Page 20 of Hidden Heir With His Housekeeper

Because there were so many things he wanted to know about her.

She’d been more candid than he’d expected about her engagement to Wolfe. He could admit now he had been wildly jealous of that previous attachment—another new experience for him. But the green-eyed monster had died as soon as he’d discovered she’d never let Wolfe make love to her.

He grinned.Neanderthal, or what?

After tugging on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, he grabbed his work mobile off the chest of drawers, to discover numerous messages from his PA Joe McCarthy and more from Jackson White, the head of the PR company he used to manage the Foxx Group’s public profile. After a cursory glance, he clicked through to a tabloid article attached to one of Jackson’s messages—and winced at the cheesy headline:Has Hotel Hottie Foxx Melted the Medford Ice Queen?

Then he enlarged the shot of him and Beatrice leaving the club the night before which illustrated the piece. He chuckled, because apparently nothing was going to sour his good mood this morning.

Not bad, he decided. They looked good together, with her cradled in his arms as if she belonged there. Jackson had attached the screenshot of the article to a message which simply read:

WTH Mace?! We need to talk about your new girlfriend.

Cheeky sod.

But then he and Jackson went way back, to the early days.

He’d catch up with him later today because Beatrice wasn’t his girlfriend.Yet. But Jackson’s question had him picturing her on his arm for the social events he usually found a major chore. His heart bobbed in his chest at the realisation she would make those boring events a lot more entertaining. The fact that her classy beauty would not do the Foxx brand any harm at all was not lost on him either.

Getting way ahead of yourself again, bro.

He dialled his PA, because before he and Beatrice had a conversation about their future he needed to make her an appointment with his doctor as he’d promised.

As he waited for Joe to pick up—because it was still only seven a.m. on a Saturday—he realised he was surprisingly ambivalent about the possibility of an unplanned pregnancy. Of course, they had a lot of options if his condomfaux pasled to that. But even after he’d discovered the tear in the condom last night—something which would have bothered him big time with any of the other women he’d dated—the panic hadn’t come.

Children weren’t on his radar. Never had been. He really wasn’t the paternal type. What did he even know about family, or being a dad, when his mum had done a runner when he was still little more than a baby and his old man had been such a loser? But when he’d confronted Beatrice with the problem and she’d panicked, he’d been surprisingly calm—and weirdly turned on—because he couldn’t quite get past the delicious thought of Beatrice’s slender body round with his child.

He closed his eyes briefly as a renewed surge of desire fired through his system.

‘Hey, Mason.’ Joe picked up at last. ‘How are you? I didn’t expect to hear from you this morning. Especially after who you pulled last night.’ Joe let out a wry laugh, because he was also a mate. ‘How was the Medford Ice Queen? Not too chilly, I hope,’ he added, still with that teasing tone.

Mason frowned, not liking it, or the nickname which couldn’t have been further from the truth. And which he had begun to suspect had left Beatrice with a ton of hang-ups.

‘Don’t call her that, Joe.’

‘All right. No problem, bro,’ Joe replied, the jokey tone sobering.

‘Actually, I need you to contact Dr Lee. Make an appointment for Beatrice today. Out of hours.’

He trusted the people he employed to keep his business confidential. But after last night’s headlines he needed to protect Beatrice from any more unwanted attention while they were figuring out their relationship. Perhaps he could persuade her to fly with him to New York tomorrow night? On Monday he was due to start scoping out sites for the Foxx Group to expand into the US, so he could totally make the case for it business-wise. And it would give them a chance to get away from the British media and have a time out to talk about last night. And what they wanted to happen next. He’d never considered having a mistress because he thought the whole concept was tacky and old-fashioned, but he could totally get behind the idea of having Beatrice at his beck and call for a while.

‘Okay,’ Joe said. ‘Can I tell Dr Lee what it’s about?’

Mason hesitated. ‘Just a standard check-up,’ he prevaricated. Then wondered why he was prevaricating. There was nothing wrong with taking responsibility for the burst condom. ‘Plus, we need to discuss birth control options. And get Beatrice a pregnancy test.’

Joe gasped, then cursed. ‘So youdidthaw out the Ice Queen. That’s fast work, even for you.’

‘I thought I told you not to call her that,’ Mason said, annoyed.

‘Yeah, but... Mase...’ Joe sounded concerned, which seemed like a massive overreaction. ‘Are you sure you want to date her for real?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ he asked, his happy buzz turning into genuine irritation. Did everyone have an opinion on his sex life? And Beatrice’s. No wonder she had so many hang-ups.

‘You do know her old man has targeted you as a possible son-in-law?’

‘What?’ he murmured, irritation turning to shock as the happy buzz he’d woken up with imploded.

‘Medford. It’s not that big a secret he’s been looking to hook his youngest daughter up with an advantageous match for years. It’s why she was engaged to Wolfe a while back. Rumour is Wolfe lent him a ton of money, then swallowed the loss when he got hitched to the older sister and broke it off with Beatrice. She does what her old man wants, unlike Katherine.’

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