Page 39 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

“Well, I’m sure I could find some law that would apply. If nothing else, I can cause you a lot of hassle and destroy your reputations. Wouldn’t you prefer to avoid that? It’s only money.”

“This family has millions of dollars and a top-notch lawyer on call.” Carly tapped her chest. “That’s me, in case you were wondering. We will destroy you.”

William didn’t say anything for half a minute. He looked from one face to the other and apparently found no hope. He swore as he turned to his car and got in. He backed up with a squeal of wheels, turned around, and started back up the drive.

“Meeting in the office. Now,” Carly said.

They headed for the office building as William’s car grew smaller in the distance.

Inside, Carly quickly told Ava what had happened while Xander paced, unable to shake off the urge to fight.

“Do you think he’ll be back?” Ava asked.

“I’d count on it,” Carly said. “We threw him off-balance, and I gave him something to think about with the legal threat. But I doubt he’ll give up so easily. If he convinced himself he could get a couple of million dollars out of the family, or even thought he’d ask for that and settle for half a million, he’s not going to walk away without a fight.” She looked at each of them. “To be honest, the easiest thing would be to write up a contract that pays him something if he agrees to leave Daisy and the baby alone forever. Not a couple of million, obviously.”

“As much as it takes,” Xander said.

“I don’t care if you can afford it,” Carly said. “It’s the principle of the thing. It’s bad enough paying him anything, when he doesn’t deserve a penny. Worse, it might give other people the idea they could try the same scam. But we can put a nondisclosure clause in the contract so he’s not allowed to tell anyone. Give him enough cash that taking it seems like a better alternative than going to court, where he’d probably lose and get nothing. Fifty thousand, maybe, and count ourselves lucky to get off that easily.”

Xander groaned and paced in a circle around the desks. “I hate the idea of that man getting paid, after what he already did to Daisy. But I hate the idea of Daisy being bothered by him even more.”

“Exactly,” Carly said. “If he contacts any of you, direct all inquiries to me, and I’ll handle it. Don’t promise him anything. And you might want to keep Daisy from answering the office phones for another week, in case he calls that line.”

“Poor Daisy.” Ava sighed. “She has enough to deal with, and now this. She’s going to be embarrassed by the idea of us paying to make him go away. She’ll probably insist on us taking it out of her paycheck.” She brightened. “So we’ll just have to give her a huge raise.”

Xander jerked to a stop. “Wait. We’re not telling her, are we? Why does she need to know anything about it?”

The others were silent for a moment, considering. Finally Mama said, “I understand that you want to protect her, sweetheart. But Daisy is tough. She can handle it.”

“She shouldn’t have to!” She’d told him to make the most of their new riches. “Isn’t the point of the money that we can make this problem go away?”

“It’s her problem,” Carly said. “She deserves to know about it. Look, this isn’t a surprise. Daisy and I talked about it, and we were expecting him to try something. She might be relieved to know it’s happened, so she doesn’t have to wonder when it’s coming.”

“I don’t think she’d thank you for keeping secrets from her,” Mama added.

But what if she wants to go back to him?He couldn’t say the words out loud. Some people might think Daisy should go back to William and try to make it work. She’d had his child, after all. Or what if she decided to leave the ranch and her job because she didn’t want to make trouble for the family?

Xander couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.

“She needs friends and family,” Mama said, “not people who don’t trust her to make her own decisions.”

He imagined telling Daisy what William had done. Then he imagined her finding out later and knowing they’d kept it a secret. Yeah, the second option was worse. Whatever they did, they couldn’t guarantee that Daisy wouldn’t find out about it. She deserved to hear it from them. In any case, staying or going had to be Daisy’s choice. He hated himself for wanting to trick her into staying.

“Can we at least wait until we have the contract signed?” he asked. “She’s exhausted and stressed with figuring out how to take care of a new baby.”

“Exactly when do you think would be the right time?” Carly asked.

Xander didn’t have an answer for that.

Mama patted his arm. “Believe me, I have some experience in these matters. She’ll be stressed and exhausted for several years. Possibly decades, if her son is anything like mine were.”

“Hey,” Josh said, “you mean if the boy is anything like TC or Cody. We all know I was a perfect angel.”

That got a few laughs, which lightened the mood.

“Okay,” Xander said. “We have to tell her, and we have to do it soon.”

“Let me,” Carly said. “I’ll speak to her as the family lawyer, which might not embarrass her as much as if she heard it from the people she thinks of as her family.”

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