Damien nodded, wary. Ben should look angry and he didn’t. At least Damien thought he should. If it were him, and his ex was pregnant, he wouldn’t want her involved with another man.
"And you’re permanent, you say?"
He gave another jerk of his head.
Ben flashed him a smile. "I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that."
Damien stared at Ben. There was something wrong with this man. "Why is that?"
"Look, can I be straight with you?" Ben uncrossed his leg and tapped his knee. "I don’t want to bring up another baby. I wasn’t so keen on it the first two times, but my ex-wife insisted. And this bit with Mandy, it was a total accident as I’m sure you know."
Words didn’t quite come to Damien, so he just nodded again.
"I’m trying very hard to be supportive because I know Mandy’s all alone here in New York and she hasn’t got much in the way of money without her parents’ help. But I really don’t want to be involved with this child. And if I know that she’s got someone to look after her, I think maybe I should just bow out of the whole mess."
Damien took a deep breath and tried to suck back his anger. This mother-fucker had just called his daughter a mess. He didn’t deserve to be a father. He didn’t deserve a woman like Mandy. He didn’t deserve anything but a boot up his ass.
He managed to control himself, speaking in a cool voice. "Feel free to bow out. I’ve got the situation covered."
"I can still offer financial support, of course, but the little chap’s probably better off if I don’t pop in and out of his life."
"Her," Damien forced out through clenched teeth. He couldn’t stop his hand from curling into a fist.
"Hmm?"
"Her. The baby is a girl."
"Oh, right. Of course. Anyhow, perhaps I should see if Mandy’s up and we can discuss this."
Damien pushed off the couch. "She’s exhausted. Don’t wake her up. I’ll let her know you stopped by, and we’ll see if between the three of us we can resolve the situation to mutual satisfaction."
"Perfect." Ben stood up and held out his hand. "I’m so glad we understand each other, Damien."
Oh, Damien understood a lot of things.
He understood that Ben was giving him his daughter. He really could have everything.
A wife. A family.
The thought nearly cut him off at the knees.
"I don’t think it’s any of our business." Jamie looked to Allison for support, but she was frowning just as fiercely as Caroline. "I’m serious, guys, this is Mandy’s life."
Caroline set her carrot stick down on a plate on the kitchen counter. "Mandy is flooded with endorphins or pheromones or whatever they’re called. She’s pregnant and clearly not behaving rationally."
Jamie stared across the breakfast bar at her. "Why is falling in love with her boss irrational?" Personally, she thought it was really romantic, sort of a Maid in Manhattan kind of thing, only Mandy wasn’t poor. Or Latina. She forced the image of Jennifer Lopez in shlubby gym shoes out of her head.
"Because men don’t fall in love with pregnant women. Because Damien Sharpton is the most unemotional man I’ve ever encountered, and suddenly he’s head over heels? It doesn’t add up."
Caroline blotted her mouth with a napkin, though Jamie couldn’t see what a carrot stick could leave behind on her lips.
"But Beckwith predicted Mandy would be happy – "
Allison cut her off. "Oh, God, here we go." She rolled her eyes and tossed her hair back over her shoulders as she headed for the refrigerator. "1 need some ice cream if we’re going to discuss fortune-telling crap."
When she pulled out a pint of mint chocolate chip, Jamie’s mouth watered. It so wasn’t fair that Allison was five-ten and weighed like two pounds, and never had to watch what she ate. Jamie fought the battle of the bulge on a daily basis.
Caroline whimpered. "Put that thing away! I’m getting married in six weeks! I can’t even look at ice cream until I get back from my honeymoon."
"You can have one spoonful. You can’t deny yourself indefinitely or you’ll leap on a Ben & Jerry’s like a lion on a gazelle carcass. Better to just have one spoonful and get the craving out of your mouth."
Jamie thought that sounded reasonable. She leaned over the top of the breakfast bar and tried to reach the drawer. Her breasts stopped her. "Damn, I can’t reach. You’d think after like fourteen years lugging these things around I’d be used to them."
"I should have your problems." Allison tapped her metal spoon left and right on her chest. She was braless in her tank top. "Nothing. I’m a plastic surgeon’s dream."
"Can we talk about your breasts after we’ve decided what to do about Mandy?" Caroline dipped a spoon into the ice cream and stared at it with obvious longing.
"I don’t think we should do anything, y’all. I think it’s wonderful she’s found happiness after what’s-his-name dumped her." Jamie grabbed the spoon Allison was holding out for her and figured it didn’t matter if she gained five pounds. No one was seeing her naked lately anyway.
"She’s y’alling us." Allison turned to Caroline. "There’s a down-on-the-farm story coming, I just know it."
Jamie laughed. "Shut up. I wasn’t going to say anything about Kentucky, but now that you mention it, I have an aunt whose no-good drunk husband left her with nothing but a double-wide, three kids, and a baby in her belly. And when she went on down to that bank to argue for mercy when they were on the verge of foreclosing, the loan officer took one look at her and fell in love."
Caroline swallowed, her lip curled. "What the bell does that have to do with Mandy?"
"It means that love can come when you least expect it and you shouldn’t close the door on it." Jamie shoved a big mouthful of mint chocolate chip in her mouth and sighed, taste buds bursting into an alleluia chorus.
"So your aunt didn’t close the door of the jdouble-wide on love?" Allison grinned.
"Nope. And she’s been happy ever since. Why can’t the same be true for Mandy?"
"Because something is weird about Damien." Caroline set her spoon down, ice cream uneaten.
The willpower was admirable. Jamie bent back for another scoopful. She wasn’t the one who needed to wear a wedding gown in six weeks. Though she did have to put on a bridesmaid dress and walk down the aisle in front of a hundred people. She set her own spoon down with a sigh.