort to Mary Von Brown. Her head barely came up to my chest, but the look in her eyes gave me pause. She would not be a pushover. I felt better. What she was thinking right this moment, I had no idea. Probably as confused and anxious as me, but both of us were having a problem solved, weren’t we? Wasn’t that all that mattered?
“About the contract…” she said.
“Yes.” I nodded. “I’ll go see my lawyer first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll arrange for the contract and get the down payment.” I glanced at her with a lifted eyebrow. “Is a check okay or do you want cold, hard cash?”
Another flush reddened her cheeks as she looked up at me, nibbling on her lip.
“Cash please?”
That startled me, but only for a moment. At this point I didn’t give a crap why she needed the money, except for one thing. I hated to ask, but felt like I should throw it out there. “You don’t do drugs, do you?”
She stared at me for several moments, her lips firm again, pressed together with annoyance, or so I thought. While her expression remained blank, I saw the pulse throbbing in her neck. Quite emotional, wasn’t she?
“No, I don’t do drugs. I don’t drink and I don’t smoke.” Again, the narrowed eyes. “Do you?”
I shook my head. “No drugs, no smoking, although I do indulge in a Scotch now and then.”
“Put that in the contract,” she said firmly. “I have no intention of living with someone who does drugs or drinks to excess.” She shuddered. “And I mean that.”
I grinned. “What do you define as excessive?”
She gave it some thought, which surprised me. A woman her age against alcohol? My heart skipped a beat. This was crazy. For all I knew she could be a preacher’s daughter. We might be at each other’s throats within days. She might make my life a living hell. But at this moment, I supposed it didn’t matter. I also realized that in order for this farce to succeed, I would have to sacrifice a thing or two.
“Well, I suppose a Scotch or two every evening is acceptable. But if I start smelling alcohol coming out of your pores or if you get near me with alcohol breath, or you make any untoward advances on me because you’re stinking drunk, this deal is off, you understand?”
No sense in scaring her off. I had to cut back on that for the time being anyway. If she was a teetotaler, being around someone who got drunk would be the fastest way to end this deal. I nodded.
“So what we do from here?”
“Let’s meet tomorrow for coffee. That’s safe enough, isn’t it?”
“Where?”
“What’s convenient for you?”
She thought about it a moment. “The coffee shop near the southwest corner of the university. On Remington. You know it?”
I shook my head. “I’ll find it.”
She nodded, then glanced around awkwardly. “We should exchange phone numbers.”
She pulled her phone from her back pocket, tapped the screen, and looked up at me, waiting. I gave her my phone number and then, because she appeared to expect it, I pulled my phone from my pocket and she gave me hers.
“Well then,” she said.
“Well then,” I repeated, offering my hand. “Thank you, Dana Sommers. You won’t regret this.”
She glanced at my hand but then reluctantly took it, offering an abbreviated shake.
“I already do.”
With that, she turned and walked off, and I let her. It could’ve gone worse. A lot worse. And fortune seemed to smile down on me. She was a looker, obviously intelligent, and even more obviously, someone who wasn’t about to be pushed around. She might be desperate for money, but I was more desperate, if that was possible.
I returned to the restaurant to fill Nick in on what had transpired. Before I got into the lobby I dialed Fredrick’s number. When he answered, I kept my message brief.
“I need to see you tomorrow morning. Eight o’clock, your office. And this is just between you and me. My dad doesn’t know, got it?”
“Brady, what’s this about?”
“I’ll explain in the morning. But I don’t want Dad to know I’m coming to see you. Okay?”
“Fine.”
The call disconnected, and I entered the lobby, my head spinning. I felt relief, but also a bit of anxiety. I had crossed the first hurdle, but I still had plenty more in front of me.
*
“I need fifty thousand dollars,” I said, sitting across the desk from Frederick. While he was my dad’s lawyer, he was also, by default, mine.
“What for?” Frederick asked, not impressed.
He sat stiffly in his chair, arms resting on the dark brown blotter, hands loosely clasped. As usual, his desk was spotless. Did he ever do anything? By the way he looked at me, I could tell he was suspicious. “It’s for some expenses.”
He lifted an eyebrow, and I knew that if I wanted him to unlock my accounts or at least give me access to some of my money, I would have to give him something. “My fiancée needs some new clothes, and I’m doing a few renovations on my apartment. She’s moving in, you know.”
The look he gave me was one of patient indulgence. He knew me. I’d known him my entire life, and he knew of my… well, let’s just say he knew the good, the bad, and the ugly. He knew I never dated, at least not anymore. He knew I never got serious about the women in my life. He knew that I never, ever, allowed the women I spent any time with into my apartment. I always slept at their place or got a hotel room. So I could leave anytime I wanted. So I didn’t have to deal with any emotional fallout from my—
“What’s going on, Brady? You don’t have girlfriends, and now you’re telling me you have a fiancée? Did you pick someone up in Spain?”
“No,” I said. I wasn’t about to get into details that he could use at a later time to trap me.
“I’m serious, Frederick. I’m engaged. Her name is Dana Sommers. She’s from here. Dallas. I need you to take the block off my credit cards, my ATM card, and give back my access to my bank accounts.”
He stared at me. “You need fifty thousand dollars. Today.”
“Yes.”
“It’s not for Nick?”
I sighed. He was also more than familiar with Nick. “No, Frederick, it’s not for Nick. I told you it’s for my fiancée.”
He did that thing with his mouth. Not quite a frown, not quite a smirk. I sighed. He didn’t believe me. Not surprising. I knew I would have to tell him what was going on. He also needed to draft the contract. Still, I hesitated.
“Brady, what’s going on?” He unfolded his hands and leaned back in his chair.
I hesitated. What if he refused to go along with my plan? What if he decided to tell my dad? What if—
“Brady, in this circumstance, you’re my client. Everything we discuss here is privileged information. It doesn’t go beyond this room. Do you understand?”
Frederick knew just about everything that went on with my family. I also knew that he was an honest man, extremely loyal to my dad, but there had been times when he tried to help me out. Sure, this was one of the worst, but I also knew that if he swore confidentiality, I could believe him.
So, I told him everything. Every last annoying detail. Oddly, I saw many of the same expressions appear on his face that I had seen on Dana’s. Finally, he leaned forward, his body posture stiff, a frown of concern tugging at his eyebrows.
“Well then, you’re in quite a pickle, aren’t you, Brady?”
One of Frederick’s odd ways of expressing a conundrum. “Yes, I am.”
He shook his head. “I understand that you feel you don’t have any other options,” he said. “And I have to admit, just between you and me and the fence post, that I think Clint has gone overboard with this demand.” He held up a hand to hold off any comments. “But I do understand his motivations, I do. And that’s all I’ll say on the matter.”
I said nothing, although I did feel comforted by the fact that at least, in this room, he appeared to be on my side.
“At the same time, I think we both know that there won’t be any changing your dad’s mind about this. He’s very serious about you settling down, getting married, and starting a family of your own.”
I opened my mouth to interrupt, but Frederick again lifted a hand.
“Brady, maybe it is time that you settled down and started acting your age. You’re not a teenager anymore. You’re a man. An intelligent man who can do anything you set your mind to.” He paused, his expression earnest. “Even if you don’t want to take over your father’s holdings, it is time to figure out what you want out of life besides partying. Don’t you think so?”
I shrugged.
“You know what they say, don’t you?”
I peered at him. “What do you mean?”
“That it’s okay to behave this way in your twenties, but when you hit thirty, it’s just lame.”
I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. I did need to figure out what the hell I wanted to do with my life. I couldn’t just—
“But before you sign on the dotted line, and before you have this woman sign the contract, I want you to understand, Brady, that this isn’t a game. It’s not just a means to an end to get back your access to your bank accounts.”
I heard the somber tone and listened.
“This is not only affecting your life, but it’s affecting hers. It’s also going to affect friends and family. And then you bring a baby into the mix and… well, I think you understand that lives are not to be toyed with.”
I did realize that. I’d been purposely avoiding it from the very moment that Nick introduced me to Dana. But as long as we both agreed to keep our emotions to ourselves, to not get personally involved, everything would work out okay. My dad would have his grandchild. Dana would have the freedom and financial means to move on with her life. As far as I was concerned, she was a surrogate, one that would serve my purposes and give my father what he wanted so he’d get off my back.
“Come back at one o’clock. I’ll have a contract drawn up. I’ll also have a check for you.”
“Cash,” I said.
He shook his head. “No cash. I’ll draft a check.”
“But—”
“No buts, Brady.”
I realized I shouldn’t push my luck. I nodded and he reached for a desk drawer, all business now. Summarily dismissed, I left his office, glanced at my watch, and realized with some dismay that I was actually looking forward to seeing Dana later on today.