Son Of Scandal

Two

Two months later...

“Paxton. You there, big brother?”

Paxton snapped to attention to find Sierra frowning at him. She had every right. He’d stepped in to take her to the obstetrician today, toddler in tow, while her husband was out of town. He should be present in mind and body, but thoughts of Ivy and all that had happened since his return home yesterday kept distracting him.

Marshalling his powers of concentration, he stepped out of the car and circled around to free his niece from her car seat in the back.

Just when he’d thought he and Ivy would be okay, that their professional life would move forward just as he’d wanted it to, she’d sent him her resignation via email. It had arrived while he’d been on the plane home, so it had been the first thing to catch his eye when he’d landed.

“So, what kept you away so long?” his sister asked.

“I was only supposed to be gone a few days. A week, tops.” The reality had been a nightmare. “One mechanical problem led to another, then another. At one point we actually had to shut down production for over twenty-four hours.”

“I bet Grandmother was thrilled,” Sierra said with a conspiratorial smile.

Oh, she’d been none too happy to hear it, reminding him she wasn’t cutting him any slack just because he was her grandson. He still had to justify every expense and setback.

At least it had distracted him from thoughts of Ivy. And as the days rolled into weeks, neither of them had mentioned their night together, even though they spoke on the phone almost every day and emailed even more than that. Their conversations had been strictly business, and Paxton had been perfectly happy with that.

He’d thought Ivy had been, too.

By the time he’d made it back to his house and dropped his luggage in the master suite, Paxton had convinced himself her resignation was for the best. Obviously she hadn’t wanted to face him in person. He could understand that. Their night together had been a bigger mistake on his part. As her boss, he bore the weight of responsibility and should be grateful she hadn’t accused him of sexual harassment, despite their intimacy being mutual. He should probably reach out with a severance package to keep her from bearing any burdens while she looked for another job. Would she accept? Or was she angry that he’d stuck strictly to business all this time?

Still he couldn’t stop thinking about her. A woman he should be grateful was gone.

He needed his head examined.

“You must be living on another planet today. Did you leave your brain in Virginia?” his sister demanded, her normally calm demeanor showing strain as she pulled her daughter from his arms.

Paxton took a deep breath, trying to regain his equilibrium. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

Sierra led the way across the parking lot, toward the office building. “Just so long as it’s work and not a woman. Grandmother would have a fit if you didn’t keep your priorities straight.”

The bitterness in her voice immediately caught Paxton’s attention. He stared at her in surprise.

His family members were founders and high-ranking business leaders of Savannah society. They’d been taught to marry well, aim high and value family over all else. He’d grown up looking forward to starting one of his own, and he’d been groomed to marry the woman who would best enhance his professional and personal profile. Just like his sisters, who’d chosen their husbands from elite Savannah families.

That was the plan—one that didn’t include Ivy. Yet he’d wanted her since he’d first laid eyes on her. And nothing had prepared him for the ecstasy of actually having her.

Except, according to the map he’d laid out for his life, he couldn’t keep her. He’d stepped out of his comfort zone in the name of romance and knew it was a mistake.

But that wasn’t something you said to a woman over the phone.

“What?” Sierra demanded.

Her sharp tone had him looking closer. Paxton couldn’t miss the strain in his sister’s expression. Some people might attribute it to the fatigue of her being in the second trimester of pregnancy while taking care of his very active niece, but Paxton knew better. The tight muscles around her eyes and tart tone weren’t normal for her.

He slowed her down with a hand on her arm, easing her over to one side of the hallway outside of the doctor’s office. His niece had gotten sleepy, laying her heavy head on her mom’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a quiet tone, pulling himself forcibly back to the here and now. “What’s up?”

As if realizing just how much she’d revealed, Sierra glanced away. But Paxton didn’t miss the rapid blinking of her eyes against the sudden tears. “Nothing. It’s probably just the hormones.”

While that could definitely play a part, his big-brother instincts told him something more was going on. “Is everything okay?” He thought back over her words. “Is there a problem between you and Jason?”

“I wouldn’t know,” she sniffed, then reached up to stroke her sleepy daughter’s hair. “He’s always at work. Though I guess that’s what I married him for...right?”

She turned back to him after only a few steps. “Take it from me, Paxton,” she said in a low tone. “Just because the whole business-before-pleasure thing worked for our parents and grandparents doesn’t mean it’s the wonderful life they told us it would be. Marrying for money is just as complicated as marrying for love.”

Then she quickly changed the subject. “Let’s check in,” she said, almost too nonchalantly. He knew she was trying to hide from him as she reached for the door.

He’d never known her to keep secrets, but her stoic facade worried him.

Following Sierra and his niece into the doctor’s waiting room, Paxton felt that familiar surge of protectiveness that he often got by just hanging out with his siblings. They’d always been close. Add in the gaggle of girl children his sisters had given birth to, and Paxton found himself to be a hands-on uncle. His grandmother often prophesied that Paxton would be the first to give the family a male heir, something he definitely looked forward to. But until then he would protect and love the women in his life as much as possible.

If he only knew what Sierra needed protecting from...

“Here,” he said, reaching out for his niece, “let me take her while you sign in.”

He snuggled the droopy toddler in his arms and stood behind his sister as the receptionist opened the window that separated her from the waiting room. Small talk floated around him as Sierra signed the check-in list; he wasn’t really paying attention. He glanced over the women’s heads, farther into the little box the receptionist occupied. Behind her, at the exit window, a woman in scrubs was speaking to a patient who was checking out. At first Paxton couldn’t see her. Then she turned toward him.

Ivy.

Without a thought, Paxton leaned closer to the opening. He knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but it was if his hearing was tuned in specifically to her voice. Luckily for him, his hearing was excellent.

“Here are your vitamins,” the woman in scrubs said.

Ivy had a nervous expression as she glanced down at the box on the checkout counter. Paxton’s gaze followed. He swallowed hard. The words prenatal vitamins seemed to jump out at him.

The woman continued, oblivious to the audience behind her. “And this is a prescription for nausea medicine. Take it when you need it, which will hopefully only be for another month or so. You and the baby need good nutrition right now, so we don’t want you too sick to eat. Got it?”

Ivy nodded, swallowing hard enough for Paxton to see her throat working. Nausea? Prenatal vitamins? Baby? The words floated through the fog clouding his brain. He blinked, trying to process. He knew what the words meant, but he couldn’t get the significance to register.

Just then, Ivy looked across the tiny room and spotted him. Her eyes went wide. Her lips parted, but no words came out. He didn’t need any. Panic spread across her features like a wave, putting the final piece in the puzzle.

A baby. They’d made a baby?

No sooner had he blinked than she was gone. He couldn’t see which way she went through the receptionist’s window.

“Paxton, what is wrong with you today?” his sister complained.

He glanced down to realize the way he was leaning had her blocked in against the check-in counter. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Here.”

He handed his niece over to her mother, then murmured, “I’ll be right back.”

Remembering the office layout from the few times he’d been there before, Paxton knew the exit let out on the other side of the clinic, but then patients had to come back up the front hallway to get to the parking lot. He rushed back out the way they’d come in, hoping to intercept Ivy. Not that he knew what he’d say. His only thought was to find her. Now.

The hallway was empty. He backtracked down the hall to the adjoining one, but still didn’t see her. Maybe she’d already gotten outside? But he couldn’t find her in the parking lot either. He cursed himself as he realized he wasn’t even sure what kind of car she drove. After a good five minutes—and one missed call and exasperated text from his sister—Paxton returned to the doctor’s waiting room.

But Ivy’s panicked features remained foremost in his mind.

* * *

“Paxton McLemore saw me at the obstetrician’s office.”

The heart-pounding panic as Ivy spoke the words to her sisters was almost overwhelming. She forced herself to breathe in and out slowly. This intense upset couldn’t be good for the child she carried. Even if it was justified. She’d spent a month second-guessing herself, only to have all her plans smashed with one doctor’s visit.

“What happened?” Jasmine asked, her voice hushed with expectation. Jasmine was the epitome of the older sister, fulfilling her role with wisdom and the same matter-of-fact tone she used on unruly clients in her event planning business.

“I looked up from the counter, and there he stood. Watching me.” Ivy swallowed. So tall. With a baby sleeping in his arms, he’d almost seemed like her fantasies come to life. Only it wasn’t their child. And the realization that she was truly seeing Paxton in that moment had been more like a nightmare.

One that mocked the dreams of happily-ever-after she’d been rudely woken from that fateful morning, two months ago.

“He recognized you, I hope?” Auntie asked, her frown deepening the wrinkles on her beloved face.

Oh, he had. “Yes. There was recognition in his eyes. Then shock.” Her finger traced the interlocking pattern of the tiger wood on the dining room table.

Ivy had watched Paxton’s gaze drop to the box on the counter with the paralyzing realization of what was to come...and knowing she could do nothing to stop it. Luckily the nurse had wrapped things up quickly.

She imagined her disappearing act would not go over well with Paxton once he got over the shock. “I panicked. I didn’t know what to do, what to say.” She looked around, shame burning her cheeks. “So I just grabbed my stuff and ran.”

A little giggle sounded to her left. Ivy cast a quick glance at Willow. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

Willow pressed her lips together, but it didn’t help since her amusement was evident to everyone. Their middle sister had always marched to her own drum. “Well, all I can imagine is you running down the hall, pushing people out of the way, like one of those victims in a thriller movie. In heels, no less.” She giggled again. “Not your normal modus operandi.”

Auntie started to chuckle, then Jasmine. In less than sixty seconds, they were all giggling until the tears started. Even Ivy. She drew in a deep breath. Man, that felt good. No one could make her laugh when she needed it like her sisters.

“Maybe he won’t care?” Willow asked, sober once more. How could she sound skeptical and hopeful at the same time?

Ivy forced herself to wipe away the last of her tears. She’d been reliving that awful moment when she’d looked up to see Paxton staring at her from across the little office for hours now. She’d finally realized his sister had been with him. At least his being there made some sort of sense now.

Even though it was still disastrous.

Auntie cut into her thoughts, offering the same steady wisdom she’d handed out to the girls since she’d taken them in as orphaned teenagers. “Oh, he will care. The question is, what will he do about it? Men like him never quit.”

As Ivy felt her stomach tighten in protest, Jasmine admonished, “Auntie, that’s not helping.”

“Doesn’t make it less true,” Auntie insisted.

How could she have gotten herself into this mess? With Paxton McLemore, of all people? “Why did I wear that ring?” She moaned, letting her head drop into her hands. “Why did I think it would bring anything but bad luck?”

“Because it produced miracles for Jasmine and me?” Willow asked.

This was really not a good moment for both of her sisters to remind Ivy that they’d found their happily-ever-afters while wearing the ring. She hadn’t been so lucky.

Ivy glared at Willow. “Too bad I didn’t get the same treatment.”

But she couldn’t truly blame the ring. She’d let fantasies overtake her since the first day she’d started working for Paxton McLemore, at the expense of her true mission. Keep her head down, work hard and get ahead—all without him discovering who she really was. Playing with fire had gotten her burned. Now her family could be in as much trouble as she was...if Paxton pursued her too closely and discovered who they really were.

“He hasn’t called, even though he has your personal cell number,” Jasmine said, obviously trying to change the subject. “Even though it’s only been a few hours, that’s a good sign, right?”

“I don’t know,” Ivy said and then moaned.

“Will he realize the baby is his?” Auntie asked.

“There’s no way Paxton McLemore won’t put two and two together.” They’d used a condom, but mistakes happen.

Ivy worried the inside of her bottom lip with her teeth. She didn’t doubt Paxton would contact her at some point. He might not care anything about her—he’d made that clear over the last two months. But a baby... Paxton was a family man through and through. She doubted he would ignore her pregnancy, no matter how much of an inconvenience it was to him. “I have no idea what to say to him.”

A banging on the front door startled them all. “Geesh,” Willow exclaimed. “Take it easy.”

She headed down the hallway. Jasmine’s hand covered Ivy’s, warming her chilled skin. “Everything’s gonna be okay,” she murmured.

Why didn’t Ivy feel the same way?

They heard Willow open the door and say something, followed by a deep, smooth male voice.

“Where is she?”

Ivy’s eyes widened, her gaze locking with Jasmine’s. There was no mistaking Paxton’s voice or the forceful tone that she’d heard time and again in business meetings. The panic from earlier returned full force, drumming in her chest. She and Jasmine scrambled from their seats.

Together, they peeked around the door frame of the dining room, straight down the hall. Paxton stood in the front doorway with an angry expression on his face. In that moment he glanced over Willow’s shoulder and saw Ivy.

He didn’t bother asking for permission. Instead he shouldered past Ivy’s sister and stomped down the hallway, causing the wooden floors to creak in protest.

“Paxton,” Ivy exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Hunting down what’s mine.”

A small part of her was thrilled at his words, but the anger in his expression told her in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t here for her. At least, not the way she wanted.

“Get out!” The words escaped her mouth just as Auntie murmured, “I told you so.”

A hint of amusement passed over Paxton’s face before he turned grim again. “If I’m understanding this situation correctly, you turned in your resignation and walked away, knowing you were pregnant with my child?”

A chorus of feminine “oh dears” filled the air and guilt struck Ivy hard. Yes, that’s exactly what she’d done. But his blunt recitation of the facts didn’t truly represent the whole picture: her loneliness and fear and anger over the past two months.

“Ivy,” Paxton said, his timbre low and menacing. He stopped directly in front of her, looming just enough to inspire a touch of fear. “It seems we have a problem.”

Three

“Do I get any kind of explanation?”

“Do you deserve one?” Under other circumstances, Ivy had plenty of reserves to pull from to keep herself diplomatic. But Paxton’s appearance here had her off guard and on edge.

She needed her sisters. A glance toward the doorway from the kitchen showed that it was empty. Ivy licked her dry lips. When Paxton had asked to speak with her alone, they’d reluctantly left for the front parlor. Not that they wouldn’t come running if she yelled, but still...she couldn’t stop herself from wrapping her arms around her middle.

Facing him alone made her stomach hurt even more than when she’d just been worrying over him showing up.

“How’d you find me?” she asked.

“Human resources was nice enough to help with an address.”

She licked her lips again. “Why?”

“Seriously?”

Ivy was genuinely surprised as Paxton’s eyes widened and his tone deepened with more anger. She wasn’t sure why. Paxton was passionate about kids. But the knowledge that he was here for that reason alone made her own anger surge.

“I could have been at the doctor’s office for any number of reasons...” she insisted.

“Like getting a prescription of prenatal vitamins?”

“That was none of your business, Paxton.”

“Don’t even go there...” he growled.

He leaned closer, his height giving him the advantage. His intention might not be intimidation, but it sure felt that way. Even in her heels, she’d never come close to his height. In her current flip-flops, she didn’t stand a chance. But at least she was still on her feet. Sitting down felt like giving him too much of an advantage, so she continued to stand, even though her body swayed under the continuous onslaught of pregnancy hormones, nausea and exhaustion.

Paxton wasn’t through throwing his weight around. “If you simply wanted to walk away from your job, that’s your prerogative. But with my child? No way.”

The possessiveness in his words sent a scary thrill through her. “My child,” she insisted.

“Your words earlier already told me it’s mine, too.” He smirked. “You can’t deny it. I was listening at the window. I heard it all.”

How would it feel to be able to wipe that smirk off his face?

If she’d known he was listening, she’d have been careful not to give so much away. Eavesdropper. But then, Paxton was used to having his way in life. She’d seen it time and again when she worked for him. It would be best to set some boundaries up front. “A little beneath you, isn’t it?”

“I could say the same. Sneaking around. Running away. You could have just told me.”

In that moment it felt like Ivy’s blood turned to jet fuel and someone set a match to it. Heated fury instantly engulfed her. She stomped forward. “At what point? You made it clear you weren’t interested in hearing anything personal. And you certainly didn’t seem to be interested in any consequences before today.”

He shook his head. “This is a child we’re talking about here.”

Obviously that’s all that mattered. “I see. The only consequences of note are the ones that affect you.”

He stalked away, steps heavy on the kitchen’s tile floor, and raked his hands through his blond hair in a familiar gesture she’d seen so many times in his office. Frustration. Anger. It took a lot to push Paxton that far. When those emotions overtook him in public, he simply went cold in his expression, movements and words.

Not in private. That was the part she already missed—all the emotions she’d been privy to that Paxton rarely showed anyone outside his family.

Unfortunately, now the emotions were directed at her. And not the fiercely tender ones she remembered from their one night together.

After several rounds of pacing, he settled in a chair at the table, then gestured for her to do the same. The stubborn part of her that wouldn’t rest today wanted to insist he wasn’t her boss anymore. She’d sit when she was good and ready. But the invitation rather than demand in his simple motion made her stubbornness seem petty.

Damn him.

She sat across from him, uncomfortably reminded of the many business negotiations she’d seen him participate in, sitting just this way. Facing his opponent dead-on. He didn’t let them know they were opponents. Oh no. He greeted them with a charming smile and handshake. Otherwise he’d be giving too much away.

She unconsciously braced herself as he leaned her way.

“Why?” he asked, his voice soft but with an undercurrent of steel. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

She bit her lip, feeling heartless. But what could she say? She hadn’t truly decided what she was going to do. Right now, every day was about survival: submitting résumés for another job, getting enough food in her so she didn’t pass out, but not so much that she threw up.

Not an easy balancing act.

Finally she sighed, then attempted to put her thoughts into words. “Eventually...” She swallowed, studying the intricate pattern of light and dark wood pieces fitted together to create the handmade table where so many big family discussions had taken place in her life. “Once I had things figured out and stable, I would have let you know.”

“And what needs to be figured out?” His voice had gone low again, this time with warning.

Surprised, she glanced over at him. She’d known that Paxton was unusually devoted to his family and doted on all of his nieces. Every bit of that protective instinct was alive and well in his expression right now. But not for her...never for her. “Obviously a new job,” she said, hurt clipping her words.

“Obviously?”

“Yes, Paxton.” Her exasperation left her breathy. “Regardless of what happens between us or with this pregnancy, working together after this would not be pleasant...or professional.”

“Why not? Can’t you separate your emotions from your job?”

Not that much. “Don’t be ridiculous, Paxton.”

“What happened between us—”

“Was a mistake.”

He froze for a split second, as if he couldn’t believe her words. “Says who?”

“You—” she erupted, slapping her palm on the table with more force than she had intended. How dare he act like she was overreacting. “You did. With every phone call and email that contained plenty of instructions but a whole lot of nothing.” She couldn’t control the rise in volume. “You did this, Paxton.”

“You never said anything.”

“I slept with my boss!” She struggled for breath in the midst of her raging emotions. “When he leaves without waking you up and then never mentions it again, there could only be two explanations—he’s either too drunk to remember what happened or refuses to acknowledge what happened. There’s not a whole lot I can say to address either of those situations.”