The man beside him looked between the two of them. “Do you two know each other?”
CHAPTER TWO
Fifteen years ago, Alexander Saint Clair thought he’d met the love of his life. India Dare was everything he could have wanted. Smart, independent, and completely un-cowed by his family and their power in Westbrook. She treated him like he was just another guy, instead of like a walking and talking wallet.
“What are you doing here,” India asked.
He could only stare. She hadn’t changed much from the sixteen-year-old girl he remembered. Even down to tear-stained cheeks. She had been crying the last time he saw her too. The night before he left town to go to college.
Derrick frowned and threw him a look before facing the Judge. “Your Honor, I cannot tell you how much we appreciate you hearing us out.”
Of course, Noelle hadn’t left her baby on some complete stranger’s porch. He wasn’t sure whether he should be happy his sister wasn’t completely morally corrupt or pissed. She’d done this to the one girl his family had already put through enough.
Staring up at him with her red-rimmed chocolate brown eyes, her grip on the bundle in her arms tightened. “Kier is yours?”
He shook his head. “Noelle’s.”
Last he’d heard, India had gotten married to some guy she’d met in college. She had always been the marrying kind. She didn’t just date. She committed and demanded commitment from whoever she was with.
“Noelle had a baby?”
“I just found out,” he admitted softly.
India nodded before looking down at the bundle in her arms. “I’m sure your mother is ecstatic.”
“My mother doesn’t know. She and Noelle are away. I am just trying to make things right.”
Derrick cleared his throat. “Right. It looks like you two need a moment. Why don’t you head out in the hall, while the lawyers in the room finish up the details?”
India looked over at her lawyer. He simply nodded, and she carefully got onto her feet and slipped past him. She was careful not to let too much of her body brush up against his. Alex’s gut clenched as the scent of her floral perfume drifted by.
He followed her out of the room and slipped his phone into the front pocket of his briefcase. How could they be so much older, and she looked exactly the same?
They had dated for years. Two years his junior, she been a heart-stopper even back then. Every guy wanted her. There were times when he was unsure how he’d ever managed to get her to look at him twice.
“How are you doing,” he asked without really thinking.
“Not great, Alex. Not great.”
Right, he’d just stopped her from adopting his nephew. He’d taken her dream and turned it into a nightmare…
Somehow when it had been a random stranger, it seemed less like a horrible act and more like something he just had to do. Another item on his checklist.
“I’m sorry Noelle involved you in this. I don’t know how she found you.”
“It’s not like it’s hard. I still live in the same house I lived in when she knew me,” India revealed as she gently rocked the baby in her arms.
It was his turn to frown, “I thought you got married. You still live in your parent’s house?”
“Married and widowed. My parents moved down to Florida. I bought their house when they did. It was always my dream home.”
Alex nodded. He remembered that about her. She used to say she wanted to give her kids the same childhood she had. That started with a house like the one her parents moved into when she was five. The three-story Tudor with a big front and backyard was the perfect place for a family.
She had said it often enough when they were together. That and how she could never see herself calling anywhere else home. Giving in to the need to touch her, he reached out and put a hand on her forearm. He loved touching her. Loved the way her skin felt and the jolt of electricity he felt when he did.
“I’m sorry to hear about your husband.”
She barely acknowledged his condolences as she looked at him, “why are you doing this?”
“I’m always cleaning up after Noelle.”
“She’s really Kier’s birth mother?”
He nodded. “She’d been on a tear for a while now. We finally got her into rehab.”
“Is that why you waited eight months to come and get him?”
“I truly didn’t know Noelle was pregnant. She never told us she was or that she had left her baby with you. I only got clued in to the events of the last few months, when she confessed it right before she got on a plane with my mom.”
“How could you not notice your sister was pregnant?” India asked.
“There was a period of time when we didn’t really see each other. The drugs, stealing, and lying had taken a toll. We had to draw the line somewhere.”
India scoffed, “there’s a line when it comes to Noelle? Who knew?”
Those two hadn’t exactly gotten along when they were together. She hadn’t had a lot of patience for the spoiled brat Noelle was, even back then.
He closed the distance between them and took his first look at the boy that was his nephew. He had not really thought about kids. Thirty years old and working on becoming a business titan, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in a room with a kid for longer than ten minutes.
Small and buried in covers, the boy appeared to be sucking on his own fist as he slept. He was completely unaware of what was going on around him. His nephew had no idea his world had been upended.
“He’s pretty cute.”
“He’s perfect,” India corrected as she gently caressed the child’s cheek.
“I wish I didn’t have to do this to you?”
“Then don’t.”
“India…”
“I’ve been taking care of him for months, Alex. You know me. I won’t cause any trouble or show up at your home making demands.” She pleaded.
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Isn’t it, though? Don’t forget, I know you. This is less about cleaning up Noelle’s mess and more about containing the fallout. The one thing you and your mother agree on is keeping the family name from being tarnished by scandal.”
She could always see through his bullshit. Pretty hard to snow someone who knew him as well as she knew herself. India did not miss a single detail when they were together. He missed that.
“He’s my nephew, India.”
****
The last person she had expected to see walking through the door was Alex. He’d done an amazing job of avoiding her and Westbrook for years now. Other than the occasional holiday gala and summer town festival, he stayed in the city and left carrying on his family’s influence to his mother.
That woman loved a good power-trip and loved exerting her power whenever she could. India and Elizabeth had gotten along like oil and water.
“He’s my son, Alex. He’s been my son for the last eight months.”
Alex took a step back and touched her arm, “I know you love him.”
“How could I not,” she asked softly as she tried to keep herself from crying all over again.