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  She meant to be affronted or at least crabby. Instead she parted her lips instantly, even as she pressed her body against his and clung to him.

  Their tongues tangled in a sea of hunger and need. Wanting poured through her, making it impossible to care that they were in her grandmother’s driveway. His kiss was hot and familiar and arousing and nothing mattered except that he never stop.

  He ran his hands up and down her back. He cupped her rear and squeezed, causing her to surge against him. When she pressed against his hardness, she whimpered.

  Oh, yes. That was exactly what she wanted—him hard and inside of her. Arms and legs tangling, bodies reaching, him filling her until she had no choice but to give in to the rising desire. Then they would—

  No! She couldn’t give in. Not again. Not until she’d figured out who he was and how she felt about him. Getting naked was a complication she didn’t need.

  It took all her strength, but she forced herself to step to the side.

  “We have to stop,” she told him, sounding more breathless than stern.

  “No, we don’t.”

  “I was just beginning to like you. Don’t press your luck.”

  One corner of his mouth quirked up. “You like me?”

  “A little. Maybe. Don’t annoy me or the feeling will fade.”

  He grinned, then took a step back. “You are your own woman, Julie Nelson. You’re definitely a hell of a ride.”

  The last time Julie had been at Ryan’s office, she’d been too angry to pay attention to the elegant surroundings, but this morning she could appreciate the subtle blending of colors and the expensive but comfortable furnishings.

  “Ryan should have slept with this decorator instead of the one who did his place,” she murmured to herself as she walked into the reception area and gave her name to the woman behind the desk.

  She was shown back to the conference room immediately. As her heels sank into the plush carpet, she reminded herself that this was strictly business. The kiss she and Ryan had shared a few days before was totally out of her mind. She was determined to be the best damn lawyer they’d ever had and to win them over. Ryan had offered three small companies to her firm. She’d done her research and knew there was a whole lot more where that had come from. She intended to walk away with it all.

  She walked into the paneled conference room. Both men stood and smiled at her, but her gaze didn’t see past Ryan. While she was aware that Todd was also in the room, she couldn’t seem to convince herself that he mattered.

  She stared into Ryan’s eyes and he stared back and she would have sworn that time stood still. The ever-present need exploded, but she was practically used to that by now. She ignored the way her breasts got sensitive, and the sense of heat and dampness between her legs.

  “Good morning,” she finally forced herself to say.

  “Morning.” Ryan smiled. “It’s really good to see you.”

  “Disgusting,” Todd muttered.

  Julie remembered where she was and forced herself to look away from the man who mesmerized her.

  “Gentlemen.” She put down her briefcase, refused an offer of tea, coffee or water, and took a seat at the small conference table. Todd and Ryan were across from her. “Let’s talk business.”

  “We’re ready,” Ryan said.

  She smiled at him, then turned her attention to Todd. “I don’t think you are.”

  Todd, nearly as good-looking as his cousin, leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “What makes you say that, Ms. Nelson?”

  “The way you run things around here.” She’d decided on a blunt attack to set up her position, then she would drown them in facts to get them to agree with her. “You say you’re interested in doing business in China, but your actions don’t support that. You came to me for help with three very small businesses, but you’re sitting on millions with your other holdings. I’ve been doing my research and you’re getting screwed. Your deals are standard at best. At worst you’re being taken. Your contracts don’t protect you and your entire liaison staff is receiving kickbacks. I have the numbers to prove my position, if you’d like to see them.”

  She reached into her briefcase and pulled out several folders. Todd and Ryan looked at each other, then at her.

  She continued. “I know I was offered a couple of accounts as a peace offering and while I appreciate the gesture, I’ve decided I want all your business. Not for any reason other than you won’t find a law firm that’s better. You need more than advice, you need a partner. We don’t farm out our contacts. They’re all carefully screened. I speak with the Chinese liaisons myself. No one can claim a translation error.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Todd demanded.

  She smiled. “I speak Mandarin.”

  “Yeah,” Ryan said. “I guess I forgot to mention that.”

  “I learned from a neighbor,” Julie said. “I spent several summers in China and did a semester of college there. I’m fluent.”

  “Interesting,” Todd said. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment.”

  Ryan watched his cousin walk out of the conference room, then he turned to Julie.

  She looked amazing, but then she always did. Smart and sexy. How’d he get so lucky? If only he could convince her to marry him.

  He had the feeling he was making progress, which was good. The more time he spent with her, the more he enjoyed her company, which was better.

  “It wasn’t mercy business,” he said.

  She shrugged. “Whatever. It was a very small slice of the pie.”

  “You want the whole thing?”

  “Of course. Why would you think otherwise?”

  “I have no idea. This would be a big deal for you. It’s a senior-partner-level account.”

  “I actually know that.” She smiled. “I’m capable.”

  She also understood how the game was played, he thought. “It would smooth things over with the partners when they find out you’re pregnant.”

  “I know. It’s part of my motivation, but not the biggest part.” She leaned toward him. “Ryan, I’m really good. I know what I’m doing. If we were talking about Europe or Russia or South America, I wouldn’t be pushing this hard. But I know this part of the world.”

  Her eyes were bright with excitement and conviction. Just once he’d like to see her eyes light up when she saw him. That would—

  Whoa. Where had that come from? He wanted to marry Julie for the sake of his child. There were no other reasons. Sure, she was great and sexy and he wanted her, but this wasn’t about having a relationship. He’d given up on those about six months ago. He was never risking his heart again.

  Todd returned to the conference room with a Chinese woman. Ryan groaned.

  “You’re kidding, right?” he asked.

  Todd ignored him. “Mrs. Lee, this is Julie Nelson.”

  Mrs. Lee bowed, then began to speak in what Ryan guessed was Mandarin.

  Ryan narrowed his gaze. “You couldn’t just trust her?” he asked Todd in a low voice.

  “You wouldn’t have trusted anyone else. If we’re serious about giving her business, then she’d better be the right person.” Todd frowned. “You used to be as much of a cynical bastard as I am. Don’t tell me that’s gone.”

  “Not gone,” Ryan said as Julie and Mrs. Lee chatted about who knew what. “Shifted.”

  “Because of a woman?” Todd sounded incredulous.

  Fortunately Mrs. Lee turned to him just then. “Her Mandarin is good and clear and she understands nuance.” She smiled. “Her accent needs work.”

  Julie laughed. “I know. I try.”

  “You do very well.”

  Todd shrugged. “Okay, then I guess we have some things to talk about.”

  The conference door opened and Ryan’s assistant stepped in. “Ryan, it’s that call from the bank. The one you’ve been waiting for.”

  “Thanks.”

  He looked at Todd and Julie. “I have to take
that. I’ll be about five minutes. Try not to kill each other.”

  “We won’t,” Julie said cheerfully.

  Ryan thanked Mrs. Lee for her assistance, then walked her out.

  Julie glanced at Todd. “Speaking Mandarin is an odd thing to lie about.”

  “It’s business.”

  “I understand.” In his position, she probably would have done the same thing. Not that she was going to tell him that. “So, I have a question.”

  “Which is?”

  “Your aunt offered a million dollars for me or one of my sisters to marry you. What’s wrong with you that she would do that? Aside from the obvious.”

  She’d expected Todd to get angry, or at the very least, all puffed up and manly. Instead, he laughed.

  “I’m starting to get what Ryan sees in you,” he admitted.

  “Which is charming but doesn’t answer my question.”

  “My aunt has some interesting ideas about relationships. This is one of them.” He leaned toward her. “I know you’re still angry about that first date, Julie, but it’s not all Ryan’s fault.”

  “Oh, I know you’re to blame, too.”

  “How refreshing. But that’s not what I meant.” He glanced at the door, then back at her. “Ryan had a rough time a few months ago. A complicated relationship.”

  As Julie had recently had one of her own, she understood how that sort of thing happened.

  “Ryan’s always been cautious,” Todd continued. “We both have. But he met this woman and she seemed to be perfect. She wasn’t interested in his money, she insisted on paying her way. She was a working single mother and he respected that. He was also crazy about her little girl.”

  Julie felt a twinge inside and this one had nothing to do with being enchanted by Ryan. Instead of heat, she felt cold and something heavy in her stomach.

  She could do the translation for what Todd was so politely understating. Ryan had fallen madly in love with both the woman and her child.

  Julie started to say she didn’t care about that. She barely cared about Ryan herself. But somehow she couldn’t seem to form the words.

  “I met her and I thought she was great, too,” Todd said. “I was a little worried because Ryan seemed to be more excited about being a father than being a husband, but I figured it would all even out. Things were getting serious when Ryan overheard her talking to her girlfriend. She said when she’d first gotten pregnant, she’d thought it was a disaster, but after her daughter was born, she’d discovered rich guys were suckers for cute little girls. They all imagined themselves playing daddy. The relationship itself was boring, but she would marry Ryan, wait two years, then leave and take a big chunk of cash with her. After all, he would have bonded with the kid, and he wouldn’t want her to suffer.”

  The chill increased. Julie felt sick and for once it had nothing to do with her pregnancy.

  “That’s horrible,” she murmured.

  “And a whole lot more. Ryan was okay. He got out in time. But the experience battered him and made him feel stupid. Not something guys enjoy.”

  No one wanted to be an idiot, but in this case, Ryan had done nothing wrong. Sort of like her situation with Garrett.

  “I can guess the rest,” she said. “A few months later your aunt sprung her deal. Both of you saw me and my sisters as more of the same.”

  “That’s it. I was telling Ryan about the situation and he offered to take my place.”

  “To teach me a lesson.”

  “It wasn’t personal,” Todd told her.

  Funny how it had still hurt.

  “I wanted you to know why he did it,” Todd said. “You’re having a baby with him. Ryan’s a good guy. He made a mistake and he regrets it. That should count for something.”

  “It does,” she said slowly. “But he still lied in a huge way. While I appreciate the situation the two of you are in, it doesn’t give you the right to mess with innocent parties. I didn’t do anything wrong. I wasn’t her.”

  “He screwed up. Give him a break. If he’d known he was going to fall for you, he wouldn’t have done it.”

  Fall for her? As in fallen? As in he cared?

  Julie didn’t want the words to mean anything, but they did. She wanted Ryan to like her and respect her, although why his opinion should mean anything, she couldn’t say.

  Ryan walked back into the conference room. “Sorry about that. So what did I miss?”

  “We were just talking,” Todd said.

  They returned their attention to business and wrapped things up in an hour. Ryan walked Julie to the elevator.

  “The partners will be happy,” he said.

  “I think they might even dance. I’m good at my job. You won’t be disappointed.”

  “I know. How are you feeling?”

  “Good. Still woozy a lot of the day, but I’m learning to live with it.”

  The polite conversation made her crazy. She really wanted to ask about what Todd had said. Had Ryan fallen for her and if he had, what did that mean? Was any of this real or was he still trying to convince her to marry him? And was marrying the father of her child be such a horrible thing?

  “Have you told your family?” he asked.

  “Everyone except my dad. I have no idea where he is.” Not that she would waste any time tracking him down.

  “I haven’t told my parents. They’re in Europe. They don’t get back to the States very often, but you’ll meet them when they do.”

  She had a vision of her very pregnant self waddling to meet a couple straight from the pages of Town & Country magazine.

  “Great,” she muttered.

  “I should meet your family, as well,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Don’t you want me to?”

  It was a trick question. No, she really didn’t want him to meet them. It would be awkward and strange and…awkward. But to refuse when they were having a baby together?

  “That would be fun,” she managed to say.

  “I’m free this weekend.”

  How lucky for her. “Okay. Um, sure. I’ll, ah, set something up.”

  “Good.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her lightly.

  There was none of the passion or power of their last kiss, but it still rocked her to her toes. He straightened and smiled.

  “Until this weekend, then.”

  “Sure. I’ll be the one with the pickle cravings.”

  Ten

  The house was modest at best, one in blocks and blocks of starter homes. Ryan parked and tried to take in the fact that while he’d grown up in a world of wealth and privilege, Ruth’s granddaughters had grown up here.

  He climbed out of his sports car and walked to the front door. Julie already had it open. She leaned against the door frame.

  “Are you braced? You should be braced.”

  “Your sisters can’t be that bad,” he told her as he approached. “I’ll be fine.”

  “Silly, silly man.” But she was smiling as she spoke.

  He slipped past her, then turned around and kissed her. She didn’t react, but he caught the sudden surge in heat and tension. They might have other issues, but connecting sexually wasn’t one of them. Maybe he’d been too quick when he’d decided that his plan would progress better if they weren’t physically involved.

  “My mom’s at work,” Julie said when he straightened. “She’s in charge of a low-cost vaccine clinic one Saturday a month, but she’ll be by later. In the meantime I have my sisters here to grill you—ah, keep you entertained.”

  He chuckled. “They can grill me. I can handle it.”

  “So you think.”

  The morning was warm, with the promise of a hot day—the kind that pops up every now and then in the fall. Julie wore some kind of filmy, lacy blouse, with a loose neckline and tiny sleeves that left her arms bare. Instead of jeans, she had on a skirt that sort of floated around her calves. Her feet were bare, her hair hung loose. She looked like a wanton
fairy princess.

  Ryan stopped in the middle of the living room. A wanton fairy princess? What the hell was wrong with him?

  “This way,” Julie said from a few feet in front of him. “No backing out now.”

  “I don’t plan to.”

  She led him through the kitchen and out into a backyard that was far more paradise than he ever would have expected. There were plants everywhere, a big patio with a table and chairs at one end and a barbecue and fire pit at the other. There were candles and things that spun in the wind and gauzy, hanging fabric that served no purpose he could see.

  There were also two women, both blond and blue-eyed, with Julie’s features and identical “you’re going to have to prove yourself” expressions.

  “My sisters,” Julie said. “Willow and Marina.”

  Willow was fairly petite, delicate and pretty. Marina was the tallest of the three sisters, and a beauty as well. Great gene pool, he thought. At least their kid had a fighting chance at being cute.

  “Nice to meet you,” he said and smiled. “Julie’s told me a lot about you.”

  “Did she mention how we wanted to take you down?” Willow asked. “Not just you, either. I still want to march over to that house and give Todd Aston a piece of my mind. You wouldn’t happen to have the address, would you?”

  Ryan cleared his throat. “I, ah, the backyard looks great. There are so many plants. You have a very special place here.”

  “Not exactly a smooth change of subject,” Marina said, her arms folded over her chest. “I doubt you’re seriously interested in the landscaping, but in case you’re not just jerking us around, Willow’s the one who does all that.”

  Ryan held in a groan. They were going to be a tough crowd.

  Julie urged him to sit and took the chair across from his. “Willow can grow anything. She’s into herbs and all things organic. She has a line of candles that are very popular in some of the health-food stores and she writes a comic strip.”

  He looked at Willow. “Impressive. Do you have any of your comics here? I’d like to read one.”

  She picked up a slim magazine from the glass-topped table and tossed it to him.