Miami Hot: #1 (Miami Heat Series) (26 page)

“I want us to get married before the baby comes, and it would be best we do it on Saturday before you start showing,” he told her.

“I don’t want to get married, not now anyway.”

“Look, I don’t want to upset you. Not in your delicate
condition anyway. But I would prefer that the baby be not born out of wedlock,” he said.

Moira
rounded on him. “And what century do you still live in, Conrad? Those days are long gone.”

“Those are my beliefs, so just be ready on Saturday. I’ll make all the arrangements since I doubt you want any part of this. Just your presence is all that I will need,” he said and sat down to put on his shoes.

“I won’t be there,” she told him.

“Oh yes, you will. I will dress you if that’s what it will take and march you to the court house myself. And while we are on that subject, Janet will help you find a dress. Buy whatever you want.”

“You can go to hell,” she huffed at him. “If you want any part of this baby’s life, you better get used to be just the baby daddy, or you can renounce your rights for all I care,” she shouted at him and banged the bedroom door on her way out.

He opened the door and flung it wide open. “In your dreams baby. We are getting married Saturday and that’s final.”

The front door closed as she called him a bully.

“Very mature King,” he heard Sam saying as he watched from his bedroom door.
“You running in circles again?”

“Fuck you Ford!”

Sam laughed. “Like I said, very mature indeed.”

“I don’t have time for this,” he hissed. “I’m going to work.”

“Okay, have a nice day honey,” he called out in a girl’s voice.

“Fuck you!”

Conrad closed the front door to Sam’s laughter. He drove to work like a mad man. Everyone he came into contact with suffered. He calmed down a bit when his dad stopped by. He was happy about the grandchild and happy to be getting a daughter. “Sure, I can be there at the courthouse on Saturday,” he said thoughtfully.

“I’m still waiting to see if I can get a judge to do it on Saturday, that way her friend Sere can attend. If it fails, we may have to push it to Friday, unless we can get someone who will agree to come home, then maybe we can have it at home if you don’t mind dad.”

“Nonsense, son. Your mother would be proud. Among all her gardens? She will be smiling from above.”

When his dad left, he saw him make his way to the cafeteria. He got a hug and huge smile from her. Well at least she liked one of the King men. And if Little Bo Peep turned out to be a boy, then that would be two King men. He would have to work on her to get back into her good graces. He would rather die than to let her go. And maybe this marriage thing wasn’t so bad after all. He got to keep her forever. What is it they said? ‘…Till death do us part…’
Conrad laughed at the irony of that. He would probably be dead before they signed the papers. If he wasn’t careful, she would be the death of him and he may never see Little Bo Peep. He swore when he realized he kept referring to their baby as a girl. And where the heck did she get that name? But it souned better and better everytime he said the name or thought about it.

“
Moira tells me there isn’t going to be any wedding anytime soon,” his dad said from the door. He hadn’t realized he had left Moira.

Conrad
grunted. “She’ll come around. I’m still working on her,” he said.

“Son, when will you learn that you catch more flies with honey? See,” he said waving his pastry box at him. “That one is going to keep you on your toes.
It’s going to be interesting watching you flounder.”

“Dad, I need you on my side, not hers,” he said and started pacing. “First Sam, and now you. Lucas too seems to be on her side.”

“I know where my bread is buttered, so of course I am on her side.” He waved his box again and laughed at his misery. “Now, I’m going to my office for a couple of hours, then I’m going to see if I can squeeze in some tee time.” William turned at the door, “Keep me updated,” he said and left.

π

Wednesday afternoon, Moira arrived at the doctors offices with five minutes to spare. She had filled the patients forms online the night before and printed then signed them. She hated filling out forms whenever she saw a new doctor, and if she could download the forms ahead of times, she always did that. When she got in she found Conrad flirting with the ladies in the front office. She rolled her eyes and checked in. She laughed when the grandma that was checking her in got all dreamy when he kissed her. She hadn’t meant to, but he had just caught her unprepared.

“Oh, honey, you caught the cream of the crop in that boy,” grandma told her.

“No Denise. I caught the cream of the crop,” he corrected her.

Grandma Denise laughed. “He’s a smooth one for sure” she said fanning herself. “If I were younger, I would fight you for him.”

“What? A young girl like you. You can still fight for me,” he said and winked at her.

“You know what Denise, do me a favor and take him off my hands,” she said with a
sweet smile.

Denise hooted with laughter. “I like you.”

Moira smiled then took back her ID and insurance card and took a seat and leaving them to their flirting. But before she had even sat down for a minute the nurse called her name and they followed her. She took her weight, blood pressure readings and temperature, then had them follow her to an exam room.

The doctor came shortly after. He shook hands with them both and introduced himself as Dr
. Andrew Chandler. He was in his mid forties. Moira felt relaxed as he talked and told them what to expect from him as a doctor. He left for a few minutes giving Moira time to undress, then he came back after a few minutes. He started by doing a full body exam, then told her he would move on to the transvaginal ultrasound so they could try and determine how far along she was.

As soon as Dr
. Chandler told her she was seven weeks pregnant, she knew the baby had most likely been conceived that Valentine’s night. That was when she had agreed to have unprotected sex with Conrad. She had still been taking meds, but hadn’t known that they could interfere with her birth control pills. She listened as she was given prenatal instructions. It was all still quite hazy but today she finally got confirmation and even saw Little Bo Peep as a little mark on the screen. Half the time she couldn’t even see what the doctor was referring to. It seemed to be a lot of black and white and wondered if it ever came in color.

She thought
Conrad might have gone back to work, but he followed her home. Somehow as long as they were not talking about the impending marriage they got along fine. The sex was even better if that were possible and they slept clinging to each other all night. Moira was glad Conrad didn’t spoil their first view of their baby by bringing up the dreaded topic. As soon as they got in Moira jumped him and Conrad whisked her to the bedroom. He was more gentler now, but still fucked her as hard as she cried for. They couldn’t get their hands off each other, but with the morning light, Conrad had to spoil everything by reminding Moira that she still needed to get a dress.

She had thought that by now he would have come to his senses.
Moira didn’t want to get married just because she was pregnant. And yes it was double standard but she wanted to get married for love and her wedding day be the most beautiful day ever. She already knew what she wanted to do, she just needed to put her plan in action, and hopefully before Saturday.

So she told
Conrad what he wanted to hear. She was tired of his pestering. “You know what?” she said to him. “I give up. I’ll take some time later today and tomorrow to go looking for a dress.” Then she walked out of the bedroom and went to work.

As soon as she reached work she made a call. She was answered on the second ring. Her caller assured her he would take immediate action.
Moira was told to wait for further instructions later that evening. Feeling relieved, Moira got to work. She tried to act as normal but sometimes it was hard. She left early and met Janet at a bridal shop. They looked at a number of dresses, but Moira said she didn’t like any of them. She told Janet she would try again the next day, but she didn’t need to be there. Janet finally agreed but she wasn’t happy about being left out of dress shopping.

Fortunately when
Moira’s long awaited call came through, none of the men were home yet.

“Act normal, your flight will be ready
for take-off anytime after 1pm. Try to make it before 4:30pm. Don’t take anything,” her friend told her. It was a short and to the point call. “We’ll talk when you get here.” And they disconnected the call.

When
Conrad offered to take her shopping the next day, Moira almost had a heart attack. He clearly wanted this wedding to happen and was offering to go shopping? Moira declined and said it would be a bad omen if he were to see the dress before the wedding. She, however, couldn’t get out of someone driving her. So she agreed, her mind going in circles on how she was going to evade the driver.

That night she was hungry and she made her sexual hunger known. They barely caught a few winks.
Moira knew she needed something to hold onto for a while as she sorted out her messed up life.

Conrad
being a man, was just happy to have so much sex in a night and without having to beg for it too. He hoped even after marriage it would continue. He had heard some men talking about how their wives stopped wanting sex when they got pregnant. So he just thanked the higher ups for his good fortune.

π

Moira didn’t give herself time to think. She wasn’t sure how long she would be away, so she baked lots of goodies for William. She put the boxes in the walk in fridge and froze some of the mixture she made. She would send instructions later. She had more faith in her team since the time they had all come up with different pastries and desserts to introduce and each one had taken a week to see how the King International employees reviewed them. Since then she had been giving them more and more tasks and trusting them with the menu items. She knew while she was gone, everything would work out fine. The only person she was worried about was Stu. She didn’t know how she could warn him without giving herself away, so she hoped he would understand when she finally sent him word.

She met one of
Conrad’s protection guys, Shawn, at her apartment a few minutes after 12 noon. After she dressed in something more comfortable, they took off. She took him to a couple of bridal boutiques and made her rounds and came out saying she didn’t find anything she liked. It was now after 2pm and Moira was getting nervous. Next they went to the mall and she went into Macy’s, bought a few dresses, some t-shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans, and sportswear, and added a couple of shoes. Moira piled on some socks and lingerie and then went to pay. Shawn followed her everywhere. Clearly his instructions from Conrad were not to let her out of his sight.

“Can you take this to the car while I go into that bridal shop,” she asked him and pointed to the shop across.

Shawn didn’t want to leave her alone, but clearly saw the futility of dragging along packages. She told him if she was done she would wait for him by the benches in the middle. As he left, Moira entered the shop and when she thought enough time had passed she left and took off in the opposite direction. She walked quickly and hoped for a cab to be outside next to the movie theatres. As soon as she got there a cab was coming to a stop. She opened the back door and gave him the address of her old apartment. “Please hurry,” she told him. Then she called her contact and told him she was ready and should be ready for pick-up in about fifteen minutes.

Chapter
Twenty Seven

Moira
was glad to be back again. She had been here only once and had loved it. Unfortunately the trip had only lasted a few days. Hopefully this time it would be for much longer, but not too much. She wouldn’t like to extend her welcome despite the hospitality of the De Marco family.

He met her outside, as the chauffeur opened the door for her. “
Moira! So glad you made it,” he said coming forward.

Moira
finally smiled since she had left US soil. “Antonio,” she cried and ran to him.

“Come inside. It’s cold,” he said as he guided her indoors.  “I’ll show you to your room, where you can freshen up and then you can tell me all about why you ran away.”

“Yes. And thanks again for letting me stay here. I had nowhere else to go.”

“I’m just glad you thought about me. And by the way, your brother called,” he told her. “And don’t worry, I told him the truth. At the time you were not here, so as long as he doesn’t call again, you are quite safe here for as long as you want.”

“Thank you. And I’m sorry to put you in such a position. I hope Sam won’t hold it against you,” she said sadly. “I would hate to ruin your relationship with him.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he told her. He opened the door to the suite she had used on her last visit. “I trust you will like the accomodations, hmmm? And I took the liberty of furnishing you with a few clothes. You haven’t gained much weight,” he said looking at her body. “Flora will help you,” he said and a maid suddenly appeared. “Let me know if you need anything else,” he added and took his leave.

“Hi Flora. I’m so glad to see you again. I don’t know why Antonio insists you help me when I’m used to doing everything myself,” she said.

“Hi
Moira,” Flora said shyly. “I’m glad you are back. Did you not come with Sam?” she asked.

“No, and it’s a long story. I just needed somewhere to go and think. And my good friend Antonio was kind enough to take me in.”

“Okay, but I hope you get to go to parties this time. Antonio filled your wardrobe with lots and lots of gowns. It will be nice to dress you up,” she said smiling and then opened the closet. “Too much?” she asked at her shocked expression.

“Yes. How and where will I ever get to wear all those dresses?”

Flora giggled. “Well, you can at least try them all and pose like a princess. But in the meantime, let me run you your bath,” she said.

Moira
walked into the closet and wondered what Antonio had been thinking when he filled the closet with dresses upon dresses that she could never get the opportunity to wear. Even if she stayed months, she wouldn’t get to wear them all. At least there were some serviceable clothes available. Moira saw a few pairs of jeans, t-shirts and sweaters. She pulled one of each from the piles and found underwear then she laid everything out on the bed. By the time she went to join Flora in the bathroom, her water was filling up the tub. She undressed and sank into the deep bathtub. Flora left her to her own devices and she took a moment to enjoy the water. Her mind drifted back to the last few hours in Miami.

She had been so nervous when she evaded Shawn. She hoped he didn’t get chewed by
Conrad for that. It was only when she was in the air, that she had breathed easy. As soon as she had been picked up, she had disconnected her phone from the battery and put the pieces in her handbag. She had been the only passenger.

Moira
had tried to eat, but had kept thinking about the havoc she had created by running away. So she had only nibbled on snacks. Once they were over the Atlantic Ocean, Moira had finally slept and had been grateful for the bed. She had stretched and slept peacefully. Her lack of sleep from the previous night had probably helped too. When they got to London she knew she had to eat something for the sake of her baby. After the plane had been refuelled, they took off again she had been served a light breakfast. And then arrived at her destination in about two and half hours.

When she got to the bedroom, Flora had another dress on the bed for her.
“Something wrong with my choice, Flora?” she asked.

“The Lord and the Lady are here. So I gathered that if you will be meeting them you may want to dress up,” she quickly said.

“Lord Henry and Lady Jane are here?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I thought they are usually at the country house around this time,” she said. “It’s not that I don’t want to see them, but I just needed some time before I had to face them.” Moira thought about Antonio’s parents. The sweetest people you could ever meet. It would be hard telling them her troubles. “Okay. Thanks Flora.I guess that’s why Antonio insisted you help me out. I wouldn’t want to do something wrong, and embarrass myself,” she added.

She helped her get dressed, then escorted her to meet up with Antonio. He was in his study, on the phone. But as soon as he saw them, he hung up and told her to come in.
Moira thanked Flora then entered the study. “You know, I could come back another time. You don’t have to drop everything for me,” she told him guiltily.

“It can wait,” he told her. He guided her to another room adjacent to the study and led her to a small table with food. “You can tell me everything while you eat, then have an early night and tomorrow we will start making plans.”

Moira took a seat and when Antonio poured her some wine, she thought that was her perfect opening. “I’m pregnant,” she said as she pushed the glass away.

He grinned. “A baby? I get to be an uncle?”

Moira nodded and grinned back.

Then he hugged her tight. “Congratulations, Moira.”

Moira hugged him back, saying, “Thanks Antonio.”

“Is that why you ran away?” he asked sitting opposite her.

“Not exactly. The father of the baby wants me to marry me,” she told him. Moira lifted her fork and knife and started eating, watching Antonio trying to grasp what she had said.

“And that is bad because?”

“He is forcing me to marry him for the baby.”

“Ah, you want him to marry you for love,” he said smiling.

“Yes. Wouldn’t you want to marry a woman because you loved her rather than because she became pregnant.”

“Yes. But sometimes for a man it’s a matter of honor. What does Sam say? He must have blown a gasket when he found out you were pregnant,” he said and laughed.

Moira smiled. “Actually not then. But he did blow that gasket when he found out about my relationship with the guy.” She laughed remembering the day. “Sam went to his office and punched him in the face. He was black and blue for a couple of days.”

Antonio roared in laughter. “Ah
Moira! And who is this rascal? Someone worthy of you, I hope?”

“You probably have head of him since you do a lot of business in Miami. His name is
Conrad King. He runs…”

Conrad
sneered. “I know who he is. I’m sorry you are going to have the child of a business enemy of mine. But you and me will always remain friends.”

Moira
was surprised at his anger. “What happened to make you enemies?” she asked.

“He snatched some property I had been eyeing for years. Right from under my nose
,” he growled and banged the table with his fist. “But I returned the favor a few months later,” he continued but gloating this time. “But since then we have been playing that game. And besides, I knew him back at college. He had a friend he was inseparable from. Don’t remember his name now,” Antonio told her.

“Lucas Corinthos.”

“Sounds like it. Anyway, go on with your story.”

“Well so we have been kind of dating under the radar. Since February,” she said and continued it. “Anyway, a few days ago, I found out I was pregnant and then he stated insisting on marriage.”

“And did you tell him you were not ready?”

“I told him I didn’t want to get married. And that he
could just be the baby daddy.”

“I take it he didn’t take it very well?”

Moira shook her head. “No, he went ahead and arranged everything. Today is supposed to be my wedding day,” she said with a slight laugh. “Nobody knows where I am, so I need another favor from you.”

“You need to let them know,” he guessed.

“Yes. I need to at least just tell Sam and my friend Sere that I am fine. I can’t tell them where I am because I know they will be forced to tell Conrad.”

“Don’t worry, you can use the secure line in my study. It will bounce your call all over the world it will take months for them to find the origination,” he said laughing. “Man, I sure wi
sh I could rub that into King’s face.”

“You may still get your chance,” she told him. “I’d like you to be my baby’s godfather” she told him.

“It would be my pleasure,” he said grinning.

“And I guess the fact that
Conrad is the father won’t be a problem,” she asked.

“On the contrary, do you know how much pleasure I will get from spoiling the little boy…”

“Or girl.”

“Yes, or girl. As godfather I will have certain rights that even the father cannot deny me. Sorry to get joy out of your misfortune, but this is sounding better and better every minute,” he told her.
“So when is my godchild due?”

“Tentatively 3
rd
week in November.”

“I’ll work around my schedule and try to be there for the birth. I’m usually in the states aroun
d that time anyway, so it won’t be any hardship.”

When
Moira was done Antonio gave her privacy to make her calls. She made two calls. The first to Serenity and the second to Sam. After that he took her to greet his parents, then she retired to her rooms.

π

“What the fuck do you mean you can’t find her?” Conrad shouted.

“Boss, she told me to go and put her packages in the car while she browsed for a wedding dress. When I came back the ladies in the store told me she was only in there for a minute or two then she left,” Shawn said.

“Keep looking. I’ll try her phone and will be there shortly.”

Conrad
tried Moira’s phone several times and it kept rolling to voice mail. He took his security team and they met Shawn at the mall Moira had last been seen at. On the way, he called Sam and Sam told him he hadn’t talked to her since the night before. He explained to Sam what Shawn had told him then he hung up and called her friend Sere.

Sere was getting ready to leave
for the airport when Conrad’s call came through. She told him she had last talked to Moira this morning, and everything had been fine, except that she hadn’t sounded like herself, but she had just choked that down to nerves. “The minute she calls you, let me know,” Conrad told her.

“I will,” Sere replied. “But I’m coming there.”

Thirty minutes later, Conrad, Lucas, Sam, Shawn and Mitch were viewing the mall security camera’s. They went back to the time that Moira and Shawn had parted ways. They saw Shawn leave and he pointed to the bridal boutique across that Moira had said she wanted to go into. Sure enough they saw her enter the boutique and after exactly two minutes she came out walking fast but she never looked back. They had to switch tapes a few times, but they followed her progress until she got into a cab.

As they all got into their cars, Mitch called the cab company and asked to see the guy who had
ferried Moira. The manager assured them he could have the guy available at the office in an hour. With the promise of money, he said he would try and see if he could get him to come in sooner.

The five of them trickled into the manager’s office. Mitch did the questioning since they
realized Conrad and Sam would probably scare the cab driver away. Once he was told he wasn’t in trouble he told them where he had dropped her off. “But I did hear her on the phone, making arrangements to meet someone. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he said.

“No, no. You did good,” Mitch said.

“I’ll have my assistant send you a check on Monday,” Conrad told the manager then they left.

They all piled into Sam and
Moira’s apartment. Mitch tried to call in favor’s to see if they could check the street camera’s but nothing seemed to pan out.

“If she hadn’t left on her own free will, I would have thought one of my enemies abducted her. So she obviously went somewhere she is familiar with, someone had to help her. If Sere wasn’t on her way here,
for the wedding, I would have thought she was in Orlando. So who else would she run to?” he asked himself.

“Boss we’ll find her,” Mitch said.
“I sent Shawn back  and he and all the boys back at the office are calling the bus, train and the airlines. If she bought a ticket, we will find her. The car rental companies too,” he added.

“Let me call her friends here in Florida and see if I can get something. I’m not sure if she has contact with anyone outside of Florida. But maybe Sere will be able to tell us that once she gets here,” Sam said.

“Let’s try and retrace the events from the last 24-48 hours,” Lucas said to Conrad. “Tell me everything that happened. Did she seem herself? Was there anything that seemed odd in her behavior.”