Passionate Proposals. Andrea Laurence
backed away. With a sigh, he turned away from Georgia to address the interlopers in his office. “It’s no problem. I’ve got Newport employees all over the place today. Come in, come in.”
Sutton strolled back over to his desk, and Georgia tried to pull herself back together. She was hardly misbehaving, but she didn’t like the look on Graham’s face. He obviously thought he was walking in on something. Georgia avoided his gaze, holding her position near the conference room table.
“What can I do for you, Graham? Or are you Brooks? Damn it, I can never tell you two apart.”
That made Graham angry. His jaw tightened and the edges of his ears reddened as he stared Sutton down. “You’d think that a father would be able to tell his own children apart.”
Sutton barely reacted to the accusation. He leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together over his stomach. “A father would, but I’m not sure I like what you’re implying, Mr. Newport.”
“I’m implying nothing. I’m saying it straight up, Dad.”
Georgia held her breath as she watched the two men speak. The tension in the room was thick. Her gaze drifted over to Eve. She’d followed Graham into the office and seemed to be the only one in the room stunned by Graham’s accusations. And if Georgia was reading her correctly, Eve looked a bit disappointed, too. She supposed any red-blooded woman in Chicago would feel the same way if she found out the handsome and rich Newport boys were her half brothers.
“I am not your father.” Sutton didn’t hesitate to shoot down Graham.
“Are you denying you had a relationship with my mother?”
Sutton pursed his lips, considering his response. “I did have a relationship with Cynthia. She was a lovely woman. You take after her, I have to admit. But I am not your father. Your mother was already pregnant when we met.”
Graham laid an envelope on Sutton’s desk. “We’ll see about that.”
Sutton opened the envelope and pulled out the paperwork inside. “A subpoena for a paternity test? That’s cute. Very well,” he said, setting the paperwork aside. “I will comply with the court order. But don’t get cocky thinking you’ve won some kind of battle here, Graham. In the end, you won’t like the results, because I am not your father.”
Graham started down Sutton without flinching. “I wouldn’t expect a man like you to say anything else.”
Graham turned his attention to Georgia on the far side of the room. “Do you need a ride back to the office?” His tone was pointed, but she wasn’t surprised.
“I do.” She’d gotten what she wanted out of Sutton for now. Staying behind after this incident would be nothing but awkward for them both.
Moving quickly, she scooped up her big black purse and slung it over her shoulder. Not wanting to let things unravel with Sutton, she gave him one last smile before she followed Graham out of the office. “Can you have that check for the hospital sent by courier over to our offices?”
The irritation faded from Sutton’s eyes as he focused on her again. “I’ll have it taken care of.”
Turning, she caught Graham and Eve sharing a meaningful look. Interesting. She brushed past a stunned Eve on her way to meet Graham in the doorway. They were halfway to his car before he said anything to her.
“What was that about?” he asked.
She didn’t like the way he was addressing her, as though he’d caught her beneath Sutton’s desk. “I’ve got a better question,” she said, deflecting the discussion. “What exactly was that just now between you and Eve Winchester?”
Graham’s jaw stiffened, but he didn’t turn to look at her. Instead he held open the door to the parking garage. “That was nothing.”
Georgia laughed. She didn’t work much with Graham since he spent so much time at his law firm, but she knew enough to know he was lying. “Tell that to someone who believes you. Eve was watching you like a tasty meal. At least until you started calling her father ‘Dad.’”
Graham took a deep breath and pulled his keys from his pocket. “If Sutton is our father, then it doesn’t matter what you think you saw. This isn’t a V.C. Andrews novel. The odds are that Eve is my half sister, so end of story.”
He opened the car door and Georgia slipped inside. Once he got in and started the engine, she said, “Sutton seemed pretty adamant that he wasn’t your father.”
“Yes, well, did you expect otherwise?”
Georgia hesitated for a moment. That didn’t sound like Sutton’s style. Maybe he would lie by omission, but the way he insisted he wasn’t Graham’s father made her believe him. Her interactions with him had always been very direct. “I don’t know. I’ve never known him to lie. He usually gets his way without stooping to deceit.”
“You know him so well now, do you? How much time have you been spending here with him behind Carson’s back? He told me about the dirty old man’s offer. Have you changed your mind about accepting it?”
“No, I haven’t. We were talking business.” She refused to elaborate any further. It was none of his damn business what she was doing there anyway.
“I bet,” he snapped before shooting into traffic and tearing down the street. “Let me give you a word of advice about Carson. He doesn’t get involved with women very often. His last real relationship ended when the woman dumped him for a richer guy.”
Georgia didn’t know that. They hadn’t really discussed their dating history in depth. “Really?”
“Yes. He and Candy were even engaged when she decided to run off with some billionaire tech innovator. It was really hard on him.”
“Well, Carson and I are just—”
“I don’t care what you two are or aren’t,” Graham interrupted. “I just want you to know so you think long and hard about putting Carson through the same thing again.”
Georgia bit her tongue. She was about as far from leaving Carson for Sutton as she was from leaving him for Prince Harry. She wasn’t going to argue that point with Graham. She’d tell Carson what she was up to, but she didn’t think Graham could be trusted. Judging by the body language between him and Eve, he was compromised. Especially if Sutton wasn’t their father.
If either of them was going to be sleeping with the enemy, it was Graham.
“Can we talk?” Carson caught Georgia as she went past him in the hallway.
“Let me grab something off the printer,” she said, “and then I’ll come by.”
Carson returned to his office. He was filled with nervous energy that wouldn’t let him sit. Instead he stood and looked out the window at the sprawling sights of downtown Chicago. The view he loved did little to soothe him. He’d been tied up in knots inside since Graham left his office earlier.
His brother’s tale of the meeting with Sutton and Georgia’s unexpected presence had left him with a number of questions. He wasn’t sure he would like the answers. The dread in his stomach felt so familiar. He didn’t want to believe what Graham implied about Georgia, and he fought to reserve judgment no matter how badly his instincts wanted to react. Then again, he’d felt the same way when he’d started hearing the rumors about his ex-fiancée, Candy, stepping out with another man. He hadn’t wanted to believe it at first and yet the nagging ache in his gut couldn’t be ignored.
Breaking off their engagement hadn’t really bothered him. If Carson were honest with himself, he hadn’t been in love with Candy Stratton. She had been convenient—everything he thought a good wife should be. He didn’t have the time to look around forever,