Millionaire's Wedding Revenge / Stranded with the Tempting Stranger: Millionaire's Wedding Revenge

“I didn’t realize you were still here, Megan,” Tiffany said, “but I thought I’d check because you usually tell me when you’re leaving.” Then glancing from Stephen back to her, she added, “Didn’t you say your dinner was at seven?”

Megan closed her eyes. She’d almost forgotten about her business dinner!

Opening her eyes again, she looked at her watch. It was nearing six. She’d have to hurry.

Tiffany looked from her to Stephen, and evidently judging that she’d walked in on a heated conversation, she took a step back. “I left Jade in the kitchen. Call me if you need anything.”

When the sitter had retreated, Megan looked back at Stephen. “I have a business dinner in a little over an hour to court a potential new client. That’s why Tiffany came over.”

She’d made an exception to her rule not to let business intrude on her weekends with Jade because Conrad had asked her for a favor. She was supposed to meet Conrad and the potential client at a downtown Miami restaurant—and she wasn’t even dressed yet.

Stephen looked at her coldly. “I’m giving you until Monday to make up your mind. And I’m only giving you that amount of time because I know you’re scheduled to come by the Garrison Grand and we can talk then without having Jade around.” He paused. “You already got four years.”

Megan watched then as Stephen strode to the front door and slammed out of her house.

But not out of her life, she thought with a pang.

Five

The Mediterranean-style Garrison estate in Bal Harbour should have felt like home, but it didn’t.

Still, Stephen reflected, even now with John Garrison gone, and his extramarital affair and its illegitimate child exposed, not to mention Bonita’s heavy drinking, they all still felt obliged to maintain the illusion of a happy family gathering over Sunday dinner.

Yet, it was rare for all the Garrison siblings to be present, and tonight was no exception.

Stephen looked around the room. Bonita sat at the head of the dining room table, and his younger brother, Adam, and younger sister, Brooke, sat across from him.

Missing were Parker and Anna, and Brooke’s twin, Brittany. Stephen figured the newlyweds had better things to do, lucky dogs. And since Brittany had recently decided she was in love with Emilio Jefferies, she preferred avoiding tense family dinners.

Now, as they chewed dinner mostly in silence, Stephen reflected on how an outsider might perceive tonight’s gathering.

Valuable artwork hung on one wall, and in front of the opposite wall sat a china closet displaying various crystal pieces. Potted ferns sat in two corners of the room, and Greek columns flanked an arched entry. Overhead, a magnificent chandelier hung from a painted domed ceiling.

The room, like the rest of the estate, was majestic—and cold as ice.

His gaze came back to his family. Better to bite the bullet, he thought grimly.

“I just found out I have an illegitimate child,” he announced into the silence.

Brooke gasped, and Adam froze.

Bonita stopped in midmotion, her wineglass halfway to her lips.

Given the shock waves that the discovery of John Garrison’s illegitimate child had recently sent through the family, he had no illusions about how his news would be received.

Suddenly Bonita gave a raucous laugh. “Just like your father, except you don’t have a wife to trick.”

He ignored the outburst, though it was uncharacteristic. He was the only one of the Garrison off-spring that his mother didn’t criticize, but he knew his news was a bombshell. “There’s a three-year-old little girl named Jade.”

“How?” Adam asked, raising the question he knew must be in everyone’s mind.

He held his brother’s gaze. “I had a relationship with her mother, Megan Simmons, when she did some interior design work at Garrison headquarters.”

Bonita shook her head. “Just like your damned father!”

He heard the note of betrayal in his mother’s tone, and felt his face tighten. “I’m planning on publicly acknowledging Jade as my daughter as soon as possible.”

And marrying Megan, he added silently, if he got his way. He planned to do everything in his power to get his way.

Bonita’s hand came down, her glass hitting the table with a thud and sending red wine across the white tablecloth. “You will do no such thing, do you hear me? I will not have the child of another tramp in this family! I will not tolerate another slut getting her hands on the Garrison fortune!”

He faced his mother. “You have no say in the matter,” he ground out.

“I’m disappointed in you, Stephen,” Bonita said, her voice frigid despite her inebriated state. “First your father betrays this family, then you do. Don’t we have enough turmoil to deal with?”

In fact, he’d been thinking the same thing, but he rebelled at putting Megan in the same category as his father’s faithlessness.

His fling with Megan may have been careless, but it sure as hell hadn’t amounted to marital infidelity.

And it wasn’t the fact that he had fathered a child out of wedlock that bothered him. It was having a child and not acknowledging her for years that, for him, created uncomfortable parallels with his father.

The longtime housekeeper, Lisette, appeared in the archway, no doubt having heard raised voices.

Bonita knocked a wine bottle to the floor, sending more wine, as well as glass this time, everywhere. Then she rose unsteadily to her feet.

Stephen stood, and Adam did the same.

Immediately, Lisette moved to Bonita’s side. “Let me help you, Mrs. Garrison.”

Stephen watched, along with Adam and Brooke, as Lisette helped Bonita from the room.

His hands bunched at his sides. He figured Lisette, as well as the missing Garrison family members, would find out soon enough what caused tonight’s ruckus.

“Well, another rockin’ Garrison family dinner!” Adam said, then picked up his glass and raised it in a mock salute before taking a swallow.

“Why don’t we continue this conversation outside on the patio where the wet bar is?” he said to Adam and Brooke. Outside, they would be away from any prying eyes and open ears among the household staff. “We can let the staff clean up in here.”

They’d almost finished with dinner, anyway. He looked down at the spilled wine and broken glass in distaste.

“Sorry,” Brooke demurred. “I think I’ll pass.”

Stephen noticed his sister continued to look pale.

“Is something wrong?” he asked. “Did my news shock you that much?”

“N-no,” she stammered.

He searched her face. “You look upset.”