“So what is this request you have of me?”
She drew a deep breath, then blurted the words before she lost her nerve. “I want you to help me make a baby.”
Chapter Fou
r
Geoff wondered for a moment if an unexpected night of passion had somehow damaged his hearing. Surely Cecilia hadn’t just said what he thought she had said. “You want me to do what?”
He watched as she moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, a gesture that seemed uncharacteristically nervous from this woman who had appeared so self-confident and composed the night before.
“I want a child,” she repeated. “I want to be a mother. And since my prospects of that are getting slimmer as time passes, I’m ready to do whatever is necessary to make that dream come true for me.”
She locked her slender, capable hands on the table in front of her as she spoke, her gleaming white knuckles giving further evidence of the tension she was trying not to show.
Geoff shook his head. Wasn’t this his luck? He had been telling himself that last night had been a rare gift—unplanned, uncalculated, uncomplicated. A brief foray into the wild side for wild Billy Bingham’s straitlaced and compulsively responsible nephew. And now it turned out that the woman he thought he’d charmed into bed had her own reasons for ending up there.
“You’re looking at me as though I’ve grown another head,” Cecilia said ruefully. “I know this has taken you by surprise.”
“You could say that again.”
Her fingers twisted even more tightly. “The thing is, this subject has been on my mind a lot lately. Every day I deliver other women’s babies, and every day I wonder whether I’ll ever have one of my own. I would be a good mother. I’m mature and responsible and patient. I practically raised Eric, since my mother worked all the time, so I know what I would be getting into. The preschool day-care center at the clinic would give me a chance to see my child often during the day. I’m ready physically, emotionally and financially—as much as I can be, anyway. I don’t want to waste any more time.”
“So have you, um, thought about adoption?” he asked, still trying to assimilate what she wanted of him.
“I’ve considered adoption, but it’s still rather difficult for a single working woman to be approved, and private adoptions can be terribly expensive. Besides, I would really love to have a child of my own. The artificial insemination process is, again, so expensive that it would be hard for me to afford it. The best option for me seems to be the old-fashioned method.”
“With me.” It sounded so improbable when he said it that he couldn’t help wondering again if he had completely misinterpreted her request.
Her cheeks were a bit pink, but she held her head high. “It occurred to me this morning that it wouldn’t hurt to ask you. After all, we got along very well last night, and we’ve already taken the biggest step.”
His frown deepened. “I used protection last night.”
“Yes, I know. Um, do you always carry a couple of packets with you?”
Now it was his turn to be self-conscious. “I got them out of my car. After you invited me in. Just in case we—”
Hell, this conversation wasn’t about defending his motives. “So when you asked me in last night, you were planning to—”
“No!” Her eyes wide, she cut him off sharply. “I didn’t plan anything that happened last night. I thought I would make an appearance at the reception and then come home—alone—for a grilled cheese sandwich and an evening with a mystery novel. When you asked me to dinner, I expected a nice meal and then a polite good-evening in the parking lot. And when I invited you in, it was an impulse, based on the lovely time we’d had at Miranda’s. You said you didn’t want the evening to end—and I didn’t, either.”
He couldn’t help being skeptical, despite the ring of sincerity in her voice. Having been raised in a wealthy and influential family, he had learned long ago that all too many people had hidden motives when it came to their dealings with him.
She began to frown, as if his thoughts had been apparent to her. “I’m really making a mess of this, and I apologize for that. I know it seems outrageous of me to even suggest something like this after knowing you such a short time. As I said, it’s something I’ve been considering, and when this opportunity popped up—well, it just seemed like I would be foolish not to at least ask if you would consider helping me out.”
He stood and walked to the coffeemaker, where he slipped a mug off the nearby holder and filled it to the brim with the dark, hot brew.
“I thought you didn’t like coffee.”
“I seem to need the caffeine jolt. I’m having a little trouble thinking clearly this morning. And, besides, it’s too early for scotch.”
She waited until he had returned to his seat and had taken a bracing sip of the coffee—which wasn’t bad, considering—before she spoke again. “You probably think I have ulterior motives in making this request of you. That’s a natural assumption, of course. I should have expected—anyway, I know a man with your connections has to be careful. I want to assure you that I’ve been entirely straightforward about my goals.
“I want a child, but that’s all. I would be willing to sign anything you draw up waiving any claim to money from you for any reason. I am fully prepared to support my child both financially and emotionally. I can’t say the child will be raised with a lot of extra money, but I can provide all the necessities and an occasional luxury without any help from anyone else. To be honest, I prefer it that way at this stage in my life.”
He set his coffee mug on the table with a thud. “So, basically, what you want is for me to create a baby with you, then simply go away and leave you alone to raise the kid with no input from me.”
She shifted restlessly in her chair. “You make it sound rather cold when you put it that way.”