a happy ending and Shelly could admit it was too bad. Cameron was a nice guy who didn’t deserve to have his wife die while bringing their child into the world.
Shelly could make Cameron happy and be a good wife. She wasn’t into the whole baby and mother thing, but she could certainly make a good impression at a dinner party and keep him happy in the bedroom.
Those were the kinds of things she was good at, or at least tried hard to be. She wasn’t invited to many business parties. The only ones she’d attended had been over the past month with Cameron. He seemed pleased with her at the end of the night. Though he’d never really said, they always ended up in bed.
More often than not, she got the feeling he liked her more for the way she looked, or rather her resemblance to his dead wife. They’d used each other for their own purposes.
She decided she’d take the next couple of weeks and really try to please him in every way. She’d get him to notice her. And while she did, she’d drive home her point. Getting married was the best idea.
“I am tired. It’s been one of those days. George and his date would probably like to enjoy their meal in peace. He certainly didn’t bring her here to babysit Emma. They probably had a romantic evening in mind.”
“I think you have the wrong idea about George and Marti.”
“I don’t know. These May-December romances have become quite the in thing lately. George is a wealthy man with power and influence. Very appealing to a young woman.”
“A lot like me and you, huh. Not so much the age thing. You’re, what, thirty-one? The part about my being wealthy and powerful sure fits your idea of the perfect man. Appealing, as you said. You even liked Elizabeth a little more when you found out she was a Hamilton and married to Jenna’s brother-in-law.”
He had her attention. She couldn’t allow him to think she was only after his bank account. She liked him too. She wasn’t Marti, going after a man old enough to be her grandfather. At least Cameron was young and had a body any woman would fantasize about having pressed against her. His dark hair set off his amazing, silvery blue eyes. The contrast made him even more strikingly handsome.
“Darling, you have me all wrong. I didn’t pursue you. You wanted me. If I remember correctly, you couldn’t wait to have me. You just took me right upstairs and had me in your office on the sofa. I had no idea you were the president of Merrick.”
She had known, but she wasn’t going to tell him. She’d spent many nights at the bar trying to land an executive. She’d done her homework and knew who liked to hang out at the upscale restaurant. The bartender was a wealth of information when tipped well. She’d tipped very well.
Cameron had his doubts. Everyone knew the crowd in Decadence consisted of wealthy businesspeople from around San Francisco, and particularly Merrick International.
“Right, it had nothing to do with the fact that when I told you my name, you wrapped yourself around me like I was a warm blanket on a winter night in Alaska. You were all too willing to go upstairs.”
His behavior, and especially hers, gnawed at him. He dined at Decadence almost every day, and he never picked up women there. Too many people knew him. He was the head of the company and supposed to set an example, not generate gossip.
Shelly’s argument for them getting married held a lot of weight and made him cringe. He just might have to do it to make things right, which meant he’d doom himself and Emma to a horrible marriage with no other end but disaster.
This was some kind of living hell. He didn’t want to sign on the dotted line and make it official. No one said he had to, but his conscience nagged. He’d grown up without a father. Emma was growing up without her mother. He and Caroline and Emma were supposed to be the family he always wanted and Emma deserved.
Could he make that family work with Shelly? Maybe? With a baby on the way, he couldn’t say absolutely no. For the children, shouldn’t he at least try?
“Let’s get out of here. I’ll meet you at the car after I get Emma. We’ll drive you home.”