Paige sat on her seat and observed the goings-on happening in the cordoned-off section of the Shipton club in Canberra. She took a sip of water, her head pounding from the loud music at the engagement party of her friend Melanie and her fiancé, Bart. Gosh, she was so exhausted that all she wanted was to go to sleep.

She placed a hand on her stomach. How are you doing, Tanner?

She smiled secretively. She’d gotten it right that she was going to have a boy! Her excitement at getting the gender result today was partly the reason for her tiredness. She’d been buzzing all day and had gone to the shops to check out baby boy stuff.

But she’d held off buying things. She’d go shopping with Tristan when she returned to Sydney, instead. She couldn’t wait to share the news with him, but she preferred to do it in person. She wanted to see his reaction.

As for the name Tanner, would he like it?

Kel Tan, Julian had called Tristan, and she’d found it so cute. So she’d decided on Tanner. It was a great name for their son.

The soon-to-be bride joined her. “Hey, are you okay?”

She smiled brightly. “I’m okay. Just resting.”

“You’ve been looking tired all night,” Melanie said with a worried frown. “Hope you’re not coming down with something.”

“I don’t think so. Just lack of sleep, I think.”

Paige wished she could tell her friend the real reason for her fatigue, but the timing wasn’t right. Her parents were attending tonight’s festivities too, and they’d asked her not to announce her pregnancy to anyone else yet. She was in total agreement. The last thing she wanted was for gossips to hear her news and start flapping their gums.

“Curtis is worried about you too,” Melanie said teasingly.

She sighed. “I wish he’d quit acting like he’s my date.”

“Well, tongues are wagging again with the way he’s been shadowing you all night. And some people think you should give him a chance. He’s been after you for years!”

Paige shook her head. Curtis had been hounding her for a date again. She’d politely refused—for the umpteenth time—but he hadn’t given up. Tonight, he’d been very attentive towards her.

“Your dad seems to be encouraging him, though,” Melanie said. “I heard him teasing Curtis about the slow dance you just did.”

“What?” Paige asked in dismay.

“Uh-huh,” Melanie said with a knowing look. “They’d been slapping each other’s backs.”

Paige made a face. Her father had always been thrilled at Curtis’s interest in her. Larry was best friends with Curtis’s parents. But had her dad forgotten she was pregnant with another man’s baby? And since when had he started interfering with her dating life? He never used to.

“What’s wrong with Curtis, anyway?” Melanie asked. “Sure, he can be a bit arrogant at times, but for the most part, he’s charming. He’s quite good-looking too.”

“He just doesn’t do it for me, Mel.”

“Why? Because Tristan Grant’s still doing it for you?”

Paige looked sharply at Melanie. No one else knew she’d met Tristan in one of his clubs apart from Pam and Annette—the two friends who’d been with her when she’d visited TG in Brisbane.

Melanie laughed. “Pam said all you did was sway your hips and bat your eyelashes and Tristan was up on his feet, making a beeline for you in the middle of the dance floor.”

“She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone,” she said flatly.

“Hey, I won’t tell! I know how sensitive that information is. You and Tristan Grant. Wow. I’m sure your parents wouldn’t be happy if they knew. Anyway, Pam said Tristan invited you back for dinner the next night, but that things went downhill after that.”

She shrugged. “My Shipton surname was too great a negative for him to ignore.” Luckily, she hadn’t told Pam about her hot night with Tristan, let alone her pregnancy. Pam had always been her most loose-lipped friend.

Melanie moved closer to whisper in her ear. “You didn’t say that just to stop people from prying, did you?”

She let out a chuckle. “No. It’s true.”

“Shame,” Melanie said with a sigh.

Out of the corner of her eye, Paige noticed her parents approaching.

“Melanie,” Larry said. “I’m afraid we have to go.”

“Oh, you do? The night is still young!” Melanie said.

“We’re flying back to Sydney very early tomorrow, and old-timers like us need our beauty sleep,” Debbie said with a laugh.

Melanie stood up to give her guests a hug. “Thank you so much for letting me have my engagement party in this beautiful venue of yours. I’m having a wonderful time.”

“Thank you for inviting us,” Debbie said. “It was great catching up with some friends here.”

“Paige, can we talk to you before we go?” Larry asked.

“Oh, I’m going back to the hotel with you,” Paige said. “I’m a bit tired too. You don’t mind, do you, Mel?”

“Of course not, darl. You’ve been lacklustre all night.” Melanie turned to Larry and Debbie. “I said she might be coming down with something.”

“I’ll be fine,” Paige reiterated, reaching out to give her friend a goodbye hug.

“Saves you from more of Curtis’s attention, huh?” Melanie whispered in her ear.

She laughed, squeezing her friend tight. “We’ll have lunch in a couple of days before I fly back to Sydney.”

“It’s a date,” Melanie said.

Paige said goodbye to people on their way out. Then she and her parents got into a taxi already waiting for them. They were silent during the five-minute drive to their accommodation, and Paige found herself dozing off.

“We’re here, Paige,” her mother said, tapping her arm.

She awoke with a start. Gosh, she hadn’t even realised she’d fallen asleep. She easily got tired lately.

Fortunately, the day was over. She was ready to plonk herself on her bed.

“Paige, we’d like you to join us in our room before you go to yours,” Larry said.

“Why?” she asked in surprise.

Her parents exchanged a nervous glance.

“We want to talk to you about something,” Debbie said. “I know you’re tired, but since we’re going home tomorrow and you’re staying here until Sunday, we thought we should discuss it tonight.”

Paige frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing bad,” Larry said casually. Too casually.

“So why can’t it wait?”

Her parents didn’t answer. Instead, her mother linked arms with her and escorted her to the lifts.

Paige’s sleepiness had disappeared, replaced by worry. Something was up, and it didn’t look good.

She forced herself not to ask questions as the elevator zoomed them up to her parents’ floor. She hoped they weren’t about to deliver any bad news. She had enough to deal with, as it were.

Her parents were still quiet, walking stiffly as they entered their suite.

“Shall we order something to eat?” Debbie asked.

“I’m quite full, Mum. And I want to go to bed as soon as we finish here.”

“Okay. Why don’t you sit down?” Debbie asked, smiling as she pointed her to a plush sofa.

She did as she was told and looked at them expectantly. The suspense was killing her!

Larry sat beside her, lips curved up in a nervous way. Clearly, he wasn’t looking forward to this discussion.

“Paige,” Larry said, angling so he was facing her. “You do know that our family has a trust fund set up by my parents, right?”

Her brows furrowed. “I’ve known that since I was a kid, Dad.”

“Right. As you know, when your grandparents passed away, they left the wealth they’d built to that trust instead of letting their kids and grandkids inherit straight away. They wanted to make sure we learned the value of hard work first.”

Paige felt like rolling her eyes even as her heart pounded from nerves. “What’s going on, Dad? You’ve told me this over and over again for as long as I can remember. I know I’m bound to receive a few million dollars from the trust when I turn forty, and no earlier. You got your millions too when you turned forty, which you used to build Shipton Enterprise.”

“Well, you were too young to remember that I actually got the money when I was thirty-five.”

“Oh, you did? I didn’t know. But anyway, is that what you want to tell me? That I only need to wait seven more years instead of twelve? To be honest, it’s not that big a deal for me. I have more important things to worry about than money.”

Larry glanced at Debbie, gulping visibly.

“Darling,” Debbie said from the adjacent one-seater. “We need your help.”

Her brows furrowed in question.

“Competition has been fierce,” Larry said, “and your mother and I made some decisions that didn’t go according to plan. You already know that the company’s having some financial problems. But we haven’t told you it’s about to reach desperation stage. It’s very cash-strapped, and the banks are refusing to lend any more. We need an injection of cash to continue servicing our debts to the creditors’ satisfaction and to ensure we pay our staff on time. That’s why we’ve already offloaded one of our venues. But the proceeds from that sale simply aren’t enough after paying off a big debt. We’ll need more cash very soon to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of all the Shipton venues.”

Paige’s mouth hung open. “I had no idea it was that bad.”

“We didn’t want to worry you with it, especially since you’re not on the executive team.”

“So,” Paige said, a picture forming in her head. “You want me to talk to Tristan and help you negotiate with him—”

“No!” Larry said vehemently. “We’ve already sold a different club to the person who originally wanted to buy the one that Tristan said he was entitled to, and we’re not selling any more clubs. We don’t want Shipton Enterprise to shrink further, so we’re definitely not negotiating with Tristan.”

Paige pressed her fingers against her suddenly pounding head. She didn’t want Tristan and her parents fighting in court! “Dad, I think Tristan is a reasonable man. Why don’t you—”

“No, Paige,” Larry interrupted with force. “Begging for Tristan Grant not to sue us is tantamount to Shipton Enterprise showing weakness against TG Company. If he goes ahead with the court case, then we just have to win it. And we will.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you doing this in the name of fairness or for the sake of getting the number one spot back?”

“It’s for both.”

“But can’t you see that your pride is getting in the way of you solving this big problem?” she reasoned in a soft tone. “If you talk to Tristan—”

“Out of the question, Paige,” Larry said stubbornly.

“But what if he’s not lying?”

“Who in our company has the motive to twist the story, then? And why would I believe Tristan over our trusted lawyer who’s been with us for years?”

Paige shut her eyes and inhaled deeply. She totally understood her parents’ point of view. But she also believed Tristan. Deep in her heart, she knew he was telling the truth.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with Tristan’s threat against us,” Debbie said. “We’re handling that ourselves. Your father and I need your help with something else.”

Paige sighed. Even though she was keen to get to the topic of why and how her parents needed her, she wanted to keep the discussion centred on Tristan. “How can you tell me not to concern myself with Tristan’s threat when he’s the father of my baby?”

“He doesn’t have to be,” Larry said.

“What?”

Her dad leaned closer. “Listen carefully, Paige. There’s another condition on the family trust that we haven’t told you about.”

She frowned at her father.

“While your grandparents had always wanted the beneficiaries to learn how to work for themselves before being rewarded with the trust money, they’d also wanted to support their heirs if they happened to start a family. So you can get five million dollars out of the fund before you turn forty if… you get pregnant and married.”

Her mouth hung open.

“And we don’t mean we want you to marry Tristan Grant,” Debbie said hastily. “That’s the last thing we want you to do. But we have someone who’s willing to help us out, and the most important thing is that he cares a lot about you already. It’s Curtis.”

Paige glared at her parents in disbelief. “You want me to marry Curtis so the trust will hand me five million dollars?”

“We’re so sorry about this, but, yes,” Larry said pleadingly. “I already got all the money due to me from the trust fund ages ago. It’s already been spent. With the banks not wanting to lend any more until we reduce our debt levels further, we have no other choice. Only you can get your hands on the amount of cash we need in the short time that we have. And we’ll be paying you back. That’s a guarantee.”

“Paige,” Debbie said, “you only need stay married to Curtis until the money is released by the trustees. The trustees don’t have any recourse to take it back once they give it to you. So it’s mere months that you have to pretend—a relatively short time in exchange for saving our company. And Curtis is aware that it will only be a fake marriage, so you don’t have to worry about not wanting to be intimate with him if you don’t want to. He’s promised he won’t pressure you. But, who knows, you and Curtis might decide to stay together.”

Paige shook her head in disbelief. Were they crazy?

“There’s something else,” Larry said, clearing his throat, “it’s the trustees’ job to ensure that no one tries to game this particular condition. So, first, they’ll need to be convinced that it’s a true love match before they’ll release the cash.”

“But I’m not in love with Curtis!”

“That’s why it’s important to start acting like you are. Because you’re already pregnant, the trustees should have no reason to think you’re faking your feelings for Curtis, and they shouldn’t be so surprised that there will be a quick wedding.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Paige murmured, still in shock.

“We wouldn’t even have brought this up if there were another way to save the company,” Debbie said. “And, by the way, you also have to pretend that you’re totally oblivious to this condition. You’re not supposed to know to ensure you don’t fake anything.”

“And, yet, you’re asking me to totally fake it,” she said dryly and with a tinge of hurt. She couldn’t believe her parents were asking this of her.

Larry sighed deeply. “I’m ashamed to admit I made poor decisions regarding our company. We need to steer Shipton Enterprise back to healthy profitability, and we need to do it soon. It’ll be too late, otherwise. Then we’ll lose the business that you, your mother and I have worked so hard in. I hate asking you this, Paige. Believe me, I wouldn’t have if there was any other way. But I just don’t know who else to turn to for help.”

To Paige’s horror, her father started to sob. It was so heart-wrenching that she placed a comforting hand on his hunched shoulders. “Dad…”

“Please, Paige,” Larry begged. “You only need to pretend for a few months. Not only will this plan save our company, but it will also protect your reputation. No one will ever guess that the father of your baby is some conman.”

“Tristan’s not a conman.”

“You don’t know that,” Larry said forcefully. “And I’m not losing to a conman.”

Argh!

“You’re not planning on dating anyone anyway while you’re pregnant, are you?” Debbie asked. “I don’t think asking you to be married to Curtis for two, maybe three, months will impact on your love life much—if you don’t end up falling for Curtis, that is.”

Paige crossed her arms. Well, she supposed her mother was right. If she took Tristan out of the picture, then she had absolutely no desire to date anyone right now. All she wanted was to enjoy her pregnancy, then look after her baby.

But she just couldn’t stomach the thought of Curtis—or someone other than Tristan—being known as Tanner’s father!

Her mind desperately tried to search for an alternative solution. “So I need to be married to the man I supposedly love and also be pregnant, right? But does the wording of the condition state that the baby’s father has to be the guy I’m married to? What if we tell the truth that Curtis is not the father—that it was an accident from a one-night stand? Then we could lie that Curtis and I love each other so much that he’s willing to marry me despite my pregnancy with someone else’s baby. I’m happy to consider that plan.”

Larry scowled as if she’d lost her mind. “That’s not foolproofing the story against Tristan putting two and two together and guessing he’s the father. No, Paige. Curtis has to be the daddy of this baby in everyone’s eyes. Besides, can you imagine the trustees believing you and Curtis are in love when you’re having someone else’s baby? They won’t buy it.”

“Why would Curtis even want to take this on, anyway?” she spat out in frustration.

“He really wants to help since our two families are very close—and because he cares about you. Besides, there will be a prenup which will state that he doesn’t have to pay child support in the event of a divorce. He’s fine with all this, Paige. And I trust him and his parents implicitly. I know this secret will be safe with them.”

“I don’t think Tristan will agree to have another man be known as the father of his baby.” And she wouldn’t like that either.

“But he doesn’t have to know anything. You’ve already decided you won’t ever tell him, haven’t you?”

“He already knows,” Paige said quietly.

“What?” Her parents looked at her with utter shock.

“I went to see him to ask him to consider not suing you. I thought I might sway him because of my pregnancy. Well, he’s open to a discussion, as long as you guys are.”

“Oh, Paige,” Larry cried. “You need to tell him there was a mistake—that he’s not the father. Curtis is.”

“What? Why?” Hadn’t her father heard what she’d just said?

“Tristan will always be at war with us,” Debbie interjected. “He’s our main competitor. If he learns about our company’s cash flow problems, he will stop at nothing to bring us to our knees. The only way is for you to tell him that you originally thought he was the father, but in fact, it’s Curtis.”

“Why can’t you just talk to Tristan? You’re the ones being so unreasonable here.”

“You don’t understand, Paige,” Larry said insistently. “You marrying Tristan is not an option. We want to save our company, and involving him will simply not work. Please, listen to us.”

Paige covered her face with her hands. She was so very angry.

But her heart also went out to her father. She’d never seen him this broken, desperate and helpless. Despite his pride, she knew that he was only trying to do what he believed was the right thing for their company right now.

Could she really turn her back on her parents when they were practically begging her for help? How could she live with the guilt if they lost Shipton Enterprise when she could have done something to save it?

But… to make Tristan believe the baby wasn’t his…

And to let Tanner grow up believing someone else other than Tristan was his father…

Larry’s blew his nose with a tissue. “If Tristan gets involved, we might as well say goodbye to Shipton Enterprise. It’ll be totally unworkable,” he murmured.

Tears rolled down Paige’s cheeks.