Mistresses: The Consequences Of Desire: Beach Bar Baby / Walk on the Wild Side / Claiming His Own

‘He’s invited me and I think it’s a good idea.’ She sprinkled edible pink glitter onto the swirl of buttercream icing. And placed the finished cupcake onto the tower she was assembling for a nine-year-old’s birthday party, refusing to make eye contact with her friend. She’d expected this reaction. It didn’t mean she was going to enjoy dealing with it. She hated arguing with Ruby. ‘We’re having a child together. I’d like him to be involved if he wants to be, but I need to know a lot more about him to make that a realistic possibility. Especially as we live so far apart.’ She’d thought it all out, and it all made perfect sense.

Ruby tapped her foot. ‘So why can’t he stay in London so you can sort all that out here?’

Ella sighed, and wiped sugary hands on her apron. ‘He has a business to run.’

‘So do you.’ Ruby went straight for the jugular.

‘I know it’s not a good time.’ Ella faced her friend, and shook off the sting of guilt. They were already having to take out a loan to cover the extra staffing costs while she went on maternity leave, but... ‘It will be good for Sally and Gemma to have a trial run with you supervising before I have the baby and I’ve got enough saved to cover the cost of their wages while I’m away.’

‘You know very well this has nothing to do with the money,’ Ruby pointed out. ‘What about your antenatal appointments? What if something happens with the baby?’

‘Coop’s arranged for the top obstetrician on the island to handle my care while I’m there.’ Even if he had gone a little pale when she’d mentioned the problem. ‘But it’s unlikely to be more than a couple of weeks. I’ll still only be four months when I get back.’

‘Fine, well, now for the biggie.’ Ruby threw up her hands in exasperation. ‘What about the fact that Cooper Delaney is a complete jerk who accused you of being a gold-digger, and a liar and had you in floods of tears less than twenty-four hours ago? How do you know you can trust him not to be a jerk again once you’re stuck in Bermuda with him?’

I don’t.

Ella pushed away the doubt. He’d lost the plot when she’d told him about the baby, but he’d apologised for that and she knew he meant it. And anyway, this really wasn’t about her. ‘He’s the father of my child and he’s giving me a chance to get to know him better. Surely you can see I have to take it?’

‘Umm-hmm. And you don’t find it the tiniest bit suspicious that twenty-four hours after totally flipping out about this pregnancy he suddenly wants to be so intimately involved in it...’ Ruby paused for effect ‘...and you.’

‘Maybe.’ Of course she’d thought about it. After the initial euphoria at his offer, she’d calmed down enough to realise his sudden interest in the baby might not be the only reason he’d asked her to come to Bermuda.

But that didn’t alter the fact that he was the father of her child. And she did want him to be involved. And that going to Bermuda was the only way to find out if they could make that happen.

‘You’re absolutely determined to do this, aren’t you?’ Ruby sounded pained.

‘Yes.’

Ruby cursed sharply, defeated. ‘I guess it’s my own fault. If I hadn’t interfered and encouraged you to nail Captain Studly in the first place, you wouldn’t be in this situation.’

Ella grasped Ruby’s cheeks, forcing her gaze back to hers. ‘What situation? Getting the chance to have a child of my own? Getting to experience the miracle of becoming a mum? Something I was sure would never be possible? That situation?’

Ruby sent her a lopsided smile. ‘Okay, point taken. But do me a favour, okay?’

‘What favour?’

‘Don’t let all your happy over the pregnancy blind you to the truth about what’s really going on with him. You have a tendency to always want to see the best in people, Ella. And that’s one of the things I love about you. But try to be a little bit cautious this time.’

‘If this is about what happened with Randall, you don’t have to worry.’ Ella threaded her fingers through Ruby’s and held on. ‘I’m not going into this blind. I learnt that lesson when I was eighteen I’ll never fall in love that easily again.’ She’d made that mistake with Randall, and her baby had paid the price. ‘But I refuse to go into this scared either.’

She needed to take some risks, to solve the fascinating enigma that was Cooper Delaney. A man who had the laid-back, laconic charm of a beach bum, but had the drive and ambition to build a multimillion-dollar empire from nothing. A man who could worry about the child growing in her womb when they made love, and yet look at her with a hunger that burned right down to her soul.

She wanted to understand him—to know how he really felt about this pregnancy and this baby and her—but only so he could play an active role in her child’s life.

She wasn’t looking for anything else. She was sure of it.

NINE (#uc7b533c5-be73-5780-b283-1d1b0d6cff9e)

‘How was the trip?’ Coop reached in to grab her suitcase as Ella stepped out of the air-conditioned taxi into the sheltered carport rimmed by palm trees and flowering vines at the back of his property.

She fanned her face with the wide-brimmed straw hat she’d bought at the airport as the afternoon heat enveloped her. Bermuda in April had been in the mid-seventies and pleasantly hot; in late July it was hitting the high eighties and seemed to be sucking the life-force right out of her tired limbs.

‘Good. Thank you.’ She huffed to stop her sweaty hair sticking to her forehead as Coop paid the driver and waved him off.

The truth was it had been better than good, when she’d arrived at Gatwick Airport to discover the economy class ticket she’d insisted on purchasing herself, despite several terse emails from Coop before she left London, had been upgraded to first class. The added benefits of a three-course cordon bleu meal and a fold-down bed had made the eight-hour flight pass in a haze of anticipation. But now she was here, the impact of seeing him again was making the crows of doubt swoop like vultures in her stomach.

‘I appreciated the upgrade, but you really didn’t need to do that.’ She wanted to make it absolutely clear she did not expect him to bankroll her.

Picking up her suitcase, he slung her carry-on bag under his arm. ‘Sure I did.’ His gaze skimmed down to her midriff before he sent her an assured grin. ‘No baby of mine travels coach.’

The vultures in her stomach soared upward to flap around her heart and she stood like a dummy, stupidly touched by the reference to their child.

‘Come here.’ Resting his hand on her waist, he directed her towards the wooden steps that led out of the carport and into the back of the house. ‘Let’s get you out of this heat.’

The stairs led to the wide veranda of a white, wood-framed house that rose from the grove of palms to stand on a rocky outcropping. She’d admired the modern, two-storey colonial structure as they wound down the drive from the main gate. Up close, the building was dominated by the large windows covered by louvred shutters. The house appeared cool and airy even before they stepped off the veranda into a palatial, high-ceilinged living area that opened onto a wraparound porch, which looked down onto the cove below.

Dumping her bag and suitcase at the base of a curving staircase that led to the second level, Coop leaned against the balustrade and smiled. In a faded red and black Bermuda College T-shirt and ragged jeans, his bare feet bronze against the oak flooring, he looked more like the beach bum she remembered than the suited executive she’d found so intimidating in London.

‘So what do you think? Better than the hut, right?’

She swung round to take in the view and give herself a moment to regain the power of speech. Expensive, luxury furnishings—including a couple of deep-seated leather sofas, a huge flatscreen TV, a bar framed in glass bricks and a walled fireplace—adorned the tidy, minimalist living area. She stepped through the open doors onto the deck, hoping that the sea breeze would cool the heat rising up her neck. And spotted the edge of an infinity pool, sparkling on the terrace below the house. Steps carved into the stone led down through the grove of palms and banana trees, probably to the beach at Half-Moon Cove.