Page 42 of Baby Perfection

“Wait, what—”

“I’ll explain later. Go back to sleep.”

Angie hung up without waiting for a response. Currants. If that turned out to be the cause of the allergic reaction, and the allergy ran in the family… Was it possible? Could Lucius actually be Mikey’s father? She fought to think it through logically, to try and figure out her next step. If the two were father and son, how did she prove it? Another DNA test, obviously. But that would involve informing Lucius of her suspicions. She hated getting his hopes up only to have them dashed if she was wrong.

So, how did she work around that minor detail? Whenever faced with a new situation she didn’t understand, she gathered facts. Researched. That was easy enough. She carried the baby to the computer and booted it up, then ran a fast search on DNA testing. To her relief, Mikey nodded off in her arms, the hives fading with each minute that ticked by.

“Well, look at that,” she murmured. “I had no idea it was so easy. Or that you could do a home paternity test. Best of all, I can get the results by the time Lucius returns on Friday.”

The website provided a long list of items from which they could extract DNA, examples of which she could find around the apartment without involving Lucius directly. She just had to pick one, send it in and wait for the results. And if the test results confirmed he fathered Mikey? She leaned back in the chair and cuddled the baby close. It would mean that Lisa had somehow falsified the results of Mikey’s paternity test. Another thought struck. If she was right, Lucius wouldn’t need her any longerbecause the Ridgeways would no longer have a viable claim on Mikey.

“Damn,” she whispered. “What do I do now?”

There wasn’t really any question about what she’d do. She’d let Lucius off the marital hook by ending their engagement gracefully and without complaint. Tears filled her eyes. Maybe, just maybe he wouldn’t want to be let off the hook. Maybe he’d demand she stick to the agreement they’d made because he… She buried her head against Mikey’s curls. Because hewhat?Because he wanted to be married to her? Because helovedher?

Foolish, foolish girl. Lucius had been up-front about what he wanted from the beginning. He’d offered marriage in order to ensure he retained guardianship of Mikey. Sure, he enjoyed the fringe benefits of their relationship. The companionship. The sex. A wife to take care of all the little wifely duties. But not once had he said anything about love. In fact, he’d gone out of his way to tell her he didn’t think himself capable of that particular emotion. Was it his fault that she’d fallen head over heels for him?

She swept the back of her hand across her damp cheeks. Enough. She didn’t even know if Lucius was Mikey’s father. Once she’d settled that issue, she’d worry about the next step. In the meantime, she’d keep a close watch on Mikey in case he suffered a relapse from the allergen he’d come into contact with. And on Wednesday she’d choose a wedding gown, even knowing she may never wear it. She sighed.

Better make it returnable.

He didn’tthink Friday would ever arrive or that his meetings would ever come to an end. He boarded his private jet by noon, delighted he’d soon surprise Angie with an early arrival. He’d made a startling discovery during his five days in New York, one he’d tried for weeks to deny, but no longer could.

He’d fallen utterly, hopelessly, completely in love. And it wasn’t with just one person, but two. His feelings for Mikey had been steadily growing, bit by bit, over the past three months until he had no choice but to concede that he flat-out loved the baby, had even come to regard Mikey as his own son. But his feelings for Angie hadn’t crept up on him. They’d hit him with all the power and fury of a Cat 5 hurricane, flinging him into the midst of an inescapable storm of emotion.

He’d discovered something else during his trip to New York. He didn’t just want Angie for the sake of his son—and Mikey was as much his son as Geoff had been his brother, Lucius now admitted. No, he wanted her in his life…for himself. A permanent part of that life. And the minute he saw her again, he intended to tell her so.

The only remaining question was… Could he convince Angie to change her mind, too? Could he convince her to give their marriage a chance, a real chance? To accept the ring on her finger as a sincere promise of intent, and the wedding they’d organized as the start of a true marriage.

His cell phone rang while they were waiting for permission for takeoff and he checked the caller ID. Pretorius St. John.Flipping open the phone, Lucius greeted the programmer. “How’s it going, Pretorius?”

“To be honest? Not good.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. How can I help?”

“It’s not how you can help me. It’s how I can help you.” Pretorius sighed. “Listen, there’s something you need to know about your ‘perfect’ wife-to-be. Unfortunately, it involves my former assistant, Jett.”

Chapter Ten

Angie stoodin front of the mirror and ran a trembling hand across the skirt of her wedding gown. She didn’t think she’d ever seen anything more stunning in her life. It made her look…amazing. Beautiful. Elegant. Like some sort of storybook princess.

The pale ivory gown possessed an Empire waist and squared-off bodice, studded with Swarovski crystals and a skirt that fell in a straight column, the material so light and airy that it made her appear as though she were floating. Even with a flowing train, she found she could move without any problem.

She’d been experimenting with her hair to see what style best suited the classic lines of the gown, the decision easily made the second she’d pinned her curls into a loose knot on top of her head, allowing little tendrils to drift about her neck and temples.

“All you need is a tiara,” came a voice from behind her.

Angie spun around with a gasp. “Lucius!”

“Surprise, surprise.”

Why, oh why, had he chosen this particular moment to return? Fifteen minutes earlier and she wouldn’t have yet donned the gown. Fifteen minutes later and she’d have finished trying it on and it would be safely tucked away in the closet. “You aren’t supposed to see me in my wedding gown before the ceremony.”

A small smile played at the corners of his mouth, one that caused a tremor of unease to shoot through her. “In our case, I don’t think that’s an issue,” he said, the extreme gentleness of his tone causing her nervousness to increase. She knew that tone. It was a bad tone. A dangerous tone. One he used when he was about to take down one of his competitors.

Then his comment sank in. Seeing her in her wedding gown wasn’t an issue for them because they weren’t marrying for normal reasons, such as love. Perhaps that explained the tone. Why did she keep forgetting their marriage wasn’t a real one, especially when she doubted the marriage would even take place? Ever since receiving the results from the DNA test this morning, results which proved with 99.99% certainty that Lucius was Mikey’s father, she’d accepted the strong likelihood that next week’s wedding ceremony would be the first casualty.

Angie had no idea how Lisa had manipulated the results in the first place. Perhaps she’d faked the test from the get-go, hiring actors to play the part of technicians. Or perhaps she’d paid one of the technicians to falsify the results at whatever lab they’d used. Or maybe it was a simple clerical error, the lab accidentally switching samples by mistake. All that mattered was that Lucius now had enough probable cause to have another test done, one that would hold up in a court of law.

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