Chapter 1
Bella James blinked back tears. This was the moment she’d longed for, the moment she’d feared for the last six years of her life. Since the moment she decided to run, unplanned pregnancy in tow, from Harvey Carlson’s posh Arizona compound to her sister’s apartment in Tulsa. She’d hidden the pregnancy from him, had never contacted the man she loved with all her heart—only to protect their twins from his wealthy and powerful mother, the same woman she’d heard vow to take away any child Bella might bear for Harvey. She had given up the love of her life to keep her children safe, had yearned for him but never wavered in her determination to keep her babies with her.
The twins, Caden and Corinne, were in kindergarten now. Bella herself was no longer a housemaid but a marketing executive with the education and skill to command a high salary and afford a full-time nanny to help with the twins. But inside, she was still that twenty-two-year old girl who’d overheard her boyfriend and his mom discussing how he wasn’t serious about her and even if he were, they could easily get custody of a baby if she had one.
In that moment, Bella’s joy at discovering she was pregnant had been shattered along with her heart. She had left him, had started a new life and done her best for their children. When he came back into her life unexpectedly, taking over the company where she worked, Bella had tried to ignore the attraction she still felt for him, but it was irresistible. He was still the man of her heart, and there was no denying it. She’d sworn it was a fling, an old itch even. And she’d been scrupulous about making sure he didn’t know she had children. Until now.
Here she sat at Corinne’s dance recital, her boss and lover beside her. He’d crept into the audience, sat down and watched. She knew, knew in her bones that he recognized that tiny blonde drama queen as his own. While the other girls had timidly attempted the footwork, glancing at each other for reassurance or to copy a step, Corinne had flung her arms wide and danced—mostly the routine with her own sassy flourish, giving herself up to the music. Tears had pricked Bella’s eyes as she watched her daughter with pride. But when a man touched her arm, when it was Harvey, she’d felt her heart plummet about thirty stories onto concrete and crash. She felt ill. She wanted to scream, no, and grab her children in her arms and drive away, never see him again. Her first instinct was to flee, just as it had been six years before when she was pregnant and alone. Her only thought was for her children, for keeping them with her.
She tried to play dumb, to mention that she didn’t realize he had time for amateur ballet shows. “I make time when it’s for my family,” he’d replied, his voice velvety but with an iron threat behind it. He knew. Of course, he fucking knew. How could he not? The towheaded twins had gorgeous, angelic faces that were so much like his own. Harvey was handsome, perhaps even more so now than he had been at twenty-eight as a hotshot CEO.
“You know?” she said, butterflies beating against her stomach.
“You were pregnant when you left?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Complicated? Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve provided for my children. You would’ve never had to struggle.”
“I don’t struggle.”
“Now. But how about when you were finishing up your college classes? And who watched them?”
“My sister. And I took excellent care of the children. You don’t have to be rich to raise children and give them lots of love and everything they need.”
His gaze was intense. “How could you?”
“This is not the place!” she said, hushing him.
“I’m a dad? I’ve been a dad all these years?”
“Yes.”
“You left me out of the loop. I’ve missed everything. I never even got to hold my babies in my arms. Do you have any idea how hurt I am? I’m telling my kids that I’m their father. They have every right to know the truth!”
“Here? Are you crazy? Please don’t make a scene. Please don’t tell them. Not tonight.”
“They’re mine, Bella. Not that you ever saw fit to tell me that I have two children walking around in the world. What did you tell them about their father?”
“I—this isn’t the time or the place, Harvey. I’m begging you. Don’t ruin Corinne’s first ballet recital with a bunch of drama that the twins can’t possibly understand. This is a problem between you and me. Just let me give her the flowers and take some pictures and go home.”