25
The party was a black tie extravaganza, complete with full orchestra and fireworks over the water. The Montgomery estate was awash with twinkle lights in all the trees and search lights in gold and white flooding the sky. A who’s who of New York, Boston and Los Angeles, enough to make the press salivate.
“So, this is how the other half lives,” Chase whispered, with a chuckle behind Cecily’s ear. “And the most beautiful woman in the room belongs to me.”
A grin spread across Cecily’s face and her cheeks burned as he skimmed her waist. “Better soak it up while we can. A year from now the papers won’t be reporting on our Cinderella story so much as the scandal that took down an empire.” She turned, planting a quick kiss on his lips. “And I say, so what!”
“Well, if it isn’t the happy couple.” Jackson approached, snagging a champagne flute from a passing waiter. “You two give me a cavity, too bad it won’t last.”
Chase stepped in front of Cecily, pushing her slightly behind his hip. “What are you doing here, Jackson?”
“Paying my respects, what else?” The man lifted his glass in salute. “To the death of an empire.”
Cecily scooted around Chase, her eyes already burning yellow. “I think you’d better leave before we call security and have you thrown out. After all, how would that look to all the rich widows you’ve been playing house with recently?”
“Yes,” Jackson chuckled quietly, “but I’m not the only one playing. Isn’t that right, Cecy?” He twirled the cut crystal glass between his fingers. “I bet the big guy doesn’t know he’s got to knock you up or all this goes bye-bye.”
“I know all about it, Jackson. Nice try.” Chase slipped his arm around Cecily’s shoulder, watching Jackson’s smug grin fade. “In fact, Cecy and I discussed having enough kids to start our own baseball team. So, I’m going to ask you once more, what are you doing here?”
“Getting arrested,” Malcolm answered, coming up behind them with two of Boston’s finest. “The FBI had a Special Agent hand delivered to me tonight.” He gestured to the main in the suit with the police. “It makes for a very interesting read. A real page-turner.”
“It was you! You tried to have us killed! You piece of shit!” Cecily ground out, stepping out from Chase’s arm. “How could you?”
Malcolm shook his head. “No, honey. That was Susan. She hired the wolves to make your deaths seem like an animal attack in the Rockies. The feds arrested her earlier tonight.” He paused for effect. “Jackson is guilty of a myriad of other crimes. Federal wiretapping, fraud, trying to bribe a federal judge into burying a money laundering charge for the funds he skimmed from the company and tried to conceal in offshore accounts.”
Cecily’s mouth dropped. “What? When? Our accounts are pick proof.”
“True, but even the most pick proof books can fall prey when one of your accountants is in bed with the crook,” Malcolm replied.
“Who?”
“Arnold Davis. He saw the feds show up at my office after your attack, and the man nearly shit his pants. Jackson blackmailed him into skimming money and then into putting it in various accounts in the Cayman Islands. Arnie-boy sang like a canary. After that, the feds just followed the paper trail. As for Susan, her wolf pack-for-hire gave her up in exchange for lesser sentences. Wolves don’t exactly like being on the lam.” He chuckled. “Lamb. Get it? Pun totally intended.”
Cecily rolled her eyes at the cheesy joke, but her heart squeezed at the old man’s attempt to make her laugh.
“What about the bear-shifter that lunged at us in the woods? He and his partner kept giving Cecy the heebie jeebies,” Chase interjected.
Malcom nodded for the police to get on with it before answering. “They were Susan’s first attempt. Unfortunately, they managed to slip away, but I doubt they’ll bother you again. Not after what happened with the wolves.”
The police stepped in and handcuffed Jackson, walking him out through the back as they read him his rights. “Thank you, officers.” She nodded as they passed, and once they’d gone, she took Chase’s hand to tug him closer. “Uhm, Malcolm, I know it’s been an evening of surprises. Can you stand one more?”
“Depends,” he replied. “Can you?”
Cecily exchanged a look with Chase. “What do you mean?”
“Congratulations are in order, Cecy. Not just for your wedding, but because you fulfilled your father’s last wish.”
Chase raised an eyebrow. “Uhm, Malcolm, you’re going to have to be a little more specific than that.”
“Of course, of course.” The old man nodded. “The FBI had to utilize specialized labs to process shifter DNA.”
“I know that, Malcolm. They took my blood to use as a baseline for their tests,” Cecily replied.
Malcolm’s grin widened. “Exactly. They processed your blood, and that’s why congratulations are in order.” He paused for effect, eyes crinkling at the corners. “The rabbit done died.”
Cecily blinked. “I’m pregnant? Wait. How?”
“I don’t think you need a crash course on the birds and the bees, Cecily. You know how,” Malcolm laughed.
Chase’s face was tight. “I’m sterile, Malcolm. Either the test is wrong, or—”
“No! The test is wrong!” Cecily’s voice hitched in panic. “I haven’t been with anyone but you, and before that it was months and months.”
“Children, please. Calm yourselves.” Malcolm’s tone shut them both up. “Cecily, for a shifter, you really know almost nothing about your species. You awoke your inner animal. Chase stirred it from the first, but after you shifted, you forced what is tantamount to heat. That mean’s you are very, very fertile.”
“But I’m sterile, Malcolm. Cecily’s fertility is only one half of the equation,” Chase argued.
The old man shook his head. “There’s sterile, and then there’s sterile, my boy. Your counts might be so low you’d never be able to impregnate a human girl, but a shifter is a totally different creature altogether. Like it or not, Chase, you knocked up your wife. Hell, Cecily would probably conceive if the two of you drank out of the same glass.” He snagged three flutes of champagne from a waiter and handed them each a glass. “You, my dears, are going to have a baby.”
The three shared the toast and the drink, but Cecily’s head still spun. Her hand gravitated to her belly, and a secret smile left her warm and a little dreamy.
Chase covered her hand with his palm. “It’s true, then?”
“It must be,” she lifted her face to meet his eyes. “Blood tests don’t lie.” He pulled her close and she pressed her face to his chest, letting the words sink in. She was having a baby. They were having a baby.
Chase stepped back, but kept his fingers laced with hers. “I think we should put this all behind us and go home. This time, for good.”
“Home.” She smiled. “That sounds almost too good to be true.” Glancing down, her smile faded a bit. “You sure you still want to be part of this fiasco? I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted out.”
“Cecily—”
When she looked up, her eyes searched his for the truth. “A hit on your life wasn’t part of the deal. In fact, I think attempted murder breaches most contracts. I know it’s not just the two of us anymore, but—”
He pulled his hand free and tilted her chin, leaning in so his lips hovered close. “Forget contracts, or whatever arrangement we had. I want you, Cecy. Not for a year, but for the rest of my life. You, me and our little one.”
“Chase, I…I—” She couldn’t manage anything else through the tears tightening her throat.
“I love you, Cecily. And I want to marry you all over again. The right way. The way you dreamed.”
Tears dripped, smearing her makeup, and she didn’t care. A laugh bubbled up and she wrapped her arms around Chase’s neck. “No Elvis?”
“Nope. Not a single sequin.”
THE END