Tempted By The Wrong Twin

“Aw, baby, that’s probably not a good idea. But I’ll see you this weekend. How about we go to the park this time?”

Immediately distracted, Ellie nodded. “The big one wiv the swings?”

He grinned. “That’s the one.”

“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered, gripping his neck tight.

“I love you, too, Ellie.”

“Flowers. Are you going on a date, Nick?” Melissa was closer now. “You know I don’t want girlfriends around Ellie. It’s too disruptive for her. And my lawyer agrees.”

Nick stifled the retort that sat on his tongue. He was perfectly capable of working out what was and wasn’t good for his daughter. But getting into an argument in front of Ellie was definitely something that wouldn’t be good for her.

“Nice to see you, Melissa.” He tipped his chin at the other man. “Guy.”

“I mean it, Nick,” Melissa said, undeterred.

“You know what?” her smarmy fiancé said. “How about you go ahead and do it, and we’ll have a much stronger custody case. Ellie tells us everything anyway.”

Despite the pressure building in his head, Nick refused to rise to the bait. He gave Ellie another squeeze and put her down. “I’d love to stay and chat some more, but I have to go.” He grabbed the closest bunch of flowers, said, “See you soon, baby,” to his daughter, gave the adults a tight smile and headed for the checkout.

A few minutes later, he slid into the driver’s seat of his car and paused before starting the engine. His lawyer had given him similar advice about women—if he was trying to prove that he was a stable influence in Ellie’s life, then a parade of girlfriends would work against him. That had been such a nonissue at the time, he’d barely paid attention. But now...

...now a woman he barely knew was carrying his twins.

He didn’t have to run it by his lawyer to know that this would make him look irresponsible. And, as Malcolm had said, there were no secrets in Royal with Maverick on the loose, so Melissa could find out any day. Added to the PTSD he’d struggled with since his last deployment, it might be enough for the judge to award full custody of Ellie to her mother instead of the shared custody he was asking for. He couldn’t go on with only a day every two weeks with his daughter. His lungs squeezed tight.

He had to do something.

Something to make him look more stable.

He ran through scenario after scenario, but, really, there was only one solution.

If he and Harper were married, not only would he avoid any appearance of irresponsibility, but, in the judge’s eyes, he’d have a stable family unit to offer Ellie. Turning a negative into a positive.

The more he thought about it, marriage would not only help him with the custody case, it would also keep Harper here in Royal so he could be involved in the babies’ lives. It was a win-win.

But could he do it? Marry a woman who was practically a stranger? Could he convince her to do it?

Movement at the front of the store caught his attention. Ellie danced around Melissa’s legs as they made their way out the door and toward their car. His heart thumped hard. He’d do anything for that little girl. And he already felt the same about being a part of the twins’ lives, too. For all three children, he’d do anything. Even marry someone he didn’t love.

Decision made, he started the engine. Now he just had to convince Harper.

Glad he’d allowed extra time, he drove by the Texas Cattleman’s Club, where he’d made the reservation for dinner tonight. A few extra touches would help when he proposed. At this stage all he had going for him was that he and Harper had enough chemistry to light the city, so he wanted to do anything extra he could to sway the odds in his favor. It wasn’t much, but he’d been on missions with less auspicious beginnings. He’d make it work.

On the way in, he heard his name and turned to see the tall, solid form of Gabe Walsh stepping out of his car. Gabe was a former special agent with the FBI who now ran the Walsh Group, his family’s private security firm. Before Gabe had taken over, the Walsh Group had bought their body armor from Tate Armor, and Nick was loath to lose their business. One of the proposals he was working on now was the first one for TWG with Gabe at the helm.

“Walsh,” Nick said, waiting until the other man reached him, and then shaking his hand.

“Not often we see you out and about, Tate. Is this a special occasion?”

For a long moment, Nick considered telling him about Harper and the babies, trying to make it sound like casual chat, but really letting him know early in case Maverick released the information. At least that way it wouldn’t look like a security breach; instead, it would just be old news.

But, in reality, there was no way to announce such large personal news to a work acquaintance in a parking lot and make it sound natural. And Gabe had been in law enforcement—dropping something like that with no context would make him suspicious.

So, instead, he worked the other angle. “Just checking on a reservation. Hey, have you been looking into Maverick?”

Gabe’s head cocked to the side. “You know something?”

“Actually, I was hoping you would.”

Gabe winced. “Nothing. But I sure would love to know who it is.”

“You and everyone in town.” They reached the front doors, and both men stopped. Nick thrust his hand out, and Gabe shook it. “Good to see you. I’ll have that proposal to you in the next few days.”

“Looking forward to it.” Gabe went through the doors, and Nick let out a breath.

If there was about to be a breakthrough on the case, Gabe Walsh would know about it—he had connections everywhere. Which meant the situation with Harper was ripe for Maverick to milk or try to blackmail him over. The only way forward was to neutralize the potential threat before Maverick acted on it.

And that brought Nick back to the one way to resolve the situation on all fronts.

He had to marry Harper Lake.

* * *

Harper glanced across at Nick as he sat on the other side of their relatively secluded table at the restaurant in the Texas Cattleman’s Club. The table had the same crisp white tablecloth, sparking crystal glassware and thick, luxurious napkins as the others, but theirs definitely had something extra. To start with, there was the cascading arrangement of tiny white roses, and gold cutlery instead of silver on the other tables. And Nick had arrived to pick her up with a bouquet of pink lilies, which she’d put in a vase before they’d left. It all gave her a sinking feeling that Nick was pulling out all the stops. And she was going to tell him she was leaving anyway...

She’d been thinking about tonight almost constantly since he’d walked out her door twenty-four hours ago, and knew Nick would try to use their dinner to convince her to stay, so she’d decided to share one of her deepest fears with him, to be completely up front about why she had to go. Maybe then he’d understand—even if he didn’t like it—and wouldn’t make it more difficult than it already was.

At the very least, she owed him an explanation of why she wouldn’t risk staying and failing. Afterward, they could work out visitation arrangements and do their best to ensure the babies had a relationship with their father.

But she had a feeling Nick wasn’t going to make it easy to leave him.

She glanced at him now, the strong column of his throat emerging from the collar of his charcoal dress shirt, his mouth that she knew from experience could take her to heaven, dark eyes that were smoldering as they watched her... She tore her gaze away and looked down at her place setting. Leaving this man would never be easy.

In the car, as if by unspoken consent, they’d tabled the discussion about their situation and instead talked about the town and people they both knew. But now they were at the restaurant, and Harper didn’t want to put it off any longer. She needed to let him know where she stood before he started his pitch.

“Nick,” she began then paused to find some air for her lungs. “This is not how I pictured having my first baby.”

“It’s not how I pictured having my second and third, but we can make it work.” He seemed so sure, so confident he could make things right, and that broke her heart.

A waiter brought the two glasses of sparkling water they’d ordered, and Harper took a sip, both to help her dry mouth and to wait until they were alone again to resume the conversation.

“I need to explain something.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and met his gaze. “I grew up in a broken home. My mother did a great job, but some experiences will leave a mark. I made a vow that I’d never subject a child to the same pain, confusion and self-blame that I felt growing up.”

He cocked his head to the side, surveying her. “You don’t come across as someone who’s riddled with doubts.”

“How do I come across?” she asked, despite herself. She didn’t want to be sidetracked, but she was suddenly very interested in his opinion of her.