The boardroom door of Masters' Developments Corporation
thudded against the wall. From his seat at the head of the
oval table, Gabe Masters looked up sharply to see her
standing there. Her blue gaze sought and fixed on him.
The shock of her sudden appearance registered through every
cell of his body. Only years of sitting around this very
table, maintaining the bland expression that served him so
well in negotiations, kept him in his seat and his shock hidden.
How dare she?
Julia, his PA, appeared breathless at her side. The wildly
misnamed Chastity Stevens, with her coiffed honey-blond
hair, wearing a figure-hugging black suit as though she was
still in mourning, managed to make his elegant PA look
downright frumpy. Her perfectly shaped lips were a glossy
red, as were her vertigo-inducing shoes and her small
elegant bag. Her white-knuckled grip on that bag was the
only indication that she wasn't utterly composed.
It was no consolation for her intrusion.
"I'm sorry." Julia shot him a look, her eyes wide.
"I couldn't stop her." She reached for Chastity's
arm. But with a subtle sidestep, Julia's hand was left
flailing in the air.
"It's fine, Julia. I'll handle this." He nodded for
his PA to leave.
The gazes of the other men at the table, which had at first
flicked to him, were now all fixed on Chastity, noting the
porcelain skin, the baby-doll eyes framed by long, dark
eyelashes and the seductive curves accentuated by the fitted
suit. Curves. He knew just how much those curves had cost.
Hadn't his brother, Tom, paid for them, and kept on paying?
Till the day he died.
Gabe fought for composure, fought to keep his voice calm. It
was a struggle he'd win. He always did. He stood. "I'm
afraid now's not a convenient time, Ms.—"
he put emphasis on the title "—Stevens." She
had never taken Tom's name and he was glad of it. "If
you'd like to follow Julia, she'll set up an appointment for
you."
"Don't pretend you don't know I've been trying for weeks
to make an appointment to see you. It gets old quickly, and
infuriating soon after." Her frustration gave Gabe a
savage sense of satisfaction. But it wasn't one he could
indulge. Not here. Not now.
"I've been a little busy lately." He shared a
conspiratorial smile with the men around the table, heard
their muted chuckles in response. They'd all been putting in
long hours negotiating the purchase terms for his next resort.
That was part of his reason, but he'd also not attached any
importance to seeing the gold digger who'd driven a wedge
into his family. That damage, now Tom was dead, could never
be repaired.
"Excuse me one moment, gentlemen." Gabe strolled
toward her. "Leave now," he said in a lethally quiet
voice, "and Julia will make an appointment. You have my
word." With one hand he held open the door, and with his
other gestured for her to leave. She'd made enough of a
scene, he needed her gone. A multimillion-dollar deal was at
stake here, riding in part on his reputation. It had been
difficult enough getting the other men here when so many
businesses had wound down for New Zealand's traditional
slow, summer month of January.
This deal needed to be signed today. He was not going to
have it compromised by her.
He caught her subtle trademark scent of spring
flowers—incongruously innocent. What little color had
been in her cheeks leached away as she held his gaze for
several thudding heartbeats. And even if he'd wanted to, he
couldn't have fathomed the expressions that chased one after
the other through those wide eyes. Anxiety, he would have
said if he'd had to put a name to the predominant emotion.
But that made no sense at all. She was the one who'd barged
in on his meeting.
Finally, she turned and stepped out of the room.
Gabe nodded to Marco, his second in command, trusting him to
take over, before he followed Chastity out.
"You don't seriously expect me to place any faith in
your word," she said as he closed the door behind them.
"I don't have time for this. I've asked you to leave.
And I meant the building, not just the boardroom." She
opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "If you
don't, I guarantee you won't get to see me at all, won't get
whatever it is you've decided you want from me." He saw
her stiffen, saw the flare of delicate nostrils.
Her blue eyes filled with a steely resolve he hadn't seen
before. "And if you don't see me right now," she
said, "then I guarantee you won't ever get to see the
child I'm carrying. Your own flesh and blood."
Gabe could only stare at her as he processed her outrageous
claim.
"My office." He spoke through clenched teeth.
"Three doors down on the left," he added, though she
knew perfectly well where it was. After all, she'd worked
here until two years ago, first briefly for him and then for
Tom. Till she'd decided that becoming Tom's wife was a far
more lucrative position than being his PA.
Chastity, paler than ever, paused outside his office door.
Instead of going in, she glanced frantically around, then
veered toward the reception area, breaking into a run as she
neared it, pushing through the swinging doors and past the
trio of poinsettias on the glass coffee table. His last
sight of her was with one hand clamped over her mouth as she
raced into the women's restroom.
He was waiting, seething, at the doorway when she reappeared
a few minutes later, face still pale, but her head held
high. A single damp tendril of hair clung to her jaw, the
only sign anything was amiss.
She knew better than to look for any sympathy from him as
she preceded him into his office. The one time he had asked
anything of her—that she not stand between Tom and his
family—she had coolly denied having any influence in
the matter. Gabe shut the door behind them, then leaned
against it. And waited.
But now that she'd presumably gotten what she wanted, his
attention, she seemed reluctant to speak. She lowered
herself unsteadily onto one of the leather swivel chairs
before his desk, her shapely legs pressed together and
angled out to the side, one ankle tucked behind the other.
She turned to him, opened her mouth, closed it again and
looked toward the window. He followed her gaze. The Auckland
sky was a clear, bright blue, but whitecaps dotted the
distant harbor and low on the horizon, gray clouds gathered,
threatening a storm that might finally break the humidity
oppressing the city.
Gabe looked back at Chastity. Moisture beaded at her
hairline and her hands were clenched around the armrests of
the chair. He expelled a harsh sigh and strode over to the
hidden bar on the far side of his office. He poured water
into a glass, crossed back and held it toward her. Her gaze
flicked up, not quite meeting his, before she stretched out
a manicured hand and wordlessly took the glass. Gabe moved
away, resumed his position at the door, arms folded against
his chest.
Chastity wanted to speak, but couldn't as she fought back
another surge of nausea. Please. Not in front of him.
She'd thought she was beyond caring what he thought.
Apparently not. He was the last person on earth she wanted
to humiliate herself in front of.
The Masters family, and Gabe in particular, wouldn't take
her news well. He'd thought their connection with her was
over. Just as she had.
For the last month she'd been agonizing over how to break
the news to him. But day after day, week after week when he
hadn't returned her calls, her angst had given way to
frustration and then anger. Enough anger that she'd stormed
in here determined to fulfill her promise to Tom before any
more of the year slipped by. Unfortunately the strength the
anger had given her seemed to have vanished with her last
hasty trip to the bathroom. She took a sip of water then set
the glass down on the edge of his desk.
Last night, before her bedroom mirror, she had rehearsed
what she planned to say. She'd thought she had it down pat.
Brief, informative and above all emotionless, like the man
standing in front of her. And yet here she was, in the
understated luxury of his enormous office, unable to get
even the first word out.
"What do you want? And make it quick." So, maybe he
wasn't emotionless. He despised her. It infused every word
he uttered. "I have a meeting to get back to."
She forced herself to speak calmly. "If you'd seen me
when I asked, I wouldn't have had to do this."
"And what is this precisely?"
She'd known it wouldn't be easy, but she'd forgotten the
sheer potency of six foot two of angry man. Chastity drew in
a deep breath. "I'm trying to do the right thing."
Finally, she looked up and met a gaze as dark as bitter
coffee. So similar and yet worlds apart from Tom's.
"As much as that would make a refreshing change, I find
it very hard to believe."
She couldn't entirely blame Gabe for his cynicism. Tom had
used her as an excuse for all but severing contact with his
family, initially without her knowledge. And then once she
found out, she hadn't protested, she had cared only that her
presence gave Tom the space he had said he needed. The fact
that the distance suited her, too, was an added benefit.
She looked at Gabe, the high-achieving golden boy of the
family. All she had to do was give him her news and then
leave. "I'm pregnant." The quiet words fell from her
lips.
Before she could continue with her carefully planned
explanation of the circumstances, Gabe's gaze dropped to her
almost flat abdomen, the slight thickening of her waist
concealed by her jacket, and then tracked back up. "Now
that I can believe."
And just like that, the sustaining anger was back. His
brother had been dead for three months, and Gabe was
implying that she'd slept with another man. Without
conscious thought she launched herself from her chair and
drew back her arm. His callous insinuation had brought
flooding back the humiliation she had thought she'd left
behind her years ago.
Gabe's stance changed, ready, eager to intercept her blow.
She didn't know what she'd intended, but as her glare locked
on his, she caught herself, lowered her arm and sat back
down. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of having her
thrown out and bringing assault charges.
And she couldn't afford to indulge her own satisfaction in
having at least tried to wipe the smug superiority from his
face.
For long seconds a tension-filled silence electrified the
air between them.
"How in the hell do you think you're going to convince
anyone that a child of yours has anything to do with me or
my family?" He paused, his features sharpened, the
panther about to strike a lethal blow. "Tom was
sterile."
Chastity stood. She didn't have to take this. She'd told him
she was pregnant, like she'd promised. It wasn't her problem
that Gabe chose not to believe her. "If you'll step
aside, please, I need to leave." She walked toward the
door, toward Gabe, who remained unmoving. In a few moments
she'd be gone, giving them both what they wanted. If only
he'd move. Finally she was one step away from him. Contempt
burned in his eyes.
Slowly, he shook his head. "I thought you'd sunk as low
as you could go. Clearly I overestimated you." He opened
the door wide.
Her nails dug into her palms. She'd made her choices in life
and she stood by them. He had no right to judge her. She
stepped past him, fixed her gaze on the elevator doors
beyond the reception area, and, ignoring the blatantly
curious look of the receptionist, headed straight for them.
It wasn't till she stood waiting for the car to reach the
top floor that she became aware of someone behind her. She
glanced over her shoulder. Gabe stood there, arms folded
across his chest, feet planted apart like a bouncer at a
night club. He was seeing her off the premises.
The elevator pinged, the doors slid open. Chastity stepped
in and turned to face him. Granite Man, Tom had sometimes
called his older brother. It wasn't hard to see why. But
against her will, she also remembered a time when she'd
first worked here, when he had at least always been fair.
But most importantly, she reminded herself, there were two
parts to her promise to Tom and she'd only fulfilled the
first. She had vowed to tell Gabe not only that she was
pregnant, but also how the baby had been conceived. If she
didn't do it now she'd only have to come back.
As the doors started to close, Gabe lowered his arms and
turned away. Chastity sucked in a deep breath, put out her
hand and the doors stopped. Gabe swung back.
"What—"
"Things aren't always what they seem, Gabe. And the
world won't always fall into place according to your rigid
rules." She held his stony expression. Tension arced
between them. "Before he died, Tom and I tried IVF."
She spoke quickly, just needing to get the words out.
"We used the sperm he banked before his radiation
therapy." She lowered her hand, and as the doors closed
between them, she had the grim satisfaction of seeing Gabe
Masters's smooth, chiseled jaw drop open.
At the ground floor, Chastity stepped out into the
building's light-filled atrium and, taking deliberately
slow, deep breaths, tried to admire the fountain she'd once
found both beautiful and soothing. She stared at the
glistening play of water, but in her mind's eye could see
only a pair of dark, accusing eyes. It would take more than
a fountain to erase that image. She should feel relief that
she'd kept her promise to Tom. She could now move on.
Instead, she felt only a chilly foreboding.
"Explain it to me again." The deep voice, so close,
startled a gasp out of her. She whirled to face Gabe, his
gaze deadly serious. He stood between her and the exit.