The Tycoon's Charm: The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda / Honor-Bound Groom. Michelle Celmer

      Adam shook his head in disbelief. “His wife, too?”

      “And her parents. Or at least, her mother. Her father died a few years ago.”

      “So it was a family business.”

      “I guess. I just thought I should warn you that, although it’s unlikely, there’s the slightest possibility that when the media gets wind of this, my name may come up.”

      Adam sat straighter in his seat. “You’ve invested with him?”

      “No! No, my market is real estate. This is more of a personal connection.”

      Adam frowned, not sure he was liking what he was hearing. It would be in the company’s best interest to stay as far removed as possible from this scandal. “How personal?”

      “In college, I was engaged to Isabelle Winthrop. Betts’s wife.”

      Adam’s jaw nearly fell. Emilio had never mentioned knowing her, much less being engaged to her. Or anyone for that matter. He was so fiercely against the entire institution of marriage, Adam wouldn’t have guessed that he would have been planning a trip to the altar with any woman. “I had no idea.”

      “She dumped me for Betts two weeks before we planned to elope.”

      “Damn. I’m really sorry, Emilio.”

      Emilio shrugged. “Honestly, she did me a favor. We were young and stupid. We would have been divorced in a year.”

      Something in his eyes told Adam he was making light of an otherwise painful situation. But he didn’t push the issue. If Emilio wanted to talk about it, he knew Adam was there for him.

      “There’s no doubt she was a gold digger, but I’ll be honest, I never imagined her capable of helping Leonard bilk his clients out of millions of dollars.”

      “Well, if your name does come up, we’ll use Cassandra.”

      Cassandra Benson was Western Oil’s public relations director. For her, media spin was an art form. If properly motivated, she could make climate change sound environmentally beneficial.

      “So,” Emilio said, leaning back in his chair and taking a swallow of his drink. “What’s this I hear about you and a mystery woman?”

      “Wow, good news travels fast.” He should have taken Katy up to his office. It was just that the coffee shop seemed more…neutral. He should have known better and met her somewhere off campus and far from the building. Like California.

      “The CEO can’t sit in the company coffee shop holding hands with a woman no one has seen before, and expect it to go unnoticed.”

      “Well, she’s not a mystery woman. She’s my sister-in-law. And we weren’t holding hands. We were talking.”

      “I thought you didn’t see Becca’s family any longer.”

      “I haven’t in a long time. But something has come up.”

      “Is everything okay?”

      Up until today, Adam hadn’t talked to anyone but his attorney and the fertility doctor about his baby plan, but he knew he could trust Emilio to keep it quiet. So he told him, and his reaction was about what Adam would have expected.

      “Wow,” Emilio said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I didn’t even know you wanted kids. I mean, I knew that you and Rebecca were trying, but I had no idea you would want to be a single father.”

      “It’s something I’ve wanted for a while. It just feels like the right time to me. And since I don’t plan to get married again…” He shrugged. “Surrogacy seems to be my best option.”

      “Why the meeting with Becca’s sister…I’m sorry, I don’t recall her name.”

      “Katherine…Katy. I called her as a courtesy, and on the advice of my attorney.”

      “So, what did she say?”

      “She wants to be the surrogate.”

      One brow rose. “Seriously?”

      “Yeah. In fact, she was pretty adamant about it. She claims that she’s the only person I can trust.”

      “Do you trust her?”

      “I believe that she would never do anything to harm Becca’s baby.”

      “But…”

      “Katy seems very…headstrong. If I hire someone, I’ll be calling the shots. Katy on the other hand is in a position to make things very complicated.”

      “Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you tell her no, she could make things complicated, too.”

      “Exactly.”

      “So you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

      “More or less.” And he didn’t like being backed into a corner.

      “So what did you tell her?”

      “That I had to talk to my attorney.”

      “You hear so many horror stories about surrogacy agreements going bad. Just a few weeks ago Alejandro was telling me about a case in New Mexico. A couple hired a surrogate to carry their baby. She was Hispanic, and halfway through the pregnancy moved back to Mexico and dropped off the map. Unfortunately the law is in her favor.”

      Adam had heard similar cautionary tales.

      “I think, if you have someone you can trust, let her do it,” Emilio said.

      He would make the call to his attorney, to check on the legalities of it and his rights as the father, but Emilio was right. Choosing Katy just made the most sense. And ultimately the benefits would outweigh the negatives.

      He hoped.

      Three

      What the hell was he doing here?

      The limo pitched and swayed up the pitted, muddy gravel road that led to the Huntleys’ cattle ranch, and Adam lunged to keep the documents he’d been reading on the ride up from sliding off the leather seat and scattering to the floor.

      His driver and bodyguard, Reece, would have to take a trip to the car wash as soon as they got back to El Paso, Adam realized as he gazed out the mud-splattered window. At least the torrential rain they’d encountered an hour ago had let up and now there was nothing but blue sky for miles.

      As they bounced forward up the drive, Adam could see that not much had changed in the four years since he’d last been here. The house, a typical, sprawling and rustic ranch, was older, but well maintained. Pastures with grazing cattle stretched as far as the eye could see.

      The ranch had been in their family for five generations. A tradition Becca had had no interest in carrying on. As far as she had been concerned, Katy could have it all.

      And now she would.

      The limo rolled to a stop by the front porch steps and Reece got out to open his door. As he did, a wall of hot, damp air engulfed the cool interior, making the leather feel instantly sticky to the touch.

      This meeting had been Katy’s idea, and he wasn’t looking forward to it. Not that he disliked his former in-laws. He just had nothing in common with them. However, if they were going to be involved in his child’s life, the least he could do was make an effort to be cordial. According to Katy, the news of his plan to use the embryos had come as a shock to them, but knowing Katy would be the surrogate had softened the blow. And since a meeting with his attorney last week, when he and Katy signed a surrogacy agreement, it was official. With any luck, nine months from her next ovulation cycle she would be having his and Becca’s baby.

      After months of consideration and planning, it was difficult to believe that it was finally happening. That after