Scandalous: Scandalized!

“This way, you won’t have to look it up.”

He felt awkward now, but Olivia didn’t seem to be suffering any such problems. She gave him a small salute.

“I’ll be going home now. It’s getting late, and I do have quite a bit to think over.”

“I’ll be a good father, Olivia.” He hadn’t meant to say that. He hadn’t planned on trying to convince her what a good person he was. But he wanted the baby so badly, now, before he got any older, before he was left all alone in the world.

Again, she didn’t mock him.

“I never doubted it.” She looked almost sad, which didn’t make any sense. “Tomorrow at seven, Tony.” And then she was gone.

CHAPTER TWO

OLIVIA LAY IN BED that night, despising herself. She was a fraud and a manipulator and the worst kind of person for taking advantage of another. Tony had no idea the type of woman he was dealing with.

She’d known since she was sixteen that she would never have children. For her, it was physically impossible.

In the hospital, only hours before Olivia’s mother had slipped away, she had explained about the condition that robbed her daughter of that particular function. Olivia wasn’t a whole woman, could never lead a whole life. Having children was as beyond her as it was for Tony. And so she’d made her business her life. It was the only life she’d ever have.

Swallowing hard, Olivia felt the sting of tears as she recalled going to the hospital as a very young girl, her belly cramping painfully, the bleeding. It had been horrible, being examined by a male doctor. Beyond the pain, she’d felt violated and mortified. And then there were the days after when her mother and father had been so quiet, so withdrawn. She hated hospitals now, and she wouldn’t go to the doctor unless it was absolutely necessary.

She thought she’d successfully put the past behind her, that she’d buried the wishes that couldn’t come true. But now, with Tony’s proposition, they all came flooding back. She wanted to be loved, to have children, to be desired by a special man who would accept her as a sensual woman.

She couldn’t do anything about the first two wishes, but the third was a possibility.

It was rumored that Tony was an exceptional lover. She couldn’t deny that the information had given her a few private fantasies of her own. After all, despite everything, she was still a woman, and on occasion, she’d seen him strictly as a man. But intimacy was something she’d neither expected nor wanted from Tony.

Until she’d heard his plan.

And now it was all she could think about. Tony obviously admired her, and that was something. It wasn’t love, but it was a far cry from a totally detached sexual experience. She cared about Tony, thought he was a beautiful person and a very sexy man. And he wanted her as the mother of his child.

That was a precious gift all on its own, the highest of compliments.

Tony didn’t have to know that she’d never be able to conceive a child, that she was infertile. She could insist on doing things the “natural” way, allow him to try his manly best for a couple of weeks, then confess it wasn’t happening. He’d go on his way, none the wiser, find another woman, and have his baby by his designated time. She had not a single doubt of his eventual success. There were numerous women out there who would be more than willing to oblige him.

But he’d approached her, and she couldn’t quite send him on his way. Not yet. Hearing him discuss his sperm in such a casual way, and talk of impregnating her as if he was referring to buying her coffee, had been somehow very arousing. Long dormant feelings had seemed to swell without her consent, and when she’d pictured him “supplying” his sperm, pictured the process necessary to such a deed, she’d felt a sexual heat at the image, along with an emotional tenderness that he wanted a child so badly. Together, the two feelings had conspired against her better sense.

She’d read every article she could ever find on him, and they were numerous. She’d tried to follow in his footsteps, as impossible as that seemed, because he was too dynamic, too overwhelming. And also, he loved his family, when she didn’t even have a family to claim.

He was a good man, in every sense of the word. And she planned to corrupt him for her own purposes.

She was a fraud, but she wouldn’t actually be hurting anyone. Other than herself.

IT HAD PROVED to be a long night and an even longer day. By seven o’clock, Olivia was so nervous her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest. When her phone rang, a good three minutes after seven, she jumped a foot. She forced herself to wait through four rings, feeling juvenile but determined not to look overanxious, and then she answered. “Hello?”

“Olivia? It’s Tony.”

Just that, nothing more. She cleared her throat. “Hello.” Her voice squeaked, but she didn’t hang up. She could do this; she would grab the opportunity. But of course, she wouldn’t accept anything from him, other than the additional shop he’d already agreed to. She would suffer no guilt for taking monetary advantage of him. She would only use his body, and only for a brief time.

“Hi.” There was a long pause. “Have you made up your mind?”

She bit her lip, then took a deep breath. “I have. But I…I have a few stipulations I’d like to discuss.”

She heard his indrawn breath. “Does that mean you’ll do it?”

“Yes. But with a few—”

“I heard you. A few stipulations. Whatever it is, it’s yours!”

His joy was impossible to ignore. The man was thrilled to be getting what he believed would eventually be his baby. Olivia swallowed her guilt and girded herself. “You probably ought to know what I want before you agree to it.”

“I can afford whatever it is. I know you’re not a greedy woman. You won’t leave me bankrupt.”

“I want to forget the doctor.”

Deathly quiet. “Excuse me?”

Olivia knew she had thrown that out there awfully quick, but if she hadn’t, she might never have said it at all. “I don’t want to go through a doctor. I want…I want to do things naturally.”

“Naturally?”

He sounded completely stupefied, and she nearly growled in frustration. “Yes, dammit! As in you and me, together, the way nature intended.”

Not a single sound now. “Tony?”

“I’m here.”

Olivia waited. Strangely enough, she could hear Tony trying to sort his thoughts as clearly as she could hear her own heart pounding.

Finally he said, “Would you mind telling me why?”

Olivia shook her head, realized how stupid that was and closed her eyes. “Of course not. I just…”

“No, wait. This isn’t a conversation for the phone. Are you busy?”

“Now?”

“Yes, now. Believe me, I don’t want to have to sleep on this without understanding.”

“Of course not.” Olivia looked around her apartment, hoping for inspiration, but found only the same quiet environment that always surrounded her. “I could meet you somewhere.”

“No, I’ll pick you up. I know where you live. It’s—”

“It’s in your records.”

“Yes. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

The phone clicked in her ear, and to Olivia it sounded like the beginning of a drumroll. Oh boy, too late to change her mind now. Then, because she had no idea how far away Tony was or how soon he would arrive, she rushed from the room to find something appropriate to wear.