Dazzle: The Billionaire's Secret Surrogate

Today Athena was supposed to come over and take Kady out shopping for some bigger clothes for herself and a few items for the nursery, so she was looking forward to actually getting out of the house. She’d begun an online course on fashion design at Athena’s suggestion, which Archer had wholeheartedly approved. It made her feel better knowing that he didn’t intend to hold her back from the career she wanted, and in a way it made her miss him more than ever.

She was only allowed a one hour visit once a week, and it was still three days away, but it felt very much like a whole year had already passed. She wanted to get a cute outfit while they were out today, she decided. Something that was bound to make Archer miss her, too.

“Kady?” called Athena from out in the hall. “Are you in there?”

Stepping out of the bathroom, Kady called back, “Yeah, I’m here. I woke up late again. Sorry.”

“Oh, don’t worry, dear, it’s normal to be tired in your condition,” she laughed as she stepped into the room. “How do you just roll out of bed looking so gorgeous, my dear? You really were made for the camera to love, weren’t you? You simply must come model some of the maternity clothes in the new line.”

“I don’t know, Athena, with my current reputation it might put people off,” she grumbled.

“But the whole story is a sham!” she protested, the mother in her refusing to let Kady wallow. “You know I was willing to recant the whole thing.”

“But I really did meet him while applying to have his baby,” Kady said glumly. The facts were, unfortunately, the facts. “Just because we changed our minds doesn’t change that fact.”

“Darling, you didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “You have absolutely no reason to hide yourself away from the world over the lies of some jealous woman who wants what you have. You’re so much better than that.”

“Don’t you mean some jealous stalker who would probably love to kill me and take the baby for herself?” Kady pointed out, her hands instinctively covering her stomach at the thought. “How do we know what that little lunatic is capable of anyway?”

“You don’t know that,” Athena said, sounding so calm and logical it almost made Kady want to scream. Nothing about the situation made her feel calm or in control. She felt like Mia had taken so much power away from her with all her media stunts, she wasn’t sure where that left her now.

Athena continued in the same frustratingly moderate tone of voice.

“Besides, Robert is around to keep her away from you. You have nothing to worry about from that woman. Now what do you say? It would only take a couple hours out of your day and you’d get a bit of money put back into your own bank account. You can even ask Archer first, if that’s what is stopping you.”

“Am I really that transparent?” Kady asked then, looking up at Athena, wondering just when that man had become so integral to her life and to her happiness. “That’s exactly what I wanted to do. Not because I’d say no if he told me not to or anything. I just want to keep open our line of communication. Does that make any sense?”

“It makes perfect sense, Kady,” she said kindly, a spark of warmth and affection shining in her eyes, so much like Archer’s. “You love him and you want to share your life with him. Just as long as you don’t let it hold you back from something that you really, really want, it’s perfectly fine to be just a little codependent while you’re pregnant and you baby’s father is rotting in some jail cell.”

“You really do think I’m codependent, don’t you?” Kady chuckled, knowing that had at least a little ring of truth to it.

“The thought has crossed my mind,” she said with a smirk.

“Okay, fine, we can plan to do the shoot next week, and I won’t ask him, I’ll just let him know,” she said firmly, a small smile still playing around her lips. “Is that better?”

“Not a lot, since you just let me push you around instead of him,” Athena said with a grin. “But since I’m getting what I want out of the deal, why complain, right?”

“You know, that’s what I love about you, Athena,” said Kady then. “You really know just what to say to win a girl’s heart.”

Chapter 26

Kady was not greatly surprised, but terribly distressed, to see Mia’s car parked about two blocks down the road as they drove out with Robert in tow and Daryl behind the wheel. She rolled her eyes when it started to follow them soon after they passed it. One thing about Mia Chong was that she was not subtle, that was for sure. She had to know her flashy red car would be spotted in under a minute.

“What is that about anyway?” she wanted to know, new frustration and old dislike winding through her like a snake, a feeling she couldn’t shake as much as she just wanted to enjoy the day of shopping with Athena that was ahead of her. “Can’t she leave me alone just one time. She almost seems more obsessed with me than she does Archer.”

“Well, if she tries anything we can bring her back into court over it,” Robert pointed out calmly. Nothing ever seemed to get him riled. “In fact, I hope she does because then we could bring it to the attention of the media and it might help discredit the claims she made after Archer’s sentencing.”

“I’ll sure be glad when Archer does that interview next week and tells them all what a crazy she is,” Kady grumbled, hearing the whining tone of her own voice but not really caring. It was just the truth. “I don’t know why nobody will listen to me directly, but I’m sure once they hear the story from the horse’s mouth they’ll have to believe it’s true.”

“Yes, about that,” said Athena, interrupting her tirade with gently spoken words. “Archer’s lawyer doesn’t advise him to say anything until his sentence has been served. It might make it more difficult to get time served if a media circus irritates the warden. So we’re stuck putting up with her for the duration.”

“Ugh!” Kady groaned. “That can’t be right. There must be something we can do.”

“Only hope she violates the restraining order and we can have her thrown in jail herself,” Robert replied. “But following us at a distance doesn’t cut it. She has to get up close and personal with you directly. It can’t be someone else other than Archer himself.”

“I know all that,” Kady complained. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“Well, let’s not let it spoil the shopping trip,” Athena said, once more in the brisk, business-like tones Kady was used to hearing from the older woman. “We’ve got a lot to do today. I want that nursery to have all the essentials before the little one comes out of there.”