“Of course, there’ll be a prenuptial agreement. I’ll waive all rights to any of your money, as well as any future claims our child might make. In return, you’ll agree to forgo all parental rights. I want a sperm donor, not a dad.” That was important to her. As she’d explained to Bitsy, she refused to have her child bounced back and forth between parental households, subjected to stepparents who barely tolerated his or her presence. Kat had been down that road herself and wouldn’t send her child there. For a time, her son or daugher might wonder about the father’s apparent disinterest, but Kat planned to make his dedication to his career the culprit. It would also serve as a reason for their divorce. It might hurt for a time, but it would be less painful for the child than years of being the ball in a custodial tennis match.
“You’ve got this all worked out, don’t you?”
Kat knew she didn’t imagine the hint of admiration.
“Pretty much. We’d have to iron out a couple of details, but we’d both enter this agreement with everything laid out on the table.”
“You won’t object to me checking you out?”
“Oh, of course not. I checked you out.” His bare buns came to mind and ignited a slow heat. “Although there is one thing I’ll have to insist on.”
“Yes?”
“A physical showing a clean bill of health.”
“That’s understandable. Of course, I’d expect the same from you. If…and it’s a big if…I decide to consider this, when would you want to do it?”
Kat, still thinking about his bare butt, mentally slid between the sheets. “Not until after we’re married. That’s the whole point of getting married.”
“I meant get married.”
“Oh, of course. The sooner you make a decision the better.” Kat rummaged through her canvas bag and pulled out the only piece of paper she could find, a bank deposit slip. Where the heck was a pen when you needed one? She settled for an eyeliner pencil and scribbled out her number. “Think about it and give me a call.”
Andrew stared at the paper lying on the counter between them. Kat shoved it nearer to him and walked to the door where she summoned Toto from the nether regions of the cottage. Something nagged at her. Something she was forgetting. She mentally ticked everything off. She had her purse, her keys and her dog.
When it hit her, she whirled to face him. “And I’ll want a sperm count. There’s no point in wasting each other’s time.”
“SHE SAID WHAT?” Edward Sommers threw back his head and laughed until tears rolled down his face. Andrew stopped pacing Edward’s book-lined office and sank into one of a pair of matching leather chairs. He eyed his brother-in-law and fellow attorney across the desk and wished Kat Devereaux’s parting comment amused him as much as it had Edward.
“It’s the first time I’ve had a woman refer to sleeping with me as ‘wasting time.”’ And it rankled.
Edward gave way to another bout of laughter. He sighed and mopped a handkerchief at his face. “That’s Kat.”
“Why haven’t you or Bitsy mentioned her before?”
“As in introducing you? Matchmaking?” Edward assumed the virtuous look he usually reserved for juries.
“Bitsy’s been throwing women at me since I was in grad school. What about Ms. Devereaux?”
“She tried. Kat was never interested.”
Andrew discovered, much to his chagrin, that was not the answer he wanted to hear. “So she didn’t want to date me but now she wants to marry me?”
“That seems to sum it up.”
Just what the hell had Kat Devereaux considered wrong with him? “Why didn’t she want to meet me before?”
“Said you sounded too much like a…I believe the exact term she used was ‘stuffed shirt.”’
Andrew experienced a knee-jerk reaction. “I am not a stuffed shirt.” Conservative. Perhaps a bit reserved. But a stuffed shirt? He’d stepped out of his conservative mold when he’d agreed to appear as one of the state’s most eligible bachelors. And that had proved nothing but trouble since.
Across the desk, Edward smirked at his denial and toyed with a pen. “May I be frank?”
“By all means.”
“How long have we known each other, Andrew?”
“It’s common knowledge we’ve known each other for the better part of fifteen years.”
“Correct.”
Andrew templed his fingers and prodded. “The point, Edward?”
“You just made the point, Andrew-we’ve known each other fifteen years, ten of which I’ve worked at the same firm with you and eight of which I’ve been married to your sister, and you still call me Edward. Not Eddie or Ed or even Sommers, but Edward. No one calls me Edward.”
“Well, you’ve never called me anything but Andrew,” he countered.
“That’s not true. I called you Andy-once. The look of distaste on your face was so plain, I never made that mistake again.”
“Okay, I concede,” Andrew said, knowing Edward was right. But he wasn’t interested in what he called his brother-in-law, or vice-versa. Kat and her proposal kept flitting through his mind. Along with her incredible legs.
“You’re seriously considering this, aren’t you?” Edward didn’t seem surprised.
“This firm has been a part of my family for almost a century. It’s my heritage. I refuse to let my father deny me a partnership just because he believes partners should be married and stable. Marriage was his sole stipulation. What’s your opinion?”
“It could work. It could get you what you want without costing you half of everything in the end if you have a prenuptial. The way I see it, you have two immediate choices-Kat or Claudia. Straight up, I’d take Kat any day. I only have one reservation.”
“Yes?”
Edward picked up the embossed leather frame on the corner of his desk. The photograph captured all of Julianna’s exuberance as she laughed at her parents.
“She’s a beast. But she’s my beast and I wouldn’t trade her for the world. Sure as hell not for a partnership.” He settled the frame back on the corner of his massive desk. “I question whether you can walk away from your child when the time comes.”
Apparently Kat thought he could. That seemed to be one of the more salient points in his favor. He’d never considered himself father material. Much like his own father, he spent too many hours at the office and liked it that way. And while he didn’t envision himself reading bedtime stories, he also didn’t envision tossing his child’s legacy aside. He wasn’t interested in parental visitation, but he’d damn well retain the right to name his son or daughter as his heir. He and Edward could deal with the legal ramifications later.
He reached for Edward’s phone. “Mind if I use your phone?”
“Go ahead.”
Andrew punched in his office extension. “Gloria. I need you to make a doctor’s appointment for me for tomorrow afternoon. Clear my calendar if you have to. And round up a private investigator ASAP, not one of our regulars though. Thanks.”
He checked his watch, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Now I need a good attorney. If you know one, I’m willing to spring for a working lunch.”
Edward grinned and shrugged into his jacket. “It’ll cost you a pastrami on rye at Baker’s.”
“I’ll even buy you a beer to go with it.” Andrew paused at the office door. “So, Eddie, do I qualify as a wild and crazy guy now?”
KAT SLID INTO THE SEAT facing the doorway. “Thanks, Umberto. I’ll have a glass of Chianti and a basket of garlic rolls while I wait.”
“Anything for you, cara mia.” He treated her to a soulful look before moving off toward the kitchen. Kat shook her head slightly and smiled. Umberto always swore undying devotion to her, as he did to every other female patron. It was fun, harmless flirting that made for a lively dinner and usually a generous tip.