One Special Moment - Brenda Jackson [4]
Chapter 2
Colby was stunned into silence by Sterling Hamilton’s statement. When she gazed into his face, he returned her stare with bland indifference. Mr. Stewart, however, seemed to have gone a little pale.
“Now wait just a minute,” Colby said, raising her chin and keeping her expression stern. “I asked a simple question. The very least you gentlemen can do is not play games with me and give me a straight answer.”
She watched as Sterling sat down on the edge of the desk facing her. Her eyes involuntarily shifted from his face to where his slacks stretched tight across his thighs. She was so caught up in her close study of him that she was startled when he spoke.
“We did give you a straight answer. You were chosen to have my baby. That’s the reason you’re here and not for some cologne endorsement I most certainly won’t be giving.”
A wave of anger surged through Colby. She glared at him. “You can’t be serious about a baby!”
Sterling met her glare. “I am serious.”
Colby stiffened. If she didn’t know better, she would think her reaction to this entire escapade amused him. “Then I suggest you do what most people do—fall in love, get married and make one!”
She could tell her suggestion hit a sore spot with him. She watched as his eyes radiated bits of stone.
“I plan on getting married and making one, but I have no intentions of falling in love,” he snapped. “Of that you can be sure.”
Colby shook her head and walked over to the window. It afforded her a breathtaking view of the city below. She turned back around and glanced at Edward Stewart. “Is what he wants to do legal?”
Edward Stewart cleared his throat before answering. “Yes, it’s legal as long as the two parties involved agree.”
Colby was aghast. “What woman in her right mind would go along with such a thing?”
“Evidently quite a few, Ms. Wingate,” Edward Stewart continued. “We received over a hundred responses.”
Colby still was not convinced. “Did you tell them exactly what they would be doing?”
“We told them enough without exposing Sterling’s identity. However, it wouldn’t have mattered if we’d wanted them to have a baby by Godzilla, the thought of a million dollars would make most people do anything.”
“A million dollars!”
“Yes, with an extra half-million dollars as a bonus in the end.”
Colby stared at the two men. This couldn’t actually be happening. She’d come all the way from Virginia to discuss a cologne endorsement, and they were only interested in paying someone to have a baby.
“This will be strictly a business deal between me and the woman,” Sterling spoke. “No love, no romance, and no ‘till death do us part.’ When the child is six weeks old, we will end the marriage in a no-contest divorce with me getting full custody of the child.”
“And the child’s mother?”
Sterling continued to meet her glare. “She can go on her merry little way. I’m sure my one and a half million dollars will make it a lot easier and sweeter for her to do so.”
Colby was appalled by his callous statement. Surely no man could be so heartless about the notion of separating a child from its mother. “Well, I wish you much success in your repulsive endeavor, Mr. Hamilton. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me, I’ve wasted enough of your time already.”
Giving both men one last glare, she turned around and, without so much as a glance back, walked out of the office.
A few hours later, Colby was relaxing in a pool of bubbles in the huge bathtub in her suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She had been more than surprised when she’d arrived the day before to discover reservations had been made for her here. The beautiful hotel was a California landmark known to be frequented by numerous movie stars. She had noted quite a few when she had checked in. In fact, she had been speechless when Nicolas Cage had gotten on the elevator with her that very morning.
She’d let out a low whistle when she had entered her suite. It was exquisite. The room had been done in soft colors of peach and cream. The carpet felt like mink and the furnishings made hers back home seem obsolete with the Victorian