The lake was calm as glass. My guts were churning like a maelstrom, in spite of the long run I'd had that morning. I stood on the deck with a beer in my hand that did little to soothe me. India was due any minute, bringing with her the woman who just might become the mother of my firstborn child.

I was confident every move I'd made had been the right one. Elaine and I had tried for a family and failed. Then she'd decided motherhood and marriage weren't for her after all. A long, lonely year had passed for me in deep and profound contemplation of what mattered most to me in life. And as always, the answer was a family of my own. I was all done putting something that important in the hands of fate. Even though I felt strongly that the very best way to have a family was the old-fashioned way… a loving mom and dad raising a big, healthy, happy brood together, I couldn't take the chance that it might never happen for me that way. It's hard enough to find a great relationship, harder still to find someone who wants the same things… God knows, I'd tried.

India had been the one to mention surrogacy again. Always thinking outside the box, she'd insisted that just because Elaine and I were divorced, didn't mean surrogacy wasn't still an option. And she'd met a woman who wanted to experience bearing a child, but had no real desire to raise one. Plus, she truly needed the money…

The facts were simple. I wanted children and I couldn't wait forever. This was the perfect time in my life to become a father, and I knew I'd be a great one. I'd grown up with all the joys, frustrations, chaos and love of being surrounded by four siblings that meant the world to me. My daddy clock was fucking ticking away, and I was all done with wasting time.

I'd always dreamed of having kids the usual way, you know… Making the mutual decision to try for a baby, the romantic dinners, the candlelight. Taking my wife in my arms, then carrying her to bed. Taking her body and giving her mine, exploring her ripeness for the first time with nothing but skin between us. I'd wanted the experience of exploding inside her, filling her with my seed and knowing that we'd begun the journey of pregnancy and the ultimate miracle of giving birth together… Truth was, I'd always found the whole idea incredibly erotic.

But not every dream can come to fruition. And it was far more important that my children be born, the sooner the better. I'd be the most committed dad in the world, and I could give my kids grandparents and uncles and a wonderful aunt. Children of mine would want for nothing. And as for a birth mother… well, it would be business, pure straightforward business. There would be interviews and medical exams, procedures when the time came. And the contract. The very legal and binding contract.

I heard the car before I saw it, rounding the long drive in from around the lake. India parked next to my Jag and I headed down to greet them. I was eager as hell for my first glance at Libby, but she was still inside as India bounded out.

"Shit, Jack. Did you sleep last night? If I didn't know better, I'd think you were nervous as fuck."

"I love you too," I answered back dryly, trying to see past the glare of the windshield. "And stop swearing. It doesn't suit you."

India laughed and opened the passenger side door. A fringed leather boot appeared on the ground. Then the other. My heart skipped more than a single beat as the rest of her appeared. Libby stood, with the car door still between us and smiled a smile that left me stunned.

She was small, I saw, as she stepped around to extend her hand to me, but had a presence that occupied all the space around her. I took her hand and felt all the nerve endings in my palm fire in unison.

She was exquisite, with a short cap of dark, glossy curls framing her face and a body with generous curves that made my mouth go dry. Her clothes hugged her body in a careless, sexy kind of way that made me think she had no idea of their effect. The colors were bold, the style almost vintage. There was something utterly original about her…

But it was those eyes that held me rooted and staring. Green, brilliant, afraid of nothing. I took a step closer without intending it and felt something warm and electric pass through the air between us. Somehow, all at once, she was both everything and nothing of what I'd expected…

As I held her hand in mine and all the appropriate greetings and pleasantries passed from my lips, something was sweeping through me like a fire through a dry forest. I put my hand out, ushering them both ahead of me and into the house as I followed behind. Every carefully made plan, every best intention, every sensible decision in my head had fled. Deep inside, there was a flashing red light, warning me to keep this business as usual. But my body was taking over, and making one single, uncompromising demand that defied caution and contracts and good, plain common sense…

To put my child into its mother the old-fashioned way.

Just like nature intended.