Read Her Indecent Proposal (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) Online
Authors: Judy Angelo
Her Indecent Proposal (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Collection) (16 page)
A sudden feeling of dread fell over him in a thick, grey cloud –
something was seriously wrong. He went over to the bed and picked up the
paper.
“Dear Sloane, I’ve made a very painful decision but one which is for
the best,” it said. “Our relationship is just not working and it’s time for me
to move on. This is hard for me to say, especially since we’ve been through so
much together, but it’s better to say it now rather than continue to live a
lie. I can’t be with you anymore. I’ve found someone else…”
What the fig?
There was more but Sloane couldn’t read another word. He felt like
the earth was shifting under his feet. Another man? Impossible.
And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it
really was impossible. Melanie couldn’t have someone else in her life. Where
the hell would she have found the time?
Between her hectic schedule, running Parker Broadcasting and her
constant trips to Boston in her desperate effort to conceive, there was no way
she could have fit an affair in between all that. There was definitely another
story, the real story, and he was going to find out what it was.
Sloane picked up the phone by the bed and dialed Melanie’s cell phone
number. No answer. He slammed the receiver back down.
Logically, she must have gone back to the house she owned in
Westmount, her home before she’d gotten married. She hadn’t sold it and he
knew the caretaker was still there. That was where he would start. If she
didn’t want to talk to him on the phone then she’d have to talk to him face to
face.
After his flight from Europe Sloane was dead tired but there was no
way he was going to let this wait until morning. He jumped into his Benz and
hit the highway at top speed, never easing up until he screeched into the dimly
lit driveway of Melanie’s old home. He hopped out of the car and ran up the
steps to ring the doorbell. As the chimes echoed in the house he waited,
shifting from one foot to the other, his insides wound so tight it was like
they’d snap at any moment.
A whole minute passed and no-one came to the door. He rang the
doorbell again and thirty seconds later he was pressing it again. And after
that he pressed the button over and over and over, filling the house with
incessant chimes until finally a light came on in the hallway and the door
opened to reveal Melanie, her eyes looking big and bruised, her mouth defiant.
“Didn’t you see my note?” She folded her arms and planted her body
in the doorway. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here to take you home.”
She straightened her back and glared at him. “Didn’t you read what
I wrote? There’s no more ‘us’, Sloane. And I’m already home, right where I
belong.”
“You belong with me,” he growled. “Now let me come in so we can
talk about this like adults.”
She sucked in her breath. “What part of ‘we’re over’ don’t you
understand? There’s no use talking. I’ve made up my mind.”
“Melanie, you either get in the car now or let me in so we can
talk.”
“I’m done talking.” As she said the words she was stepping back and
pushing the door closed in his face.
Sloane was not having it. There was no way he was leaving there
without his wife. He jammed his foot in the entrance just in time to stop the
door from slamming shut then he planted a hand on the heavy mahogany and
pushed.
Melanie stumbled back with a gasp of anger. “You can’t do this,”
she snarled. “I don’t want to talk.”
“You’re talking,” he growled and before she could sprint away he
clasped her upper arm and steered her into the living room. “Now sit and
talk.”
She sat but she did not talk. She sat there glaring up at him, her
mouth set in a mutinous pout.
Sloane remained standing, arms folded, staring down at her. “I’ll
stay here all night if I have to. The quicker you start talking, the quicker
we can get this over with.”
She just sat there, her lips tight, and even when he still stood
there watching her she would not speak. It took about three minutes of this
stand-off before an agonized sigh finally escaped her lips. “I don’t want to
fight, Sloane. I just want to end this.”
Her words sliced into him. How the hell had they gone from a happy
marriage to this? “Why?”
“Because…” She dropped her eyes and twisted her hands in her lap.
“Because I’ve found someone else.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. I want the truth.”
Melanie’s body jerked and her eyes flew to his. She was obviously
startled by his outburst but he didn’t give a damn. He was done with this
game.
“I want out…” she said, her voice trailing off.
“Why?” he asked again. “What did I do to make you want to leave?”
She shook her head as she stared up at him, her eyes big and bright
with unshed tears. “Nothing. It’s all me. I’m just no good.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Confused and frustrated, Sloane
shoved his hands deep inside his pocket and expelled his breath. “What’s going
on in that head of yours? And why would you make up a story about some fake
man in your life? Are you so desperate to get away from me?”
“I wanted a clean break,” she said, her voice tearful. “I thought
that would do it. If I told you the real reason you might try to make me
stay.” She shook her head. “But I can’t, Sloane. It’s not fair to you.”
Sloane dropped down onto the couch beside her. “What is this real
reason? Tell me.”
She swallowed then drew in a deep breath. “I…can’t have your baby.
I’ll never be able to give you an heir.” She sucked in her breath on a sob.
“Don’t you see? It’s not fair to you. You need a future. I can’t give you
that but someone else can.”
“Melanie, Melanie, Melanie. What am I going to do with you?” Sloane
shook his head. “Don’t you understand? You’re the best thing that ever
happened to me.” He reached out and cupped her chin, forcing her to look into
his eyes. “Baby or no baby, I want you in my life. I love you, Melanie.
Don’t leave me. Please.”
Melanie blinked and her eyes grew wide. “You…love me?”
“Yes,” he said, releasing her chin. Now that he had her full
attention he just wanted her to know the truth. His truth. “I love you more
than anything. More than your dream of having a baby.” He reached down to
take her hand in his. “When I asked you to marry me it was you I wanted, not
your promise of a baby. I married you for you.”
“But…you hardly even knew me.”
Sloane looked down at their clasped hands as his mind wandered back
to that day. It was true. He hadn’t really known Melanie at all. “It’s
weird,” he said, his speech slow even as he tried to process things himself,
“but from the day I saw you back in high school I never forgot you. When you
took over your father’s business I saw you in the press from time to time but,
even then, you were a distant dream. But when you walked into my office that
day, I felt it.” His hands tightened around hers and he looked at her,
searching her eyes, trying to make her understand. “I didn’t understand it
myself but I knew it was fate. Our destiny. It was the sign I’d been waiting
for all my life.”
“So…you didn’t marry me because of the baby?”
He laughed. “Please. I didn’t need to marry you to get a child.
Trust me.”
“And…you still want to be with me even though I can’t give you a
child?”
“I want to be with you as long as I’m on this earth,” he declared.
“And who says we can’t have a family? If you have your heart set on a child, I
would be more than willing to adopt.”
That brought a smile to her tear-streaked face. “You would do that?
For me?”
“For both of us.” He reached out and drew her close, and sighed in
contentment as she laid her cheek against his chest.
“Then I’ll stay with you,” she whispered. “I thought if I loved you
I had to let you go but now I’m so glad I don’t have to.”
Sloane chuckled. “Don’t you worry,” he said as he stroked her
hair. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily. You're stuck with me
for life.”
And he was looking forward to spending every minute of the rest of
his life with his beautiful wife.
EPILOGUE
“You did this to me.” Melanie gritted her teeth and gripped
Sloane’s hand as the pain ripped through her body.
“Eergh,” she groaned through clenched teeth.
“It’s okay, honey,” he soothed as he dabbed at her brow with a cool
cloth. “Just push.”
“Looking good, Mrs. Quest. Now bear down. We’re almost there.”
The doctor’s voice was reassuring in its coolness and Melanie drew
strength from his calm. Although the massive pressure on her lower half was a
hair's breadth away from unbearable, she fought to stay calm. She was swimming
in pain but it was normal. It had to be. The doctor didn’t look the least bit
perturbed.
And then she looked over at her husband, so strong and supportive,
his furrowed brow and perspiring upper lip telling how much he was sharing her
pain. But he was fighting hard not to show it. And he was there with her one
hundred percent.
“I see the head,” the nurse said with a hint of excitement in her
voice. “Keep pushing, Mrs. Q. Help us out here.”
So Melanie pushed and even as the pain tore through her, her heart
soared. She was having her baby.
It had been a long time coming. Good grief, she was all of
thirty-seven years old. She’d totally given up hope that this day would ever
come. She’d accepted her fate and in her mind, she’d moved on.
And now this.
“One last push. Come on now. Give it all you’ve got.”
At the doctor’s order, Melanie gave Sloane’s hand a bone-crushing
squeeze and pushed with all her might.
“Your baby’s here,” the doctor announced.
“And it’s a boy,” the nurse said, laughing.
And then Melanie heard the most beautiful sound in the world. Her
baby’s very first cry. And it was a lusty howl.
“My baby,” she sobbed. “My baby.” When she looked up at Sloane she
could hardly see him through her tears. But one thing she did make out was the
wide grin on his face.
“We have a boy,” he said. “I have a son.” And his voice was so
full of wonder that Melanie blinked to clear her eyes, the better to see his
face.
And what she saw made her heart melt. Big, bold and powerful Sloane
Quest – now overcome with emotion – actually had tears in his eyes.
At that moment the nurse handed her a very pink baby swaddled in a
white blanket adorned with pink and green stripes, and as she looked into the
face of her own special miracle baby her eyes welled up again.
“Welcome to the world, Sloane Parker Quest,” she whispered as she
gazed down at the tiny dark-haired bundle in her arms. “This is your mommy.”
She could hardly believe she was saying the word. She was finally a mom.
Smiling, Sloane reached out a hand to touch the top of the baby’s
head, then he turned and gave Melanie a gentle kiss on the forehead. “You have
your baby at last,” he said, “and as soon as the adoption papers come through
we’ll have our daughter, too. We are so blessed.”
At his words Melanie choked up, so much that she couldn’t speak.
Finally, she managed a trembling whisper. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said softly. “And thank you.”
“For our son?” She looked up at him, trying to understand.
“For our family,” he said, his voice vibrating with emotion.
And her heart filled with love because she knew exactly what he
meant.
THE END
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BAD
BOY BILLIONAIRES
Judy
Angelo
Volume
1 -
Tamed
by the Billionaire
Volume
2 -
Maid
in the USA
Volume
3 -
Billionaire's
Island Bride
Volume
4 -
Dangerous
Deception
Volume
5 -
To
Tame a Tycoon
Volume
6 -
Sweet
Seduction
Volume
7 -
Daddy
by December
Volume
8 -
To
Catch a Man (in 30 Days or Less)