Tempted by the Wrong Twin (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 8)

She finished the last of her lunch and laid down her cutlery.

“Not technically.”

He had a feeling that the real answer was not at all. That she’d made sure that anything urgent was already taken care of, just in case.

“Then I have an alternative plan.” He paused and smiled. “I have Ellie tomorrow, and I want you to come with us.”

Harper bit down on her bottom lip.

“Are you okay?” he

asked, watching her closely.

“I know that one of the reasons we got married was to present the picture of a stable family unit to the outside world. And the only way to do that is for me to meet Ellie, and to let people—especially your ex-wife—see the family we’re creating. I guess I just didn’t expect it to be this soon. I thought I’d have time to prepare.”

There was tension in her expression that she was trying to cover, so he took her hand again. “You don’t need to prepare. Just be yourself and Ellie will love you.”

Harper thought about it for a moment, then drew in a breath and gave him a tentative smile. “I’d love to spend the day with you and Ellie.”

He nodded, feeling more satisfied that she was going to meet his daughter than he would have expected. And it felt like it was about more than just the plan, the groundwork for his claim to be able to provide a stable family environment for his custody case. A sense of unease began to creep over him, prodding him to consider the level of their entanglement already, but he pushed it away. This was simply his strategy to achieve all their goals. And it was going according to plan. Everything would be fine.

* * *

Harper stepped through the internal door from the staircase that connected the garage beneath Nick’s home to the living room and looked around. He’d been right in his description—it was sleek and modern with lots of white. She’d expected that would mean cold and impersonal, yet the warm caramels and chocolate browns, polished wood floor and highlights in lush greens somehow made it feel more like a crisp, natural setting. And with all the trees visible through the windows, the room blended in with its surroundings. She smiled and a little of the tension left her shoulders. This was a place she could be comfortable.

“A quick tour?” Nick said from beside her. “Or do you need something from your suitcases right away?”

She hadn’t brought much in the suitcases—work clothes, casual clothes, laptop, bathroom items and a few extras. Her place wasn’t that far to go back and grab things as she needed them. And keeping the connection to her house meant she still had a place that was all hers if things went wrong with Nick. She winced, uneasily aware that it could look as though she wasn’t one hundred percent committed to the marriage by leaving herself an escape route, but, as Nick had pointed out, this was a practical arrangement. She was just being practical about the possibility it wouldn’t work.

She draped the clothes she’d brought on hangers over the back of the huge plush sofa and straightened. “I’ll take the tour, thanks.”

“Good choice,” he said. “Then you can start settling in. I’ll bring your bags to your room when we’re done.”

She hitched her handbag a little higher on her shoulder as she followed him through an archway.

“Kitchen,” he said as they moved into a room of gleaming silver appliances and stone counters, then headed into a hallway.

He pointed to a room to her right, said, “Main bathroom,” and kept going. Farther down the hall, he waved his arm from one side to the other. “Two of the guest bedrooms.”

She looked down a staircase beside the one that went to the garage. “Where do those stairs lead?”

“Home gym. You’re welcome to use it anytime. And next to that is my Tate Armor office. Most of the place is on one level except for those rooms and the garage.” He continued on, and she had a glimpse of a darkened room, equipped with lots of technology. “Media room,” he said, but they passed too quickly for her to peek.

They reached the end of the hall, where it branched off to the left and right. “That goes to my rooms,” he said, nodding to the right. “Down here, though,” he said, guiding her along the left hallway, “is the guest wing, which is now yours.”

A few steps down the hall was a large bedroom, decorated in pale green and cream, with a king-size bed taking center stage. Windows filled the wall on two sides, and through another door, she spied an en-suite bath and shower. Nick crossed the room to built-in cupboards that lined one wall and opened one to reveal drawers, shoe racks and space to hang garments. “If there’s anything else you need in here, let me know.”

The room was beautiful, but it didn’t have the feel of her bedroom at her own house, where she’d lovingly chosen every element to create her own sanctuary. Perhaps this would come to feel that way with time...

“I can’t think of anything,” she said. “It all seems lovely. Thank you.”

“There’s another room through here,” he said, striding over to a door on the far wall. “I thought we could use this as the nursery.”

She followed him in and found a room painted in the same pale green and cream color scheme, empty but for two armchairs.

“It was a sitting room for the guest wing,” he said. “I took the rest of the furniture out to make way for nursery furniture.”

At his words, tears pressed at the backs of her eyes, and she laid a hand over her stomach. Her babies would share this room. Sleep here. Smile and laugh here. She’d read them stories in this room. “It’s perfect,” she said.