Teddy Bear Heir (3 page)

So
, he thought as he finished his glass of wine and set it down on the table by the window overlooking San Francisco Bay,
you're perfectly justified in what you're about to do.

He knew what Julian was up to. He'd been able to read his grandfather from the time he was small, one of many survival skills he'd honed to perfection during his short but turbulent childhood with his unpredictable parents. Things had stabilized once Julian and Mary had taken him in but he'd never trusted the world to be a basically good place after his parents had been killed.

He knew this and was comfortable with his way of looking at the world.

Until Michaela...

He thought of her as Michaela in his mind, though he was always careful to call her Mike. To create a small but necessary distance between than. A distance he'd needed because of the way she'd affected him.

She'd come into his world with the force of a rocket that first day in his office. He'd glanced up, seen her, and known. Known deep in his soul that this woman was trouble. She could reach him. She could touch him. She brought out feelings in him besides the basically male instinct to get her into his bedroom as quickly as possible.

He'd tested the limits. Carefully arranged business dinners so he could spend more time with her on the pretext of going over various contracts. Made it a point to interact with her every single time she came into his office. Forced himself to spend time with her, so that he might uncover a flaw, a reason not to continue this silent fascination.

He hadn't been able to dim the force of his attraction. He hadn't been able to find anything wrong with her, other than a very attractive stubbornness that excited him. For Michaela would be no man's doormat and would give back as good as she got.

He thought of pouring himself another glass of wine. Ever since agreeing to Julian's ridiculous scheme he'd had trouble sleeping. He had to find a woman he wanted enough so he would be able to function in their marital bed and produce an offspring that would finally satisfy Julian's quest to ensure he had an emotionally satisfying life.

Well, he'd wanted women. And he'd certainly had them. But he'd never wanted any woman with the complete emotional intensity he felt for Michaela. And she'd made herself as unattainable as a dream.

She wanted love. It was ironic, for that was the one thing that was beyond his power to give. Wealth, luxury, a decadent life-style most women would sell their respective souls for. But not Michaela.

And it angered him that she had seen right through to the heart of the conflict between them. And knew him for what he was, a man unable to love.

A man unable to bear another loss.

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. If she'd agreed to lesser conditions, then she wouldn't be the woman he—cared for.

Loved?

He put the thought out of his mind.

He turned toward his bed, and thought of her there, beneath the covers, warm and willing and waiting for him. Cameron felt his body's instant response to the fantasy and wondered at this woman's ability to arouse him when she wasn't even there.

How she might laugh if she knew how foolishly besotted he was over her. How she might use her uniquely feminine power over him if she even suspected she held the smallest portion of his heart.

But that wasn't like Michaela either, and he knew it, was ashamed of himself for even thinking it.

He'd only been half joking when he'd offered her a turn as his wife. He'd been hoping she'd take him up on it. Then, to have to drag the information out of her that she was to remain childless. A woman like that, with so much to give...

And here he was, a man essentially dead inside, who was basically going to buy himself a child.

He poured himself another glass of wine, then walked back to the window and looked out over the sleeping city.

"I know you for what you are," he said softly, then took a sip of the expensive wine. How strange, to be addressing life. And for just a moment, he wished desperately that he were still able to give, to hope, to dream.

To love.

But it wasn't to be. It couldn't be. Cameron Black finished his wine, set down his glass, then turned off the lights and continued to stare out over the sleeping city.

"This is exactly what I wanted," Cameron said.

"Thank you," Michaela replied as she watched him read the contract carefully. He went over each point and asked several questions before he was satisfied everything was airtight and ready to go.

"So now?" she asked as she saw him to the door of her office.

"Now," he said, grinning wickedly, "it's showtime."

* * *

Cameron’s social media campaign was a smashing success. Various news websites picked the story up instantly.

Teddy Bear Heir Seeks Bride! screamed the
Examiner.

Multimillionaire Cameron Black Decides To Wed! said
The National Star.

Wedding Of The Century! claimed
People
  magazine.

The story even made some foreign papers. Teddy's Toys was deluged by electronic applications. Each day, thousands of emails and videos threatened to crash Cameron’s site.

Mrs. Monahan, Cameron's personal assistant, was put in charge. Cameron had hired her because she looked and sounded almost exactly like Jane Hathaway on
The Beverly Hillbillies
. That, and she was efficient to the extreme.

"I don't know, chief," she said this morning, more than a week after Cameron’s campaign to find a wife had started. "We're knee-deep in submissions and you still haven't found the woman you're looking for."

"I wonder if she even exists," Cameron muttered, then looked up in annoyance as Julian Black popped his head in the office door.

"You're a fool, boy!" he called out, wagging one of his fingers at his grandson. "She's probably right here in the city, under your nose, and you haven't even recognized her!"

Cameron glanced at Mrs. Monahan. "Excuse my grandfather for being such an obnoxious romantic." He turned his attention back to his elderly relative.

"If you're so smart, then tell me who you've picked out for me."

"Now we're talking," Julian said, his bright blue eyes snapping with excitement. He closed the door as he walked into the office. He eyed the mass of emails Mrs. Monahan was screening and chortled.

"All this trouble and she's right under your nose!"

"Get to the point," Cameron said testily. His temper was on a short fuse. He was almost two weeks into his search for a bride and hadn't found one suitable applicant among the masses.

"That lawyer! You know, Michaela—"

"No."

The silence that followed was loaded with emotion. Mrs. Monahan cleared her throat delicately, then turned to Cameron.

"Chief, why don't I go out and get us some lunch? Is that little Italian deli on the corner acceptable?"

"That would be fine."

Cameron watched his assistant as she silently exited the office. Another reason she'd been hired was that he'd sensed she was an individual who'd be exquisitely sensitive to his many moods. And she was.

"What’s wrong with Michaela?" Julian blustered. "She's a beauty and a thoroughbred. Nice legs, sharp mind, no strain on the eyes, good teeth—"

"Shut up."

Julian stopped mid-sentence, then simply stared at Cameron, who tried not to meet the older man's eyes.

"You ask her already?"

Cameron said nothing.

"She turn you down?"

"She can't have children." He bit the words out as he wheeled on his grandfather. "I don't want you saying a word about her condition to anyone."

For once Julian Black was speechless. When he finally spoke, Cameron was stunned by the emotion behind his words.

"My God. Poor woman. I never suspected—"

"She told me the night I took her out to dinner and asked her to draw up the contract."

"That explains the divorce—"

"Right again. The bastard dumped her."

Julian shook his shaggy white head and Cameron sensed his grandfather was off in a world of his own. He tended to tune out that way when he was thinking up a new toy or figuring out ways to manipulate his small family into doing what he wanted.

''I was so sure..." He stumbled as he started toward the door and Cameron saw something he hadn't seen before.

Julian was getting old.

It was past time the company should've been turned over to his younger, more capable hands. And it struck Cameron, all of a sudden, that his grandfather was running Teddy's Toys on sheer willpower.

"Jules," he said, his tone softer than the one he usually used when he was fighting with his relative.

"Hmm?" The elderly man turned toward him but Cameron had a feeling he didn't even know he was there.

''She was my first choice.''

He nodded his head.

"Mine, too, my boy. Mine, too." He cleared his throat and suddenly he came back from his mental musings. "A damn shame. I'm truly sorry. I thought... I thought... never mind."

And with that, he turned and left the room.

* * *

Michaela arrived at the office a few days later, legal papers in hand.

"Is Cameron in?" she asked Mrs. Monahan.

The woman rolled her eyes. "He's in a state today. His deadline's approaching fast with no one in sight. He's conducting personal interviews all day and told me not to let anyone disturb him."

"Then perhaps you could give this to him when you see him. It’s just an addendum I thought of that will make the marriage contract even more explicit. I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

"How late can he call you?"

"Until seven. But after that he can reach me at home."

"Excellent."

"Is... is Julian in?"

Mrs. Monahan smiled. "He is, but you've come at the wrong time. He takes a nap each day after lunch, and has another forty minutes to go. He doesn't like to be disturbed."

"Of course not, I wouldn't want to wake him. I'll come back later in the week."

* * *

Julian wasn’t asleep. He was lying on the couch in his office, talking to his wife, Mary. Her picture still graced his desk. He had only to close his eyes to feel her presence.

"I don't know where I went wrong with the boy, Mary. It was... difficult after you died. I didn't have the touch with him that you did. He went back into himself after you left and I just haven't been able to reach him."

He sighed, his mind working.

"She was the one, I'll admit it. I saw them together one day in the office and that's what got me started thinking about babies. Oh, what a child they would've made! Both of them strong and young and healthy. Both so smart. And what a mother she would've been!"

He felt for Michaela. Mary had had trouble bringing children into the world and they had both wanted a family so very badly. When Cameron's father had been born it had been the happiest day of their marriage.

"She's an exceptional woman. Her father did right by her, raised a real beauty. Beautiful inside, Mary. You know what I mean. And to think that because of my own selfish desire for a great-grandchild, I caused her to have to tell him something like that. Something that personal. It doesn't bear thinking about."

Maybe he was simply babbling and delusional, pretending to talk to his dead wife. She hadn't answered him yet but it comforted him to discuss things with her. After fifty-two years of marriage it was a hard habit to break.

"Oh, Mary, I can't believe I was so wrong. I had that feeling, that same feeling I had when I first laid eyes on you. She came into my office and I thought,
Here she is. She's the one.
Perfect for Cameron. Just enough fire to stand up to him but a sweetness there, too. He needs that sweetness. He's scared, Mary, he doesn't even know how much."

He raised his arm and laid it over his eyes, ashamed they were suddenly wet.

"I've never asked for much, Mary," he whispered. "You know that. We worked for everything and I wouldn't change a single thing about our life together. But now I'm asking you something. A favor. A little one. Well, maybe not so little.”

"If you're where I think you are, talk to the man in charge of things. Ask Him if He can do just one last favor for Julian Black."

He rubbed his hands over his face, ashamed he'd manipulated his grandson, ashamed he'd caused a woman like Michaela Larkin such emotional pain.

"I'm asking for a miracle, Mary. I need a miracle and I don't quite know how to go about getting one. So I need your help, my darling girl."

He wiped his eyes and got up off the couch.

A miracle.
Surely it wasn't too much to ask? Julian knew he was in the midst of the last years of his life. And all he wanted, far more than the immense wealth and power his company had amassed, was to know his beloved grandson wouldn't be alone after he died.

* * *

For obvious reasons, those women who lived in San Francisco had a slight advantage in this marital contest. But at the moment, Cameron couldn't for the life of him think what it was.

"So," said the tattooed young woman sitting in front of him. "Whadya think?" She snapped her gum and gave him a knowing look.

What did he think? Her hair was incredible, several different shades of red and purple. Her ears were pierced up and down each lobe, but, so she said, she'd thoughtfully taken out the ring she ordinarily wore in her nose.

"I'll let you know..." He checked the name on the application. "Katie. Ah, there are several more ladies waiting outside but you're certainly... in a class by yourself."

"Thanks!" She flounced up off the chair and swayed out of the room, snapping her gum and throwing him a good-natured wink.

Mother of God, what a day...

He'd seen more than fifty women, one after the other. Not one came even close to the sort of person he'd want to carry his child. How difficult could it be, to locate a sane, well-groomed, intelligent woman who'd agree to be his wife long enough to provide him with a baby in exchange for a hefty financial compensatory package?