Dazzle: The Billionaire's Secret Surrogate (Contemporary BWWM Romance) (2 page)

Archer Devonshire the third paced restlessly back and forth over the walnut hardwood floors of his study. The long fingers of his tanned hands pulled over the top of his Belvedere desk, the cherry wood polished and waxed to look like it was encased in the finest layer of glass. The prints of his fingers remained as he returned to pacing.

“Are you sure you want to do this, sir?”

Archer looked up at his butler distractedly.

“Hmm?”

“The…the flyers, sir. Surely there’s another way–”

“No. I’ve made up my mind. It’s the
only
way.”

“Well, I really don’t think…that is to say, of course, sir.” He made a stiff bow before backing towards the door. “I’ll see to distributing these right away.”

Archer gave a brief nod in acknowledgement and then continued to pace. The cleaning service would have a fit if they saw the tracks that he was wearing in the polish on the hardwood floor, but he barely even noticed.

His mind was busy turning over the problem before him. He only had a few months to show up in front of a judge with a pregnant girlfriend. He shook his head, cursing his mother for getting him into this predicament. If she hadn’t lied to try and get him out of more prison time…

But she had, and now he had to figure out how to make that lie a reality. As he had thought of solution after solution only to discard them all, it had finally struck him! All he needed to do was hire a surrogate. He had millions of dollars at his disposal, thanks to the job that now had him in the law’s crosshairs.

As the thought had tumbled through his mind over the past weeks, Archer had realized a strange, new emotion had begun to flicker whenever he thought of someone pregnant with his child, a baby with his eyes and hair, someone to raise and care for. Shocked, he discovered that what he was feeling was tenderness, something that was in short supply in his life.

He was so tired of the endless parties and vapid conversation. Then there were all the women who chased him because of his name, his money, or who wanted their fifteen minutes of fame dangling on his Armani-clad arm. 

He glanced down at the mock-up of the flyer his butler was even now putting up around Manhattan. With a restless sigh, he resumed his tension-wrought pacing. God, he hoped this worked. 

.

              Some people might have thought that Kady was crazy for even showing up for this interview with all the packing she still had to do. She’d filled out the application while she’d still had a home, somewhere she could sleep at night, and bathe before showing up for work each day. She needed somewhere that her spare time could be used on her dreams of becoming a great fashion designer, instead of just living as a lowly model without a steady gig.

              But really, if she didn’t come to the interview, there was no chance at all of getting a steady job so she could keep a home. There was nothing left for her but one more day of packing stuff from her apartment into the storage unit she’d rented for the month. And if this month went by with no work to speak of, then everything she owned would be gone. Just like that. Sold to the highest bidder at auction when she failed to pay the rent there as well.

              Her mindset wasn’t at its best by a long shot as she stepped into a room teeming with what had to be over a hundred people, probably all trying for the exact same positions. There were loads of women here from teen to older, all hoping for modeling positions for the new clothing line known only as Dazzle. It was so new, in fact, none of them were even sure what they would be wearing for the photo shoots if they got in.

              Still, it sure beat sleeping on some park bench tomorrow night. Maybe she’d even be able to come home and tell the landlady about the new job and convince her to let her stay. But even if she did, Melina would not be staying there with her. She would just have to find a different roommate instead. A much more responsible one. That was all just part of growing up, and it was about time that she did, just as her stepfather had said.

              Thinking of Rick did not improve her mood either, however. Since it was always with her, Kady whipped out her sketch book and started to draw a design that popped into her head. Something flashy but practical, so you could wear it in a casual setting but still look good enough for a fancy restaurant while you were at it. It was mostly about the top, but you could wear it with either pants or a skirt, long or short as desired, and still look great. Yeah, if only she could be wearing that instead of what she had on now—but this dress was all that she could afford.

Kady glanced down at her dark red dress. It was an older style, as she had bought it a resale shop down the street from her apartment. Well, ex apartment. It had a line of beading around the collar that flattered the straight line of her shoulders and an empire waist that emphasized her lithe, yet feminine figure. She’d done what she could to take the ruffles out of the bottom hem with a pair of seam rippers, but it still fell at a slightly awkward height, hitting her right above her knees. It definitely was not couture.

              “Excuse me, miss, could I have a look at your drawings by any chance?” asked an older woman who was sitting nearby. Well dressed and refined, but seemingly friendly as well.

              “Oh, sure,” she said, handing her the sketch book with a smile. “It’s a sort of hobby of mine, I guess. Someday I’d really love to become a fashion designer, even though the school I’d like to go to is way too expensive for someone with my limited resources.”

              “Ah, understandable,” she sympathized with a smile. “I know how hard it can be for people of color to get a leg up in this industry. Hell, it was hard enough for me in the beginning, and I came from a wealthy white upbringing in the ritzy part of town. Oh, not that I mean to brag, my dear. Please don’t think that. I’m just saying that it’s really tough for a woman—any woman—to get a leg up in the business world. Even in the fashion industry, it seems.”

              “I see,” replied Kady. “So I take it you’ve been in the industry for a while now then?”

              “Well, yes, I’d say that I have,” she agreed, extending her hand as though preparing to shake Kady’s and introduce herself.

              “Ms. Caldwell?” said the receptionist. “Looks like they need you now.”

              “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, young lady, but duty calls.  Maybe I’ll see you again soon?”

              “Yes, maybe,” she agreed with a smile as she watched the woman go. She couldn’t decide if she liked her for being so kind, or hated her for getting to go back before everyone else. Her interview must already be pre-approved, most likely. Then again, as a woman who looked to be in her fifties, it was likely that it was. It was much harder to find older models that still had such a perfect figure or pretty face, which the woman definitely had.

              “This is just so…” Kady began, and then shook her head with irritation. The back of her head hit some piece of paper that was pinned to the bulletin board, and she turned to look at it just for something to do that might distract her from her woes.

              It said: ‘Do you have what it takes to be a surrogate mother? Unwed but wealthy man seeks young, reasonably attractive woman to birth his child. Room, board, and medical expenses will be provided during the pregnancy for the lady who fits the bill. All inquiries please report at the indicated date and time to the address listed below.’

              Kady stared at the flyer for a few minutes, contemplating. Pregnancy took practically a year, didn’t it? Sure, it might be a bit ironic to get the job and have a kid when she’d never even done 'the thing' one did to get a kid. She’d been far too busy trying to establish herself to worry about dating, and she’d been a part of the modeling circuit since she was fifteen, so that meant she hadn’t even had a high school crush to speak of. The only guy she’d ever kissed was a fellow model in some cutesy ad campaign six years ago.

              However, there were still so many people in this room that she despaired at having even the smallest chance of landing this job. At least if she had room and board for nine months, she could save up a bunch of money for a place and be able to get a good job lined up until it was time for her maternity leave, and then she’d be all set once the deed was done.

              Of course, it would probably hurt like hell to give up a child she had carried inside her for nine months, but from where she was sitting right now, it seemed like a far better choice than finding a bench in Central Park to sleep on tomorrow night. She hadn’t been looking forward to
that
at all. When she looked at her options, they were depressingly few.

              Biting at her lower lip, and without allowing herself a second to doubt, she tore one of the slips with the address written on it from the flyer and grabbed her belongings, bolting for the door. Kady wasn’t sure what to expect from the interview as she read the little slip of paper for the third time, memorizing the words. Maybe he was crazy, and she knew she was definitely crazy for considering it, but it just might be the opportunity she needed to keep her head above water. It couldn’t hurt just to go talk to him, right?

The refined, older woman she’d been speaking to stepped out of the back room soon afterwards and looked around the room.

              “Damn it, I don’t see her anywhere,” she said tersely. “Will you pull the files of all the black girls in their twenties? I’d like to start with them and see if I might find her again.”

              “Yes, Ms. Caldwell,” the secretary at her side replied. “And if I do see her again, I’ll be sure to send her your way.”

              “And what is this thing doing on my bulletin board?” she complained, as she pulled the billionaire ad down. “You know I don’t allow trash to be posted on my walls!”

              “Yes, ma’am,” said the secretary. “It won’t happen again.”

When she returned to the apartment to finish up the packing and had tossed all of Melina’s things into her bedroom, Kady was in no mood to talk to anyone. She yanked the house phone cord out of the wall and packed the cat-shaped phone itself into one of the boxes. Since she hadn’t paid for her cell phone in a month either, and the service had been cut off a week ago, she knew that she could now pack in total, blissful solitude.

She decided to drag her own bed down the stairs and load it into the back of her friend’s pick-up truck while it was still available, since Ben had only agreed to help her move a couple of loads of the big stuff this afternoon. He had also told her he would have loved to take her in if he could, except he lived in one of the other apartments here and he doubted that Mrs. Knotts would let him.

“It’s all right, Ben,” sighed Kady. “You really don’t need to worry about me. I’m gonna pull myself right back onto my feet, and this time I’m gonna find a worthwhile roommate if possible; and if not, I just won’t have another roommate at all.”

“Still, I can’t believe your best friend for years would do you like that,” he grumbled. “That was real ghetto.”

“We did grow up in the ghetto, so it shouldn’t be such a surprise, but it really is,” Kady admitted. “I should have known as soon as I returned from college that she and I were worlds apart. I don’t know, maybe going to school on a scholarship isn’t as helpful as I thought it would be. I mean, here I am right back to square one, no closer to my dreams than I’ve ever been.”

“Oh no, Miss Kady, I don’t wanna hear that defeat in your tone,” Ben argued. “You’re lovely and talented and you’ve got that degree in computers. That’s gonna take you real far in life. I just know it.”

“Thank you, Ben,” she said, giving him a hug. “I really mean that. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime, eh?”

“You have my number once you get your phone back on.  You be sure to give me a call.”

“I’ll do that,” she agreed. “Have fun at work tonight, okay?”

“I wonder how many people I’ll have to bounce tonight,” he said with a chuckle. “What do you think, Kady? Will my big, burly black ass be enough to keep all the drunks in line this time?”

Kady laughed. “It never does seem to, does it?”

“No,” he agreed. “It never does. Well, here you go, kid. I’m afraid the last of the boxes you’ll have to get another person to take over there.”

“Oh, I already got all my boxes stashed, thanks. The stuff that’s still in there either belongs to Melina or I’m not interested in bringing it. That couch, for example. We dove it out of a dumpster, so it can go right back where it came from.”

“Great, then, you have a good night, and remember that I’m pulling for you,” he said. “And don’t forget to call the shelters another time. You might get lucky.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she replied. She sighed as she watched him drive away, wondering if she was ever going to see him again. He had been a good and kind neighbor, and she would miss him and his silly jokes. She turned abruptly and headed back up the stairs.

As she looked around the place that had been her home for the last seven months, she couldn’t help but sigh in regret. Kady had worked so hard to build something stable in her life, to help launch her career and hopefully become a space to funnel her creativity into fashion designs. That definitely wasn’t going to happen now, and the uncertainty of her future ate at her. As well, she was deeply upset about the feelings of betrayal that still simmered hotly at Melina’s actions.

She’d been planning to sleep here tonight on Melina’s bed, but she was still so mad at her that she couldn’t stand to be around her belongings anymore, so she took her last eighty dollars and the key to the apartment. The key she dropped off in the landlady’s box. The eighty dollars she used to find a really cheap motel room where she could sleep until they threw her out.

Maybe she’d go tomorrow to see that guy. It seemed like a rather desperate idea, having a baby just so you could get on your own two feet. It was depressing, really, and it almost made her angry as well. She had spent four years at school and even more years than that taking odd modeling jobs, and yet here she was, in some motel in a seedy part of town all thanks to one inconsiderate friend.

It was hard to believe that she was lying here contemplating such a drastic course of action, and yet, in her current frame of mind, she just couldn’t come up with a better way. It shouldn’t be too difficult to just go to a clinic, have the sperm of some guy she didn’t even know placed in her body, and birth a kid she most likely wouldn’t even get to know, right? She wasn’t sure she could lie to herself quite that well, but maybe by morning she’d have worked up enough courage to convince her resistant mind it was true.

Tears pricked at her eyes as she considered what a good mother she could make. She had taken care of plenty of cousins, nieces, and nephews in her time. She could bake cookies and cakes with the best of them, and she knew plenty about how to read them stories and teach them to talk and to go potty. So it would be such a waste, giving her baby to some single rich guy who, for some reason, didn’t have a wife and didn’t seem to want one.

“What reason could this guy possibly have for not wanting to get married and have a baby with his wife the normal way?” she asked herself out loud. “Is he even the kind of guy I’d want raising any kid of mine?”

With a name like the one on this slip, ‘Archer Devonshire’, he sounded like some kind of import from England or something. Probably as white as they came. So, if that was true, hopefully the racial diversity would not be a factor as well.

“It’s either this guy or a park bench,” she grumbled. “Either way I go, tomorrow is going to mark one hell of a change in my world.”