Wife by Wednesday(Weekday Brides Series)

Chapter Twelve





The morning sickness got worse instead of better. And that sucked! Each day Blake, trooper that he was, agreed that her morning queasies sucked but he was going to help her through it until it got better. They agreed to keep a lid on the pregnancy through the first trimester, mainly because of the risk of complications and miscarriages. The doctor had assured them both after the second month they had nothing to worry about, but they waited to tell anyone anyway.

Samantha didn’t even reveal anything to Eliza, which wasn’t easy. But she thought it was best to keep her friend in the dark to avoid any slips in conversation.

True to his word, Blake stood beside her. There were times he needed to fly to Europe, but the trips were short, three days at most. It sucked when he was gone, but was always wonderful when he came home.

The days started to drift together, the nights always a memorable experience in Blake’s arms. Then, just as the doctor had predicted, the morning sickness fairy stopped her daily visits.

Blake returned home after a day in the office when Samantha had spent her time removing furniture and wall hangings from a room across the hall from theirs.

She was hoisting a small table from beside the bed when Blake’s alarmed voice yelled from the door. “What the hell are you doing?”

She dropped the bedside table, nearly hitting her toe. “You scared me,” she told him.

Blake stepped beside her, hands on his hips. “You shouldn’t be lifting furniture.” His eyes swept the room. “Have you cleared everything in here?”

All that remained was the big dresser, the bed, and tables. “Yeah, so? We talked about this being the baby’s room,” she whispered, careful not to let her voice carry to Louise who was in their room cleaning.

“This is not okay,” he said under his breath. “Louise, Mary?” he hollered.

“What are you doing?”

Louise made it to the room at a run. Her eyes wide in alarm. “Is everything okay?”

“Go get Neil,” Blake demanded.

Samantha grasped onto Blake’s arm, her confusion muffled with alarm. No matter how much she nagged him to tell her what was wrong, he waited until Louise, Mary, and Neil stood before the two of them before he opened his mouth.

When he did, Samantha was shocked silent.

“Samantha’s pregnant.”

Her jaw dropped. They weren’t going to say a thing to anyone until her next appointment with the doctor in a week. Within seconds, she understood his motivations.

“I knew it,” Louise said, glancing at Mary.

Mary shrugged her shoulders and offered a motherly smile. “Of course she is.”

“You knew?” Samantha asked.

“Dear, we live here. Of course we knew.”

Blake’s face shifted to Neil.

“Don’t look at me. I was in the dark.”

“If you ladies knew Samantha was pregnant then why would you allow her to move all this furniture up here?”

Neil’s gaze darted around the room.

“She didn’t want our help.”

“I didn’t need their help,” Samantha defended herself and them. “What’s the big deal?”

Neil stepped forward. “Pregnant women shouldn’t life heavy stuff.”

Blake smiled and patted Neil’s back. “Someone who understands.”

“Is that what this is about? You don’t think I’m capable of clearing out this room?” Oh, now she was just getting pissed. Of all the sexist things…

“From now on I don’t want Samantha lifting anything other than a dinner plate or shopping bag… and if the shopping bag is heavy not even that.” Blake wasn’t talking to her, but over her to the staff.

“Now you wait just a minute—”

Mary backed up and motioned to Louise “I think we need to leave.”

“Blake is right,” Neil voiced his opinion. “Let me help with this stuff. No need for you to hurt yourself or the baby.”

Samantha shot out an arm when Neil moved around them to pick up the table she’d been struggling with. “Hold on. I’m pregnant, not an invalid. The doctor didn’t say anything about restrictions.”

“Neil,” Mary barked. “I think we should leave Samantha and Blake to work this out without our help.”

The three of them quietly slipped away, leaving Samantha holding her lips with tightly controlled anger and Blake squaring his jaw with determination.

“I thought we agreed to hold off telling anyone about the baby.”

He glanced around the room. “I think we missed the mark on that one. Damn, Samantha, you could have gotten hurt up here moving this stuff around.”

“It’s just stuff.”

“Heavy stuff that you shouldn’t be lifting.”

“Oh, please—”

Blake lifted his hand, silencing her protest. “What if you lifted this table,” Blake kicked the wood at his feet. “And started to have stomach pains?”

A shiver of worry caught her unaware. “That probably wouldn’t happen.”

“But what if it did?”

Samantha shifted her eyes around the room, noticed the size of the queen bed for the first time, the bulky weight of the dresser she was determined to scoot out of the room before Blake had interrupted her.


Maybe… maybe Blake had a point. “I can lift shopping bags,” she said under her breath.

Blake stepped into her personal space and pulled her into his arms. His hands felt cold as they rubbed up and down her back, and she could hear the rapid thump of his heart in his chest. He’d been worried, really taken back by her actions. The emotional woman in her sighed in contentment that he cared. The independent woman in her shook a tiny fist in the air.

“Please promise me you’ll ask for help in the future.”

Promises weren’t something she offered unless she could deliver, so she didn’t rush the words he wanted to hear from her lips.

Blake eased back and took her head in his hands. “Promise me.”

“I was feeling so good today. I think the morning sickness is behind me.”

“Promise me.” Blake didn’t let up his plea.

“Okay, fine. I won’t lift anything heavy. Satisfied?” Her clipped words came out a bit harsher than she wanted, but Blake didn’t seem to mind. His smile reached his eyes.

“You promise?”

“I promise!” She pushed against his chest. “Geeze, do you always get your way?”

Nodding, Blake offered, “I promise to jump on anything you need lifted. You won’t have to nag me to get stuff done.”

“Okay, buster, put your muscles where your mouth is. I want this room clear so I can prep the walls… paint…”

Blake’s eyes shot up and a frown fell on his lips.

“Paint fumes?” he questioned.

Already she knew there would be more promises made before night fell.

In the end, she promised to leave the heavy work to Blake and anyone he hired to make it happen, and Samantha had rein to point, spend, and dictate as many changes as she deemed necessary.

****

Instead of announcing the coming heir to his father’s lawyers with written correspondence, Blake opted for a much grander delivery. As soon as Samantha felt well enough to travel, they planned their trip to his ancestral home to tell the rest of the family.

The small dinner party rumbled with excitement until Blake finally hushed the family and took Samantha by the hand. “I think by now most of you have guessed why we asked you here tonight,” he began.

“You know how much I adore assumptions,” his mother called from the far end of the table.

Those around laughed and waited for his next words.

“Samantha and I are expecting a child in late January.”

“I knew it.” Gwen hopped to her feet and circled the table to hug Samantha and then him.

Congratulations and a chorus of well wishes rose. If anyone in the room questioned when Samantha had become pregnant, none said a word.

Howard caught his eyes from the far end of the table, his lips fell into a straight line. Blake blamed his father for the strain on his relationship with his cousin. If the man hadn’t named him as the second in the will, perhaps Blake and Howard could have been closer. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Paul leaned forward and whispered something to his son and Blake turned his attention back to his wife.

Samantha radiated pride and a special glow that many people spoke of when they talked of pregnant women.

She wore a summer dress with short sleeves and belt around her still small waist. He noticed a swell in her breasts, which responded with more sensitivity when they made love. Each day he woke to a new wonder. Prior to their trip over the pond, at the last doctor’s appointment, they heard the tiny fluttering beat of their child’s heart. Tears had welled in Samantha’s eyes and his throat clenched in a painful grip. An instant attachment to the child not yet born felt more solid than anything had in his life. Well, nearly anything, he mused.

His gaze fell to his wife in the sea of people pulling her in for a hug. Identifying his love for their child collided with another reality.

The love for Samantha.

Instead of scrambling away from potentially devastating emotions, Blake held them close to his chest like a good hand in a game of poker. He had plenty of time to decipher Samantha’s feelings before he opened himself wide. It wasn’t routine for Blake to play any cards until he knew he’d win the game.

Parker sequestered himself with Blake for a few moments before leaving the party at the end of the night. “I see you’ve secured all your father’s requests.”

Put like that, Blake felt a slimy film of dirt slide over his consciousness. Although he hadn’t done anything deviant in obtaining his ultimate goal, the fact that he’d never told Samantha about the need for an heir weighed on him.

“So it seems,” Blake said.

Parker held out his hand for Blake. “We’ll meet again after the birth and sign papers. Congratulations again.”

“Thank you.”

As Blake watched Parker leave his home, he felt eyes of someone on him. When he turned, he found Samantha standing in the hall. “Your father’s lawyer… right?”

Blake gave a curt nod. “They were close friends.”

Samantha moved to his side and placed a hand around his waist before leaning into him. “I guess he has no need to doubt your intentions now.”

Her gaze drifted toward the door.

“He will doubt until our baby’s born, I’m afraid.”

Samantha leaned her head on his shoulder and stifled a yawn behind her hand.

“You’re tired,” Blake announced. “We should get you to bed.”

“But there’s still a lot of people here on our behalf.”

“People who will just have to do without us.”

When Samantha didn’t offer any more resistance, he knew the extent of her exhaustion and ushered her to bed.

****

Blake and Samantha stopped over in New York for a couple of days on their way back to California. While Blake met with his lawyer, Sam braved the sweltering heat of Manhattan and did a round of completely unnecessary shopping.

As much as she tried to focus on the need for maternity clothes, the baby section of the department stores sang to her in a way she hadn’t expected. Maybe it was the fact that everyone who needed to know she was pregnant now did, but Sam had the strange urge to buy one of everything.

Not knowing the sex of the baby made some things more difficult, but a green baby outfit here, a yellow one there worked. She found a hand-knitted, white blanket in which they could bring the baby home from the hospital. With several bags in hand, Samantha was shuffling through tiny socks and plush toys when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Cooing over a musical rattle, she twisted to whoever was searching for her attention.

The Viper stood before her, all blonde and bombshell. “Why am I not surprised to find you here?” Vanessa all but hissed between her pink lips.

Samantha really didn’t care what the other woman thought, and certainly didn’t want to engage in a conversation with her. What were the chances of seeing the woman in a city the size of New York anyway? Sam knew she lived there, but what were the odds?

“Vanessa.”

Vanessa tipped a finger at the elephant rattle Samantha held. “Isn’t this cute. So when are you expecting your bundle of joy?”

“It’s really none of your business.” Samantha put the toy down and turned to walk away.

“Let me guess.” Vanessa blocked her exit, leaving Samantha between a bookcase full of baby paraphernalia and a venomous snake. “Before Blake’s birthday?”

Easy guess. Not that it mattered. “Are you so envious, Vanessa? So jaded that Blake didn’t marry you?”


Vanessa tossed her head back with a laugh. “Oh, please. That manipulating bastard. It’s easier to see his true nature when you’re not close to him. Too bad you didn’t notice before,” Vanessa let her voice drift off as her eyes settled to Samantha’s stomach.

Sam placed a hand over her waist as if protecting her child from the woman’s stare.

“Blake is one of the most caring people I’ve known.”

“Blake cares only for himself. I wonder though, did he ask you to have his baby, or did he ‘accidently’ forget to cover up one night?” Vanessa used her fingers in air quotes.

Their conversation was toppling off weird and plunging toward bizarre. “I don’t have time for you, Vanessa. If you’ll excuse me.”

Samantha edged away but Vanessa grasped onto her arm.

“My God, you really have no idea, do you?”

Sam tugged her arm, but the other woman didn’t let go. A strange wave of panic hit her. Much like the feeling a dog must get before an earthquake happens, everything in Samantha went silent.

“You know Blake needs an heir for his inheritance, don’t you?”

What?

Vanessa’s smile lifted high on her face and her hand drifted back to her side. “Poor girl. How did he do it I wonder? Did he hide your pills? Or poke holes in the condoms?”

Sam’s jaw started to ache. She held so tight to her control she felt the muscles in her neck ready to snap. What the hell was Vanessa talking about?

Then the words of Parker returned to her ears. I see you’ve secured all your father’s requests.

Not giving Vanessa anything more, Samantha turned on her heel and fled the store.

The furnace heat of New York plastered her hair to her head as she put distance between herself and the viper.

Blake needs an heir for his inheritance. The words echoed inside her brain. Could they be true? If they were, it made sense as to why Blake was so accepting of the one thing Samantha knew he didn’t want from his temporary marriage. No wonder he hadn’t flipped a fuse when she’d announced her pregnancy. Hadn’t so much as shrugged a shoulder. Had he even been surprised?

No, she didn’t think so now that she thought about it.

It wasn’t as if he needed more promises to her because of the baby. Not really.

He’d offered to be a good dad, be there for the baby anyway.

Refusing to let emotion completely control her mind, Samantha hailed a cab and worked her way uptown to the condominium Blake owned on the east coast.

She’d visited there twice now, both on trips back and forth to Europe. It was just after noon when she made her way into the cool air of the guarded door of the building.

Keeping her sunglasses on and avoiding any looks of concern, Samantha waved at the doorman and made it to the bank of elevators.

Unlike their Malibu home, here there weren’t maids or cooks to contend with.

Tossing the forgotten bags on the sofa, Samantha turned on the laptop in the extra room Blake used as an office. She needed to find a few facts out before confronting Blake about what Vanessa had said.

The birth rate of people using condoms had bugged her from the beginning. Responsible men like Blake used condoms their entire adult lives and managed to avoid the title of Daddy. So what had changed? Why with her?

As her fingers clicked away on the keyboard, she pulled up several health and wellness sites about condoms, their use, their effectiveness. It wasn’t until she found a website titled, why do condoms fail, that she held any hope to find anything useful.

Typical information was spouted off. Breaking condoms, but that hadn’t happened. Not that Samantha had noticed in any event. There was a discussion of women interviewed who ended up in the two percent category. On several occasions they confessed to improper use, breaks, expired latex.

Even then, she and Blake had had sex for only a month before she found herself pregnant. It was as if they hadn’t used any protection at all.

How could a man ensure a woman’s pregnancy?

Even in the heat of desire, they’d been responsible.

Samantha pushed away from the desk and worked her way into their bedroom. They’d used the room en route to their reception, so it stood to reason that the box of condoms they’d pulled from would still be in the bedside table.

It was.

Samantha glanced at the expiration date, which was still several months out. The box was nearly empty. She took the box into the bathroom and pulled one of the foil packets out. Careful not to cause any damage, she opened the packet and removed the contents. It didn’t look damaged.

On instinct, she pressed its edges to the faucet on the sink and turned on the water. At first, nothing happened.

But as she turned off the water, and watched the tip of the condom, a small drop started to leak from the tip.

Samantha’s heart fell deep inside her chest as she watched a steady drip, drip, drip of leaking fluid exit the condom.

Her lip trembled and her hands started to shake. The rubber dropped to the sink and Samantha removed another one. The same thing happened.

Unable to believe her eyes, or what her mind was screaming, Samantha removed yet a third condom from the package, and returned to the room. She turned off the overhead lights, placed the foiled packet over a single bulb from a lamp, and turned it on.

A single miniscule beam of light fled the plastic like a beacon.

In all their honesty, all their talk of being open, Blake had executed his need for an heir and manipulated her into thinking it was no more than an accident.

Everything inside her screamed. How could she have been so naive? So gullible? Tears streamed down her face as she cleaned up the condoms, tucking them into the far side of the trash to go unnoticed.

She pocketed one condom in her purse and left two more in the box by the bedside.

There was nothing Samantha hated more than to be used as a pawn for another person’s needs.

How could the man she’d fallen in love with do this to her?

How was she going to survive without him?

****

“Samantha’s pregnant,” Blake told Jeff in the privacy of the lawyer’s office.

“So the tabloids spoke the truth for once.” Jeff waved a royalty rag under his nose and tossed it on the desk.

Blake hadn’t seen the coverage, but only glanced at the telling title. “Duke to Daddy” topped the page.

“I just thought you should hear it from me instead of assuming anything. Things should go smoothly after my birthday next year.”

“I’ll ask Parker’s man to send the necessary papers the week of your birth, and we’ll have everything hammered out in a few short weeks after.” Jeff sat back and smiled. “I can’t believe you did it.”

“Did what?” Blake placed a ankle over his knee as they spoke.

“Talked her into getting pregnant. What did you offer? Ten more million?”

Blake’s skin crawled with Jeff’s words. “It wasn’t like that. Fate simply lent a hand.”

“Really?”

“Accidental pregnancies happen all the time.”

“So the women badgering my clients for child support say. In my experience, accidents are made.”

Blake supposed he saw that comment coming. “You forget that I’m the one benefiting from this baby, even more than Samantha. I’m positive she’s done nothing unsavory.”

Jeff leaned forward in his chair. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

Jeff’s hand reached over the table. “My congratulations.”

After shaking the man’s hand, he went on to more pressing matters. “About the cameras in Samantha’s home, did we find anything?”


Jeff opened a few papers on his desk and spread them out. “As you know, Vanessa confronted Samantha, but when we followed her we didn’t see her return or come in contact with any private investigator. Our own PI snapped a few pictures, but the men and women she’s with here all pan out to be business men like yourself or professionals like me.”

Blake noticed the familiar image of Vanessa, dark sunglasses and porcelain features as she sipped coffee or spoke on her phone. One image caught in his mind as more than familiar. Vanessa spoke to a woman he’d seen before, but couldn’t quite place. “Do you know who this is?”

“A law student… or was it legal secretary?” Jeff asked himself. “Secretary I believe.”

Blake’s mind shifted over the rest of the photos.

Only the one struck him as strange.

“We think the clean up man with the cameras was paid to ditch them. He never led us anywhere but to a trashcan. We can’t find anything linking Parker or your cousin to the States. It’s like a huge dead end, or dump as they say.”

Blake supposed it didn’t matter at this point, but he still wanted to nail whoever invaded Samantha’s privacy.

“Keep working on it.” Some might think a lawyer was used only for legal representation, but in his life, help begot help. And Jeff knew people who could keep a watchful eye on anyone and anything.

“I will.”

Blake grasped onto the picture of Vanessa and the secretary. Until he could name the woman in the photo, he’d keep looking at it.

****

There was no greater impact than seeing a set of bags packed and on a doorstep to know a problem was erupting. Or at least Samantha hoped.

Blake had lied to her. Instead of coming to her with a problem they could have possibly found a solution for, he’d manipulated the situation to produce an outcome to suit his needs. Memories of her father’s arrest, of the feelings Dan provoked with his deceit surfaced.

Blake knew her secrets, her insecurities, and played on them to get what he needed.

Yes, together they’d embarked on this deal with the devil. Marry to suit the needs of a dead man and both leave in the end richer. But that had changed as their attraction grew, as a child had been conceived.

Samantha grasped her belly that had just started to stretch beyond the limits of her jeans. She held in her hand a glass of wine she’d only sipped once. Stomaching more wasn’t an option. For as much as she wanted to hurt Blake, she wanted nothing to do with harming her child.

Damn him. Damn him for making her love him, trust him, and then blowing that all to hell.

The key in the lock twisted and Samantha set her gaze on the bags sitting by the door and lifted the glass of wine in her hand. Perhaps she should have been an actress. Blake had certainly missed his calling.

Two steps into the room and out of the corner of her eye, she noted Blake’s hesitation. “Samantha?”

She’d thought of what to say all afternoon. The image of her running, not saying a thing to his face and leaving him with the knowledge that she’d simply left held some merit. But in the end, she couldn’t leave without a final word of disapproval.

“When were you going to tell me?” she said as he inched into the room as if walking around a minefield full of bombs ready to explode.

“Tell you what?”

“You spent time at your lawyer’s today; surely you spoke of the will.”

Blake held still.

Samantha slowly moved her head in his direction but she took a considerable amount of time before leveling her eyes to his. When she did, she noted how he glanced between the wine glass in her hand to her face. Even now, she thought, he considered their child before her. For effect, she brought the beverage to her lips, pretended to drink, and then lowered the glass.

“What’s going on, Samantha?” His gaze shot to the bags she’d packed so she could make a somewhat graceful exit.

“I thought we were going to be honest with each other. What happened to that, Blake?”

“Sam, what are you talking about?”

Unable to sit, she stood and placed the wine on the table, nearly spilling it. To Blake, she probably looked as if she’d been drinking too much. Just as well, she thought. “Your father’s will. What did it really say? Or did you think I’d never find out?”

Blake’s eyes grew wide, his lips fell in a tight line.

His expression said all she needed to know.

Guilt… maybe a little remorse. But for what? Remorse over being caught in a lie?

“I didn’t think it was important.”

“You didn’t think telling me your father mandated an heir was important for me to know?”

Blake shut his eyes, accepting her words.

And that said everything.

Killing the tears before they had a chance to fall, Samantha squared her shoulders and stormed toward her duke. “Honesty was what defined us. But you couldn’t trust me with that, could you?”

Blake opened his eyes and watched her approach. “I didn’t want to burden you with details.”

Her jaw dropped in a sarcastic laugh. “Burden me? God, you actually believe yourself. You’re no better than your father. You tell everyone around you how it’s going to be, force your ways on others, and they fall into step.”

He reached out, but Samantha sidestepped away from his hands. “Don’t touch me. Those days are over.”

“Samantha, please, I know this seems—“

“I know this is, Blake. You lied to me about your father’s will.”

“I found out about the second condition after we were married.”

Her stomach twisted. This stress couldn’t be good for the baby. She forced a big breath of air into her lungs and blew it out slowly. “That may be, but it didn’t stop you from making sure you’d win in the end, did it?”

Blake shook his head. “What are you saying? We both knew the risks when we slept together.”

“Don’t you dare. Come clean, Blake. I’ve had men bigger than you shove deceit in my face for a lot longer. I might have let my emotions get the better of me for the last several months, but I’m not a complete pushover.” She waited for his confession. His plea for her forgiveness for reducing himself to poking holes in condoms to get what he wanted.

Instead, she received a blank look.

Without another word, Samantha walked over to her bags.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m leaving. Or did the bags confuse you?”

“Jesus, Samantha, we can work this out. I should have told you about the codicil.”

“You should have told me. I would have given you everything, Blake.” Her heart broke into a thousand pieces as the next words left her mouth. “All you had to do was ask.”

Samantha turned around and walked out of Blake’s life.

She half expected him to rush after her. But then that was the romantic in her, the part of her that believed she meant something to him other than the broodmare she’d become. It didn’t matter if she left. Blake would still have his heir.

And she’d have a lifetime of regrets.