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Sweet

Surrender,

Baby Surprise

Kate Carlisle

The Secretary’s

Bossman Bargain

Red Garnier

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Sweet

Surrender,

Baby Surprise

Kate Carlisle

“We can talk about sleeping arrangements later,” he said easily, moving closer. “It’s great to see you, Julia.”

Smiling tentatively, she said, “Really?”

He skimmed his lips along her hairline and breathed in her fresh scent. “Yeah.”

She sighed and closed her eyes, clearly swayed. “But what about your rule?”

Watching her closely, he lowered his head toward hers. “What rule is that?”

Her eyes fluttered open as she whispered, “Once you’ve finished with a woman, you never go back.”

Cameron frowned. “I told you that?”

Nodding solemnly, she said, “It was the last time I saw you. You said you had a great time but you wouldn’t call. You said you didn’t want me to get the wrong idea.” Her voice quavered as his lips hovered within millimeters of hers.

“I’m an idiot,” he said, cupping the nape of her neck in his hand.

With a smile, she gazed into his eyes. “You said it’s a long-standing rule of yours.”

“Rules are made to be broken,” he murmured, and covered her mouth with his.

Dear Reader,

Years ago, wealthy young widow Sally Duke adopted three troubled boys, Adam, Cameron and Brandon. She gave them love and affection, strong values and a sense of family they’d never had before, and they grew up to be confident, handsome and powerful businessmen.

Now it’s payback time. Sally Duke wants grandbabies and she’s willing to play hardball to get them! You may have already read Adam Duke’s story. Now, in Sweet Surrender, Baby Surprise, it’s Cameron’s turn to face his mother’s matchmaking machinations. When he runs into lovely pastry chef Julia Parrish, he has no idea that their last romantic tryst resulted in the birth of a darling baby boy—but Sally knows!

The dramatic central California coast is the setting for my Duke brothers stories. As a California girl myself, I’ve grown up spellbound by the rugged beauty of the cliffs, the Zen-like dignity of the singular palm tree wavering in the wind, the power of the ocean waves pounding against the shore. But mixed in with all that power and ruggedness is the laid-back relaxation that California is famous for. My three handsome heroes have their own easygoing style and it works well for them— until they’re confronted by love!

I hope you enjoy Cameron and Julia’s story. Please stop by my website at www.katecarlisle.com and let me know.

Happy reading!

Kate

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author KATE CARLISLE was born and raised by the beach in Southern California. After more than twenty years in television production, Kate turned to writing the types of mysteries and romance novels she always loved to read. She still lives by the beach in Southern California with her husband, and when they’re not taking long walks in the sand or cooking or reading or painting or taking bookbinding classes or trying to learn a new language, they’re traveling the world, visiting family and friends in the strangest places. Kate loves to hear from readers. Visit her website at www.katecarlisle.com.

To the wonderful Susan Mallery, with love and thanks for being a true and generous friend. Drinks are on me!

One

All Cameron Duke wanted to do was rip off his tie, grab a beer and get laid, not necessarily in that order. He’d been working too hard for way too long on the current Duke Development project and he was damn tired of living in a hotel suite.

On the other hand, he reasoned as he slid his key card into the door slot, he couldn’t really complain about it. After all, he owned the hotel. And the owner’s suite of the Monarch Dunes resort hotel was two thousand square feet of luxury: all the comforts of home with a wide terrace, fantastic ocean views and room service. Nope, he couldn’t complain about that.

As he stepped inside the foyer of his suite, Cameron vowed that as soon as the hotel’s international catering conference was over, he would go fishing. The resort was up and running to capacity, so it was time for him to take off for a few weeks, get away and do nothing. Maybe he’d rent a houseboat up on Lake Shasta, or grab a raft and float down the King River. Or maybe he’d just make a few calls….

Not to put too fine a point on it, he definitely needed to get laid.

Pulling his tie loose, he dropped his keys on the foyer side table, placed his briefcase on the marble floor and stepped into the living room, where every light in the room was turned on.

“Now, what’s wrong with this picture?” he muttered, knowing he’d switched the lights off when he left two days ago.

Not only was every light on in the suite, but the drapes were all closed. Housekeeping knew he preferred the drapes to stay open in order to take advantage of the incredible Pacific view. The room was on the top floor of the Craftsman-style hotel, and the double-paned windows were tempered glass and lightly tinted. It wasn’t as if anyone could see inside.

He shrugged out of his suit jacket. Maybe there was someone new working in Housekeeping. They must’ve left the lights on and closed the drapes without knowing his preferences. It could happen. But it wouldn’t happen again.

Taking a few steps into the room, he saw a strange paperback book, opened and facedown on the coffee table. Then his gaze focused in on another foreign object draped over the arm of the couch.

Moving closer, he carefully picked up the soft bit of fabric. Pink, trimmed with paler pink lace around the edges. Lingerie. Expensive. Absurdly feminine. He fingered the fancy silk and the lightest scent of orange blossoms and spice wafted up and enveloped him. The fragrance was vaguely familiar and his groin tightened as an inexplicable need arose in the pit of his stomach.

“What the hell?” He tossed the camisole back on the couch. Not that he didn’t appreciate a nice bit of feminine adornment as much as the next guy, but right now he was more concerned with how in the world it got in here.

“Beer first,” he decided, and cut through the spacious dining room to get to the kitchen. That’s when he saw the high heels. Sexy ones. Red. Tucked under the dining room table.

He hated to repeat himself, but what the hell?

Red high heels? It had to be a joke. Something like this was right up his brother Brandon’s alley. And if Cameron hadn’t already been annoyed at having his quiet evening interrupted, he might’ve managed to laugh about it.

He moved cautiously past the bar into the kitchen. No, Brandon wasn’t hiding there, waiting to jump out and yell that Cameron had been Punk’d. But that didn’t mean his brother wasn’t around somewhere. Cameron grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, twisted the cap off, took a long, slow drink, then stared at the row of empty baby bottles lined up next to the sink.

Baby bottles?

“Okay, that’s enough,” he said, then shouted, “Brandon? Where are you?” There was no answer.

“I know you’re in here somewhere,” he said as he walked through the double doors and down the wide hall toward the master bedroom.

That’s when he heard the singing.

He froze. A woman’s voice, slightly off key, singing some old song about piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. Some woman was singing in the shower. His shower. In his bathroom.

He glanced at his navy polo shirt neatly tossed over the back of the chair in the corner. Those were his running shoes tucked under the chair, too.

Good. He was in the right suite. Which meant that some woman was definitely in the wrong one. Cameron swore under his breath. This had to be Brandon’s work. It would be just like his brother to hire a woman as a “surprise.” It was the only explanation, because without the approval of a family member, there was no way the front desk would ever allow a strange woman into his room.

He stood listening to the soft singing and wondered what his next step ought to be. He should probably be a gentleman and wait for whomever it was to finish her shower, dry off and put some clothes on before he kicked her out. But then, he’d never claimed to be a gentleman.

Besides, he wasn’t the one guilty of breaking and entering. And showering. So he stood at the entrance to the bathroom and waited as the water was turned off and the shower door opened.

One incredibly shapely, bare, wet leg emerged at the same time as a well-toned, lightly freckled arm reached to grab a towel. Cameron pulled one off the rack and handed it to her. “Allow me.”

Her scream was shrill enough to peel the paint off the bathroom wall.

“Get out!” she cried, then dropped the towel in her anxious rush to cover herself up.

“Funny, that’s just what I was about to say to you,” he told her.

Cameron wasn’t normally a voyeur. He should’ve moved away from the door immediately and given her some privacy, but he couldn’t. All he could do was gawk like a school kid at her wet-dream-inducing breasts. High, round orbs with tight pink nipples that he imagined would fit perfectly in his hands. And his mouth. His imagination didn’t stop there. He wanted to reach out and touch the smooth skin of her stomach, then let his fingers wander down to the delicious patch of dark blond hair at the apex of her curvaceous thighs.

A spark of light drew his gaze back to her navel, where a small diamond twinkled. She had a pierced belly button. For some reason, that made him smile.

“Will you stop staring and get out of here?” she shrieked as she grappled with the towel, finally covering up those spectacular breasts of hers.

Show’s over, his rampant libido thought mournfully, and he brought his gaze back up to her face. Whoa. He would know those flashing dark blue eyes anywhere. They belonged to the one woman he’d never quite been able to get out of his mind.

“Hello, Julia,” he said.

“What do you think you’re doing here, Cameron?”

He leaned back against the doorjamb. “Well, since I live here, I was thinking I’d throw some shorts on, have another beer and watch the football game.” He folded his arms across his chest. “A better question might be, what are you doing here?”

She huffed out a breath as she stepped fully out of the shower, the towel wrapped around her like a terry-cloth shield. “I was told this suite would be unoccupied for the next two weeks.”

“I seriously doubt anyone on my staff told you that.”

“Well, it’s true,” she grumbled, then walked into the bedroom and over to a small open suitcase on the luggage rack near the window.

He took a sip of beer as he watched her pull out some clothes. “Maybe when you’re dressed, we should have a little talk about boundaries.”

“Oh, stuff it,” she said irately, but her hands shook as she pushed her wet, wavy hair back off her face. “Why are you here, anyway?”

“Me?” He probably shouldn’t be smiling still, but after all, he was just a man, and she was gorgeous. “Last time I checked, this was my suite.”

“But you’re not supposed to be here!”

“Honey, I own the place.”

Gripping her towel together with one hand, she pushed past him to the walk-in closet to dress quickly. She emerged less than a minute later, dressed in loose shorts and a T-shirt.

Cameron swore under his breath. If she thought putting on clothes would decrease his desire to stare at her, she was wrong. The small, thin shirt outlined her breasts vividly and Cameron was even more intrigued now than before.

“So, you ready to explain what you’re doing here?” he asked, wondering if it was getting hotter in here.

Fluffing her hair with her fingers to dry it, she began in a calm voice, “Look, Cameron, Sally said that—”

“What?” Every nerve ending in Cameron’s body began to twitch and not in a good way. “Wait a minute.”

Hearing her invoke his mother’s name was not a good thing. Sally Duke, the incredible woman who had adopted him when he was eight years old, was a force of nature. Cameron was well aware of her mission to get her three sons married off and knew she wouldn’t be satisfied until the deed was done. Damn it, if Sally had something to do with Julia being here, Cameron was in for nothing but trouble.

“Exactly what does my mother have to do with you being wet and naked in my bathroom?”

Julia gazed at him warily, seeming to gauge his temper. “Um, absolutely nothing. I misspoke.”

“You misspoke?” he drawled. “About my mother? You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m not kidding,” she said, and straightened her spine in righteous anger. Which caused her breasts to thrust forward. Her wet hair had dampened the T-shirt enough that it molded even more firmly to her skin. But she didn’t seem to notice as she persisted. “You’re not supposed to be here. And since I was given a key by your hotel management, I think it’s only right that you should leave.”

“Trust me, that’s not going to happen.” He prowled toward her, studying her every move. “Now exactly what did my mother tell you? “

Her eyes widened and she took a step back. “Never mind. On second thought, I think I’ll just pack my things and get out.”

“Not yet,” he said, grabbing her arm. “I want to know what my mother has to do with you being here.” “All right,” she said as she tried futilely to pull away. “Sally said you’d be gone during the conference and that I would be more comfortable in a suite than a regular room. She told your manager to give me the key.”

Her words sent icy tendrils of pure dread down Cameron’s spine. Yes, he’d originally planned to stay up north another two weeks, but he’d called Sally yesterday to tell her his plans had changed and he was coming back tonight.

His mother had set this whole thing up.

Did Sally really think that Cameron would take one look at this woman, fall on his knees and beg her to marry him? If so, then Mom was doomed for disappointment.

But as Julia squirmed to pull away from him, Cameron’s lower body came to life in a big way. Did it really matter, in that moment, what his mother had done? No. He’d deal with Mom later. Much later.

Right now he had his hands on a lovely, skimpily dressed woman. A sexy woman he’d once known in the most intimate way a man could know a woman.

Holding her close, he again caught that intriguing fragrance of orange blossoms along with something deeper, something exotic. He’d never forgotten her, never forgotten her scent, despite his every effort to do so.

He could still remember meeting her that first time. Talk about lust at first sight.

It all happened after his mother had discovered Cupcake, Julia’s bakery in Old Town Dunsmuir. Mom had tried her pastries and cupcakes and had insisted that her sons try them for themselves. They all agreed that her products were incredible and soon thereafter, the Duke resorts began carrying Julia’s line of pastries, cookies and breads.

Julia had been invited to attend a one-day vendor orientation at one of the Duke resorts up the coast. She’d planned to stay through the long weekend as a guest of the Dukes. That was where Cameron first saw her, walking across the lobby on her way to the hotel lounge. He’d approached, she’d shown equal interest, and they’d ended up spending that long weekend together.

And that had been the end of it.

She’d haunted his dreams on more than one occasion, but Cameron had refused to contact her again. He had a steadfast rule when it came to women. Once the affair was over, he always made a clean break. He never went back, never looked back. It was safer that way, and simpler. For both parties. Otherwise, women tended to get the wrong idea and hold out hope of a relationship growing. Cameron didn’t want to hurt anyone so he stuck to short-term affairs with women who knew the score.

He remembered receiving a few emails from Julia, asking him to call her. He’d thought about it, wanted to, but personal experience had taught him that renewing the affair would only lead to disaster. For her sake as well as his own, Cameron had ignored her requests and eventually, she stopped contacting him.

But here she was, he thought, a year and a half later. In his hotel suite. Wearing those sexy shorts and a practically see-through top. And a belly ring. She gazed up at him with her startling blue eyes and in that moment, he wanted nothing more than to watch those eyes go dark with passion, to taste her lush lips again as well as every other part of her stunning body. Was he honestly going to kick her out of his suite?

Was he nuts?

“Look, I’m sorry,” he said in a soothing tone as he ran his hands up and down her arms. “My people must’ve forgotten I was coming home today. It’s late. We can both stay here tonight and I’ll find you a room in the morning.”

Her eyes clouded with worry. “I suppose I could sleep on the couch.”

“We can talk about sleeping arrangements later,” he said easily, moving closer. “It’s great to see you, Julia.”

Smiling tentatively, she said, “Really?”

He skimmed his lips along her hairline and breathed in her fresh scent. “Yeah.”

She sighed and closed her eyes, clearly swayed. “But what about your rule?”

Watching her closely, he lowered his head toward hers. “What rule is that?”

Her eyes fluttered open as she whispered, “Once you’ve finished with a woman, you never go back.”

Cameron frowned. “I told you that?”

Nodding solemnly, she said, “It was the last time I saw you. You said you had a great time but you wouldn’t call. You said you didn’t want me to get the wrong idea.” Her voice quavered as his lips hovered within millimeters of hers.

“I’m an idiot,” he said, cupping the nape of her neck in his hand.

With a smile, she gazed into his eyes. “You said it’s a long-standing rule of yours.”

“Rules are made to be broken,” he murmured, and covered her mouth with his.

A soft moan escaped her throat as she melted against him. He used his tongue to urge her to open for him and she relented. He thrust into her warmth and felt as though he’d come home. The problems of his world faded and all that mattered was her taste and his need for more.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pressed herself even closer. Sweet, was all he could think. Sweet and warm and passionate. He’d missed her, he realized. He shoved that thought away as her tongue teased and tangled with his.

He heard whimpering and wanted to hear more. Wanted to hear her shout his name. Wanted to hear her begging, demanding, crying out for …

Crying?

Cameron stiffened. Yes, that was definitely the sound of someone crying somewhere. Outside? Next door? That was odd, since it was almost impossible to hear anything going on outside the suite. The walls of all the rooms were reinforced and soundproofed.

But there it was again, muffled but discernible. He eased back a few inches to make eye contact with her. “Did you hear that?”

“Yes, I did,” Julia said, pushing him away and glancing around. Her eyes were sharp as she seemed to be waiting for it to happen again. But there was nothing, and after a moment, Cameron pulled her back into his arms.

“Must’ve been next door,” he whispered, then proceeded to plant soft kisses on her lips, across her cheek, grazing her ear before moving to taste her sexy neck.

She groaned as Cameron maneuvered his hands down her back until he gripped her supple bottom. He pressed his rigid length against her as his mouth devoured hers, then began to guide her toward the bed. He was hot, hard and ready for her.

“Oh, Cameron,” she whispered.

“Yeah, baby, I know.” He sat on the edge of the bed and eased her closer until she was standing between his legs. He reached for the hem of her T-shirt and began to pull it up, just as a sudden, wailing scream filled the hotel suite.

Julia moaned loudly as she eased out of Cameron’s arms. A million and one thoughts raced through her mind all at once. First, the baby needed attention. She’d foolishly left the baby monitor in the master bathroom when she was so rudely interrupted by Cameron, but she knew that if little Jake was fussy, she’d hear him from anywhere in the suite. After that initial scream for attention, he was quiet, but experience had taught her that he wouldn’t remain so for long.

Her other million thoughts were all centered around the realization that Cameron would finally meet Jake. She knew it would’ve happened eventually, but since he hadn’t brought up the subject tonight, she was fairly certain that Cameron, stubborn to the end, had never looked at her emails and therefore, had no idea about the baby. Well, she really hoped he liked surprises.

She headed down the hall toward the bedroom door to face the inevitable. “I’d better take care of this.”

“Take care of what?” Cameron asked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

“The noise you heard before? The crying?”

“The noise from next door? I don’t hear it now,” he said, and continued his sensual onslaught by kissing her neck, then nibbling that most sensitive spot behind her ear.

She couldn’t help but sigh deeply. Her skin tingled everywhere Cameron’s amazing lips touched her. As his hands worked their magic over her body, Julia recalled that everything about Cameron Duke excited and delighted her.

But why in the world had she trusted Cameron’s staff when they’d promised he would be away this whole time? But even his mother had insisted it was safe to stay in the suite. Julia should’ve known by the twinkle in the older woman’s eye when she insisted that Julia stay in Cameron’s suite, that she was being set up.

Her first instinct had been to leave Jake at home with the nanny while she traveled to the conference. But their nanny had a chance to go on a cruise with her daughter, and many of Julia’s old friends attending the conference were bringing their families with them. They’d all wanted to see little Jake. For that reason, plus the fact that she missed her baby when he wasn’t with her, Julia had decided to bring Jake along, too.

It figured that Cameron would cause all her plans to go awry. It wasn’t as if she never wanted him to see the baby, but there was no getting around the fact that this was going to get very awkward, very quickly.

“Mmm, that feels so good,” Julia murmured as she turned in Cameron’s arms and kissed him with all the ardor she could muster. It wasn’t a hardship. The man was incredibly sexy and handsome as sin. He seemed taller than she remembered, and definitely stronger. More confident, too, if that were possible. His dark green eyes watched her with a predator’s gleam. She shouldn’t have found it so absolutely thrilling, but she did.

But damn him for showing up like this! It was just her bad luck, which was the only kind of luck she’d ever had when it came to Cameron Duke.

She’d met him eighteen months ago and willingly succumbed to his charms. They’d had an incredible, torrid four-day affair. Weeks later, she realized she was pregnant.

She’d tried to do the right thing and contact him, but Cameron had all these damn rules about women. Sure enough, true to his word, he never looked back, never contacted her again.

She’d tried emailing him a few times, but it was sadly obvious now, he’d never read any of her messages. And maybe it was just as well. With his so-called rules regarding relationships—or rather, the obsessive need to avoid them—she’d come to the realization that Cameron Duke wouldn’t want to have anything to do with raising a child.

She could just imagine what he would think of her for bringing the baby here, especially when he found out Jake was his. Cameron was a decent man so it wasn’t as if he would toss her and Jake out of his suite. But he might accuse her of setting this whole thing up and there was little doubt that he would deny the baby was his.

“Oh,” she whispered as he pressed himself closer to her. It was getting impossible to think straight with the delicious onslaught of his mouth and hands, but Julia was starting to wonder if she might possibly distract him long enough to get Jake settled. Then she could deal with everything tomorrow morning. Perhaps it was cowardly, but she could live with that.

Whatever she did would have to happen fast, before her baby decided to take matters into his own chubby baby hands.

“Look, Cameron,” she said, finally catching her breath. She needed to get him out of the hallway, now. “Why don’t you go get a fresh beer and I’ll just slip into something more—”

“I don’t need a beer, Julia,” Cameron said, running his hands down her sensitive thighs. “I just need this.”

“Mmm, me, too,” she said as she moved her fingers along his tight, muscled shoulders. “But first, I need a minute to freshen up.”

“You took a shower ten minutes ago,” he reminded her as he nuzzled her neck. “You’re fresh as a daisy.”

She moaned, then reluctantly wriggled out of his grasp. “But I really need to dry my hair.”

“Yeah?” He brushed a few curling strands away from her face. “It looks fine to me.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to catch a cold.”

He looked at her skeptically. “Right.”

She smiled brightly. “So how’s that fresh beer sounding?”

“What?”

“Beer,” she repeated. “In the kitchen. And didn’t you say you wanted to watch the football game?” “Yeah, sure. But—”

“Go ahead, then. I’ll be right there.” She tried to push him toward the living room but the guy was like a brick wall. Unmovable.

“What’s going on here, Julia?”

Just then, Jake cried out, “Mama, Mama!”

Cameron’s eyes widened.

So much for distractions. She could tell from the tone of Jake’s cry that he wasn’t hurt or hungry, but that didn’t make this moment any easier. “Fine. Look, I didn’t want to have to—”

“Okay, I definitely heard that,” Cameron said, ignoring her words as he stepped around her handily. “I think it came from the other bedroom.”

“No, no, no.” Julia jogged just as quickly around to stop him. “It’s probably just a cat. I’ll take care of it.”

“A cat?” Cameron frowned as he glanced down the hall again. “I don’t think so.”

The baby cried out again and Julia sagged against the hallway wall.

“Aha!” Cameron said and walked toward the second bedroom.

She dashed in front of him and blocked the door. “This is none of your concern, Cameron. Why don’t you go turn on the game?”

Cameron was staring at her as if she’d gone insane. Maybe she had. Seeing him again was causing her to behave completely contrary to her usual sensible self. She could blame him for that, too.

“Move it, Julia.”

She held up her hand to stop him. “No way. This may be your suite, but you’re not going in there without me.”

“Then open the door.” His look said he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d investigated what he’d heard.

“Fine,” Julia said. He’d been bound to find out sometime. The most important thing now was to make sure Cameron didn’t upset Jake. She huffed out a breath as she pushed the door open slowly. “But it’s not what you think. I mean, it is, but—”

“Oh, really?” he said, stepping into the room and spying the portable crib. Julia followed and saw Jake wearing a great big grin on his face, gripping the railing with both hands as he bounced on the mattress.

“Because I think it’s a baby.” Cameron turned and glared at her. “What do you think?”

She walked over to the crib, smiled down at her son and whispered, “Looks like a baby to me, too.”

Jake’s little cheeks were red with exertion and Julia felt a sharp ache in her heart. He held out his arms and his knees began to wobble. “Mama, Mama.”

“Hello, my darling.” She bent to pick him up and perched him against her shoulder, rubbing his back. “That’s better. Don’t worry, sweetie, I’m here. That’s my good boy.”

“What in the—?” Cameron’s tone held a dangerous edge. “Julia, is this your kid? “

She smiled and kissed Jake’s soft cheek, inhaled his warm, powdery baby smell, then turned to face Cameron. “Yes, he’s mine. And yours. Cameron Duke, I’d like you to meet Jacob Cameron Parrish, your son.”

Two

Cameron immediately stepped back two feet and smacked his elbow into the doorjamb.

“What the hell kind of a joke is this?” he demanded, rubbing his elbow. Damn, that hurt. “Trust me, it’s not funny.”

Apparently, someone disagreed as the baby let out a gut-deep laugh and clapped his hands together. “Ba-da-ba!”

Cameron frowned at the little guy, then glared at Julia, who seemed to be holding back a smile. That set him off even more. He wasn’t about to be played for a fool.

He knew the game. This wasn’t the first time a woman had tried to pin a paternity suit on him. That was the downside of having a lot of money. The upside was, he wasn’t an idiot, despite what he’d told her earlier in jest. He had plenty of lawyers and he knew how to deal with this nonsense. “Not that I believe one word of your story, but the kid’s not exactly a newborn. So why’d you wait so long? If he’s really mine, why didn’t you tell me before now? “

“You’re kidding, right?” Julia laughed sardonically. “Cameron, I emailed you a number of times asking you to call me. In the last message I sent, I told you everything. So what part of ‘I’m having your baby’ didn’t you understand?”

His eyes narrowed and he moved in closer. “And what part of ‘I don’t believe you’ do you not understand? This is the oldest trick in the book. If you think you’re going to get money from me, you’re crazy.”

“I don’t need your money,” she said crossly, then lowered her voice as the baby began to fuss. “I was just trying to let you know you were going to be a father. But you couldn’t return one lousy email. You couldn’t make one stupid phone call. No. You’ve got rules.”

She patted the baby to calm him down as she paced the floor in front of the crib. She rounded and came right up to Cameron, clearly riled as she poked him in the chest to emphasize her words. “But you know what? Maybe it’s just as well that you ignored Jake and me. With your lifestyle, you probably wouldn’t make a very good father anyway.”

He grabbed hold of her slender hand before she could take one more poke at him. “Don’t you ever insinuate that I would turn my back on my own child.”

He dropped her hand and watched her swallow apprehensively. “I didn’t. I just meant—”

“I would never hurt my own child,” he said through clenched teeth. “I know what it’s like to live with a—” Cameron stopped abruptly and raked his hand through his hair. “Hell, never mind.”

What was wrong with him? Except for his two brothers, he’d never told anyone about his childhood. He’d buried it all in the past, right where it belonged. And that ugly childhood was the very reason why he took every precaution to avoid bringing a child into this world. That’s why he knew this one couldn’t be his.

“I’m sorry,” Julia whispered.

Cameron pulled himself together, then turned and said calmly, “Never mind. The fact remains, I don’t believe you. We took precautions. I always take precautions.”

“Yes, I do, too. But nothing is 100 percent effective.” She looked down at the baby in her arms. “Obviously.”

“I don’t know what game you’re playing,” Cameron persisted, “but this is not my kid.”

“Baba, dada,” Jake said, enthusiastically wiggling in his mother’s arms. “Dada, ba-boo, dada.” He grinned and a tiny dimple appeared in his right cheek.

Dada? Cameron frowned and self-consciously scratched his own right cheek, suddenly ill at ease on a whole different level. “Tell him to stop saying that.”

Julia laughed. “He’s just babbling. It’s the first sound babies make. It doesn’t mean anything.”

Jake kept bobbing and grinning and the little dimple grew deeper. Cameron gritted his teeth. So he happened to have a dimple in his right cheek, too. Didn’t mean a thing.

“Come on, sweetie,” Julia whispered to the baby, and turned back toward the crib. “Let’s see if you’ll go back to sleep after all this excitement.”

“No! Baba! Dada!” Jake cried, waving his arms and turning to Cameron for help.

“Looks like he wants you to put him to bed,” Julia said wryly, and before Cameron could stop her, she thrust the baby into his arms.

“Hey, I’m not—”

“Baba,” Jake said, grinning as he bounced in Cameron’s arms. “Dada.”

Abruptly, the little boy stopped moving and stared meaningfully into Cameron’s eyes. Cameron couldn’t help but stare back as emotion washed over him. Confusion, affection, anger, frustration, joy, pain. Wonder. Cameron and Jake both blinked, then continued to stare, and Cameron felt as though he were gazing into his own soul. And where had that thought come from? This was just too weird. It couldn’t be happening to him. How could he be a father? It was the last thing on earth he ever intended to be.

Jake yawned and closed his eyes. He rested his head on Cameron’s chest, his tiny fist gripping Cameron’s shirt as though he were claiming ownership. Cameron touched Jake’s soft baby hand with his own larger, stronger hand, and felt something shift inside. He tightened his hold around the baby’s back, only because the kid might suddenly decide to try for a swan dive if he wasn’t careful. That was his story, anyway.

“He’s sleepy,” Julia said quietly. “Just lay him down on his back and rub his tummy a few times. He’ll be fine.”

“Sorry, pal, but your mom has spoken,” Cameron said in a low tone. He leaned over the crib and laid the baby down on the soft mattress. Cameron ran his hand over Jake’s head. The kid’s blond hair was impossibly soft.

Jake didn’t whimper or balk, but stayed right where he was. He stuck two fingers in his mouth and continued to stare up at Cameron in pure fascination.

Cameron had to admit Jake was a darn good-looking kid, but that didn’t make him his son.

Aw, hell. Who was he kidding? One look at the little guy with his shock of golden blond hair and the shape of his dark green eyes, not to mention the dimple in his cheek—though Cameron hated the word dimple, for God’s sake—and anyone would see it, plain as daylight. The kid was Cameron Duke’s.

Still, he couldn’t shake loose the idea that Julia Parrish was playing him for a fool. Who was to say she hadn’t gotten herself pregnant on purpose? Everyone knew the Dukes had money, so maybe she was looking for a handout. Cameron would never shirk his duty to his son, but that didn’t mean he was going to make it easy for Julia.

As the baby’s eyes closed and he began to sleep, Cameron led the way out into the hall. As Julia closed the door to the bedroom, Cameron turned and said sharply, “I’ll want a paternity test.”

She froze. He could see he’d shaken her. What? Did she expect him to just believe her with no proof? But watching her now, he remembered how her face had always been an open book. He’d known exactly what she wanted by her facial reaction to everything he did to her, everywhere he touched her. She’d been so forthright about how much she enjoyed his touch. Did she have a dishonest bone in her body? he wondered.

Of course she did. Most of the women he’d dated did.

“Fine,” she said grudgingly. “We’ll do a paternity test.”

Cameron’s mind jolted back to the present. “Okay. Good. I can get it done tomorrow.”

“I start my conference tomorrow,” she said, leading the way into the living room. Cameron watched her backside move with a graceful, long-legged sexiness. He remembered that, too.

She picked up the book she’d left on the coffee table and turned. “I won’t be able to take the baby to the doctor until I get back to town.”

“Wait a minute,” Cameron said, her words sinking in. “You’re here for the conference?”

She looked at him like he’d grown another head. “Of course I’m here for the conference. Why else would I be staying here in your hotel room?”

To seduce me into paying child support, Cameron thought, but didn’t say it aloud. He wasn’t a fool. Sometimes he needed to remind himself of that fact. He coughed to cover his hesitation. “We have a nurse on call at all times. I’ll have her come by the room tomorrow to draw blood.”

“Okay.” Julia shivered visibly and rubbed her arms.

“What’s wrong?”

She sighed. “I know it’s necessary, but I hate the idea of Jake having his blood drawn.”

“It’s important,” he said, then tried not to cringe himself at the thought of that needle going into Jake’s arm. Cameron was already having second thoughts. He’d only insisted on the paternity test to punish Julia, but she wouldn’t be the one getting stuck in the arm with a needle. No, that would be Jake, who seemed way too small to have to deal with stuff like that.

Who was Cameron kidding? Jake was his child. The blood test wouldn’t be necessary.

He wasn’t happy about the way Julia had sprung the news on him, but he believed her. He wouldn’t tell her tonight, though. Better to let her squirm for a few hours. He’d tell her in the morning after he’d had a few strong shots of caffeine.

“Fine.” Julia swiped the sexy camisole off the chair cushion and grabbed her high heels from under the dining room table. Then she headed into the kitchen and began gathering the baby bottles on the sink.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’ve got to pack our things.”

“Wait.” Cameron grabbed hold of her arm before she could go any farther. “No packing. You’re staying here.”

She looked up at him. “We can’t stay here, Cameron. You’re here.”

“Exactly,” he said decisively. “That’s why you’re staying here, too.”

She gave him that big-eyed incredulous look of hers again. Why he found it so sexy, he couldn’t say. Maybe he enjoyed the challenge she provided.

Shaking her head, she said, “If you think something’s going to happen between us, you’re wrong.”

“Honey,” he drawled. “I think we proved awhile ago that it definitely could happen.”

“Now, look—”

“You’re right, though,” he continued. “It’s not going to happen tonight.” With a casualness he didn’t feel, he let go of her arm and walked into the living room. “But you’re still staying here.”

“Okay,” she said, following him. “I’d rather not disrupt the baby tonight anyway. We’ll move to another room in the morning.”

An irrational shot of annoyance ran through him and he covered it by grabbing another beer from the refrigerator and popping the top off. “You don’t get it, babe. You’re staying here until the paternity test is completed. In fact, you might as well stay through the conference. There won’t be any rooms available anyway.”

She gritted her teeth. “I gave my room away when your mother insisted I stay here. I don’t suppose it’d still be available.”

“It’s not, trust me,” he said. “Besides your conference, we’ve got a golf tournament here this weekend.”

She flashed him a frown of frustration. “But you own this place. You should be able to find another room for me and Jake.”

“I could, but I’m not going to,” he said flatly, then pointed toward the back bedroom. “If that is my son in there, I don’t want him staying anywhere but here. With me. And we’ll know the truth soon enough, won’t we?”

“I think that went well,” Julia muttered to herself as she slipped between the sheets of the twin bed in the guest room. Jake was sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the drama going on around him. She was gratified to hear his innocent baby snores and wished more than anything that he would never have to be touched by unhappiness of any kind. She knew she couldn’t shield him forever, but for now, he didn’t need to know that his mommy and daddy were in such an emotional twist over him.

She tried to concentrate on her son, tried to picture his soft little hands waving in the air and hear his funny belly laugh, but visions of Cameron kept interfering. She winced as she remembered how easily she’d melted in his arms. How could he still wield that kind of power over her? She’d known that one day she would have to confront him with the reality of Jake, and she’d steeled herself for that moment. But he’d caught her unprepared. Now he knew how susceptible she was to his charms. He knew he could wiggle his finger and she would come running.

It was humiliating to know that he was right. In a matter of hours, she would have to tangle with him once more. Would she come running to him again? Or would she be able to withstand his immense allure? It was almost as if he’d put a spell on her.

Yawning, she fluffed her pillow and tried to settle her active mind by breathing deeply for a count of ten. She knew she would need all the sleep she could get if she expected to put up a good fight tomorrow.

Cameron stretched, then tried to turn over onto his back—and landed on the floor.

“What the—?” he grumbled. Where the hell was he?

His brain slowly engaged and he groaned as he remembered exactly where he’d slept last night. Moving slowly, he pulled himself up off the living room floor, then sat on the couch with his elbows resting on his knees.

After Julia had gone off to bed, he’d finished his beer and tried to watch the football game, but it had lost its appeal. So he went to bed where he tossed and turned, unable to sleep with the knowledge that Julia was sleeping in the room just across the hall. He wanted her in bed with him. Wanted her lush body pressed against his. Wanted to bury himself in her silken warmth.

But you can’t always get what you want, he thought. Not right away, anyway. He was a patient man and he would have her in his bed soon enough.

Last evening, though, that thought had not been conducive to a good night’s sleep. So Cameron had come out to the living room couch, thinking he’d zone out on late-night television. He finally fell asleep and now he regretted it as he stood and tried to stretch out his spine. Damn, his couch looked spacious and luxurious, but spending the night on it had been a tactical error. His back was whimpering like a whiny schoolgirl. He stood and stretched and tried to remember when, exactly, had he turned into such an old man? He was barely into his thirties.

Determined to work out and get rid of the aches and pains, he slipped on a pair of gym shorts and sneakers, then left the suite for a brisk twenty-minute run around the resort grounds.

Forty-five minutes later, after a hot shower and two cups of coffee, he felt a whole lot better. A good thing, because he would need to be in peak condition to deal with the new occupants of his suite.

“Dada!”

Speaking of.

“Good morning,” Julia said as she carried Jake into the room. She had him in some kind of space-age kid carrier and without thinking, Cameron took it from her and placed carrier and baby up on the breakfast bar.

She was dressed in a sleek, navy pinstriped suit with a crisp white blouse and black heels. Her wavy blond hair was tamed back into a simple ponytail. And why he found that look so damn sexy, Cameron couldn’t figure out, but he knew he was on a slippery slope, watching her walk around the kitchen as she grabbed an apple for herself and warmed a bottle for the baby.

“Dada,” Jake whispered, gazing up at Cameron’s face.

“He says that a lot,” Cameron said, staring at the kid. He realized as he spoke that Jake’s repetition of the word dada didn’t bother him half as much as it had last night.

“It feels good on his tongue,” Julia explained, then blinked and quickly turned toward the coffeemaker.

Cameron laughed as she crisscrossed the kitchen, her cheeks blushed pink after realizing what she’d just said. Obviously, she hadn’t thought about the words before uttering them, and now he could think of a few things, too, that would feel good on his tongue.

“I’ve got a conference panel in forty minutes,” she said briskly, back to business after a few hurried sips of coffee. “I’ve arranged for a babysitter to watch Jake for the day, and she should be here any minute. But if you’d rather not have anyone in the suite while you’re here, I’ll understand. I can check with the concierge for another place to—”

“It’s fine if the babysitter stays here.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Good. Thanks.”

“Did you sleep well?” he asked.

“Wonderful, thank you,” she said, and rinsed her coffee mug. “You?”

“Like a rock,” he lied.

“That’s great.”

Well, this was awkward. He leaned against the bar, watching as Julia put the mug in the dishwasher. Then he glanced over at Jake, whose eyes were closed. He was already sleeping peacefully, Cameron realized. Must be nice.

The doorbell rang and Jake’s eyes flew open. His mouth quivered in a pout, and Cameron realized he was about to cry.

“Hey, kiddo, it’s okay,” he said softly, and stroked his tummy. “Shh. Don’t worry. Doorbells scare me, too.”

Jake stared up at Cameron as though his words were written on stone tablets. A wave of something powerful swept through him and he felt as if he just might be the most important person in the world in that moment.

“That must be the sitter,” Julia said, her voice a little hoarse. “I’ll go let her in.”

Ten minutes later, the babysitter and Jake were ensconced in the back bedroom, and Julia was ready to leave. She had her purse strapped over her shoulder and she carried a soft leather briefcase. She looked like a lawyer instead of the best pastry chef on the Central Coast. Cameron walked her to the front door and opened it.

“I showed her where everything is and gave her my card in case she needs to call me,” Julia said nervously. “I won’t turn off my phone.”

“Everything will be okay,” he said, and leaned against the door jamb, blocking her way out. “Look, we haven’t talked about the paternity test yet.”

“Oh,” she said. With a frown, she dropped her briefcase and folded her arms across her chest. “I was hoping you’d changed your mind about that.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t think I’m handing you a child support check until I’ve verified that Jake is my son, do you?”

“I don’t need child support, Cameron,” she said testily. “You can keep your money.”

“Yeah, that’s what they all say.”

Her lips thinned in anger. “First of all, it’s Jake’s comfort I’m concerned about. Do you have any idea how many immunizations he’s been through in his short nine months? I’ve lost track of the number of needles he’s had to suffer through. But don’t worry, you’ll have your damned paternity test. Second of all—”

“Look, Julia, I—”

She held up her hand. “Just let me finish before you say anything else you’ll regret later about the money thing. Do yourself a favor, go online on Google and look up the Parrish Trust. When I get back, we’ll talk about money.”

“Fine.” He realized he’d pushed her a little too far, but where did she get off thinking he’d just accept her word on everything?

She picked up her briefcase and started to walk out, but stopped again and glared at him. “And as long as you’ve got your computer fired up, you might want to take a look at those emails I sent you a while back. They just might paint a different picture than what you think is going on here.”

“Julia, I’m not—”

“And while you’re at it,” she said, pulling a flowery scrapbook from her briefcase, “I brought this to show some friends, but you might want to take a look at it first.”

He stared at the thick journal, then began to thumb through it casually. There were photographs of the baby affixed to the pages, along with handwritten passages describing the pictures. Frowning, he gazed at her.

“And one more thing,” she continued before he could say anything. “You caught me in a weak moment last night, but it won’t happen again. We’re willing to stay here with you for the next ten days, but there’s no way I’m having sex with you. That’s a deal-breaker.”

With that, she left the suite in a huff.

Three

That’s a deal-breaker.

Sex? A deal-breaker? Not in this universe, Cameron thought. He could recall Julia melting in his arms last night and knew it was only a matter of time until he had her in his bed.

After she left for the conference, Cameron pulled his computer out of the second bedroom and set everything up in the dining room. That way, he wouldn’t disturb Jake when it was nap time later.

Cameron couldn’t get Julia’s irate words out of his head so, with great reluctance, he finally did as she suggested and went online to research her family business.

Now, he sat back in his desk chair and stared at the computer screen. A thousand different thoughts ran through his mind, but the first thing he did was pick up the phone and call his company’s tech department.

After putting in a request that they immediately recover the emails from Julia he’d deleted more than eighteen months ago, Cameron hung up the phone and went back to gazing at the online information he’d pulled up on Julia Parrish and her family.

It was disturbing to read that Julia’s parents had died in a small plane crash when she was ten years old. There were pages and pages devoted to her parents’ philanthropy, but almost nothing on young Julia Parrish until she opened her popular bakery shop in Old Town Dunsmuir Bay four years ago.

Did she have other family in the area? Who had been responsible for raising her? Cameron found more questions than answers and knew they would have to talk about these and other issues tonight.

Aside from the news of her parents’ death, the most shocking fact about Julia Parrish was that the woman was almost as wealthy as Cameron was. So why was she slaving away making cupcakes for other people?

It turned out that the Parrish Trust was one of the biggest and most influential charitable organizations in the state. The trust funded or underwrote everything from children’s television to scientific research to humanitarian efforts on behalf of children everywhere. Cameron had heard of the Parrish Trust, of course. Who hadn’t? But he’d never connected the dots from the trust to Julia, never had any reason to. Now, though, he had a reason.

No wonder Julia didn’t care about Cameron’s money. No wonder she’d given up on trying to contact him. She didn’t need Cameron Duke’s support. The mother of his son was worth millions.

He didn’t know how he felt about that. He supposed it wasn’t a bad thing that little Jake would never want for anything in his life. In fact, that was definitely a good thing. But Cameron wanted to be the one to provide those things for his son. And he would. As soon as Julia got back to the suite, they would talk. He would tell her she didn’t have to worry anymore about being the sole provider. Cameron was ready and willing to step in and take care of things from now on.

“Oh, that’ll fly like a lead balloon,” he uttered, then shrugged. Didn’t matter what she thought. Cameron was Jake’s father and he would be responsible for him. Besides, why shouldn’t Julia take a break and let Cameron shoulder some of the burden for a while? It’s not like he was forcing her into a marriage. God forbid. Neither of them wanted that.

Although, now that he thought about it, a marriage between Cameron and Julia would be the best thing for Jake.

“But that’s never going to happen.” He shoved his chair back from the table. If Cameron didn’t do relationships, he sure as hell wouldn’t ever do marriage. And that was okay. Jake would thrive with two parents who cared about him. They didn’t need to be living together in order for the kid to have a good life.

Cameron hadn’t exactly grown up with great role models. Quite the contrary, his dad had been a lousy excuse for a parent and a miserable marriage partner to his mom. Cameron had always said that if his parents were what marriage was all about, he wasn’t interested.

And if his unhappy parents weren’t enough of a reminder that marriage was out of the question for him, there was also the sacred pact he’d made with his brothers. He would never break that pact, ever.

Cameron could still picture the day, shortly after his eighth birthday, when he arrived at Sally Duke’s big house on the cliffs of Dunsmuir Bay. At first, it was unsettling to learn that Sally had rescued two other boys from foster care along with Cameron, and that she expected all of them to become a family.

Those early weeks he spent getting to know Adam and Brandon were bumpy, to say the least. A pecking order needed to be established, so the three boys fought for supremacy over everything: toys, food, television shows, Sally’s attention. They bickered and clashed just like eight-year-old boys were supposed to. At the same time, they worried that Sally might dump them back on the state coffers. It wouldn’t be the first time for any of them. But they didn’t know Sally Duke.

One day when she’d heard enough arguing, Sally banished the boys to the custom-designed tree house she’d had built for them. She told them they could come down when they’d learned to behave like friends and brothers.

Cameron, Adam and Brandon spent hours in that tree house, and eventually their worst secrets were unraveled and shared. Brandon’s drug-addict mom ran off and his dad used to beat him until the man was killed in a bar fight. Adam’s parents abandoned him when he was barely two years old. He was raised in an orphanage before being thrown into the foster care system.

Cameron finally confessed that his own father was a violent man and his mother bore the brunt of it. Not that she was all that loving, given her appetite for alcohol and drugs. Cameron knew she had lied and stolen and worse to support her habit, but he blamed his father for turning her into an addict. He still had nightmares of his mother screaming from the beatings his father inflicted. Even worse, Cameron could never forget hearing his old man hit his mom while yelling that he was doing it because he loved her. And he would never forget waking up and finding them both dead. He was seven years old.

When Adam and Brandon heard that Cameron’s dad thought he was showing love by beating the crap out of his mother, they both were disgusted. That led to the pact.

First, the three eight-year-olds swore loyalty to each other. Next, they made a sacred vow that they would never get married and have kids, because it was clear that marriage turned people mean and stupid. Married people hurt each other and their kids.

Finally, they vowed to make Sally Duke proud that she’d chosen them.

From that day forward, Sally let them know in a hundred different ways that they’d fulfilled their third vow—and then some. They’d all grown up to be honorable, successful men and she couldn’t be more proud. Of course, now Sally had come up with some cockamamie plan to marry the brothers off so they could give her a bunch of grandkids. And despite all of his diatribes, Cameron had just given her exactly what she wanted.

“Oh, man,” he said aloud. The realization had him rubbing his knuckles against his chin. “Wait’ll Mom gets a look at little Jake.” He chuckled in anticipation of the scene that awaited him when Sally heard the news.

Of course, she might be a little disappointed that he had no intention of marrying Julia, but she would just have to live with it. Cameron would never marry, that was all there was to it. He would never want to destroy someone else the way his parents had destroyed each other.

It’s not like he’d been a martyr to his fate. Cameron had tested the waters more than once, in spite of the boyhood pact. But things had never worked out, to put it mildly. There had been plenty of women in his life and a few attempts at serious relationships, but they’d been disastrous. He’d used those as strong reminders that he’d come from bad stock and things would never change. He wasn’t willing to put someone else through that kind of pain, let alone experience it again himself. No, he was meant to go it alone, and that suited him just fine, thanks.

He stood and checked his wristwatch. The babysitter had taken Jake for a long walk around the hotel grounds so Cameron could have a short meeting with his brothers here in the suite. They were due any minute.

They would soon find out they were uncles, Cameron thought. So much for sacred pacts. But at least Cameron hadn’t been the first brother to break it. That honor went to Adam when he married Trish James last month.

The doorbell rang and Cameron greeted his brothers, then led the way to the kitchen. “You guys want beers?”

“You have to ask?” Brandon said, swinging the refrigerator door open and grabbing three bottles from the shelf.

“How’s Trish?” Cameron asked Adam, knowing his brother had brought his wife along for a quiet, romantic weekend at Monarch Dunes.

“She’s great,” Adam said with a smile. “She ran into Mom and her friends downstairs so they’re probably relaxing at the pool by now.”

“Relaxing?” Brandon laughed. “We’d better get this over with so you can rescue her.”

“Good idea.” Adam sat at the dining room table and opened a thin binder of notes and spreadsheets.

Cameron and Brandon joined him at the table where they discussed some last-minute scheduling items that had arisen over the hand-off of priority projects from the Monarch Dunes resort to the Napa Valley property.

“You’ve done a great job with Monarch Dunes, bro,” Brandon said, tipping his beer bottle in Cameron’s direction.

“Thanks,” Cameron said. “Napa’s looking good, too.”

The three men had found out years ago that the best way to run their development company was to put each brother in charge of a particular property from start to finish. The Monarch Dunes property had been Cameron’s baby from day one and he’d run the project much as he ran his life: with military precision.

The multifaceted, multileveled Craftsman-style resort, located forty miles south of their home town of Dunsmuir Bay, was already completely booked for the next three seasons and on its way to becoming the premier destination spot along California’s Central Coast.