Page 18 of Daddy's Unexpected Gift

I turned and glared at Cecelia. “I did not abandon Georgie with you. I left her with you to watch for the evening.”

“That is not something I agreed to, therefore, child abandonment,” Cecelia snapped back.

“Why is she here, then?” Katherine asked.

“I’m here because Sterling thinks he can do whatever he wants. And I am not some flunky he can order about.”

Katherine looked at Cecelia while she spoke. A sneer marred her lovely face as if she were looking at something distasteful. I tried to see what she saw when she looked at Cecelia. Only, I didn’t see someone worth grimacing at.

Cecelia’s clothing, while perfectly reasonable at any other time, was not appropriate right here or right now, like a zit on a beauty queen’s forehead the day of the competition. Her jeans showed off her curves, and her shirt was a bit too tight across her chest. I thought she looked delightful.

Katherine obviously thought otherwise. She turned to me before speaking. “You need to get your employee taken care of. I don’t really care what you have to do, but this is embarrassing.”

“I don’t work for him,” Cecelia snapped.

Katherine barely glanced at Cecelia before locking her eyes with mine. “Take care of this, Sterling, and get rid of the kid, or I’ll be calling a car to take me home.”

I narrowed my gaze at Katherine. I didn’t like how she was behaving toward Cecelia. I wasn’t a fan of Cecelia’s being there, but she was, and I had to deal with it. Katherine’s idle threat on top of everything else was poorly timed. Right at that moment, I wasn’t focused on whether I’d see her red dress on my floor tonight. I was a bit more concerned with how to rectify the situation I was now forced to deal with.

“Don’t do that, Katherine. Calling a car isn’t necessary,” I said evenly.

“Good.” She crossed her arms and looked down her nose at Cecelia and at me as if she expected us to perform for her.

I carefully set Georgie’s car seat on the floor. It was the first time I noticed the baby was blissfully asleep. At least one of us was unfazed by everything going on.

“Cecelia, please, take the baby back. I’m on a date and I need you to watch Georgie for me.”

“I can’t,” Cecelia started. “Maybe if you had spoken to me earlier about this?—”

“Yes, you can. And you will.” Katherine picked up the car seat and shoved it at Cecelia. The action was rough and jerky.

Georgie started crying.

“See what you have done? The brat is crying, and you need to leave. Take her and go,” Katherine said.

I didn’t like seeing Georgie in distress, especially when she had nothing to do with any of this.

“Katherine,” I growled.

Cecelia had placed the car seat back on the floor and knelt down next to it, trying to comfort Georgie.

“Is everything okay over here?” Robin Johnson, Maurice’s co-chair of the event, calmly joined us as if we were simply chatting about the weather.

10

CECELIA

I was there to make a point, and as long as everyone talked over me and didn’t listen to anything I said, the point was lost. Georgie was upset, and I was the only one who seemed to care about her at all. Maybe this hadn’t been one of my smarter moves.

Sterling’s date was a nasty piece of snobbery. But then again, I was a non-entity to someone like her. I was a member of the working population and below her consideration. Whatever. I did not need her getting in the middle of my attempt at having a conversation with Sterling. And I really didn’t need her upsetting the baby.

I unstrapped Georgie and lifted her out of the car seat. I did my best to soothe her. While I was taking care of the baby, an older lady came over and started talking in hushed tones. My attempt at getting Sterling to understand that he couldn’t dump Georgie on me would never be properly made.

From the initial look of triumph on his date’s face, I figured I would be kicked out of the event in a moment.

The older lady turned a smiling face to me. The date scrunched up her face and pulled her pursed lips back and actually snarled. I wasn’t certain what was going on. Georgie sniffled and settled, but she was wide awake now and looking at all the bright lights and colors that were around us.

“Are you serious?” the date said. “That’s it, I’m calling a car.”

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