The Baby Proposal

“There is one condition. For fathering our baby and bestowing my worldly goods on the two of you for the rest of our lives, you would have to agree to it.”

She knew there had to be a condition! In fact she’d been waiting for the other shoe to fall.

If she were to marry him and they divorced, naturally he wouldn’t be ecstatic about parting with half of those worldly goods which included a billion dollars or more.

Andrea couldn’t comprehend that amount of money any more than she could comprehend the damage done to him by his parents and Jeanne-Marie.

“Beyond a healthy respect for the way you’ve made your money by the sweat of your brow, I would never want to have your wealth. The responsibility would be…frightening.”

“I’m well aware of that,” came the surprising rejoinder. “When you’re in my position of having lived hand-to-mouth before making a fortune, you acquire a sixth sense about people. I’ve learned to choose my associates carefully.”

He subjected her to an intense regard. “If you had been a gold-digger, you would never have made it through our first interview.”

A shiver ran down her spine. She imagined many women, ambitious and otherwise, had tried without success to pierce his impregnable armor. How could they know a scarred soul lived inside such a successful man?

“Don’t you want to know what my condition is?”

She shivered.

When Bret had started dating her, he’d told her there was a ruthless side to Gabe’s nature. Otherwise he wouldn’t have become a billionaire by the time he was thirty-six.

Andrea had laughed off the comment because she’d never witnessed that trait in Gabe. Though he’d always been somewhat aloof, everyone in the company admired him. He treated his employees fairly and cared about them. The man commanded the highest respect from people worldwide.

But she’d seen multiple sides of him since coming to Paris and felt no urge to laugh. In fact she was in a state of absolute panic because she could feel herself caving even though she knew he wasn’t capable of loving her or any woman.

“Gabe—”

“I’m going home to St. Pierre.”

She blinked. “You mean you want to take me with you for a visit?”

“No. It’ll be for good. Yves and Jeanne-Marie now have two teenage children, I’m no longer a threat to their marriage. I miss the sea…and home.”

“But your company—”

“I’m selling it and funneling the money into a perpetual fund for the welfare of the island which has been in economic crisis for years.”

He was giving away his billion dollars? Just like that? “When did you make this decision?”

“A long time ago. Since my family wouldn’t let me help them financially, I had to find another way to do it. The point is, I always intended to go back, and have stayed in touch with my grandfather.

“However since my grandmother’s death, he has been depressed. To make matters worse, his friend from childhood, Gorka Zubeldia, who lived next door passed away recently. His widow Karmele is planning to move to the Pyrenees any day now to join their son.”

“So you weren’t the only son to leave the island.”

He flashed her another penetrating glance. “No. When Grand-père told me that news, I had my realtor buy the Zubeldia’s house for me without Grand-père’s knowledge. It has possibilities.”

“Possibilities? In other words, it will need a lot of work.”

His lips twitched. The sight was so rare, it was hard not to stare. “Until it’s vacant, we’ll stay with Grand-père. I’m hoping my return will raise his spirits and help him to enjoy the years he has left. The Corbins are known for their longevity. He’s only eighty-one.”

She studied Gabe for a long moment. He seemed to have planned everything down to the last detail. It was all going so fast. “He has no idea you’re coming, does he.”

“No. But the day I left St. Pierre, my grandparents told me their door would always be open. That has never changed over the years. The house holds many choice memories for me.

“Nevertheless it’s an isolated world, Andrea, and in some ways very harsh. Naturally I’m going to keep enough money in trust for you and our child so that if anything happened to me, you would be taken care of.

“But I’m speaking of the total picture, of the fog and the interminable ice and cold of winter. Few outsiders can make it in such an insular society of people who tend to stick to their own and draw their livelihood from the sea.

“But it’s my home. If I had a child, that’s where I would want to raise it. No son or daughter of mine is going to grow up any differently than I did.”

What an extraordinary man he was.

“Except for my father and grandfather, the family doesn’t know the real reason I never came home again. They believe I’m a traitor who left the island because hard times hit economically.

“Because of their resentment of me abandoning the life I was born to—an action they consider to be a sin—the family will crucify you by their unwillingness to get to know you. They might never accept you. I’m telling you all this so there won’t be any surprises in case you decide to marry me.

“I’d like your answer by tonight,” he murmured. “In the meantime we’ll tour Paris to your heart’s content.”

She doubted any woman had ever received such a bizarre marriage proposal.

What a choice— Never see him again, or live with him under almost untenable, if not impossible, circumstances. You’re damned whether you accept or not, Andrea.

“You’ve given me so much to think about, I’m afraid any sightseeing would be wasted on me.” She pushed herself away from the table and stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to fly back to New York today.”

“So be it. I’ll send for a limo and alert my pilot you’re on your way to the airport now.”

She bit her lip. “You’re not coming, too?”

“No. I have business at the fisheries board and will fly home later on a company plane.” He cocked his head. “Don’t take too long making up your mind. It would be a crime to delay, if you only have five months to conceive.

“Though I only slept with Jeanne-Marie one time, there’s no guarantee I could make you pregnant that fast, but I’m prepared to try.”

Such brutal honesty was hard to take. Andrea would have welcomed even one tiny white lie such as, “I’ve had my eye on you for a long time, but knew you were involved with Bret.”

He poured himself another cup of coffee. “When I’m back in New York I’ll call you for your answer. Have a safe flight, Andrea.”

“You, too,” she whispered before walking back to the hotel alone.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur as a limo pulled up in front of the hotel and swept her away to the airport. Evidently yesterday’s romantic raft ride across the river was all part of the atmosphere he’d orchestrated to prove she wasn’t physically indifferent to him. Her enthusiastic response to him on the dance floor had probably shocked him.

Six hours later she stepped off his private jet where she discovered his driver waiting for her. “Welcome back, Ms. Bauer.”

“Good morning, Benny.”

“Mr. Corbin said you haven’t had much sleep after such a short trip. He told me to take you straight to your apartment.”

Nothing escaped Gabe’s notice. “I have to admit I’m tired. Thank you for coming to get me.”

“It’s a pleasure.” He helped her in the back of the limo before they drove into Manhattan.

There weren’t many clouds overhead. It didn’t look anything like the sky above Champigny. She couldn’t smell the perfume in the air. The atmosphere was all wrong.

Everything was wrong because Gabe wasn’t with her…

When she entertained the thought of never seeing him again, an emptiness stole through her too terrible to contemplate.

“Here we are, Ms. Bauer,” Benny said twenty minutes later. He’d come around to open her door. She’d been so buried in thought, she hadn’t realized they were back in front of her apartment.

Andrea climbed out and thanked him for the ride.

He handed her the suitcase. “I’m always glad to be of service.”

She waved him off and hurried inside.

One of the first things she did after entering her small fourth floor apartment was go to the kitchen and listen to the messages on her answering machine.

There were several calls from her mom wondering if she’d be coming home for the weekend. Sue, a friend in the same apartment building, wanted to go to lunch. The next voice was Bret’s.

“It was hard seeing you at the elevator without being able to talk. I’m missing you like crazy, Andrea. Forgive me for accusing you of being in love with the boss. You said you weren’t, but I wouldn’t listen. Maybe it’s because I sensed his interest in you from the beginning.”

She shook her head. Bret was so wrong where Gabe was concerned.

“I’ll admit I’ve been jealous as hell. Gabe Corbin is an impossible act for the normal man to compete with. Can we start over again? If I promise not—”

Andrea deleted all the messages, too torn up over the decision she was grappling with to deal with anything else. She’d heard of people who said they’d reached a turning point in their life that had altered it forever. It never occurred to her she would be one of those people.

While she stood there trying to sort out her chaotic emotions, her cell phone rang. She reached in her purse for it.

The caller ID indicated an out of area call. It was probably her mom. She clicked on. “Hello?”

“I’m glad you arrived safely, Andrea.”

Gabe— She clung to the edge of the counter for support.

“You’ve had seven hours to consider my proposal. I’d like your answer now.”

Now?

The phone fell to the floor. She rushed to retrieve it. Her hand pressed against her heart where it pounded so hard, it hurt. She hadn’t expected to hear from him until tonight. “A-are you still in Paris?” she spluttered.

She felt his hesitation before he said, “I’m at the airport. If you’ve decided to marry me, we have plans to make. Otherwise I’m going to fly to St. Pierre now.”

The breath froze in her lungs. “H-how long will you be there?”

“For good. I thought you understood that.”

“But—”

“It sounds like you’ve made your decision,” he interrupted without missing a beat. “Andrea, I thought my proposition would make you happy, that it would give you one last chance at getting pregnant. But I understand your decision—and I hope your surgery is successful and you’ll be pain-free.

“Don’t worry about anything at the office. I’ll phone Sam Poon and let him decide how to reorganize your department. You can pick up your severance paycheck from Karen.”

“Wait—!” she cried out in panic.

“If you’re uncertain about quitting, so much the better for the company, Andrea. Take your six weeks to recover. By then you may feel diff—”

“No—” This time it was she who cut him off.

“No, what?”

The blood pounded in her ears. “You’ve misunderstood me. I—I want to try to have a baby.”

“That’s all I needed to hear.” Gabe sounded quietly pleased, just like he did when he’d sewn up another market on the international scene. “I’ll meet you at the county clerk’s office at three. Benny will be by for you at two-thirty. See you then, Andrea.”

He clicked off before she could say goodbye.

Dear God… What had she done? She could hear her mother’s voice asking her the same question.

The more she thought about it, the more Andrea feared calling her parents. Gabe wasn’t in love with her. Better for them not to know anything yet.

There was every possibility she wouldn’t be making that three o’clock deadline downtown Gabe had set…

CHAPTER THREE

BAUER’S Eidelweiss Chalet formed part of a strip mall in Scarsdale that might as well have been one of those wonderful little shops nestled in the heart of Germany’s Black Forest.

Gabe entered the virtual fairyland just as a cuckoo went off twelve times announcing the noon hour. Every conceivable kind of hand-painted wood nutcracker and doll house covered the display tables. On one side of the shop were Christmas ornaments, music boxes, smokers, steins and cowbells. The other side sold Bavarian clothing.

He glimpsed Andrea’s dark-blond father dressed in traditional lederhosen up on a ladder. The tall, fit man with a short beard and moustache was setting up a crèche pyramid. Her mother had to be the attractive brunette woman behind the counter dressed in a Bavarian blue dirndl.

Andrea’s parents looked to be in their mid-fifties. Both appeared to be the picture of perfect health, which made fiction out of Andrea’s insistence that they were getting old and needed her help.

She’d inherited traits from both of them, particularly her mother who had those same bluebell colored eyes and a healthy bloom on her cheeks. The well-endowed Bauer women wore little makeup. They didn’t need to with such flawless skin.

He waited until their only customer left the store, then he approached the counter. “Renate Bauer?”

“Yes?” She eyed him as if she were trying to remember if she’d seen him before.

“I’m Gabe Corbin, Andrea’s employer.”

The second she recognized his name, a look of anxiety replaced her friendly smile. Her complexion paled.

“Karl!” she cried to her husband. “Come quick! Mr. Corbin’s here. Something must have happened to our dau—”

“Andrea’s fine!” Gabe rushed to assure her before any more damage was done. By now her husband had joined them. “I’m sorry if our first meeting has led you to believe I’m the bearer of bad news. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Relief slowly chased away their alarmed expressions.

“Andrea and I just returned from Paris. While we were there, I asked her to be my wife and she accepted. I would have come to you first to ask for her hand, but circumstances made it impossible.”

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