The Rogue's Fortune

“No. He should settle down.” But the cries became more insistent and Allison heaved a weary sigh. “I guess fifteen minutes is going to be all he can handle today. I don’t know why he doesn’t collapse with exhaustion. I’m tired and he gets less sleep than I do. I’ll be right back.”

Elizabeth expected to have to finish her conversation with Allison over the wails of the baby, but almost as soon as she vanished into her son’s room, the monitor stopped emitting noise. She returned with her son in her arms.

“Can you hold this momma’s boy for a second?” Without waiting for Elizabeth to answer, Allison handed her the baby. “I swear he lives to drive me crazy. Just like his father.” The last she muttered, the words almost intelligible, but Elizabeth heard.

And grinned.

She buried her nose in the baby’s neck and inhaled his scent. This is what she was working toward. Why she’d accept Roark’s offer to pretend to be his fiancée. She needed to bring in more clients and strengthen her position as Josie’s top producer. Becoming a partner would assure her financial security and she could afford to try in vitro again.

Her phone vibrated, reminding Elizabeth that she had work to do. As much as she wished she could linger for the rest of the afternoon, there were clients to contact and arrangements to oversee. If she was gone too long from the office, Brenda might take it upon herself to organize something and that would be extremely bad.

The sun fell across Elizabeth’s shoulders as she made her way to the nearest subway station. Visiting Allison’s domestic haven had done her good. The parts of her psyche that had seemed frantic and out of control were calmer. She was thinking clearly instead of freaking out. Before she headed down the stairs to catch her train, she pulled out her cell phone.

Almost as if he’d been expecting her call, Roark picked up before the second ring.

“Okay, Mr. Black, we have a deal.”

“Just like that?” Despite his words, he almost purred with satisfaction. “We haven’t even discussed what you want in return.”

“All I want is the chance to make the sort of connections that will further my career.”

“And you’ll meet plenty of people who will want to hire you. But I’m going to take up a significant amount of your time and I intend to compensate you for it.”

“How much time?”

“To be credible we need to be seen together four hours a night, twice maybe three times a week for six months. Twenty thousand dollars is a nice round number, don’t you think?”

She stared at the sky and blinked back a sudden rush of tears. Her relief was so profound, for a moment she couldn’t breathe. With that much money she could afford to try in vitro again almost immediately. A twinge of conscie

nce returned her to reality.

“That’s too much. I wouldn’t feel comfortable.”

“The money is for your time, nothing more.”

And although every one of her brain cells told her she was crazy, in her heart, she believed him. “It’s still too much.”

“Very well.” A hint of exasperation entered his tone. “What sort of number did you have in mind?”

“Thirteen thousand, four hundred twenty-eight dollars and ninety-seven cents.”

A long hesitation followed her words. When he spoke, his voice was rich with laughter. “Are you sure you don’t want that rounded up to twenty-nine dollars?”

“No, thank you.”

“Care to share what you’re going to do with that particular sum?”

She smiled as she imagined the look on his face as she said, “I’m going to use it to get pregnant.”

Three

A brisk November wind snatched at Elizabeth’s breath as she exited the town car and stared up at the Fifth Avenue apartment building. She shivered in her wool coat. Nine hours ago she’d agreed to Roark’s mad scheme, proving once again that whenever she was in the presence of a bad boy, she and common sense took divergent paths.

Roark lifted her hand and brushed warm lips across her chilly fingers. “Have I told you how beautiful you look?”

Several times. “Are you sure everyone is going to believe we’re a couple?”

“They will if we seem smitten with each other.”