Expecting A Fortune
Jan Colley

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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Thanks to Peter Mounce, brother-in-law and font of knowledge on the thoroughbred horse-breeding industry; to Kelli Lowe, a friend who conveniently participated in the same phase of pregnancy as the heroine of this book and shared her “bump” stories with me (Hello to beautiful baby boy Alex!) and to Debbie and Paul Thistoll of the Emerald Lodge Stud near Christchurch, who gave up their precious time to show me around their busy and successful stud farm.

Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Jan Colley

for her contribution to the DAKOTA FORTUNES miniseries.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Coming Next Month

One

Skylar pressed Send and waited for the personalized world clock to do its thing.

“Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S.A,” she read off the screen. “Friday, 9:06 p.m. Christchurch, New Zealand, Saturday, 4:06 p.m.”

Would he be working?

Scraping her fingernails along damp palms, she drew in a ragged breath and hopefully a bucket of courage. Too long had passed, about three months too long, but she could hide it no longer.

Phone, address book…her fingers raced around the desk, tidying the jar of pens, straightening papers. Should she make a drink or go to the bathroom first? If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. Who said that? she wondered, then a knock at the door cranked up her heartbeat. A welcome relief? A stay of execution? But the butterflies stayed with her as she rose, tugging her long shirt down over her sweats.

It was easy to avoid people, living in the cottage by the stables, away from the prying eyes of the main house on the estate. No one had noticed a thing, but that wasn’t surprising. After all, who ever noticed Skylar? But the concern in her brother’s eyes on a rare visit from Deadwood last week came back to her now.

“Coming.” Skylar yanked the door open and nearly passed out on the spot.

Zack Manning opened his mouth then closed it again with an audible snap, or that might have been the sound of her knees buckling.

He stared at her, the beginnings of a smile on his handsome face fading fast.

Her worst nightmare. Adrenaline flooded her system and she could not look away. She felt her lips move in a soundless prayer, felt the tension in her fingers, balled into fists by her sides.

After an age, he lowered his gaze, straight to her midriff. Released momentarily, she sagged against the doorjamb, but her relief was short-lived. Incredulous gray eyes shot back to her face, pinning her again, and she watched his tanned face leach slowly of color.

Skylar swallowed. “Zack,” she said, her tone just above a whisper. Deny everything. He couldn’t see what she had hidden under her long checked flannel shirt.

“When did you think you might put me in the picture?”

Skylar’s head dropped and she stared at her feet. “I was just—I just got off the Net. The world clock…” Her voice trailed off. Did she expect him to believe that when she was four months pregnant and hadn’t bothered before now?

The crown of her downcast head prickled under his glare. Sighing, she moved to the side so he could enter. Skylar closed the door as he brushed past but did not turn immediately. Instead she leaned her forehead on the door, gathering her jumbled thoughts, but the truth of it was, she had no idea what to say.

Slowly she turned. Zack prowled the lounge of her cozy little cottage and he looked furious. Tightly controlled, but furious. His tall rangy form bristled with tension, his mouth was set in a harsh line.

She hovered by the door, hoping she didn’t look as tragic as she felt.

Zack suddenly came to a halt and leaned forward with his large hands spread on the battered leather of her old sofa. “We used protection.” His voice was flat.

Skylar’s first thought was surprise that he did not question the baby’s paternity, that he automatically assumed this was his child. Then she bit her lip to stop a rogue smile. Who would want her? After all, she’d been a virgin that night back at the beginning of February.

“The…it broke, I guess.” She kept her face down, unable to even say the word. Her face felt hot enough to fry an egg on. How excruciating, to be discussing this with him. “I thought—” her breath hitched “—it might have, when Maya was here.”

Her best friend had burst into the unlocked cottage almost the moment they’d finished. Skylar had panicked, vaulting from her bed, pushing at him while throwing a robe on. Maya had a habit of just walking up the stairs and into her bedroom.

“I think I would know!” His voice was low with an icy undertone.

Her shoulders jerked as she recalled the desperate whispers, how she had pushed him into her bathroom and closed the door. There was just enough time to kick his clothes under the bed and straighten the covers before a tearful Maya walked into the room.

Aside from the fantastic sex, it was a pretty lousy end to her first time.

“I would have known!” he insisted.

“The light was out,” Skylar whispered. Images of herding him into her bathroom played through her mind like a film clip. His hand reaching for the light switch. Her hand slapping it away. “You probably couldn’t see.”

“And you didn’t think to mention it at the time?”

“I wasn’t sure.” She rubbed her forehead, sighing wearily. It was her first time, how was she supposed to know? And even if she did, there was no way she could have broached such an intimate subject. Not with him. “I didn’t—didn’t think I knew you well enough.”

“Didn’t know me well enough?” He made a harsh sound that might have been a laugh.

“It wasn’t like we were in a relationship,” she mumbled. “It was just too embarrassing, talking about—stuff like that.”

She flicked him a nervous glance and a ray of hope soothed her a little. His mouth was more relaxed. A wash of anger still mottled his cheeks but his brows creased more in confusion now. Maybe he believed her.

“I couldn’t see a thing,” he said, as if to himself. “I just disposed of it and waited for you to get Maya out of the bedroom.” He glanced at her sharply. “You were pretty keen to get rid of me then.”

Skylar walked over to the dining table and sat. “I thought I’d be spared—” she clasped her hands, prayer-like, on the table “—since it was my first time.”

His tone was incredulous. “Skylar, you breed horses. Virgin or not, surely you understood the implications of unprotected sex.”

Squeezing her hands together, she nodded miserably.

Zack leaned on the couch, his eyes boring into her. It was done. The worst was over. She cast him some furtive looks and his well-remembered features began to make an impact on her already heightened senses. Skin like his loved the sun and her own pale arms, bare from the elbow, looked insipid compared to his healthy tan. New Zealand’s seasons were the opposite to here and South Dakota was just out of a long, cold winter. His sandy hair was still short at the back but longer than she remembered at the sides and front. The deep dimples that traced a line from his well-defined cheekbones to his strong chin were not in evidence tonight. Skylar had fallen head over heels for those dimples almost at first glance.

“Does anyone else know?”

She shook her head. Avoiding the family and her monthly nights out with Maya wasn’t difficult when it was the busiest time of the year for the Fortune Stud.

“When were you thinking of telling them? After the birth, or…”

His sarcasm intensified her guilt. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry.” Zack began pacing the room again, as if he was circling his prey.

“I don’t—hold you responsible or anything.”

“What?” The tension in his quiet voice screamed through her nerves.

“I mean, financially…”

There was a long, excruciating silence.

She sighed, still not looking at him. “I mean, this doesn’t have to encroach on…”

Zack sat down suddenly, as if all the air had just gone out of him. “No,” he said dazedly, “I’m only the father.”

He was ashen. Skylar rose, guilt clawing at her throat. “Do you want something? A drink?”

“Are you seeing someone?” He peered up at her in a lightning change of tack.

She ducked her head with a disbelieving smile, as if he’d said something ridiculous. “No.” She twisted her hands together. “Who?”

His suspicious appraisal was unwarranted.

“What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you weren’t coming back till the fall.”

“Blake called,” he muttered. “He was worried about you, said you weren’t yourself.”

“He shouldn’t have done that.”

“Done what?” he asked.

“Gotten you involved.”

Zack bared his teeth mirthlessly. “Since I’m only the father.”

“He doesn’t know anything.”

“Makes two of us!” he barked, and Skylar jumped. There was an indeterminate slide inside that she’d only felt a couple of times before, and her hand instinctively went to her stomach.

“What is it?” Zack leapt to his feet. “What’s wrong?”

She looked up and blinked at the concern in his eyes. “Nothing.”

“Why are you holding your stomach?”

“The baby moved.”

The look on his face shocked her, as did the jerky movements of his big hands as they dragged through his sandy hair.

“I can’t believe this,” he grated, “You’re—what? Four months pregnant, the baby’s moving and I’ve only—I didn’t know a thing.”

That was pain darkening his eyes, she was sure. Pain making his voice sound raw.

“And I’m not to have any part of it?” Zack clipped out. “You want to cut me out of everything?”

Skylar twisted her hands together. “It’s not like that.” She shuffled on her feet, not knowing what to do or say to make things right, or if not right, better.

“I think I will have that drink,” he told her curtly, after long moments had passed.

Why had she offered? The only alcohol Skylar had ever kept in the house was the odd bottle of wine if Maya was coming by. The day her pregnancy was confirmed, she’d thrown out a half-empty bottle in her fridge.

She peered at a dusty bottle of some apricot liqueur that must have been there for three or four years, then closed the cupboard and poured him a glass of water.

As soon as he’d taken it from her, she moved back, turning away from the waves of anger she sensed building in him again. She tottered a few steps, turning from him and heard his hard swallow.

What a mess. The word sorry danced around and around her mind, along with clumsy, clueless, stupid. The silence dragged on and she chewed on her thumbnail. “Where are you staying?”

Zack rapped out the name of Sioux Falls most prominent hotel, the Fortune’s Seven, one of several her brothers owned.

Sleeping with him was the dumbest thing she’d ever done, although at the time, it surpassed all her amassed curiosity and fantasies. She should stick to horses for company. She’d never had a problem talking to horses. They didn’t judge or reduce her to a quivering mass of nerves and resentment at her clumsy social skills.

“I’ll take care of everything,” she blurted, unable to take the silence anymore.

She heard another hard swallow. “That’s great. That’s just great, Skylar.”

She spun around, stung by the bitterness in his voice. His searing eyes told her it was anything but great.

“The baby won’t want for anything,” she told him defensively. He must know that. She made good money doing what she was doing, quite apart from her heritage as one of the Fortune family. The city of Sioux Falls was practically owned by the Fortunes.

“Nothing but a father.”

She sighed. “My father and Patricia will be crazy about a baby. And my brothers, well, they’ll come around. The baby will be knee-deep in male role models.”

“And you don’t think that a biological father has any part in this warped family scene you’ve cooked up?”

“Zack, if you want to see it, have access, that’s—that’s okay.”

“Access?” he snapped, prowling around her in an ever-decreasing circle.

Skylar flinched, blinking. “If you want. What do you want?”

He gave her a withering look. “Thanks for asking. Pick a date. We’ll get the whole family around tomorrow and tell them we’re getting married.”

“What?” It was her turn to be shocked.

“Make it quick, Skylar. I can’t be away from home for long.”

“Married?” she whispered, her head spinning.

He drained his glass and banged it down on the table. “My child is going to have two loving parents, not just one.”

“I’m not marrying you, Zack.” A hiccup escaped her throat. “Not marrying anyone.”

He leaned down, his face inches from hers. “You may have cut me out of this till now, the worrying, the morning sickness, the movements. But that changes as of right now.” She’d never seen his gray eyes glint like steel before. “We are going to be married, so get used to it.”

She made a pitiful attempt at a smile. “That’s just—dumb.”

“What’s dumb?” he demanded. “Pretending it hasn’t happened? Hiding it from everyone? I suppose you could have delivered it in the stables and told everyone the stork left it.”

His flippant remark stirred an unusual lick of anger. “Maybe this is why I didn’t tell you. I was afraid you’d want to take over, have it all your way.”

Her voice rang out, clear and strong, making them both start. Skylar seemed to have lost her stammer. Normally she was hard-pressed to string five words together around Zack Manning.

He recovered first. “You’ve had your way. It isn’t good enough.”

“I’m not marrying you, Zack.”

“No kid of mine is going to be brought up without two parents and a wedding ring.”

“This child will want for nothing,” she repeated, stung at the assumption she couldn’t provide for the baby.

This wasn’t like her, to argue back. It must be her hormones kicking in. Her baby-protective hormones.

“No, it won’t, because I’ll take care of the both of you.”

Incredulous, she just stared at him, shaking her head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Whatever.” He shrugged and headed for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“If I’m not back in an hour, your father has used his shotgun on me.”

“No!” Skylar leapt after him. “Zack, please. Let me tell him, my own way.”

“You’ve had your way for four months. The next five are mine, I reckon.”

She attempted to scoot around him to get to the door first. “He’s an old man and he has problems of his own right now.”

Zack blocked her with ease. “Your father is tough as an ox.”

“Zack, Patricia has left him. He’s devastated.”

“Then a wedding to look forward to and a baby on the way should be just what he needs to take his mind off things.”

“Will you please,” she implored, “leave my father out of this until I’ve had a chance to think?”

Zack nearly combusted, his knuckles on the doorknob turning white. “A chance to think?”

“Just until I tell everyone. I’ll keep you informed—”

He yanked the door open, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, right!”

Skylar was hot on his heels and having to run to keep up.

Zack turned on her. “Get back inside.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Skylar, this is man’s talk. You don’t want to be there.”

“Don’t you patronize me!” Much as the note of panic in her voice disgusted her, she had to stall him.

“Calm down.” He turned her, his hands surprisingly gentle on her shoulders and at odds with the harshness of his voice. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Dad’s not at the house,” she lied, desperate. “He had to go look for Patricia.”

“Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

“You’re impossible!” she wailed.

“No, I’m a lamb.” He propelled her back inside. “And you are a lying, conniving…Sit down.” He settled her gently, insistently, into a chair. “And wait for me.”

“When did I ever lie to you?” Skylar wondered if she could faint on cue. Any stupid female trick would do, just to keep him here.

He bent toward her, his face so close she felt his breath on her skin. “How about my twice-monthly phone calls, when I would ask how you were?” he suggested.

She bit her lip, her eyes wide. Trust him to bring that up.

“Did you not think to say, ‘Fine, Zack. Pregnant. It’s yours, but fine.’” He glared down at her then turned on his heel.

She slumped. It was true. She’d had ample opportunities to tell him he was going to be a father. How excited she’d been, the first time he called, yet embarrassed, too, at the less than perfect ending to their night of passion. In subsequent calls he’d suggested she come down to check out his new stud and also dropped hints about his return in September for the Keeneland Sales: “Maybe you could take a couple days off and come with me…” She was ever the blithering idiot, too shy to talk of anything other than horses.

Naturally, after she discovered she was pregnant, those conversations were torture and she wondered why he bothered. But to give him his due, he had always shown an interest, always asked after her.

A car engine started up outside, rousing her.

Her father! She had to warn him. Picking up the phone, Skylar quickly dialed the house and begged her father not to talk to him. “Get Peggy to say you’re out,” she demanded. Goodness knows she asked for little enough from her father.

Curious, Nash Fortune agreed, telling her to come up directly after Zack had gone.

A few minutes later, Zack returned, thwarted in his attempt to speak to her father. Grim and determined, he pushed his face close to hers. “If you are not here in the morning,” he warned, “I will track you down. Count on it.”

As soon as he left for town, Skylar drove up to the big house and her father opened the door. “What is going on, Skylar?”

He looked so tired. She hated having to dump this on him, after the day or so he’d endured. It wasn’t a lie about her father’s wife leaving him. “Any news on Patricia?”

Nash shook his head sadly. “No. What’s Zack Manning got a bee in his bonnet about?”

“Sit down, Dad.”

Two

Never again!

Zack swung the rental car out of the hotel parking lot and headed toward the Fortune Estate, about twenty miles west of the city of Sioux Falls.

Never again would he allow himself to be shafted by wealth and power. That was his domain now. He had more than enough to make Skylar’s family squirm, should they play hardball.

His eye was drawn to the twenty-three-story Dakota Fortune building a block away, where Case and Creed, her half brothers, conducted their business. No doubt he’d have to deal with them at some stage, but his focus was on Nash Fortune this morning. Regardless of the man’s marital upheaval, his daughter was four months’ gone—four months!—and it was past time Nash knew what Zack’s intentions were.

He rubbed his eyes, a sleepless night exacerbating a whole hemisphere of jet lag.

Focusing on what to say to Nash helped ease the burn of anger. Skylar clearly thought so little of him, she couldn’t even tell him of the life they’d created. Sure, they barely knew each other, but he bristled at the notion that he was unapproachable where Skylar was concerned. He’d made a concerted effort to be pleasant to her on his visit here earlier in the year, especially when it became apparent how shy and uncomfortable being around him made her. Zack knew when someone was sweet on him.

His cell phone rang. It was Max Fortune, his closest friend and business partner in Australia and Skylar’s cousin.

“What in blazes? You knocked up my little cuzzy, you bastard?”

Zack grinned. The Australian rancher was all bark and no bite where he was concerned. They’d been through a lot together.

Then he sobered. These big rich families moved quick. He hadn’t said a word to anyone and already the southern hemisphere family grapevine was abuzz. “What do you want?” he drawled.

“To knock your block off, mate.” There was a pause. “What are you going to do?”

Zack blew out a breath. “I’m on my way to see Nash now about making an honest woman of her.”

There was a lengthy silence. The two men’s self-imposed bachelorhood had come to a sticky end a few months ago when Max wed his old flame Diana. Zack imagined the sound of necks cracking as his friends and enemies did a double take at this second blow to confirmed bachelor status Down Under.

“What does Sky think about that?”

Zack had his own ideas about that. While tossing and turning in his hotel bed, he’d concluded that he’d walked into a setup the night of Case Fortune’s wedding four months ago. Skylar’s setup.

“She’ll come around,” he said shortly. “Who told you, anyway?”

“Nash called Dad. Gave us all a shock, that’s for real. Dad told him, ‘Don’t trust that Kiwi, he’s got sprogs all over the world and he’s only out for your money.’”

Zack let out a bark of laughter and nearly missed his turnoff. “Tell the old reprobate thanks.” He knew of Teddy Fortune’s warm regard for him.

But there were some things the Australian Fortunes didn’t know. Like the mistake eighteen years ago, when Zack had gotten his young sweetheart pregnant. Like the anger that had burned in his gut all these years, born of his helplessness as a penniless boy from the wrong side of the tracks who had been virtually run out of town. Helpless to stop Rhianne from giving in to her rich family’s wishes to abort his baby and not ruin her life.

Never again…

“You’ll, aah, you’ll be nice, won’t you, Zack? I like old Freckles, she’s a good sort. I wouldn’t have her hurt.”

“I like her, too, Max,” Zack reassured his friend quickly. “Wish me luck or I won’t ask you to be best man.”

He hung up, thinking with surprise that was true; he did like Skylar, more than he’d liked any woman in a long time. There was something about her right from the start, even though she did nothing to lead him on, until the night of that family wedding.

Shocked nearly senseless at the news he was going to be a father, there was not a shadow of a doubt in his mind that he and Skylar would marry. Even now, about to confront her father and cause this family all sorts of upset, there was only one course of action.

Love didn’t come into it.

Just ahead, he saw the stone pillars that announced Fortune Estate land. Instead of turning off to Skylar’s cottage in the stand of trees by the stables, he drove toward the big house, as she called it, thinking it was better Nash was prewarned, had had time to think about it.

Despite that, his stomach tightened as he approached the huge old mausoleum the Fortunes called home. A little too gothic for his taste; Zack preferred a more contemporary residence. The dark gray stone made it appear almost black and very forbidding. But inside, it was comfortable and homely, reflecting Patricia’s warm personality.

He parked the car and took the steps leading up to the house two at a time. Peggy, the housekeeper, showed him into the dining room. Zack was surprised to find only Nash present. He’d expected one or two of the large family here at this time.

The older man looked up from his breakfast, his glum expression lightening. “Zack! Sit down. I hate to eat alone.”

The two shook hands and Zack helped himself to juice and toast from the ample buffet and tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent Nash calling to Peggy to fix some fresh eggs.

“Where is everyone?” he asked, part of him disappointed he could not settle with the whole family in one sitting. They chatted for a couple of minutes about the whereabouts of the other residents of the house. Since Zack had left in early February, Nash’s older daughter, Eliza, had moved to Montana to be with her husband, Reese. The other two sons, Case and Creed, divided their time between apartments in town and the estate.

Then Nash fixed him with a stern gaze. “So you’re about to become a daddy.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“Congratulations.” Nash’s gaze narrowed as if trying to read his mind.

“Not sure that’s appropriate, under the circumstances.”

“New life is precious, whatever the circumstances.” Nash finished his pancakes just as Peggy slid a plate full of freshly scrambled eggs in front of Zack. His mouth watered. He’d eaten nothing but plastic airline food in the last twenty-four hours.

“I like you, Zack,” the older man continued. “You’re a straight shooter. I believe your intentions are good.”

“They are.” Zack sent up a silent thanks to Teddy Fortune in Australia. “I asked her to marry me.”

“Asked?”

Zack paused, a forkful of eggs on the way to his mouth. “More or less,” he affirmed with a quick nod. “She won’t have it.”

Nash leaned back, his expression fond. “Skylar is a complicated girl,” he said slowly. “It’s hard to know what she’s thinking. Her mother—well, she wasn’t the mothering type.”

Zack knew a little of the history. Skylar and Blake’s real mother, Trina, was run off the Fortune Estate, sans children, when Nash discovered her cheating on him. By all accounts, Patricia, Nash’s third wife, was more of a mother to them than their own.

“I don’t know Skylar as well as I should.” Nash lifted his coffee cup. “She bottles things up. She’s close to her brother, and Patricia and Maya, but doesn’t seem to need the rest of us much.” He gave a sad little smile. “We all think the world of her, but it’s true, we’re a family that doesn’t talk easily about feelings.”

“I’ll take good care of her, sir. I know it’ll be strange at first, a new country, being away from her family. But I’m in a position to give her anything she wants.”

“What she wants? I think what she wants is her independence. And her horses. Girl always loved her darn horses.”

“I have more than enough horses to keep her happy.” Zack pushed his plate away and leaned his arms on the table. “It’ll be a good life, Nash, and I’ll bring her and the baby back whenever she wants.”

“It’s not me you have to convince.” The older man sighed heavily. “There’s too much goin’ around in my old brain at the moment. Thing is, I don’t think Skylar knows a lot about the ways of men. She’s an innocent.”

Not that much of an innocent, Zack thought grimly.

A flash of blue through the window caught his eye. Their subject mounted the steps outside. “Do I have your blessing, sir?” he asked quickly.

“My blessing?” Nash stuck his thumb in his belt, his tired blue eyes peering out under thick graying brows. “If you can get the girl to agree then…” He nodded slowly, then raised his head.

Skylar entered the room, looking mutinous. They both watched her approach and Nash inhaled sharply. “How the heck did we all miss it?” he murmured. “It’s as obvious as a poke in the eye she’s expecting.”

Both men stared at her candidly, though doubtless Zack’s reaction was vastly different than her father’s. To an outsider, she was dressed as normal: jeans, a longish flannel shirt with a shapeless navy jacket over the top. Her light brown hair shone in braids, what he could see of it, with her signature baseball cap jammed on top.

The moment she’d opened the door last night, the knowledge that she was pregnant hit him like a sledgehammer between the eyes. Wham! She’s pregnant. Wham! It’s mine.

Wham! Not again…

He’d always considered her pretty. Her wide mouth turned up at the corners with a sweetly pronounced bow in the middle. Arched brows dipped low in the middle of her forehead in that interesting way some women had that looked like they were on the verge of frowning. The old adage about pregnant women glowing was true, the proof of it standing in front of him now. A luster to her creamy skin, freckles seemed more pronounced, her eyes more blue. In his mind, the shy and scruffy tomboy who never looked him right in the eye, had been replaced by one hellishly attractive woman.

One very ticked off woman. As if she could read his thoughts, she glared at him, her chin tilted up defiantly. “What are you doing here, upsetting my father?”

Nash raised his hand. “Now, now. He’s not upsetting me. We’re just having a chat.”

She kept her eyes on Zack. “About me, naturally.”

Zack folded his arms, torn between a worrying stab of desire and annoyance.

“Get yourself some breakfast, girl,” her father ordered. “Let’s talk this thing out.”

Skylar narrowed her eyes even more for good measure then stalked to the buffet and poured some juice into a glass. She returned to the table and sat.

Zack looked pointedly at the glass. “Shouldn’t you eat something?”

“Don’t start,” she retorted.

Both guns blazing, he thought with wonder. Where had this spitfire been hiding?

Nash looked at her daughter. “Zack has asked me for your hand.”

She scowled. “How quaint. Is that a New Zealand custom?”

“Skylar,” Nash hushed her. “Do you like him at all?”

She exhaled and looked away with a shrug.

“Well, I assume you liked him well enough to make a baby with him,” Nash rumbled.

Skylar’s eyes shot around the room, resting on Peggy clearing a table over by the window. “Dad!” Her freckles almost disappeared in the crimson glow. “I’ve told him I’ll take care of everything,” she said in a low voice. “He can see the baby whenever he wants. If he wants.”

Zack swallowed his scathing reply. He would deal with that when they were alone.

Nash cleared his throat. “See, I think Zack might be a little like me. When I asked your mother to leave, it was on the proviso that she leave you kids here. I couldn’t bear to be parted from you, any of you.”

“Lots of people are single parents,” she began. “Statistics say…”

Nash cut her off. “Not in this family, girl. You’re a Fortune. I would ask you to consider the implications of that in all you do.”

Skylar’s eyes widened.

Nash continued in a softer tone. “Just because it’s the modern way doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.”

She glanced meaningfully at Zack. “If you want to be more involved, then you’re just going to have to spend more time in the States.”

He frowned at her. She seemed to have left the stammer behind, as well.

Then she did something that rocked him to the core. She leaned right back in that age-old pose of pregnant women everywhere, one hand cradling the bottom of her belly and the other moving slowly, lovingly, just under her breasts.

Something slammed in his chest. Man, he’d never wanted to touch something so much.

“Zack?”

Nash’s voice cut through his longing. Zack cleared his throat for the second wave of attack. “We can come over two or three times a year. I know you’ll want the baby to grow up knowing family.”

Skylar’s sweet mouth compressed and she huffed out a sigh. He frowned at her, annoyed with himself for being distracted, even charmed by her. “Skylar, I’m offering you marriage. Security. A good life for that baby of ours. There will be no stigma about single parents, or why Daddy doesn’t live with you. You and I aren’t romantics. We are sensible, well-grounded people. We’ll damn well make this work for the sake of the child.”

Her mouth still a straight line, she put her nose in the air and looked away.

Nash rested his elbow on the table, his fingers moving through his graying hair. “I wish Patricia were here. She’d know what to say.”

Skylar looked at him, concern softening her lips.

“After we talked last night, Sky, I made a couple of calls, to Teddy and another business contact I have in those parts,” Nash commented, eliciting startled glances from both of them. “Zack is wealthy, successful at what he does, and if there are any skeletons in his closet, they’re so far back, it doesn’t matter a damn. He is well liked and respected. He has never been married, has no children. Teddy and Max are behind him one hundred percent. You could do a lot worse, you know.”

Skylar looked at him, smudges of betrayal darkening her eyes. “You’re talking about the rest of my life here.”

Nash’s head rolled back, his broad chest rising on a deep inhalation. “Where does it say marriage is forever? Ask me.”

Her eyes shone with sympathy. “Oh, Dad. She’ll come back. I know she will.”

“She will or she won’t.” Nash sighed and his stern gaze moved to each of them in turn. “But I have bigger things to worry about than two young people who are very well suited, even if they don’t know it yet.” He leaned forward and put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “Love grew for me and Patricia. It didn’t happen overnight. Now you have a baby to think of and a family name that has been besmirched once too often for my liking. And I’d like to tell you differently, girl, but there are no guarantees in this life.”

Zack watched Skylar’s face fall. He actually felt a pang of sympathy for her, even though her father was on his side. But he kept silent. This salvo was between her and Nash.

“Just tell me you’ll think about it. Don’t set your mind against it on some girlish notion.” He put both hands on the table and pushed himself up, sadness evident in his stooped shoulders. “Give me something good to tell Patricia if she calls. She’s got a real soft spot for you. She’d love to see you expecting. A marriage in the family is just what’s needed to bring us all together again.”

“That’s blackmail,” Skylar whispered.

“Whatever works for you,” Nash said comfortably. “Just promise you’ll consider it, Skylar. It’s not a bad proposition.” He turned to Zack, putting out his hand. “Shall I tell Peggy to air out the empty apartment upstairs? No sense wasting time and money on a hotel.”

Zack shook his hand. “Maybe in a few days. I’d appreciate it.”

The silence lasted minutes after Nash walked heavily from the room. Zack was torn, wanting to comfort her, guessing she felt let down. The temptation was there to go in for the kill while she was vulnerable, the words of her father fresh in her mind. But sometimes, as in business, it was best to let the opposing party lead and hang themselves.

“You can stop looking so smug,” she muttered, suddenly, drawing herself up in a tense line.

Her eyes flashed, warming his blood. How could he have forgotten the fire in her? He recalled having the skin of his back raked when he’d realized she was a virgin and momentarily pulled back. That straightened his spine and made him grin. No way would spitfire Skylar allow that!

Catching her eye, he arranged a more sober expression on his face and put his hands behind his head.

“What are you looking at?”

“It occurs to me I’ve been a bit insensitive.”

“Really?” Her mouth curved in what she probably meant to be a sneer, but Skylar’s mouth didn’t do sneer. It was still a sweet smile.

“So I’m asking. Skylar Fortune, will you marry me?”

The indignation drained out of her. Her eyes were troubled, her mouth turned down. “Oh, Zack.”

He leaned toward her, taking one of her hands before she could pull back. “It’s not the perfect start, I give you that. But a child should have two parents. We are responsible, independently wealthy, sexually compatible…” He smiled at the blush scooting up her throat and face. “And we like each other. We always did.”

Skylar bit her lip briefly, drawing his eye. In lieu of kissing her there, where she was so troubled, he raised her hand, laced their fingers together and kissed the tips of hers.

“It’s not enough,” she mumbled.

He nodded reassuringly. “It’s enough.”

She squeezed his hand. “Zack, I never ever expected to get pregnant. And I never expected to fall in love and get married and walk off into the sunset, either. But why should you settle for second best?”

“I don’t consider you second best,” he admonished. “Far from it.”

Skylar pulled back from him suddenly, wrapping her arms about her torso. This was all moving too fast. He was too easy, calm, while she felt like screaming and gnashing her teeth. She knew a hustle when she saw one. Her father and Zack were bonding together…and she had a fair idea of what her brothers would think about all of this. Case and Creed, her half brothers, were carbon copies of their father. The scandal this pregnancy would cause would be their main concern. She imagined lots of male posturing and talk of dragging Zack down the aisle.

Gulping air, she rocked back and forth, trying to quell a rising panic. “Oh, I don’t know what to say…” she wailed, not caring that Peggy was still in the room.

“Say yes, Skylar.” Zack’s voice remained calm and constant. “I won’t let you down.”

Why should she believe him? She’d always felt so apart from everyone, like an afterthought. Did no one else see how impossible this was?

It had hurt to hear her father’s glib words, passing her fears off like she didn’t know her own mind. No guarantees, do what’s right, don’t surrender to girlish notions…such as love?

A tear welled up. A tear! Skylar Fortune didn’t cry. She swiped at her eyes, succeeding only in dislodging it and starting its journey. “He can’t force me,” she said through clenched teeth. “You can’t force me. I need the time to make my own decision.”

His easy smile and dimples faded. She saw disappointment in his face where, a second ago, victory had lurked. He thought she’d just go along, do as she was told. Skylar didn’t make waves, hell, not even a ripple. Everyone would no doubt think she’d be lucky to snare him.

“Don’t you think we’ve wasted enough time?”

She met his accusatory glare and upped it. He wasn’t easy now, but he’d backed her into a corner and, like one of her stallions, she was apt to kick.

“If you’d informed me a couple of months ago,” Zack said tightly, “we’d have had all the time in the world to get to know each other.”

“What difference does it make?” Skylar demanded. “Two months, five months, nine…why do we have to decide about marriage right now?”

Something in his gray eyes shifted. “My baby will not be born illegitimate.”

The quiet intensity of his words, each carefully enunciated, the warning in his eyes, made the air throb between them. Skylar inhaled, almost afraid to speak. This wasn’t the Zack she knew.

Then he blinked and she couldn’t be sure she had seen anything. He was still grim, but he was Zack. New Zealander. Razor-sharp businessman. Vintner and new studmaster.

Sexy. Charming. Considerate.

Father of her baby.

Skylar sighed. She wanted him, she had from the first. But not this way. Not shackled to him because of a broken condom. “I can’t give you an answer right…”

“When?” he demanded, cutting her off.

Her jacket rustled with the rise of her shoulders. It was hard not to be disappointed when the intensity he had just displayed suggested it was more the baby he was concerned with, not her. She raised her chin and put some steel into her spine.

Zack inhaled. “I’ll have to go home for a few days to sort out some things.” He frowned down at the table. “Make arrangements for a longer absence. We need to spend time together, Skylar.”

Or then again…Skylar nodded hopefully, her breath hitching when he reached for her hand.

“This is my first baby, too,” he told her, his tone softer now. “I want to be there for it. The whole thing.”

Or maybe not. Her shoulders dropped, but at least she would have some peace, some thinking time. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Zack suddenly pulled her toward him, squeezing her fingers firmly. “I want you to swear, on the baby’s life, that you’ll not do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

Her heart lurched. “Wh-what?”

“Like run,” Zack grated, “hide. Let your family talk you into getting rid of the baby.”

“They wouldn’t…I would never…”

She was shocked that he could even think that…from the instant she had first felt pregnant, that was an option that had never entered her head.

“Swear, Skylar.” Zack’s grip was just short of painful. “I have no intention of losing this baby.”

“Zack, I would rather die than…”

“I won’t be cut out of this, do you understand?” His voice was low, almost menacing. “I may not be quite in the league of the Dakota Fortunes but I’ve got enough behind me to make things very nasty, and very public, if you do anything to hurt my child. Do you understand?”

Skylar nodded woodenly. “I swear.”

Well, at least everyone knew where they stood. Zack Manning had no interest in her. It was the baby he wanted. She was only the incubator.

A movement over his shoulder caught her eye and Skylar stiffened and snatched her hand from his.

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