Planning the ending of their marriage so cold-heartedly only heightened her misgivings. But she was committed now, no matter how wrong it felt. “I don’t need a settlement. You’re already loaning me the twenty thousand.”

“Giving, not loaning.”

“I’m planning to pay it back.”

“Don’t be pigheaded about this, Allie. The money is yours, free and clear as of today. The rest will compensate you for the one to two years this process could take.”

“It’s not a process, Lucas. It’s a marriage. An adoption of a child—a human being. You can’t keep treating this as some sort of business transaction.”

His fingers wrapped more tightly around the arms of his chair, the only indication she’d hit home with her comment. “You’re right, of course. But I intend to give you the settlement, nonetheless.”

“How much?” she asked warily.

“Two million.” He said the amount casually, as if he were only offering her a couple hundred.

“You’re crazy!” She leapt to her feet. “Totally nuts! That’s too much, Lucas.”

“The hell it is.”

“I can’t take that much.” She shook her head. “No way.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression cold. “I’m damn well not budging on this, Allie.”

She stared at him, completely flabbergasted. This was a man she’d seen go toe-to-toe with hardened businessmen, shaving millions off a deal if he felt the price was inflated. How could he justify giving her so much money?

But there was no arguing with him, at least for now. She’d have to find a way to refuse the money when the time came. She nodded her head in acquiescence.

“Give me your account number,” he said, moving his chair up to the desk again. “Then we have to get on with the day. When’s my first meeting?”

Lifting the laptop from his desk, she sank into her chair, trembling. Every time she thought she might have the upper hand, he backed her into a corner. How would she handle two years of this?

“The account number is in my purse. Why don’t we go through your schedule first?”

He gave her a brusque nod, then she read off his commitments for the day. He told her what data he needed for his various meetings, reeling off the information with machine-gun rapidity. Somehow he seemed able to maintain his same businesslike demeanor while her hands shook on the keyboard, making one error after another as she typed.

When she finally escaped from his office to retrieve her purse, she had to give herself a moment to recover before going back inside. She sagged over her desk, leaning against it as she took a few deep breaths. Helen, who worked for one of Lucas’s vice presidents, gave her a sympathetic smile. Allie responded in kind, although it was a weak effort.

Helen would know soon enough, and word would pass around the company from her and the handful of others Allie would tell. For now, she was just as glad to keep the news to herself, to have a chance to accustom herself to the shock.

Her phone buzzed, startling her. It was Lucas. Probably wanted to know what was keeping her. She picked up the phone. “Yes?”

“The account number?” he snapped out.

Struggling to hold onto her patience, she pulled out her checkbook and read off the appropriate digits. “Anything else?”

“Get on that church right away,” he said.

“I will.”

He fell silent and Allie assumed his mind had already shifted to his day’s meetings. She was about to take the phone from her ear when he said, “Allie?”

The tentativeness of his tone surprised her. “Yes?”

Another long pause. “Thank you.”

She didn’t know what shocked her more—that he’d said it or that he sounded so genuinely grateful. “You’re welcome.” She lowered the phone back to its cradle.

She sat for a moment at her desk, trying to resolve the tumultuous feelings inside her. She was marrying Lucas Taylor, her boss. They would put on a facade of a happy marriage to allow him to adopt a child. She would be on her guard every moment against his overpowering personality, against her own inappropriate desires.

She understood the fear inside her, even the excitement. But one emotion roiling within her baffled her completely.

Joy.

After a day spent playing telephone tag with Lucas, Allie returned home with her nerves in a frazzle. She’d finally left a note on his desk about the church, giving up on actually seeing him face-to-face again that day. Now as she threw together a quick meal in the microwave, her gaze kept straying to the phone. She’d thought he might call her, to touch base, to compare notes on how the plans for their wedding were coming along. But it seemed now that he had her consent, he’d relegated her to one of those myriad compartments in his brain.

She had to call her sister and brother, had already put it off too long. She just didn’t relish the inevitable questions and the answers she would have to fabricate. Not to mention she might miss a call from Lucas if she tied up the line.

She dawdled through her meal, eating little of it, then hurried downstairs to the apartment complex laundry room and started a load in the washer. When she returned, she quickly checked her answering machine—no message from Lucas. It was nearly eight; she couldn’t put off her calls to her family any longer.

Her sister Sherril’s husband answered the phone, giving Allie a few moments to compose what she planned to say. After assuring Sherril everything was fine both with her and their father, French, Allie asked, “Are you sitting down?”

Sherril’s throaty laughter eased the tension in Allie’s shoulders. “Lying down, actually. The baby’s been playing the tom-toms on my spine.”

Allie blurted out the news. “I’m getting married.”

The silence stretched out uncomfortably before Sherril finally spoke. “How could you be getting married? You haven’t even been dating anyone.” Another pause. “Have you?”

Allie had realized before she picked up the phone she couldn’t tell her sister the truth, not if she wanted to keep the predicament of their father’s care to herself. She could only hope the lie she’d concocted would sound believable.

“I’m marrying Lucas Taylor. My boss.”

Sherril was quiet so long, Allie wondered if the connection had been broken. Finally she said, “I had no idea there was anything going on between you two.”

Allie forced a laugh. “Neither did we. Just kind of sneaked up on us, I guess.”

“Well…congratulations, then. When’s the wedding?”

Allie braced herself for her sister’s reaction. “End of September.”

“What! I’ll still be pregnant then,” Sherril moaned. “Unless this beast decides to come early like his sister did. How am I going to find a whale-sized matron of honor dress?”

Allie smiled, pleased at Sherril’s assumption she would be matron of honor. “I’m sure we can find something. Besides, this way, I have at least a hope of outshining you at the wedding.”

“Allie, I gave up the crown of prettiest sister to you with my first set of stretch marks. Are you having it at the church?”

“Yes, the minister was able to fit us in, even at such short notice.” Reverend Harmon had been so delighted at her news. Even now, Allie felt a stab of guilt at the lies she’d told him. “The reception will be at Lucas’s estate.”

Allie filled Sherril in on the remainder of the details, then begged her to pass on the news to their brother, Stephen. She simply didn’t have the energy to spar with her brother, who still thought his baby sister needed his protection.

After she hung up the phone, Allie headed outside to the apartment complex laundry room to shift her clothes to the dryer. As she fished quarters from her pocket to start the dryer, she realized even this mundane task would change when she moved to Lucas’s expansive estate. No more lugging laundry down two flights of outside stairs in the winter rain or blistering summer sun. No tossing quarters into a jelly jar to have them ready for laundry day.