Bought by a Millionaire

“I’m not going to hold her hostage, Burke,” John said, a trace of humor in his voice. “But if you hurry, she should still be here.”

Knowing that it took a good fifteen minutes to get to Cox’s clinic in downtown traffic, Burke hung up without another word and strode out of his office. He instructed his assistant to call for the limo, then took the elevator to the basement level. He tapped his foot against the concrete as his driver brought the car to the front of the underground parking garage, impatient to find out whether he was about to become a father.

Faint traces of humiliation still warmed Shannon’s face, her brow, her neck, even her fingertips. So far today, she’d been dizzy and nauseated, run over by a skating classmate, stuck in the arm with a hollow needle, peed in a cup, and had a most delightful pelvic exam. Life just didn’t get any better than this.

The heavy sarcasm of her thoughts paled the crimson of her cheeks a bit and kept her mind off the fact that her embarrassment wasn’t over yet.

Just then, the doctor gave her leg a pat and told her to sit up. “You can get dressed now. As soon as I have the test results, I’ll let you know. Until then, you’re welcome to wait in the reception area.”

Gathering her clothes and purse, she dressed and made her way out of the examination room and back down the carpeted hall. The waiting room was filled with other patients, at least a dozen women in all. Some tall and thin, some a little plumper, and some obviously in the late stages of pregnancy.

She swallowed, another small wave of nausea washing over her at the thought of reaching that point on her own one day. Possibly one day very, very soon.

Shannon considered leaving. Going home and letting the doctor call to let her know the test results. But he’d said it would only be a few minutes, so she might as well stick around to see whether her life was about to change irrevocably.

Digging into her bag, she removed one of her textbooks and a writing tablet, and began making notes for the next day’s class. She’d been reading for several minutes when she noticed a strange hush fall over the room. Except for the mumbled voices of the television mounted to the wall, all chitchat had come to a stop. Not even the flutter of magazine pages marred the near perfect silence.

She raised her head and glanced around, wondering what had caused such an odd reaction from the other women.

And then she saw him.

Standing at the check-in window, Burke was leaning forward, speaking to the receptionist in a low voice. She would recognize him anywhere, even in the long, black overcoat, with only his polished shoes and ebony hair visible from the back.

A second later, he turned and his gaze zeroed in on her like a heat-seeking missile. And suddenly, she understood why everyone had grown stone quiet. She found herself falling speechless around him, too.

Even if his picture hadn’t been on the covers of countless papers and magazines over the past few years, he still would have stopped traffic. He was just so…imposing.

As he crossed the room in her direction, she swallowed hard and the book on her lap slid from her limp fingers to the floor. She started to bend forward to retrieve it, but Burke reached down first, the muscles in his arms and thighs rippling with the movement.

“I think you dropped this.”

“Thank you,” she said, licking her lips and forcing herself to meet his eyes.

He pointed to the space beside her on the narrow, padded bench, ignoring the curious stares he was getting from the other women. Obviously, he was used to being watched.

“Do you mind?”

“Not at all.” She couldn’t possibly refuse him, so she shifted more to the side and moved her oversize purse to the floor.

“How are you feeling?”

His question caught her off guard, and as she raised her head to look at him, she wondered if Dr. Cox had told him about her little dizzy spell earlier.

“Fine,” she answered, even as she felt a warm flush creep over her cheekbones.

“No broken bones, I hear.”

Shannon frowned in confusion. And then her slight blush turned into a full-blown bush fire. Apparently, the doctor had filled him in on more than just her recent health concerns. He’d also told Burke about her run-in—literally—with the inline skater.

“No. No broken bones,” she admitted, suppressing her self-consciousness. “Just a bruised ego. Besides, it never would have happened if I’d moved all the way off the sidewalk to be sick.”

In a blink, he had turned to face her. His big hands, with their tanned fingers and neatly trimmed nails, gripped her shoulders. Not tightly, but securely. And his dark brows were drawn together in concern. “You were sick?”

Oops. Maybe Dr. Cox hadn’t told him everything about her day.

“Only for a few minutes. It passed, I’m fine now.”

“Did you tell the doctor? What did he say?”

If possible, she was becoming even more nervous than usual in his presence. It wasn’t only the serious, almost worried, expression on his face. Or the fact that he had every right to know the details of how she was feeling and what the cause might be.

No, the quiver in her stomach and clamminess of her skin were caused entirely by the heat of his hands still cupping her shoulders, seeping through the light knit of her butternut-yellow sweater to her skin.

How was it possible to be sexually attracted to the man who had hired her to be a surrogate mother for his child? And why in heaven’s name couldn’t she have met Chicago’s most eligible bachelor at a different time, under different circumstances? At least then, she might be able to follow through on these feelings and fireworks coursing through her system without guilt or the risk of violating a legal and binding contract.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to pull away, to break his almost mesmerizing hold on her.

“I told Dr. Cox. He didn’t seem to think it was a big deal.”

“It’s a very big deal.” His tone was sharp, his lips thinned in annoyance. “Especially under the current circumstances.”

With a sigh, he straightened and then relaxed against the spindled back of the bench. “Maybe you should tell me everything that happened. From the beginning.”

“It’s not the most flattering moment of my life,” she began, resigned to sharing the details of her day before he would let the subject drop. “On the way here after classes, I started feeling a little light-headed and nauseous. The only thing I could think of was to put my head between my knees until it passed.” Her mouth twisted in a self-deprecating grin. “Next time, I’ll remember to sit down first.”

One of Burke’s slate-gray eyes narrowed while the other widened, the brow quirking amusingly. “You mean to say you pretty much doubled over in the middle of the sidewalk.”

That darn heat and color sensation began to fill her cheeks again. “Pretty much.”

He lifted his hand to cover a cough, and she got the distinct impression he was trying not to laugh.

It was funny, when she thought about it. Especially the part where the young man on Rollerblades—wearing black spandex shorts, a white helmet, and a bulky jacket made up of neon yellow, pink, green, purple and blue—ran into her. He’d gone flying, she’d gone sprawling, and half a dozen other students had burst into laughter at what must have looked like part of a circus act.

“But you weren’t hurt?” Burke wanted to know. “No scrapes or scratches or broken bones?”

“No. Surprisingly enough, I escaped completely unscathed. I’m not sure about the skater, though. He may be scarred for life.”

He chuckled. Actually chuckled. The sound startled her so much, she jumped.

She’d never heard him laugh before. Had barely seen him crack a smile. He was always so serious and businesslike. But she liked it when his lips curved upwards, when something struck him as funny and amusement rumbled out deep and masculine.

She might even like it, she mused, too much.

When the nurse came out and called her name, Shannon breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for an interruption to her wayward thoughts.

Grabbing her purse from the floor, she started across the room. Burke rose with her, following with a hand at the small of her back.

Little shock waves of awareness rippled out from where his fingers rested. Her heart sped up, her breathing slowed and she was mortified to realize that her nipples were beginning to bead.