Falling for King's Fortune / Seduction, Westmoreland Style

Even knowing that he’d come here to draw a line in the sand, all Jackson could think now was, he wanted to touch Casey again. Feel her eager response, the sigh of her breath on his neck. Drown in the heat of her body.

He shook his head, dislodging the erotic images that flooded his mind, so that he could concentrate on the problem at hand.

“You can’t be serious about us moving in with you.” Her arms tightened around Mia until the baby squirmed uncomfortably in her mother’s grasp.

He’d expected just such a reaction. And if he were to be honest with himself, it was a crazy idea. He was supposed to be on the verge of getting engaged. Marrying a woman who was completely unaware of Mia and Casey’s existence. And truth be told, he hadn’t come here with the idea of moving the two of them into his house. He’d come to demand time with his daughter. But one look at the tiny rental on the ragged edge of town where his daughter lived had convinced him that she deserved better.

And she’d get it.

As for Marian, he’d talk to her. Explain that he needed more time. He couldn’t go into a marriage—not even one that was a strictly business proposition—until he had the rest of his life straightened out.

And who would have thought it would need straightening? He’d always lived his life as he chose. Making his own decisions. Never factoring in anyone else’s opinion.

Seemed those days were over.

“There’s plenty of room. I’ve got a nursery completely outfitted already and plenty of help in the house for you if you need it.”

“I don’t.”

“So you’ve said. Repeatedly.” He shifted on the footstool and the old leather creaked with the movement. “But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this.”

“And this is your plan?”

“That’s right.” He got up from the too-low footstool, not because his long legs were cramped but because he was too close to Casey. Her scent reached for him. The curve of her breasts tempted him and her mouth all but begged to be kissed.

And that wasn’t why he was here. This wasn’t about him and Casey. This was about his daughter.

He walked two short paces—all he could take without actually leaving the room—stopped beside the playpen and idly rested one hand on the rim. “Look, I might never have planned on being a father, but I am one now and that changes things.”

Her chin lifted, her eyes narrowed and her grip on Mia tightened as if she were half afraid he was going to grab the baby and make a run for it. “I don’t see how.”

He laughed shortly. “Of course you don’t.”

She took a breath, blew it out and said, “I know what you’re doing….”

“Is that right?” He let go of the playpen, folded his arms over his chest and looked down at her.

“Men like you—”

“Like me?”

“The take-charge type,” she explained.

“Ah.”

“Men like you see a situation and immediately jump in and start shifting things around. For some reason, you’ve decided that Mia and I are your business. We’re not.”

“We disagree,” he said, his gaze slipping from her now dark blue eyes to the baby on her lap and back again.

She blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know how to say this so you’ll understand me. You don’t owe us anything. I don’t want your money and I don’t need your help.”

Well, that stung. True or not. And it was clearly, he thought with another rueful glance around her tiny, cluttered home, not true.

“Let’s cut to the bottom line here, shall we?” he asked tightly.

Casey stood up and he silently admired the move. She wasn’t content to sit there having to look up at him. Instead, she’d taken action to put them on more equal footing. Or so she thought. Her yellow T-shirt was hiked up beneath Mia’s chubby leg, but her eyes were steady and her features were schooled into a carefully stoic mask. “Let’s.”

“I don’t want my daughter living here.”

She sucked in a breath as if he’d slapped her. “There’s nothing wrong with our house.”

“Not the best neighborhood,” he said.

“We’re perfectly safe.”

“My daughter deserves better.”

“My daughter is happy here.”

Jackson knew this little verbal battle could go on for hours, so he decided to end it. Moving in close to her, he looked down into her eyes, inhaled the scent of lavender that clung to her and said, “We can do this one of two ways. A, you and Mia move in with me for say, six months. I get to know my daughter and at the end of that time, I’ll buy you a house anywhere you want.”

“I don’t—”

“Or B,” he said loudly, to drown out her voice and force her to listen to his counterproposal. “You insist on staying here and I make a phone call to the family lawyers. Within a couple of hours, you’ll be notified that I’m suing for joint custody. And if you think I can’t…remember, you contacted me. You broke the anonymity clause.”

Her eyes went wild and wide. Like a trapped animal looking desperately for a way out of a dangerous situation. But there was no way out and Jackson knew it. He had her boxed in neatly.

“You…why would…”

“I’m not the bad guy here,” he said.

“Could have fooled me,” she muttered.

“Let’s remember here that I only just found out about Mia’s existence. I want to know my child. Is that really so unreasonable to you?”

“No, but expecting us to change everything about our lives, is.”

“You have a choice.”

“Some choice.” Shaking her head, she stared up at him and the sheen of tears in her eyes threw him for a second. He hoped to hell she didn’t cry. He hated it when women cried. He always felt helpless—not a feeling he was comfortable with.

“You’re a bully,” she whispered, willing the tears back.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You’re a bully. You’re rich and powerful and think you can just sweep in and get anything you want.”

He thought about that for a long minute, letting his gaze sweep up and down her curvy body. Finally, he said, “When I want something bad enough, yes.”

She pulled in a deep breath and held the baby even closer than before. Then lifting her chin, Casey said, “Fine then. You win this one. We’ll move into your house for six months. You’ll get to know your daughter and then we’ll leave.”

“Wise choice.”

“But just so you know,” she said, “your tactics won’t work on everything. You can’t have me. What happened between us that first night? It’s not going to be happening again. Do you understand?”

Jackson’s body was hard and ready and he wanted her even more now than he had when he’d first walked through her front door. He shouldn’t though and he’d do his damnedest to ignore the rush of desire that jumped through him whenever he laid eyes on her. Because he had plans for his life. And they didn’t include Casey Davis, no matter how alluring she might be.

So he smiled and met her gaze as he said, “None of this is about you, Casey. This is about my daughter.”

Movers arrived the following Saturday. Casey sat in a lawn chair on the front yard beside Dani, the two of them watching the kids roll around on a quilt spread beneath the jacaranda tree. A three-year-old boy and two baby girls were surprisingly loud.

“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Dani said as they watched two movers carry boxes out of the house, “but Mike’s glad you’re moving.”

“What?” Casey looked at her, then reached down and pulled a stick from Mia’s grip. “I thought your husband liked me.”

“He does, you nut,” Dani said. “But he’s also a cop. And he says this neighborhood isn’t a good one for a single woman and a baby.”

Casey frowned. Okay, it wasn’t a ritzy area, but the houses were mostly tidy and the teenagers weren’t too annoying and she’d only had graffiti spray-painted on her garage the one time.

“He never said anything….”

“He didn’t want you to be scared or anything,” Dani said, instantly defending the husband she was so crazy about. “But he always cruises your neighborhood at night, keeping an eye on things.”

Casey sighed. That sounded like Mike. Such a nice man. Unlike some others she could name. Mike didn’t push his views on her, try to run her life. He just quietly did what he could to keep her safe.

Why couldn’t Jackson be more like that?

“So I’m not surprised your Jackson wanted you to move.”

“He’s not my Jackson, for heaven’s sake,” Casey said quickly and scowled as her insides did a quick ripple of expectation at the sound of his name. “And he’s not interested in my safety, believe me. He just wants Mia.”

“She is his daughter.”

Casey shot her a dark look. “Traitor.”

Dani laughed and scooped her baby girl up into her lap to pull a leaf out of her mouth. “I’m just saying there are worse things in life than to be scooped up by a gorgeous millionaire and whisked off to his hilltop mansion.”

Sure, when you said it like that, Casey thought, it was like something out of a romantic movie. Almost Cinderella-like. Poor but honest girl meets rich handsome prince and finds love and happily ever after. But Casey knew the truth. The only thing between her and Jackson—except for some incredible heat—was Mia.

He wasn’t a prince. At the moment, she thought of him more like a cartoon villain, evilly twirling his moustache.

“He threatened to take Mia.”

Dani sighed. “If he’d actually meant to do that, he could have. He’s probably got a fleet of lawyers on standby. Instead, he just wants to get to know his kid. You really can’t blame him for that.”

“Why not?” When Dani only looked at her, Casey laughed. “Okay, I know. I’m overreacting.”

“Just a bit,” Dani agreed. “I mean, I get why, but you’d probably have been furious if Mia’s father had turned out to be some miserable creep who wanted nothing to do with her, too.”

“Maybe…” The truth was, she could understand Jackson’s interest in his daughter. That didn’t mean she had to like it, though.

“Casey, try not to treat this move as if it’s a jail sentence. Look at it like a minivacation.”

“A vacation?”

“Sure. He’s got a huge place. Plenty of room for you to work and Mia to play. There’ll be someone else for you to lean on once in awhile. You won’t have to do it all yourself….”

She liked doing everything herself. She was used to it. She’d made her way, built a business, was raising a beautiful child. Why should she look for help she didn’t need?

Besides, “Can you really see Jackson King changing diapers?”

Dani shrugged. “Guess you’ll find out. But the point is, stop sabotaging this before it starts.”

Was she? Or was Dani seeing only a silver lining and disregarding the huge, massive black cloud currently sitting over Casey’s head? Case in point…the movers. They were carrying Mia’s crib now and the rocking chair that Casey had painted herself.

“Um, didn’t you say Jackson told you he outfitted a nursery?”

“Yes,” Casey said tightly. Only the best for the daughter of a King. “He arranged to put my stuff in storage for six months.” Without bothering to ask her. He’d just called her with the information and when she’d tried to argue that she wanted to take her stuff with her to his house, he’d simply steamrolled right over her.

“Ah…”

A cool wind kicked up, scattering twigs and lacy leaves across the lawn. Casey shivered a little. Was she making a huge mistake? Should she have stood up to Jackson? Gone to court rather than caving to his demands? She looked down at Mia and a small thread of fear wrapped itself around her heart.

“I can do this, right?”

“Of course you can.”

“It’ll be good for Mia.”

“Positively.”

Oh, God. “Is it too late to run away?” Casey wondered aloud.

“It is if that’s Prince Charming in your carriage,” Dani told her, pointing to a big black SUV pulling up in front of the house.

Casey didn’t have to see the driver to know it was Jackson. She could tell because her body had started humming and her stomach was doing somersaults. Six months of living in his house? Being around him night and day? How was she going to manage this?

Before she could come up with an answer to that question, Jackson opened the door and stepped out of the car. Beside her, Dani sighed heavily. Not hard to understand. Jackson was wearing black slacks, a long-sleeved white shirt with the sleeves rolled back on his tanned, muscled forearms and sunglasses that he slipped off as he walked toward them. Prince Charming? Maybe. Dangerous? Absolutely.

“Remember,” her friend said, “you’re going to make this work.”

Casey’s mouth was dry, just watching him walk across the lawn, so she nodded.

“Casey,” he said, smiling. His gaze dropped briefly to Mia and even Casey saw his dark eyes warm.

“Hello, Jackson,” she said when she found her voice again. “You didn’t have to come by, I was going to drive to your place later.”

“Not necessary,” he said, turning a smile on Dani. Casey didn’t even have to see her friend’s face to know she was being sucked into Jackson’s orbit. The man was definitely high on the charisma chart when he wanted to be.

“Jackson King,” he said, holding out one hand.

“Dani Sullivan.” She shook his hand, turned to Casey and lifted both eyebrows.

Casey ignored her and did her best to rise above the charm level Jackson was using. “I can’t go with you and leave my car here.”

“Don’t worry about it. One of my guys will drive it over to the house later.”

“Your guys?”

“Employees,” Jackson corrected for her benefit. “Besides, your little compact’s not the safest car in the world to haul a baby around in.”

Casey was stunned. “Of course it’s safe. I take it in for checkups regularly.”

“Not what I mean,” he said, waving one hand at the pale-blue compact parked on one side of her driveway. “Look at it. In an accident, you might as well be riding a skateboard.”

Dani winced and Casey stared at him. “I don’t get in accidents.”

“Not purposely,” he conceded. “But then that’s why they’re called ‘accidents’.”

“He’s got you there,” Dani muttered.

Casey scowled at her friend, then shifted that same expression to Jackson. “My car is perfectly serviceable.”

“Uh-huh, maybe it used to be.” He turned, pointed to the black monster parked at the curb, then looked back at Casey. “That’s your car, now.”

“I—my—what?”

“I bought you a car,” he said, in the same tone he might have used when saying, I made you a sandwich. “Had the dealer install a top-of-the-line car seat for Mia, so you’re all set there, too. Much safer for you and the baby.”

Casey wasn’t an idiot. She could see that he was most likely right about that monstrous car/bus being safer to ride in. After all, it looked the size of a small tank. But she couldn’t keep allowing him to ride roughshod on her life anymore. A line had to be drawn. Might as well be done now.

“Jackson, you can’t go around doing things like that,” she said, staring at the car now and trying to imagine herself behind the wheel. It was so huge it would be like driving an eighteen-wheeler. And the thought of how much it would cost simply to fill the gas tank gave her a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.

“Why not? You needed a safer car, I got it for you.”

He really didn’t get it. Didn’t seem to understand that she wasn’t the kind of woman to be taken over by some big strong male who thought he knew what was best for her. For heaven’s sake, she was an adult. She’d been making her own way and her own decisions for most of her life.

Now, all because she’d felt it was his right to know about Mia’s existence, her life was wildly spinning out of control. That old saying about good deeds never going unpunished, was certainly true enough.

But that ship had sailed and there was no going back. Dani was right, she’d have been furious if Mia’s father hadn’t wanted to know her, too. So there really had been no win to this situation and the fact that Jackson was clearly determined to be a part of his daughter’s life said something about his character.

And even if she didn’t like it, having a father would be good for Mia. That’s what she had to keep in mind, here. What was best for Mia.

Still, she had to make him see that while he might be related to Mia, he had no control over Casey. So she tried again, speaking slowly and plainly. “I don’t need a new—”

“It’s in your name. Temporary registration and insurance information are in the glove compartment. Why don’t you drive it on our trip back to my place, get used to the feel of it?” He smiled and started for the house. “I’ll just check with the movers, make sure they know where to take your stuff.”

“I already told them—” Her voice trailed off as Jackson walked away, clearly not trusting her to have been able to instruct movers. “Did you see that?”

“Deep breath,” Dani said, putting one hand on Casey’s forearm. “Okay, I see what you mean. He is a little—”

“Overbearing? Bossy?”

“Yeah.” Dani gave her a pat of reassurance. “He is. But it seems like he means well.”

“He’s impossible.”

“Honey, it’s only six months.”

“Six months,” she repeated and thought that very shortly, she would be using those two words as a mantra.

Casey turned to look at the little house that had been hers. Where she and Mia had built so many memories. She knew she was looking at her past, because no matter what happened over the next six months, she and her daughter wouldn’t return to this place. And nothing would be the same, ever again.

Jackson stepped out of the house, walked to the edge of the porch and looked at her. Across the yard, despite the presence of the movers, Dani, and the kids, Casey felt the power of his steady gaze reach out to her. Even from this distance, even surrounded by people, she felt heat building inside her. Just a look from him gave her shivers. Her body didn’t seem to care that he was the human embodiment of a bulldozer. Didn’t care that he was taking over her life.

All her body wanted, was his body.

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