The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(59)

As he stepped inside, the cool, dry air washed over his body. He always found comfort in coming home, where the rest of the world faded away for a while. He didn't see any sign of Charlotte, so he walked over to the couch, leaned back and let out a loud sigh.

"Long day?" she asked.

"Hm," Jack mumbled as he turned to face her. "I didn't see you there. Nothing outside the ordinary. It's just so good to be alone again and let my guard down for a few minutes without worrying about my mother criticizing me or my sister trying to get money from me. It's really wonderful. How was dress shopping?"

Charlotte smiled. "It was interesting."

"Go on." Jack ran a hand through his hair.

"Promise you won't tell anyone about it?"

"Who would I tell?" Jack shook his head and sat up, rubbing his hands over his eyes while his mind ran wild imagining how his family had managed to insult Charlotte. "What did my mother do? If this has to do with the dress, I'm really sorry. I didn't know she was going to do that. She thinks she's showing how happy she is to have you in the family. She told me about lunch too. Tell your mother that I'll make it up to her somehow."

"It was more the dressmaker," Charlotte said.

"Veronique?" Jack asked. "She called this afternoon, looking to confirm a few things with you. She was very blunt. I like that."

"She was blunt alright," Charlotte said. "She asked me how long I had been pregnant."

Jack froze. He felt like his heart had stopped and someone had caved his chest in with one hard punch. The hair on his arms stood on end.

She couldn't be pregnant. He couldn't be a father. For every doubt he had held about marriage, he had been sure about fatherhood. He wasn't fit to be a father. No Coburn had ever been. It was part of his genetic makeup. Coburn men were terrible fathers. They went after money and women and power without any regard for what it meant for their families.

Beyond that, he worked long hours and travelled all the time. He'd never be around. He couldn't do that to a kid. Deep down, Jack thought that was a big part of the reason his brother had never married and his sister had never gotten a marriage to stick. It was a major reason why he had sought out Charlotte in place of someone who would expect a family from him.

After all the troubles Jack had gone through to take care of Maria and little Jack, everything was happening all over again. It was exhausting enough to take care of one Coburn love child, let alone to keep little Jack a secret from everyone in his own family, not to mention Charlotte.

Charlotte. God, Charlotte. How could he be so self-centered right now? She was probably a mess. He'd promised her a quick marriage, and now… this. She had been reluctant to even marry him, and now she was going to have his kid? He wanted to reach out and place his hand on her shoulder and tell her that everything would be ok and that he'd take care of her and the baby in whatever way he could.

Calm down, Jack, he told himself. Breathe.

"Are you?" he asked.

"No," Charlotte said.

Relief crashed through Jack's body. "Oh thank God," he said.

"Wow," Charlotte said, "don't act so excited. I just thought it was… I don't know, funny I guess."

"I'm sorry if my reaction wasn't what you expected," Jack said. "How are you feeling about it?"

"Strange. I don't know. I guess I just had never considered what it would mean to be a parent too seriously before Veronique thought I was, you know?"


"I've thought about it too often. I just can't be a father. I'd be horrible."

Charlotte walked over to Jack and sat down on the coffee table, brushing her hand against his face. She kissed him quickly, letting the tip of her tongue gently tease his lips. They were soft and sweet as ever.

Charlotte's hand rested on Jack's jacket as she leaned onto him, pressing the weight of his secret phone into his chest.

Jack froze when she felt it, but she didn't seem to know or care what shape she was feeling under the fabric.

"I'm sure you'll be a wonderful father someday," Charlotte said.

I wish I could tell you how wrong you are, he thought.





Chapter 22

Charlotte looked out the window of her bridal suite at the unbroken snow that blanketed the grounds and the woods that rose up behind them. If she didn't know she was twenty minutes from home, she would have believed she was a world away. The late afternoon light caught and shimmered off the surface of the fresh snow. Hers was to be a white wedding.

The Aldrich Mansion was a brick for brick recreation of an English manor, located out on Foxhall Road, where the congestion of the nation's capital gave way to rolling countryside that stretched west across Virginia clear through to the Appalachian Mountains. That scale suited the mansion, with its sprawling wings, high ceilings and steep-pitched slate roof.

Charlotte turned her attention back to the mirror, although she had a hard time convincing herself that it really was her own reflection she was seeing. Veronique hadn't lied. The dress was magnificent. Every last stitch fit her perfectly. The elaborate beading accentuated her figure and gave her a stately air. Her hair was pulled up in a bun, and a birdcage veil covered half her face. She looked like royalty.

This is just a costume, and you're just playing a role, Charlotte told herself.