Teddy Bear Heir

"I've heard of spreading one's seed but you've taken the concept to ridiculous extremes."

Cameron Black sat quietly in the luxurious office as his grandfather continued to expound on one of his least favorite subjects. He'd learned from experience that the best course of resistance was to offer none. Julian Theodore Black could bluster and blow with the best of them but once he'd vented his temper it would all be finished and Cameron could go on his merry way.

"I want a great-grandson!" Julian bellowed, his face flushed, his white hair and beard offering a startling contrast to his agitated complexion. "I've waited long enough! Damn it, Cameron, what's the point of owning the most successful toy company in the world when I don't have a little one to share it with?"

Cameron offered no reply. Julian's bushy eyebrows lowered, his expression ominous.

"I've half a mind to rewrite my will and leave you out of it."

That got his attention. His grandfather had never threatened him before. He wasn't sure whether the older man was serious or not but he decided to jump into the fray.

"I've never wanted to be bothered with a family. You know that."

"Damn it, Cameron—"

"I've been honest with you. You have to admit that."

Julian sighed then pulled at his full beard, his manner agitated. He looked almost exactly like Kris Kringle. The image had helped make Teddy's Toys the most respected—and profitable—toy company in the world. Their logo, an adorable teddy called Bandit Bear, was as familiar to the world as McDonald's golden arches.

''You've never been in love?" His grandfather was staring at him in a way that made Cameron think the man had never really looked at him before.

"Never. It's a messy business."

"Messy." Julian snorted. "I had fifty-two years of happiness with your grandmother. There's not a day goes by I don't miss her. Cameron, you don't know what you're talking about."

"It works for me."

"No it doesn't." Julian ran long fingers through his bushy white hair. He was always too busy to cut it. His employees considered him something of an eccentric old gentleman. But he understood children and how they loved to play. He understood the power of imagination. Those qualities had made him a millionaire many times over.

Though Cameron had known he had a job waiting for him when he graduated from Harvard Business School, he hadn't skated by on his family name. He was certainly no slouch. Though he had a rather carefree attitude toward his personal life, he loved the business. He'd worked long and hard hours for his grandfather, whom he usually adored.

And he had nothing against children. He'd just never had the desire to marry and start a family. And at the age of thirty-eight, he didn't see that changing.

"It doesn't work, Cameron. And you'd know it if you had any sense."

Cameron waited, sensing something was about to happen. This argument wasn't following the usual pattern. All his senses were alert waiting for Julian Black to come to his conclusion.

"You have one month, then I'm rewriting my will and leaving my company to charity. I'm sorry, but I'm cutting you out."

"What?" His incredulity was quiet and intense. Cameron rarely lost his temper, he didn't like the feeling of giving in to any sort of emotion. Now he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"A month and a day," Julian went on, striding out from behind his desk and warming to his idea. "A month and a day in which to find a woman – any woman – and make her your wife. And within a reasonable time period not to exceed six months, present me with a pregnancy. Fait accompli. An heir."

"You're mad, old man," Cameron replied, sitting back in his chair. The entire idea was so ludicrous it had almost made him laugh out loud. Thank God Julian was joking.

"I'm serious," the older man said quietly. "It's breaking my heart, Cameron, to look at the mess I've helped you make of your life."

This was dangerous territory. Territory he had no desire to explore. He tried for a joke. Anything to lighten the mood.

"Even in those fairy tales you love, the prince is usually given a year and a day."

"I don't have a year. And you, young man, have barely a day. I want some changes and I want them now."

Cameron stared at his grandfather as if seeing him for the very first time. He'd slipped up. Badly. He'd had no idea the concept of great-grandchildren meant so much to Julian. When he'd walked into his grandfather's office, he hadn't expected this. Not at all.

First rule of business – know your opponent.

He'd badly underestimated Julian Black.

"Marriage... and a child," Cameron said quietly.

"Yes." Julian stopped his pacing and stared at his grandson. "Forgive me, Cameron, but I don't see any other way."

"And I'm to love her?"

The question filled the elegant room. Emotion hovered between them. Emotion and painful memories.

Julian cleared his throat. Cameron sensed he was buying himself some time.

"In the best of all possible worlds, my boy, you would. But I don't expect a miracle. A great-grandchild, boy or girl, will be miracle enough for me."

"So you'll have no objections if I basically look for a brood mare." The words were intended to hurt. He was gratified to see his grandfather wince.

"No. I'm sorry, Cameron—"

But he was already out of his chair and headed toward the door. "Save it. I've got thirty days, remember? Oh, thirty-one, no thirty-two, if you count the generous extra day—"

"Cameron!"

His grandfather's voice could still crack like a whip. Years of devoted obedience made him stop with his hand on the doorknob and wait for the old man's last words.

"I want you to keep one thing in mind. In those fairy tales that I so love, a prince setting out on a quest usually finds more than he's originally looking for."

The older man's voice trembled slightly. Cameron had to fight the urge to go to his side and offer comfort. But he was angry, so angry at this emotional betrayal. He stood his ground and they faced off, two basically arrogant males who were so alike and yet thought so differently on this one issue.

But he no longer had the heart to hurt his grandfather.

"I'll bear that in mind."

* * *

Michaela Larkin punched the intercom button on her phone.

"Cassandra?" she asked her secretary.

"Cameron Black on one. I have the feeling it's urgent."

She smiled. With Cameron it was always urgent.

"Put him through."

"Mike. Hello. I need your legal expertise."

She'd worked for Teddy's Toys before, assisting them in drawing up various legal documents. She'd dealt with both Cameron and his grandfather, Julian. She liked and respected Julian Black.

She'd fallen deeply, soulfully, head-over-heels in love with Cameron the moment she'd met him.

Unfortunately, those feelings weren't returned.

So she loved him from afar and continued with her usual sporadic pattern of dating. But it did no good, for whenever she spent the evening in any man's company, she secretly compared him to Cameron.

And found her date wanting.

She didn't really go out much these days. She had her reasons for not wanting to get too close to any man.

But Cameron, that was different. She hadn't been able to resist her attraction to him and that sensual attraction had been mutual, palpable—until he’d jokingly told her he didn't believe in love.

That had squelched all feeling on her side.

Oh, she knew of his reputation. Who in San Francisco didn't? She knew Cameron Black
liked
  women enough to let them know the score up-front. She just didn't think she could bear to be one of those women. It would break her heart if she had an affair with him and then he chose to leave her.

So she simply had her dreams from afar. And wondered, deep in her heart, if there was a way to make him see reason.

Maybe not reason. Emotion.

Probably not.

He'd started calling her Mike soon after she'd resisted his advances. She wondered if it was a device he used to help him not think of her as a woman. She was an appendage, a
thing,
a lawyer. She had her uses but none of them involved the usual activities Cameron participated in with the opposite sex.

"What's up?" She slipped her heels off and wiggled her toes. Talking with Cameron was a highlight in her day and she settled back in her comfortable office chair to enjoy herself.

"I need a wife."

She sat up straight. "Excuse me?"

"I need a wife."

She swallowed hard. "I thought that's what you said."

"Look, I know how this must sound. Let me explain." Briefly he told her his situation.

Michaela simply stared at her desk blotter then closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair again.

"How exactly are you going to go about doing this?" she asked, her voice more breathy than she would've liked. She felt as if someone had just plowed a fist into her stomach.

"With the utmost efficiency. But what I need from you is a legal document that anticipates all the possible pitfalls of this particular relationship, as well as setting absolute boundaries."

Boundaries, she thought. Ah, yes, Cameron knew all about setting boundaries. She felt as if his heart were frozen in ice and had no idea how to begin to go about reaching him.

Sexual and emotional chemistry was a mystery to her. Why did it hit with one man and not another?

Why did it make her want the one man who was probably the most unattainable?

She brought her attention back to the matter at hand.

"Dinner tonight? Of course I'm available."

Business, Michaela. Business.

They chatted a moment longer, decided on a restaurant, then she hung up the phone and spent the next fifteen minutes staring out her office window overlooking the bay and wondering how she was ever going to endure the thought of the man she secretly loved being married to someone else.

* * *

"So, Mike, the way I see it, I'm basically renting a woman's uterus in exchange for her having carte blanche with my credit cards and spending money to her heart's content."

Michaela swirled her white wine in her glass and watched the pattern the golden liquid made. She couldn't quite meet Cameron's eyes.

''It sounds so... I don't know...
cold-blooded,
for lack of a better word."

"It's a business arrangement, pure and simple. Don't look so shocked. Marriages have been arranged between men and women since the beginning of time. It's only been a recent experiment in history, the idea of marrying for love."

"Which you don't believe in, anyway." The wine was making her bolder than she usually was with a client and she bit down hard on her tongue. What Cameron chose to do in the face of his grandfather's ultimatum was really none of her business. None at all.

"I know it may seem rather...
cold
  of me, Mike, but the thing is, Jules can't run that company by himself and he knows it. And if he gives it to that disorganized charity he's so fond of, they'll run it into the ground within a year."

She nodded her head, agreeing with him in spite of herself. "I like the guys running the Foundation for Play, but I know what you mean. Bart and Ron aren't the most experienced businessmen in the world."

"That's an understatement."

The restaurant Cameron had selected was quiet and tasteful, with a view that overlooked San Francisco Bay. The menu offered mostly seafood and Northern Italian pasta dishes, and the wine list was excellent.

They'd already ordered and had finished an appetizer. Now Cameron began to lay out his plan.