Page 26 of An Heir Made In Hawaii (Hot Winter Escapes)

“For how long? That building is one brick away from collapsing into a heap.”

“Ah yes, the building you want so badly you’re willing to pay triple the current market value. That makes sense.”

“If you would stop being so bloody stubborn, you’d accept the help I’m offering.”

She threw back her head and laughed.

“Is that what you call it? Help meaning buying out the inn that’s been in my family for over one hundred years so you can raze it and make a replica of the monstrosity you’ve constructed here?”

His eyes darkened. “Careful, Anika. I’m proud of what I’ve built here.”

The fight drained out of her as quickly as it had arisen. This was not how she’d pictured the conversation going.

“I didn’t come here to fight, Nicholas.” She glanced around as a couple wandered through the lobby, the man dressed in a black suit, the woman wearing a violet gown that probably had some expensive label sewed on the inside that made the dress quadruple the cost of what she’d worn in Hawaii. Acutely aware of her threadbare coat and thrift store trousers, she stood. “Is there somewhere private we could talk?”

He sighed, a thoroughly disapproving sound that increased her exhaustion.

“Fine. My office.”

She started to stand, readying herself for the moment ahead, when her stomach rolled again. She froze. Fear dug into her stomach, clambered up her throat until she could barely breathe.

“I changed my mind. I’m sorry.”

She turned away. She wasn’t going to be sick. Not this time at least. But she wasn’t ready. Not yet. She needed time, a little bit more time, some distance from the nasty confrontation they’d just had.

She’d barely made it three steps before she swayed. Exhaustion, the lack of food, her nervousness about talking to Nicholas, all of it came crashing down at once. Before she could move, Nicholas stepped forward and circled an arm around her waist. Panic skittered as his hand clamped down, his fingers brushing her belly.

“What are you doing?”

“You look like you were about ready to faint.”

With a firm hand, he guided her down the hall.

“There’s no need to support me. I can walk just fine—”

“You were going to topple over,” he said frankly.

She glanced up at him, confused by his surly tone. What had happened in the nearly two months since they’d parted? Where was the man who teased and laughed and barreled through life with a carefree smile?

“I don’t need you to manhandle me,” she argued, some of her earlier bravado returning. Much easier to fight with him than to worry about how he might react to her unsettling news.

“Given your penchant for not taking care of yourself and preferring to work as hard as possible until you’re on the verge of collapsing, I’m going to take responsibility and ensure that you get off your feet before we talk.”

“I said I didn’t want to talk tonight.”

“You can say whatever you like. But you’re not leaving here until you’ve had a chance to rest.”

She ground her teeth together as he escorted her behind the desk past a wide-eyed clerk and toward his office. He strode in, kicked the door shut behind him and guided her to the couch. She looked around the room. Plush leather furniture, pale ivory walls that matched the winter landscape outside the large windows.

Nicholas circled around his desk, a gleaming mahogany behemoth, and sat down, the ice-kissed lake at his back.

Had she thought the worst part was telling him about the baby? She’d been wrong. It intimidated her, but it was the right thing to do. Once she told him, and he reiterated that he had no interest in being a father, it would be done.

But their argument in the lobby had stirred up the emotions Nicholas had brought to the surface in Kauai, from their shared moment on the catamaran tour of the Na Pali coast to the conversation during the power outage that had led her up to his room.

No, the worst part of all of this, at least in this moment, was that she wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that he had wanted to spend time with her, to be with her just because of who she was, not what she owned. She didn’t like feeling this vulnerable.

She swept her gaze around his office, noting the various awards and pictures of him with famous people. Movie stars, politicians, CEOs of international firms. They came from two completely different worlds. All of the reasons why she had resisted him in the first place came rushing back. He had told her before that he had no interest in true love, no enthusiasm for the things that she wanted out of her life: a family, stability.

---