Baby Benefits (2 page)

Instantly any regret she felt was swept away by a wave of confusion.

“What are you doing with a baby?”

Derek’s expression shifted and for an instant he looked as baffled as she felt.

“She’s mine.”

Raina’s hand clenched involuntarily on the freshly printed letter of resignation, crumpling the crisp white paper. “Your baby? That’s impossible.”

“Normally I’d agree with you. But the results from the paternity test say otherwise.” Derek’s lips twisted into a grimace.

Someone who knew him less well might mistake the action for a wry smile, but Raina knew better. Derek never smiled. She felt as if the building had just been subjected to a mild earthquake. She could only imagine how he felt.

“Is that Isabella?”

“It is.”

She stepped forward a few faltering steps, only to sink to the chair opposite Derek’s desk.

“I don’t understand. I thought she was Dex’s child. The mother—Jewel or Lucy or whatever she was calling herself. She told me so herself.”

“She lied.” Almost as if she sensed she was the topic of conversation, Isabella began to squirm nervously in Derek’s arm. He crossed to his chair and sat. “Jewel and Lucy are twins.”

“So which one is Isabella’s mother?”

“Jewel.”

Raina sank back into her chair, trying to make sense of what little Derek was giving her. “So the woman I met last week, the woman Dex was so interested in, that was…”

“Lucy. Isabella’s aunt. When Jewel abandoned Isabella on my doorstep, Lucy devised this crazy plan to get her niece back. She pretended to be her twin sister because she thought Dex would just let her take Isabella back.”

“But Dex isn’t really her father.”

“No.”

“And you are?”

“Apparently.”

“So you and Dex slept with the same woman.” Derek’s only response was a tight, uncomfortable nod. “That’s weird.”

“Not as weird as the fact that Dex has asked Lucy to marry him.”

Raina cocked her head to the side and considered Derek. If he thought it was weird, then he must never have seen Lucy and Dex together. Raina had only seen them together once, but it had been obvious to her that they were well on their way to falling in love. At the time, it seemed only fitting, since they already had a child together. But if that child wasn’t theirs, but was Jewel’s and Derek’s…

“So you slept with Jewel?” Distaste curdled her stomach. Jewel had been a Messina Diamond’s employee over a year ago. She’d spent her entire, brief employment throwing herself at Derek. It had never occurred to Raina that Derek might have given in to the temptation Jewel presented.

For years, Raina had worked side by side with Derek and during that time, she’d fallen in love with his strength and loyalty. With his sheer determination to do the right thing by his family and company.

In all that time, he’d never given her any indication he saw her as a woman. Never glanced at her legs. Never let his touch linger on her hand. Never gazed into her eyes with the slightest hint of sexual curiosity.

She’d always told herself it was only because she was an employee. She’d comforted herself with the knowledge that he was honorable. That he would never, ever sleep with someone who worked for him.

To find out now that he’d slept with Jewel felt like a crippling betrayal. Apparently, he wasn’t too honorable to sleep with an employee. No, it was only Raina that he didn’t want.

Two

Derek watched Raina from where he sat. She looked nearly as shocked as he felt.

This infant was his. This tiny sleeping child that he held awkwardly in his arms was the result of his stupidity. His mistake.

A sort of grim determination settled over him. He was going to make this work. And Raina would help him. They’d been through tougher things than this together.

“First off, I’m going to need you to clear off my schedule for the next two weeks.”

Raina’s head snapped up. “Clear off your schedule? Whatever for?”

Her frown of confusion didn’t faze him. “I need to learn to be a father.”

“Ignoring for a moment that you can’t possibly learn to be a father in two weeks, there are several things on your schedule that can’t possibly be moved.”

“Anything that can’t be moved either you or Dex will have to take care of. As for learning to be a father, Dex did it in two weeks. So can I.”

“That’s absurd. Dex didn’t—”

“When I left for New York, Dex had no experience with children and even less interest in them. By the time I made it back, he’d bonded with her.” He looked down at the child, searching for some semblance of a bond himself, but at the moment he felt only panic.

Raina shrugged. “The situation is hardly the same,” she said weakly. “And yes, he certainly did seem smitten, back when he thought she was his daughter, but—”

“He’s still—” Derek cast around for the right word, but couldn’t find a better one than what she’d used. It seemed to curdle on his tongue. “Smitten. I had to argue with him to let me bring her to work with me today.”

He couldn’t say why it bothered him so—the way Dex seemed determined to protect Isabella from Derek’s incompetence. He only knew that it did.

Raina merely frowned. “Why did you bring her to work with you? I thought Dex had hired a nanny?”

“He did. I’ve given her the next two weeks off.”

“Why on earth—”

“Dex didn’t have a nanny at first. That’s probably why he bonded with her so quickly.”

“Dex had Jewel—or rather Lucy—to help him.”

“And I have you.”

Her gaze narrowed and she jumped to her feet. The crumpled ball of paper in her hand crackled as she squeezed it even tighter. “Oh, no, no, no. I am not taking care of this baby for you.”

“I’m not—”

But she interrupted him, something she rarely did.

“You know, I’ve done a lot of crazy things for you over the years.” She marched around his desk to glare at him. “I’ve worked weekends. I’ve missed vacations. I’ve given up holidays. I’ve gone on last-minute business trips where I’ve stayed in crappy hotels and eaten worse food. But this is where I draw the line.”

Raina’s tirade stunned him into momentary silence. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she resented the work she’d done. But before he could ask, she spun away from him to pace the floor.

“I’m not helping you take care of that baby. I don’t want anything to do with her. I don’t care if she’s yours.” Her gaze flickered to Isabella and her expression softened for an instant before hardening again. “I don’t care how cute she is.”

He watched her with fascination. He’d never seen her like this. In all the years she’d worked for him—and it must be, what, eight or so by now—she’d always been the consummate professional. Well dressed, well-groomed, well-spoken. She’d never raised her voice. Never glared at him. Never showed so much as an ounce of disrespect.

Funny how he’d never realized before today how long her legs were, but now as she was striding across his room, they were hard to ignore. As was the way her cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink when she raised her voice.

Something dangerously like desire stirred inside him as he watched her. He quickly stifled the reaction. This situation was strained enough as it was.

“Raina, I’d never ask you to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

Her head whipped around toward him. “Not comfortable with?” She let loose a laugh that had a slightly maniacal tone to it. “You wouldn’t ask that of me? How on earth would you even know what I’m comfortable with?”

This time, when he obviously had no response, she just stood there, waiting for him to answer. The moment stretched on seemingly forever and he felt his own inability to handle the situation spinning out of control.

Finally, she just shook her head. Then she stalked out of the room slamming the door behind her. He felt the concussive force of it like a physical thing.

To the empty room, he asked, “What the hell was that about?”

And where the hell had his calm, professional assistant disappeared to?

The only answer to his questions was the stirring of the tiny baby in his arms.

Woken by the slamming door, she twisted against his chest, pushing with all her five-month-old strength against the confines of his arms. When he didn’t release her, she let out a wail of frustration.

He knew how she felt.

Raina didn’t stop walking until she’d made it out to her car. She climbed in, slammed the door behind her, and pounded her fist on the steering wheel only to jump when she accidentally hit the horn. The blare of the horn echoed through the parking garage, causing several people to turn and gape in her direction.

Next she pounded her forehead against the steering wheel, an action that both released a tiny bit of her frustration and hid her face in case any of the people staring were her coworkers.

Or rather, ex-coworkers.

She glanced down at the paper still crumbled in her hand. Okay, soon-to-be ex-coworkers.

Why—in the middle of her ridiculous and embarrassing tirade—hadn’t she at least had the sense to hand him her resignation? Or, in lieu of that, thrown it at him on the way out the door?

The timing had been perfect. She’d already made an ass out of herself. She might as well have removed the need to ever see him again. Besides, given her current state of rambling madness, he probably would have welcomed her resignation.

“So why didn’t you just quit, you big dummy?”

She sighed, raised her forehead enough to rub at the tension there and then slouched deeper into her car seat.

“Probably because you’re not really going to quit. At least not now.”

How could she quit now? After all she’d done for him, all the late nights, all the weekends and holidays. How could she walk out on him when he needed her most? She alone knew how important family was to Derek. True, he had an odd way of showing it, but nothing mattered to him more. Which was probably why he was bungling things so badly right now.

Talk about big dummies.

He thought he could learn to be a father in two weeks? He thought he needed to, just because Dex had fallen hard for Isabella himself?

Men. Were they all this stupid or was it just the brilliant ones? Derek was a financial genius. He ran a multi-billion-dollar business. He was handsome, impeccably dressed and a whiz with the ladies. Yet when it came to some things, he was dumber than dirt.

And by “some things” she meant real relationships. Family. The things that mattered. And his daughter certainly fell into that category.

Raina straightened, considering the crumpled ball of paper in her hand. Maybe all wasn’t lost after all. Maybe she could find a way to knock some sense into him over the next few weeks. As for her own emotional state…well, the thought of him sleeping with Jewel had certainly put a damper on her affections. And—if she were honest with herself—probably explained her outburst back in his office.

One thing was for certain. She wasn’t going to sit in her car and cry, no matter how appealing doing so sounded.

As she climbed from the car, she muttered, “And damn that Trinity for being right. Does she have an actual, working Magic 8-ball or something?”

And if she did, what were the chances Raina could get her hands on it? Because she’d darn sure like to know how she was going to get through this without becoming even more emotionally involved than she already was.

“Sounds like you need some help in here.”

Derek glanced up from the screaming infant to see his brother standing in his office doorway. Just beyond Dex, in the reception area where Raina’s now-empty desk sat, stood a cluster of curious onlookers, their heads tilted close together, their “concerned” whispers hung in the air as they angled for a view into his office. Apparently more than one person out there was eager to see him fail. Raina, had she been at her usual guard post, would have put a stop to the rubbernecking.

Damn Raina for leaving him when he needed her most. And damn Dex for wandering by to witness Isabella’s rebellion.

“I don’t need your help,” Derek insisted, but Isabella ruined the effect by letting out a scream of protest so loud he thought it must have ruptured his eardrum.

Dex stepped into the office and closed the door behind him. “You sure about that?”

The bastard was smiling. As if this was just about the funniest thing he’d ever seen.

Isabella must have recognized Dex’s voice, because she turned her head toward him. For an instant, her cries quieted. Then, no doubt sensing an ally, she redoubled her efforts to escape from Derek’s arms. Derek felt each howl like a stab to the chest.

She pressed her tiny hands against his shoulder, shoving her upper body away from his. Since she obviously didn’t want to be held against him, he hooked his hands under her armpits and held her at arm’s length. Her protestations grew louder.

“Um, Derek, she doesn’t like that.”

Derek could only scowl. “You think?”

Before Dex could make any more smartass comments, Isabella kicked her legs out toward Derek. He instinctively sucked in his gut to stay out of range of her feet. As he did so, she squirmed again, nearly propelling herself out of his arms.