Once Pregnant, Twice Shy (Gage Brothers 3)

Garrett wasn’t so stupid as to believe this, but had answered.

K. So I hear you’re getting your dresses fitted Wednesday. I’ll drive you.

Won’t your girlfriend get jealous?

I’d like to explain to you about her.

It’s fine. The fitting is at five so I’ll see you before then.

“Are you even listening, Garrett?”

He lifted his head to Landon’s confused gray gaze.

“Hmm? What?”

Landon scowled and then continued, raising his voice as though to be clearer. “Clarks...new strategy...”

So, Kate thought Garrett had planned it all?

How could she believe that he’d planned to get sick, so that he could get her to bring over some food for him, get her into bed, seduce her like some out-of-control adolescent and conveniently forget a condom so she might have to stay? Well, hell, it sounded so brilliant, he felt like an idiot for not thinking of it before.

“Garrett, dammit, did you hear?”

“Yes. Clarks. A new strategy.” He set his phone aside, but putting thoughts about Kate aside wasn’t that easy.

“You’re the last single Gage. Will you or won’t you go through with this?” Landon asked.

With a major wrench of mental muscles, Garrett pulled his scrambled brain together and tried to focus on the topic today.

“All three of us know that I’m not really the last single Gage, Lan.” Garrett leaned back to survey both his brothers’ expressions across the conference table.

Landon’s eyebrows shot up. “Don’t go there.”

“Why not?” He shrugged. “He’s still a Gage.”

“Mother wanted nothing to do with him. Hell, we paid him millions to get out of our lives for good, and you want to bring him back?”

“How badly do you want Clarks?” Garrett countered.

“As badly as you want it,” Landon returned.

Garrett scraped a hand along the tense muscles at the back of his neck. He wanted Clarks, but not as bad as he wanted something else.

“Plus who’s to say that selfish bastard will want to help us?” Landon rose to pace by the wall of windows. “He will want a big piece of the pie, and he’ll want even more than that. Do you remember Father refused to recognize him?“

“But we know he was Father’s son, no matter how many times he denied it to Mother,” Garrett countered. He’d been wracking his brain for other options and this was, fortunately or unfortunately, the only one he’d been able to come with.

To bring their illegitimate half brother, Emerson Wells, back into the fold.

Julian chewed on the back of a pen before he lowered it and spoke. “We could entice him with money. Stock. Something. Maybe we should call just him.”

“He’s trouble,” Landon said pointedly, his face furrowed in thought. “What does he do now anyway?”

“Last I heard he was in the personal security business here in San Antonio. Started as a bodyguard.”

“Seriously?”

“What can I say? He likes beating people up.”