Cinderella and the Playboy (15 page)

The door opened and a man entered.

Chance stood slowly, assessing Jennifer’s ex-husband. He was medium height with a compact
body and he wore an expensive gray suit with a conservative blue silk tie. His features were boyish and he had an affable smile that Chance shrewdly suspected would charm women.

Chance disliked him on sight.

“Patrick Evans?”

“Yes.” Patrick reached the desk and the two men exchanged a quick handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Demetrios. I’ve followed your work here with great interest over the past several months.”

“Thanks. Sit down.” Chance waved him to a chair and resumed his seat behind the desk. He tapped the file in front of him with his forefinger. “Your application states you’ve recently completed your residency at Chicago General. What made you decide to apply to the Armstrong Fertility Institute for your first position?”

“Your research,” Patrick said promptly. “I’m very interested in emerging methods of in vitro procedures and the efficacy of the process. The Armstrong Institute is on the cutting edge of research in the field. I want to be part of the team.”

He punctuated his comments with a sincere smile.

“I see,” Chance said evenly. “I understand you were once married to Jennifer Lebeaux.”

“Yes, I was.” Patrick’s expression turned wryly re
gretful. “We were too young and the marriage didn’t last, unfortunately.”

“Hmm,” Chance said noncommittally. He wasn’t surprised that Patrick had a ready, glib response since he could have anticipated Jennifer would tell Chance about their marriage. Still, his fingers half curled into fists before he purposely straightened them. “And you have a daughter?”

“Yes, her name is Annie.” Patrick shifted in his chair and his features reflected a faint sadness. “Circumstances have kept me from seeing her as much as I’d like, but now that my residency is finished, I hope to change that.”

Chance had heard enough and seen enough phony emotion from Patrick. His original analysis of Jennifer’s ex-husband hadn’t changed with a face-to-face meeting. The man was an ass who didn’t give a damn about Annie.

“I suggest you rethink your relationship to Annie.” Chance’s neutral tone shifted, an undercurrent of menace running through his words.

Patrick blinked. “I beg your pardon?” he said warily.

“I’ve had my attorney draw up two documents. You will sign them, relinquish all parental rights to Annie and agree to her adoption by a man who is capable of being a real father to her.”

Patrick shoved back his chair and stood, anger painting flags of red across his cheekbones. “What makes you think you can order me to sign anything?”

Chance stood, leaning forward to plant his fists on the glossy desktop. He made no attempt to conceal the contempt he felt. “I have the power to keep you from being hired in damn near every research facility on the eastern seaboard, maybe even in the entire U.S.”

“You can’t do that,” Patrick protested. But his color faded and his eyes shifted to the file, then back to Chance.

“Try me.” Chance’s voice deepened, turned more lethal. “And if you ever threaten Jennifer or Annie again, I won’t waste time calling your boss or my attorney. I’ll come looking for you myself.”

“Just because you’re a Demetrios doesn’t mean you can get away with forcing me to sign away my rights to my child,” he blustered. Color ebbed and flowed in the younger man’s face, mottling and changing the boyish good looks with sulky dislike.

“I don’t need my family’s money or good name to take care of you. But I’ll use whatever I have to,” Chance said grimly. He opened the file and took out two legal documents, sliding them across the desktop, the pen on top. “We both know you couldn’t care less about Annie or Jennifer. Sign the consent papers.”

Patrick glared at him for a moment in one last gesture of obstinacy and stubbornness before he snatched up the pen. The writing was fast, slight shaky, and then he shoved the documents back across the desk to Chance.

Chance flipped the pages, making sure they were signed properly, then slid them into the file.

“I have your word you won’t blacklist me with your friends at other research facilities?” Patrick demanded with belligerence.

“You do.”

The other man turned on his heel and strode to the door, yanking it open.

“If any of this conversation leaks, I’ll know who spread the rumors. And if I find out you’ve talked,” Chance said with lethal intent, “all bets are off. I’d take a great deal of pleasure in making sure you never practice medicine.”

Patrick’s face whitened. Without a word, he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Muscles tight with the effort it had taken to keep from throwing Patrick physically out of his office, Chance forcibly unclenched his fists and rolled his shoulders. Adrenaline still surged through his veins and he strode to the window to look down on the parking lot below. He waited until Patrick exited the
building, climbed into a sedan and drove with a rush of speed out of the lot.

“So much for Patrick Evans,” Chance muttered aloud. He knew a deep sense of satisfaction that the man no longer had any claim on Jennifer or Annie. The documents he’d signed only legally established what Chance was convinced had always been true—Evans had never really loved Jennifer or their daughter.

What a fool the man is,
he thought. If he’d ever been lucky enough to have a wife and child like Jennifer and Annie, he never would have let them go.

And I won’t now,
he thought with sudden clarity and fierce determination. He wanted Jennifer and her little girl in his life permanently, here in his home, sharing his life. He wanted the legal right to protect them both—and that meant marriage and Annie’s adoption.

He didn’t know how long he’d been thinking of Jennifer as his but he knew he wasn’t going to wait to make her his.

He just hoped she felt the same.

He caught up the file and headed for the door, intent on driving directly to Jennifer’s apartment to talk to her. He just stepped over the threshold when his secretary hurried toward him.

“Chance, there’s an emergency with Mrs. Mac
Quillen. Her husband called 911 and the ambulance is taking her directly to the hospital.”

“I’m on my way.” Chance strode off down the hallway, punching in numbers on his cell phone as he went. Much as he wanted to see Jennifer, his patient came first. Ralph MacQuillen answered on the third ring, his voice distracted. “Ralph, this is Dr. Demetrios.”

Chance calmed the anxious husband and told him they’d meet at the hospital. Moments later, he drove out of the parking lot, knowing it may be hours before he could talk to Jennifer, his mind switching to Mrs. MacQuillen’s pregnancy.

Earlier that same day, Jennifer tried to reach Chance at his office but was told he was out. Dashing out the door to catch the bus to work, she wondered where he was and hoped he’d come by the apartment later that evening. She didn’t have a class and over the past three weeks, she’d come to count on seeing Chance on her free nights.

I wonder if that means this is a relationship,
she wondered.

Later that evening, the hour grew late and Chance didn’t appear. Disappointed, Jennifer bathed Annie before reading two chapters from an Eloise book and turning off the light.

Alone in the darkened living room, she clicked through channels on the TV, finding nothing that caught her interest.

She missed Chance, she realized. Resolutely, she located a mystery series and tried to concentrate on the story.

Just after 10:00 p.m., someone rapped on her door. After checking her visitor through the door’s peephole, Jennifer pulled open the door.

“Hi.” She held the door wide and Chance entered.

He pushed the door shut and dragged her close, wrapping her tightly against his body while his mouth covered hers.

“Hi,” he rasped when he finally lifted his head. “Did you miss me?”

She laughed. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours but yes, I missed you. I thought you would be here earlier.”

“I’ve been busy,” he told her. “Making sure your ex-husband can never threaten you or Annie again.”

Her eyes widened. “Chance, what have you done?” Worry veed her brows as she frowned. “You didn’t buy him off, did you? I didn’t want you to give in to his blackmail. If you helped him get a job at the institute, you’d never be able to trust him.”

“I didn’t do what he wanted,” Chance assured her.
He reached into the inner pocket of his leather jacket, removed a folded sheaf of papers and handed them to her. “These are for you.”

Confused, Jennifer took the papers, unfolding them as Chance shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over the seat of the rocking chair.

She read the legal documents twice, hardly daring to believe what she thought the wording meant. The documents were signed by Patrick and stated that he abandoned his legal parental rights to Annie and specifically agreed to an adoption.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said, stunned. “How did you convince Patrick to do this?”

“It was simple,” he told her. “I threatened to tell certain influential people at the best research facilities in his field that he wasn’t a good candidate.” Chance shrugged. “I’m not without influence in the arena and he knows it. So he agreed to give up Annie.” His face tightened, a muscle flexing along his jawline. “In return, I said I’d refrain from discussing his lack of character with potential employers. And I didn’t think he and the institute were a good fit.”

“Oh, Chance…” Jennifer’s mouth trembled and tears welled, threatening to spill down her cheeks.

“Don’t cry, honey.” He pulled her into his arms
and she burrowed closer, pressing her tear-damp face against his throat. He cupped the back of her head in one big hand. “I’m not sure you’re ready to hear this, but I need to say it. I want to marry you and adopt Annie.”

She tipped her head back, her gaze searching his. His dark brown eyes were fierce with conviction.

“Say yes, Jennifer. I’m in love for the first—and last—time in my life. Living without you isn’t an option.” His arms tightened, pressing her closer.

“I didn’t know—you didn’t tell me you loved me,” she whispered.

A wry half smile curved his mouth. “I didn’t think you were ready to hear it. Plus, I’ve never felt this way about a woman before, not the way I have you. I guess I thought it was obvious I was head over heels in love with you.”

“Not to me,” she murmured. “But maybe that’s because I’m head over heels in love with you, too.”

His fingers flexed in reaction, stroking her sensitized skin.

“I’m glad you said that,” he muttered with a sigh of relief. “Because if you didn’t, I had no plan for what to do next.”

“What was your plan if I said yes?” she asked, smiling as she turned her head and kissed the warm,
strong column of his throat, breathing in the faint trace of cologne and a scent that was his alone. Her heart raced, thudding in her chest.

“I was hoping you’d take me to bed.” He tilted his head back to look down at her, arousal painting a slash of color over the arch of his cheekbones. “I haven’t pressed you because I know you vowed Annie would never wake and find you in bed with someone—and I respect that decision. But we’re going to be married, as soon as possible, I hope. And I don’t want to leave you tonight.”

“And after tonight?” she asked, holding on to the moment.

“I want us to elope—you and Annie and me. And I want you to move in with me. I have plenty of room at my house.” He smoothed the pad of his thumb over her cheekbone. “Say yes, Jennifer. I don’t want to spend any more nights without you.”

“Yes.” She smiled through misty tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He grinned, dark eyes lighting. “I feel like I’ve just won the lottery.” He pressed a hard kiss against her mouth. “Annie’s going to love living with Butch and he’ll be crazy about having her there,” he said when he lifted his head.

“We’ll have trouble separating them at night,” she agreed.

“I vote for not fighting that battle. Let’s just move Butch’s bed into her room,” Chance said dryly.

“You know Annie so well.” She laughed.

With decision, she stepped back, taking his hand in hers. “Come to bed with me, Chance,” she murmured, relishing the words. “And stay until the morning. When Annie gets up, we can all have breakfast together and tell her the news.”

His eyes darkened to black, fierce emotion filling them.

She led him into the bedroom, to her turned-down sheets and comfortable bed—the bed that she’d slept in alone since before Annie was born.

But no longer. Chance’s broad shoulders and big body would crowd her bed just as his love filled her heart.

As he tugged her T-shirt over her head and bent to take her mouth with his, Jennifer was swamped with a rush of emotion. Chance made her feel all the things she never thought she’d be—happy, safe, cherished, challenged and loved.

Just before he stripped off their clothes and lowered her onto the bed, she vowed she would love
and cherish him, as well. The future glowed with promise, bright and beckoning.

It seemed she’d finally found her Prince Charming.