Dazzle: The Billionaire's Secret Surrogate

“Alfonso is a real sweetheart,” Kady said. “And he has an excellent eye for color schemes.”

“Well, that’s good,” Archer said with a nod. “I look forward to seeing what the two of you came up with together.”

“You know me too well, I think,” Kady grumbled.

“I think I like knowing you too well,” Archer said. He kissed a finger and held it to the glass. Shyly, Kady took the kiss and put it onto her lips.

“Oh yeah, Dee told me that the nursery furniture just arrived and she’s having loads of fun putting it together,” Kady chuckled. “Something tells me she’s going to like becoming a nanny as well as a housekeeper. She might actually be more excited about this baby than we are.”

“That’s impossible,” Archer grinned, the tenderness in his voice breaking her heart all over again. She couldn’t help but feel that he was missing so much as they readied for the baby’s impending arrival. “Take some pictures and send them to me, will you? You can send some of yourself as well as the nursery too, if you will. I really do miss your face, you know.”

“I love you, Archer,” Kady told him with a tremulous smile, instantly covering it up with a naughty wink. “You’l

l have those pics in the mail before the end of the night.”

“Good girl,” he grinned, knowing she hated it when he called her that. “Now I won’t have to spank you.”

“Oh, really?” Kady chuckled, her voice suddenly husky. “Then I’ll have to think of a way to make you change your mind, won’t I?”

The pair of them were giggling like crazy by the time Kady had to go.

Chapter 33

“So what does that mean, Doctor Franz?” Kady asked with a furrowed brow, her panic spiking at the doctor’s news.

“Well, in regular diabetes the body is unable to properly process sugar because the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to pump into the system to do so,” he explained. “That’s sort of what is happening with gestational diabetes except that it’s a temporary condition which is being set off by the hormones from your baby. We generally want to keep your sugars down as low as possible, so we’ll be starting you on some insulin shots which the dietician will explain to you further. But what it all boils down to is a strict change of your diet for the rest of your pregnancy. If you don’t follow it, the baby will grow big really fast and you’d probably be looking at a C-section birth.”

“I’d definitely like to avoid that!” Kady gasped. “I doubt anybody would want to hire me as a bikini model with a huge scar like that on my belly.”

“I think you ought to focus more on your after-pregnancy weight loss than that at this point,” he said. “Having babies in general can pack on pounds, but for most women the boys can tend to put on more than the girls.”

“Did you just tell me the gender of this baby?” Kady laughed.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot you’d asked not to know,” he said, with a slightly abashed look and a shrug. “Must be my senility catching up to me.”

“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter,” Kady sighed, as inside she was secretly thrilled, already picturing a little baby boy with her hair and Archer’s eyes, his dazzling smile and charisma, and her patience and strength. “I was really close to asking you anyway.”

“Changed your mind, huh?”

“The curiosity was really starting to get to me,” she admitted. “Besides, I saw the most adorable onesies the other day with Athena at the store.”

“Where is grandma today anyway?” the doctor wanted to know.

“She had to go deal with something in Milan for the week,” Kady explained. “I guess it’s some fashion show her company puts on over there once every four months or something. She tried to get me to go along, but I just didn’t want to do it in my condition, you know?”

“Well, I don’t blame you, and besides, with this new development the last thing you’ll want to do is go traveling,” he agreed, his voice once more strictly professional. “Keeping to a diet is hard enough as it is without adding in that kind of stress. You made an excellent choice, I think.”

“Well, Doctor, I don’t really want to take up too much of your time, so if you’ll just point me in the right direction I’ll speak with the dietitian and get all the details.”

“Great, and then you and I need to meet in about a month for your physical,” he said. “We’ll want to measure all that little guy’s arms and legs and whatnot and schedule him for a heart exam. Nothing to worry about, it’s standard procedure these days.”

About an hour later Kady went home armed with a bunch of needles, a bucket to put them in, and a large book of instructions where she was also meant to write in her sugar numbers so they could keep track of all the medicine she’d need to take to keep them down. She was not looking forward to taking her first shot along with her dinner, that was for sure.

“This royally sucks!” she told Daryl as she got into the car. “Now I can’t even comfort myself with chocolate.”

“Oh, why’s that?” he asked.

“They tested me for gestational diabetes and I have it,” she grumped. “That just figures when you consider everything else that’s happened to me this year.”