The Beaumont Children: His Son, Her Secret

“Parts of it were very good. Great, even.”

She giggled, but just then a small cry came from the other side of the wall. “Oh—the baby!” Leona said, shooting up and gathering her clothes. She was dressed in seconds and rushing out of the room.

Byron grabbed his shorts and his pants and pulled them on. He didn’t know if he was staying here tonight or not. Not, he decided. He didn’t have another condom and he couldn’t risk the temptation of Leona again, not when there was still a chance that the condom failure might be nothing, after all.

He finished dressing and then peeked his head into Percy’s room. The only light spilled into the room from the hallway. Leona sat in the dark, holding Percy to her breast. This time, he noted the things he’d need to get for his new place—the crib, the dresser, the glider.

But he also watched Leona and Percy. One of Percy’s hands lazily waved around in the air, as if he wanted to grab on to something but was too sleepy to know what. Leona smiled down at him, her eyes full of love as she offered her finger for him to grip.

Byron had missed so much. The whole of her pregnancy, the delivery, Percy’s first smile—all of it was gone into the past. But starting right now, he could make up for that. He could be here for the first time Percy rolled over, the first time he stood and took a step.

He wanted to be a better father than the one he’d had. That’s all there was to it.

Behind him, the front door opened. May walked back into the apartment, already glaring at him. “You’re still here?” She looked him up and down and sniffed in distaste.

Byron shrugged his shoulders at Leona and then walked over to where May was standing. He kept his voice low so he wouldn’t wake Percy. “We’re going to look at some real estate tomorrow. You’re welcome to join us.”

“I’m not going to uproot my life for you,” she spat at him. “Not after what you did to Leona.”

He kept his calm. Mostly because he didn’t want to upset the baby. “I could find you a place of your own nearby if you wanted to stay close to Percy.”

At this, May softened a little bit. “Why would you do that?”

“Because he loves you and your sister loves you,” Byron replied. “And I want them to be happy.”

Whatever small foothold he’d gained with May disappeared. “Then just stay away from them. From all of us,” she hissed.

“I wish I could,” he muttered as May sidestepped him and headed for her room. “I wish I could.”

But he knew he couldn’t.

Ten (#ulink_9485cdb0-6f2a-5725-9d9f-27d6b00bd177)

They met outside the brewery. Leona was exhausted. Between the three times Percy had gotten her up in the middle of the night and the wild dreams she’d had about Byron, she’d gotten very little rest.

But here she was anyway, picking Byron up at the restaurant site instead of the Beaumont Mansion so his family wouldn’t see him leaving in her car.

“How are you?” he asked as he climbed into the passenger seat. But before she could answer, he’d pulled her into a light kiss.

In the back, Percy shook his rattle.

“Sorry,” Byron said, clearly not sorry at all.

And that, in a nutshell, was her problem. If she were to find herself pregnant again, she’d have to marry him.

An insidious voice in her head that sounded a lot like her father whispered, Maybe that was his plan the entire time.Get you pregnant again to force your hand.

She shook that thought out of her head. “Tired. He woke up a couple more times last night.”

Byron frowned. “How long do those drops take to work?”

“A couple of days. Where are we going?”

Byron gave her the address and they headed out. “Do I take it May’s still not interested in relocating to stay closer to you two?”

“No, not particularly.” Which was the diplomatic way of saying it. At breakfast, May had been quite upset that Leona was spending the day with Byron—and was taking Percy with her.

They drove in silence. The weight of what had happened between them last night hung heavy in the air. She could always buy the plan B pill, just to make sure she didn’t get pregnant—but she didn’t want to do that without discussing it with Byron, and she had absolutely no idea how to begin that conversation.

So, instead, she would look at real estate with a man she still wasn’t convinced she should live with. Because last night he’d told her in all seriousness that he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands to himself.

She liked to think she was no fool. Oh, sure, she had made some foolish choices. But this?

Living together meant sleeping together, no matter what either of them said about separate rooms. If she agreed to this trial, they’d be together in every sense of the word.

Part of her thought that was a grand idea. It’s what she’d wanted, after all, back before she got pregnant the first time and Byron abandoned her and it all blew up in her face. The other part of her couldn’t get past the part where Byron had abandoned her.

Even though Byron had laid her out last night and made her orgasm like no time had passed between them, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to happen next. She wanted Byron but...she had to put her son first.

Of course, Percy should know his father. That was nonnegotiable.

God, her head was such a mess. Maybe if she’d gotten more than four hours of nonconsecutive sleep she’d be able to think.

They arrived at the Realtor’s office, and she came out to greet them. “Hi! I’m Sherry!” the woman said in a way-too-bright voice. Leona winced. It was still far too early for this level of enthusiasm. “I don’t want you to have to unstrap that little cutie so we’ll just head out, okay?”

“That’s fine,” Byron said. “We’ll follow you?”

“Sure!” Sherry said with a blindingly white smile.

Leona turned to Byron. “What did you tell her?”

“Nothing.” He gave her a sly grin. “Just that I was a Beaumont and I expected a high level of service. That’s all.”

“Oh, Lord,” Leona muttered, following Sherry’s car out of the parking lot. “Let the upselling begin.”

Byron chuckled.

They drove into Littleton, which was not a town that Leona had spent a lot of time in. Her family lived in Cherry Hills in an old mansion behind a gated fence.

Although Littleton looked like a nicer place than the section of Aurora where she and May lived, it didn’t come close to Cherry Hills. At least, not until the Realtor made a couple of turns and May found herself driving past a country club. “Byron?” she asked. “I thought you were just going to get us an apartment or something.”

“Or something,” he agreed as the Realtor pulled into the driveway of a truly stunning house. From the outside, it looked as if it was maybe half the size of her family’s mansion—and easily five times the size of her current apartment, if not more.

Leona opened her car door and gaped. The house was built to look like a log cabin, but this was no primitive home. The red tile roof gleamed in the morning sunlight and the foundation plantings were lush—obviously well watered despite the lingering drought conditions.

“Here we are!” said Sherry with an even bigger smile.

“How much?” Leona demanded.