“You want to have my baby?” Ty felt the air drain out of his lungs like a tire with a massive leak. Mandy sat across from him in the pub-like restaurant near their hotel, looking perfectly normal, and tempting, in a silky red camisole and a pair of washed-out jeans, but she’d just said the darnedest thing.
Ty swiped a hand across his forehead. It had suddenly gotten hot in the busy dining room. He’d anticipated a few different reasons for Mandy asking to have dinner alone with him on that Monday, since the preliminary report on the valuation of the company had just come in. Ty had given the analysis a quick scan. The figures looked reasonable, and unfortunately, there appeared to be a case for selling the business at the right price. He wasn’t eager to make that argument to Mandy like he had been just a week ago. It would likely cause a permanent freeze in their relationship, just when things seemed to be heating up.
But a baby wasn’t even in the top ten of discussion topics. This had to be a joke, only Mandy looked as serious as a judge about to give out a life sentence.
“Hear me out, is all I ask,” Mandy said as she took a sip of sparkling water. The tables were made of the same golden wood as the walls and the bar that squatted at the far end of the dining room packed with families. It was cozy and homey in a most uncomfortable way.
He’d finally gotten her in bed for some pretty spectacular sex, and now she wanted to have a baby together? Stunned didn’t begin to describe how he felt.
“I’m listening,” he said, surprising himself. Was he listening? He shouldn’t be. No one knew more than him that he wasn’t cut out to be a father. Just like he wasn’t cut out to be a husband. Or part of a team. He knew he worked best alone. Hadn’t he spent seven years in the land development company pretending to be part of the management team, knowing they didn’t want the truth they paid him to uncover? Grappling with corporate politics that forced facts to fit predetermined scenarios had vanquished any qualms he may have had about going into business for himself—by himself. He was an outsider, a maverick. He liked it best when he depended on no one but himself.
And no one depended on him.
“Really? Because the look on your face says you’ve already decided no.” She cocked her head, those sparkling green eyes full of doubt.
“I’m just surprised, is all.”
“Well, actually, so was I when the thought first popped into my head. I mean, it’s bad enough that you’re part of Prescott now. Having a child together will make you part of my life forever. But when I thought about it some more, the pros outweighed the cons.” She leaned back and peered at him from under those thick lashes of hers as if she was still trying to weigh those pros and cons.
“I’m the con, I take it.” Why did that thought disturb him so much?
“Well, yes, I guess you could say that.” She smiled from her eyes as well as her lips, and the warmth of that smile took some of the sting out of her words. “But you’re less of one than I may have thought just a bit ago.”
“How so?” Should he be encouraged by that?
Her gaze shifted away from him, toward the wider room. “I guess I see you more as a person.”
“What the hell did you see me as before?”
She gave a demure chuckle. “You really don’t want me to answer that, do you?”
He was offended. “Of course I want you to answer that.”
“I don’t want to insult you. The fact I want to have a baby with you now should really be seen as a compliment.”
“I want to know. How did you see me before?”
She sighed. Closed her eyes and opened them again. Played with the fork that sat upon the white paper napkin.
He waited. He wanted to know.
“As the devil.”
The devil?
She looked up and caught his eye. Shook her head. “Not really, but, well, you seemed so unfeeling. So by the book. So…cold.”
Cold. Wasn’t the first time a woman had called him that, so why did it slice through him with the sting of a razor blade this time? “And now?”
She cocked her head and shrugged. “Well, when it comes to the business, maybe still.” Her brows knitted together, and Ty knew she was thinking about the prospect of selling. No help for that. But then her brows relaxed. “But on a personal level, not as much.”
“Why?” Something was driving him to push for a response, in a vague hope she might have some insight into why people always thought of him that way. And why she didn’t now—so much.
Her eyes moved about the room as if the answer was on one of the walls. “Maybe knowing more about you. Maybe seeing you in action, working, with your family.”
What had she been able to see? At the ranch, she’d spent a few minutes getting acquainted with his niece, meeting his brother, seeing where he’d come from and knowing it wasn’t exactly a Norman Rockwell family portrait.