Falling for King's Fortune / Seduction, Westmoreland Style: Falling for King's Fortune

Casey grinned. Trust Dani and her wild bunch to keep things in perspective. “Having trouble?”

“Nice subject change,” Dani told her with a laugh. “And the answer is yes. I love my husband, don’t get me wrong, but when Mike’s in charge, the kids pretty much rule the house. When it’s my turn, I spend most of my time in damage control.”

Dani’s husband Mike, a Darby police officer, worked nights and Dani worked days. That way, there was always a parent around for the kids. A tired parent, but at least the children were cared for by family. Of course, Dani insisted it had been so long since she’d had sex, she only had a vague recollection of it.

Casey’s memories on the other hand, were clear and vivid. Which was just part of the problem.

“I don’t know how you take care of Mia all alone,” Dani said, switching the subject back to Casey. “I mean, Mike and I have separate shifts, but we always know there’s somebody to back us up. To turn to. To whine to.”

Casey smiled a little wistfully. She’d known going in, that she and her child would be alone. And that was okay with her most of the time. If she sometimes envied Dani’s relationship with her husband, she figured that was only normal.

“I’ve never known it any other way,” she admitted, putting the wine bottle back in the fridge and picking up her glass for a sip. “When I decided to get pregnant, I knew I’d be doing it alone. Sure, there’s nobody to help out, but I don’t have to share her with anyone either.”

“You don’t just share the bad stuff, Casey,” Dani said. “It’s nice to have someone to turn to and say, ‘Hey, did you just see that? Isn’t our kid brilliant?’”

Casey lifted her chin. “I have you to call and brag to. Besides, Mia and I get along great.”

“I love you and Mia like crazy, you know that. And nobody’s saying you’re not doing great on your own.”

“But? I hear a but in there somewhere.”

“Okay, but,” Dani said. “I think you’re being unrealistic to believe that Jackson King is going to disappear just because you want him to.”

Casey’s stomach did a quick flip and she took another sip of wine. She didn’t want to believe her friend, but hadn’t she been thinking the same thing earlier, while she’d bathed Mia and put her to bed?

Jackson came from a wealthy, powerful family. If he wanted to make trouble for her, he could. Right thing to do or not, she was beginning to wish she’d never contacted Jackson.

Casey dropped into one of the two wooden chairs pulled up to a tiny table in one corner of her kitchen. She stared out at the night beyond the windowpanes, where her postage-stamp-sized backyard lay and tried to keep panic at bay.

Shaking her head, she said, more to convince herself than Dani, “Why would he come back? He doesn’t want a baby. His whole lifestyle is built around hedonism. He does what he wants when he wants. He’s got a home he rarely stays in, his business has him flying all over the world and he’s not exactly a candidate for Mr. Commitment.”

“That’s the thing though, honey,” Dani said softly. “He’s never had a reason to commit to anything before, has he?”

“No. No, he hasn’t.” Casey set her wineglass down on the table and carefully unwrapped the curled phone cord from around her shoulders. “And by telling him the truth, I’ve just given him one, haven’t I?”

The next morning, Jackson was at the King family ranch, having called an emergency family meeting. He faced both of his brothers and was grateful that neither one of them had brought their wives into this.

“Did you actually see the DNA report?” Adam asked.

Jackson stopped pacing the confines of the elegantly appointed room and shot his oldest brother a look. “No, I didn’t.”

“Well, why the hell not?” Travis demanded from his seat in a dark brown leather chair.

Shifting him a glare, Jackson snapped, “I was a little shocked, okay? Having a child you never knew existed thrown at you all of a sudden is more surprising than you might think. Besides, I don’t need to see the report. You’ll know what I mean when you see Mia. She looks just like Emma and Katie.” He paused for effect, then added, “Prettier, of course, but then I’m the father.”

Adam chuckled and shook his head. “You’re sure taking this better than I thought you would.”

“You should have seen me last night.” Jackson had spent the entire night prowling through the home he rarely stayed in. The rooms were empty, the caretakers who lived there permanently were in their quarters and he’d listened for hours to the echoes of his own footsteps.

He’d tried to imagine the sound of a child’s laughter ringing through the big house, but hadn’t quite been able to do it. Hadn’t really known if he’d wanted to do it. But even as he told himself that, he’d realized a part of him was already making room for his child in his life.

Travis shook his head and scowled into his coffee. Adam on the other hand, sat behind his desk, his feet, crossed at the ankle, perched on one corner of it. “What does she want?” he asked quietly.

“She says, nothing.”

“Right.” Travis blew out a breath.

Jackson walked back across the floor to face both of his brothers. “Look, she just found out I’m the father. I told you she went to that sperm bank and—”

“I can’t believe you did that,” Adam interrupted.

“Not the point,” Jackson told him, refusing to go back over past mistakes. “Barn door open, horse gone.”

“He’s right,” Travis said, standing up to refill his coffee cup from the thermal pot on Adam’s desk. “How it happened doesn’t matter. What matters is what comes next.”

“What do you want to happen next?” Adam asked.

Hell if he knew.

He threw his hands in the air and let them fall to his sides again. This was something he was so not prepared to deal with. Something that had never once come up on his radar screen, so to speak. Now that it was there though, he had to step up and make the decision about how to go forward.

Images of Casey and Mia filled his mind. He was a father.

What the hell was he supposed to do with that?

“Jackson?”

Coming up out of his thoughts like a drowning man breaching the surface of a deep lake, Jackson looked at Adam and said quietly, “She’s my daughter. I won’t be kept away from her. Casey’s just going to have to deal with that reality. Mia is a King. She’s going to grow up knowing what that means.”

Adam and Travis exchanged glances and nodding, turned back to him.

“Of course she is,” Adam said.

“She’s family,” Travis put in.

“Her mother’s not going to like it,” Jackson told them.

“You’ll have to find a way to work around that.”

“I can do that,” he said, though inwardly, he admitted that a woman as stubborn as Casey wasn’t going to be easy to outmaneuver.

“There’s something else to remember here too,” Travis put in a moment later. He waited until both of his brothers were looking at him before saying, “You’ve got Marian to consider, in all this.”

“Marian.” Jackson whispered her name and shaking his head, realized he hadn’t given her a single thought since the night before. But it didn’t matter, he decided. He and Marian had a business arrangement. It wasn’t as if this were a great love match, after all. He’d tell her what had happened and let her know the engagement would have to be postponed. “She’ll understand.”

“What makes you think so?” Adam prompted.

“Because she wants this merger. And her father wants this marriage too,” Jackson told him. “Having King Jets linked to the Cornice family airfields will be good advertising for them and they know it. Our presence will bring in even more business for them.”