Billionaire's Bargain
“They’re going to be beautiful,” the young mom said, hurrying in to scoop up her daughter and hold her close.
“Hard to be anything else,” Sienna assured her. “She’s a gorgeous baby.”
“She is, isn’t she?” the baby’s father mused, reaching out to run one finger along his daughter’s cheek.
Quickly, Sienna lifted her camera and took several shots of the family, connected, touching, sharing a moment they weren’t even aware that they’d created. The tenderness of the young mother. The protective stance and gentle touch of the father and the sleeping baby nestled close. Checking her camera screen, Sienna smiled to herself. Since they hadn’t asked for a family print, this would be a gift from her. And, with their permission, she’d showcase it on her website, as well.
Standing up, she said, “In about a week, I’ll have some proofs to show you. Terri will give you the sign-in code for the website. Then all you have to do is decide which ones you want.”
Kissing her baby tenderly, the mother laughed a little. “That’s going to be the hard part, isn’t it?”
“Usually, yes.” Terri spoke up and began to herd the family from the room. “If you’ll come with me, you can get Kenzie dressed and I’ll get that code for you.”
Sienna watched them go, then turned to her equipment. Terri was good with the clients. As the mother of four and grandmother of six, she knew her way around babies. Plus, she had a calming touch with nervous parents and jittery kids. Hiring her had been the best move Sienna had ever made.
She took the memory card from the camera, inserted it into the computer and opened a new folder for the Johnson family. Once the images were done loading, she flipped through them with a critical eye, deleting those that didn’t meet her expectations and marking those that would be the winners.
Already, she loved the last-minute shots she’d taken of the family as a whole. It said something to her. The love in the mother’s eyes. The trusting curl of the baby’s body against her mother’s chest. The protective gleam in the father’s eyes and the visual element of his much bigger hand against his tiny daughter’s cheek.
Sienna’s heart gave a hard squeeze. Once upon a time, she’d dreamed of having kids herself. Of building a family with a man she loved, who would look at her and see everything in the world he wanted. She’d made a grab at the brass ring a few years ago—only to discover that she hadn’t really caught it at all. Instead, she’d been grabbing at fog. Wisps of dreams that in the light of day lost all cohesion.
Devon Quinn had been both the dream and the nightmare. So handsome. So charming, with a wicked smile and a twinkle in his eyes that promised adventure and love. But she’d only seen what she’d wanted to see and it hadn’t taken her long to figure out that marrying Devon had been the biggest mistake of her life. Now Sienna was divorced, with a struggling business taking pictures of children that weren’t hers.
“Wow.” Shaking her head, she ordered, “Snap out of it, Sienna.”
She usually didn’t wallow. Sienna was a firm believer in letting the past go and concentrating on the now. She didn’t spend much time remembering Devon or the marriage that had been such a disappointment.
“Sienna?”
She looked up at Terri. “The Johnsons have a question?”
“No,” the older woman said. “They paid and left. But someone else is here to see you.”
Terri didn’t look happy about it, either. Which only made Sienna wonder who could have put the uneasy look on her friend’s face. “Who is it?”
“Me.”
Terri jumped when the deep voice sounded out from right behind her. Sienna’s gaze was locked on the man standing behind her assistant as she stood up slowly. Even if she hadn’t seen him, she would have known that voice. Though she hadn’t heard it in two years, she’d have recognized it anywhere. That voice was not just deep, it carried the ring of power, letting everyone know that the man speaking was used to being heard and obeyed.
Which just didn’t fly with Sienna.
Still, her gaze locked with his and a rush of heat filled her stomach, swirled around for a heartbeat or two, then rose up in her chest.
Adam Quinn.
Her ex-brother-in-law. Funny, looking at Adam now, she could see the family resemblance between him and Devon. But she could see so much more than she once had. For example, Adam’s chocolate eyes met hers squarely. They didn’t shift around the room as Devon’s had, as if he were looking for someone more interesting to talk to.
Adam’s mouth was firm, and some would say grim, but Devon’s smile, she’d discovered, was used to disarm, deceive. Adam’s hair lacked the wave of Devon’s, but somehow the expert, somewhat shaggy cut suited him. Devon had boasted a dark tan, which had come from so much time spent playing on lakes or ski slopes while Adam’s skin was paler, letting her know that he was still more focused on his business than in entertaining himself.
He was taller than she remembered, Sienna thought. At least six foot two, and even wearing the elegantly tailored navy blue, three-piece suit, he looked more of a pirate than a businessman. Maybe, she told herself, it was because he carried an air of, not danger, exactly, but as if he were issuing a silent warning to stay out of his way or be mowed down.
And just watching him had her heartbeat speeding up. It happened every time she was around Adam. Sienna hated acknowledging that, even to herself. Devon’s brother was off-limits. Or should be. While Devon had been completely self-indulgent, Adam was too straitlaced. Too much the corporate raider for her. What she needed to do was find a man right in the middle of those two extremes. The problem was, Sienna didn’t think she’d ever meet a man who could turn her insides into a blazing inferno with a single look like Adam could.
Two years since she’d spoken to him. Seen him. And the internal fire was sizzling away. Ridiculous or not, she really wished she were wearing something more flattering than a long-sleeved white shirt and an old pair of jeans.
When she realized the humming silence between them had been stretching out interminably, she cleared her throat. “Adam. What are you doing here?”
He stepped out from behind Terri and the woman sort of skittered sideways to keep out of his path. Sienna couldn’t really blame her. Adam was intense.
“I need to talk to you,” he said, slanting the other woman a look. “Privately.”
Two
Giving orders again. Sienna shook her head. The man hadn’t changed a bit. The last time she’d seen him, he’d begun their meeting by telling her exactly how to handle her divorce from his brother. He’d worked out a financial settlement that would have had most women flinging themselves at his manly chest, thanking him profusely. Instead, Sienna had told him what she’d told his brother. She didn’t want the Quinn money. She just wanted the marriage to be over.
Now here he stood, two years later, still trying to take charge. Well, she’d hear him out, then go back to her life. The sooner she could put out the fire slowly boiling her blood, the better.
“Terri,” she said, “would you mind?”
“Sure,” the woman said, but added, “If you need me, I’ll be right up front.”
Sienna stopped her smile before it could get too big. Good to have friends. Even though the thought of the older woman trying to rescue her from Adam was ludicrous. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
Terri left, closing the door behind her. When she was gone, Adam asked, “What does she think I’m going to do?”
“Impossible to say,” Sienna admitted. “But you do look scary and she has an excellent imagination.”
“Scary?”
Well, she mused, he didn’t look happy about that. “To someone who doesn’t know you, yeah.”
“So I don’t scare you.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and watched her, waiting for an answer.
“No, Adam. You don’t.” But, she added silently, you worry me.
“Good to know.” Frowning, he glanced around what she called her “shoot room.” While he looked, so did Sienna, seeing it as he did.
This was by no means her dream studio, but it would do for now. The images that came to life here shone when the building itself didn’t. It was a plain room, really, the walls were a cool cream and unadorned. There were props stacked neatly on a series of shelves—everything from silly hats to baby blankets to old-fashioned slates that children scrawled their names on with chalk to be held in their photos. Right now, a sturdy table with the lemon yellow throw draped over a series of small pillows took up the middle of the set, with the lights focused down on where the baby had been lying. There was good light from the wide windows and when she had a night shoot, there were literally armies of lighting scaffolds scattered around the room.
Sienna studied him while he was unaware. To her, he looked way too good, and instinctively, she lifted her camera. Light and shadow played on his features, making him an irresistible target for her lens. In the late afternoon, she was losing the light, but there was enough to make him look almost dangerously alluring as he stood, half in shadow. She took two quick shots of him before he slowly swiveled his head to stare at her.
“I didn’t come here to pose for you.”
“I figured that. So why are you here, Adam?” She glanced down at the screen on her camera. Even the photo of him was hypnotic. Oh she was in bad shape.
“I need your help.”
Surprised, she looked up at him. That, she hadn’t expected. “Really? That’s so unlike you.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“You’re just not the kind of man to ever ask for help.”
“Know me that well, do you?”
“I think so,” she said. As well as anyone could know him, she hedged silently. Sienna was willing to bet that not even his ex-wife could claim to know him completely. Adam Quinn kept his thoughts and his feelings to himself. He had the best poker face in the universe and trying to see past the shields in his eyes could give you a migraine.
After she and Devon were married, she’d met Adam for the first time and thought then that two brothers couldn’t have been more different. The fact that she’d also felt a quickening inside her for the quiet, stern-faced Adam was something that had embarrassed her at the time and was strangely even more mortifying now.
Tipping her head to one side, Sienna looked at him from across the room and wished she could flip the lighting on so his eyes wouldn’t be in the shadows. “I was sorry to hear about Devon,” she said abruptly, as a niggle of guilt pinged in the center of her chest. “I thought about calling you—after. But I didn’t know what to say.”
“Yeah.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and reached down to pick up a tiny stuffed rabbit she’d used in the photo shoot with little Kenzie Johnson. He turned the soft, brown animal in his hands. “I get it. Devon didn’t exactly treat you well.”
Regret jabbed at her in twin stabs with the guilt. As much as she’d like to completely blame her failed marriage on her ex-husband, she just couldn’t. Her mom always told her that it took two to make or break a marriage. So she had to accept her own share of the blame.
“It wasn’t entirely Devon’s fault,” she said. “I wasn’t what he wanted, either.”
One eyebrow winged up. “Awfully generous.”
“Not really,” she said. “Just honest. What’s going on, Adam? It’s been two years since I’ve seen you, so why now?”
He tossed the little rabbit onto the table, then turned to face her dead-on. “I had a visit today from Devon’s latest woman.”
That news didn’t even sting, which told Sienna as nothing else could have that she was truly over Devon Quinn. Heck, he’d had other women while they were married.
“And?”
“And,” he said, reaching up to rub the back of his neck in a gesture of complete irritation. “She sold me Devon’s son.”
“She sold her child?” Sienna said it again because she could not believe what she was hearing. “And you bought him? You actually paid this woman for a child? Your own nephew?”
Adam stiffened and his features went even more grim. Eyes narrowed on her and she noticed a muscle in his jaw twitch as if he were grinding his teeth.
“I can’t believe this. My God, Adam.” She thought about little Kenzie Johnson and the love that had surrounded her. How her parents had practically beamed with pride and adoration. She actually winced, thinking about Devon’s son being sold off like a used car. “You actually bought your nephew.”
“What the hell choice did I have?” Adam sounded furious and seemed to be asking himself the question as well as her. He started pacing, in quick steps fueled by rage. “Was I going to leave the boy with her? Jesus, she hardly looked at him the whole time she was negotiating.” He snorted and repeated the word. “No, she had a price, demanded it and waited for me to pay it. It wasn’t a negotiation. It was extortion.”
Watching him quieted her own anger in sympathy for his. He’d lost his brother and then six months later, his brother’s only son had been held hostage by a mercenary woman with her own agenda. Sienna was almost too stunned to speak. Almost. The reality was hard to get past. “She sold her child. Her own child.”
A tiny ripple of pain washed through her. When she’d married, she’d assumed that she and Devon would have a family eventually. But that was one of the things that had driven them apart. He’d flatly refused, saying he didn’t want kids slowing down the “fun.” He hadn’t cared how Sienna felt about it. His dismissal of her told her more than anything that their marriage was doomed.
Now he’d made a child with a woman who clearly didn’t deserve or want the baby.
“Fifty thousand dollars.” Adam snorted again, but there was no humor there. Through gritted teeth, he added, “Apparently motherhood was getting in the way of her career.”
“You shouldn’t have paid her a dime.” What kind of woman would sell her own child? And what kind of man would pay her price?
His head snapped up and his gaze pinned hers. For a split second, Sienna felt a jolt of white-hot fury sizzle in the air between them. His expression was thunderous and maybe she should have been intimidated. But she wasn’t. Maybe that expression worked on his employees, but not her. A second or two later, he seemed to understand that.
“What the hell else was I supposed to do?”
She threw her hands up. “Oh, I don’t know. Have her arrested for trying to sell a baby? Take her to court? You’ve got legions of lawyers at your beck and call, and instead you wrote her a check.”
He scrubbed both hands over his face and she could feel his frustration. “All I was thinking about was getting Devon’s son away from her. This was the fastest solution.”
Okay, she could see that, but her insides were still fisted and her heart pounding. “And what keeps her from coming back for more? For haunting that poor baby’s life, constantly letting him know that he’s nothing more to her than a bargaining chip?”
“I’m not an idiot,” he snapped, firing a look at her that was designed to silence her arguments. “My lawyers wrote up a contract. She signed away her parental rights to me. I’m Jack’s legal guardian now. God help us both.”
Sienna blew out a breath. “Jack?”
“Yeah.” He pushed one hand through his hair again and it occurred to Sienna she’d never seen Adam this unsettled before.
“Apparently,” he continued, “Devon named his son for our father. And now the boy will never know either of them.”
A twinge of sympathy for Devon, for Adam and mostly for the baby tugged at Sienna’s heart. She’d thought when she left Devon that she was finished with the Quinn family. She’d made it a point to stay out of Adam’s way over the last two years and that wasn’t always easy. She and Adam didn’t move in the same circles, of course. He was rich, powerful and she wasn’t.
But she did take photos of the wealthy and famous. She did do photo spreads of some of the buildings he’d designed and built. But somehow, for two years, Sienna had managed to avoid him. Yet now, here he was, standing right in front of her.
She took a steadying breath that didn’t really do the trick. “Fine. So the Mother of the Year took the money and ran, I’m guessing?”
“She was nothing but a blur when she hit the office door and she probably didn’t stop until she got to the airport.”
Disgusted, she muttered, “That’s something, anyway.”
Slanting her a look, he agreed. “Exactly how I feel about it.”
She watched him as he wandered the room, looking at the props on the shelf, reaching out to pick up the wooden framed slate.
“So now what?” she asked.
He took a piece of chalk and scribbled something on the chalkboard while he talked. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Uh-huh. That doesn’t tell me anything, Adam,” she pointed out.
He flipped the slate around to her and Sienna read what he’d written.
I NEED A TEMPORARY NANNY.
She read it again, then lifted her gaze to his. “And you’re telling me, why?”
“Because I need you.”
“Me?” Her brain was racing and her thoughts flew scattershot through her mind. Her? A nanny? For Devon’s baby? What the hell? Shaking her head, she said, “I’m not a nanny, Adam. I’m a photographer with a growing business.”
“I’m not asking you to give up your business.”
“Sounds like you are.”
“Look.” He tossed the slate back onto the shelf, and then faced her. “I know this is weird, but damn it, Sienna, you’re the only woman I know I can ask to do this.”
“Oh come on.” She laughed shortly and perched on the edge of a table. “You’re hardly a monk, Adam. You know plenty of women.”
“I know plenty of women who are great in my bed. Not so much with a small, defenseless human.”
“I’m not quite sure how to take that,” she admitted, even as her mind tried to settle down enough to figure it out. Naturally though, her brain went instead to images of Adam in bed. Naked. Not that she’d ever seen him naked, but Sienna had an excellent imagination.
“Take it as a compliment,” he said tightly. He pushed one hand through his hair again and Sienna noted that the excellent cut meant his hair fell neatly back into place. She wondered if that idle gesture was done deliberately.
“Sienna,” he said, releasing a long breath, “I know Devon treated you like crap and you have no reason to do any Quinn a favor—”
“Devon wasn’t that bad, Adam,” she interrupted him. “And I have nothing against you...”
To put it mildly. She had already been married to Devon when she met his older brother for the first time and Sienna hadn’t been able to deny she felt a flash of something tantalizing the minute Adam had shaken her hand. And as her marriage crumbled, she’d often wondered what might have happened if she’d only met Adam first. But that was not the point at the moment.
“Good to know,” he said, nodding. “I need you. That baby needs you.”
She sucked in a gulp of air. “That was low.”
“Yeah,” he smiled briefly. “I know. But I learned a long time ago that you use whatever weapons you have to win the day.”
He’d picked a good one to use on her was all Sienna could think. There was a reason most of her work centered around images of babies and children. “Great. That poor baby’s a bargaining chip to his mother and a weapon to you.”
“You know what I meant,” he argued.
“Yes, I do.” And she could see that he was really trying to do his best by his brother’s child. Most men, she thought, would probably be trying to slip out of caring for the baby entirely. But that fact didn’t make this any easier.
“Temporary, you said.”
He nodded. “Just until we find someone permanent. You could help me with that. Pick out the right person.”
“I don’t know...” She looked around the room, at her equipment, the business she’d built from the ground up. If she did this, she’d be taking time away from the very thing that was most important to her. But how could she not help care for a baby who’d really been given a lemon from the garden of mothers?
“I’ll pay you whatever you want.”
Sienna stiffened and lifted her chin as her gaze met his. “Just because you bought off the baby’s mother doesn’t mean that every woman is for sale. I don’t want your money, Adam. I told you that when Devon and I divorced. I wouldn’t take it from him. Didn’t take it from you when you offered. Nothing’s changed. I make my own way.”
“Fine.” He walked toward her, his eyes flashing as he stared at her. “I respect that. Admire it even. But I can’t be in your debt like this, either, Sienna. So instead of paying you, why don’t I help you with your career?”
She laughed shortly. “How do you plan to do that? Pose for me, after all?”
“No.” He came closer. Close enough that Sienna was forced to tip her head back to meet his dark brown eyes. His scent came to her and she noted it was just like him. Subtle, rich and tempting. She held her breath.
“Your studio’s a little on the small side,” he mused, giving a quick, assessing glance around the space.
Insulted, she argued, “It works just fine.”
His gaze snapped back to hers. “You should never settle for ‘fine,’ Sienna.”
“I don’t plan to. I’ll get something bigger one day.”
“Why wait?” He gave a shrug that was deliberately careless, but she didn’t believe it for a minute.
“What?” He couldn’t be saying what she thought he was saying.
“Here’s the deal. You help me out with the baby—”
“Stop calling him ‘the baby,’” she interrupted. “You said his name is Jack.”
“All right. Help me with Jack and you’ll get your dream studio out of it.”
“Adam—”
“You find the building you want,” he continued, steamrolling over whatever argument she might have made. “And my company will take care of the rest. We’ll rehab, remodel, set it all up to your specifications.”
Her heart was pounding. His words hung in the air like helium party balloons, bright, pretty. Her studio now was small, but she’d been saving her money, building her reputation. The long-term plan was to have a higher-end studio that would draw bigger clients. Eventually, she dreamed of being the top photographer in Huntington Beach, California, maybe even on the whole West Coast.
And if she did this for Adam, that could happen a lot faster. God, she was so tempted. But if she did this...
“What?” he demanded. “You’re thinking and they’re not good thoughts.”
Irritated, she muttered, “Stop trying to read my mind.”
“Don’t really have to try when whatever you’re thinking or feeling is stamped all over your face.”
“Well that’s insulting.” And unsettling.
“Didn’t mean it that way.”
She waved one hand at him. “I was just thinking...if I do this, would I be any better than Jack’s mother? She used him for profit. Wouldn’t I be doing the same thing?”
“No.” One word. Flat. Final.
She looked into his eyes and saw that he meant it. Too bad it didn’t convince her.
“You’re nothing like her, Sienna.” He paused. “Hell. No one is. If you do this, it’s not about Jack at all. It’s a favor to me.”
God help her, she was wavering. Shaking her head, she continued her argument against doing this by saying softly, “I have a job, Adam. And I can’t take a baby along with me on photo shoots.”
“I understand and we’ll work it out. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll find a way.”
He would, too. Nothing stopped Adam Quinn from doing whatever it was he wanted to. According to Devon, his older brother was a human bulldozer, plowing down everything in his path. Once, she’d thought Devon was like that, too. She’d met him and seen ambition where there was only charisma. She’d thought him charming but hadn’t realized the charm was practiced and not at all genuine.