The Cowboy's Baby(7)

Alyssa, however, only waved him off with a sigh. “He’s been pressuring me. You know, I have biological issues. The doctors said they didn’t know if I’d be able to conceive, so I figured…instead of putting all the strain on my body, why not use someone elses? I mean, it’s my egg, and his sperm, right? Just put inside her?”

She directed the question at Carmen, almost as if Esme wasn’t even present, and the young woman swallowed the answering irritation that welled in her chest. This woman didn’t know her from Adam and was already objectifying her. One would think she’d have more respect for the individual potentially bearing her child.

“Something like that, Ms. Stamos. Your egg would be implanted into Esme’s womb and fertilized with Daniel’s seed, yes. Then she would carry the baby to term.”

“But Danny isn’t having sex with her, right?” The animosity in the woman’s tone was plain as she glared at Esme, and it was all that the young woman could do not to reach over and claw her eyes out.

It’s a paycheck, Esme, she reminded herself; Just a paycheck.

“It doesn’t have to be done that way, no.” Carmen replied slowly, attempting to remain diplomatic. “Everything can be done by our doctors here.”

“Good. Well, I’m on board, as long as it’s not my body being thrown out of whack.”

“Alyssa, darin’…” Daniel shot his partner a pained look to which she merely glared back at him.

“What, Danny? I thought we already discussed this? You want a kid, so we’re having a kid. I’ve got nine months to prepare, right? She does all the work until then?”

Esme knew that it wasn’t her place to be in this couple’s personal affairs – and she wouldn’t say a thing. What she would silently ponder was how a child was supposed to fix the obvious issues between these two. Alyssa was obviously straight from the pages of the most recent desperate housewives catalogue. Daniel, however – the billionaire beef baron – seemed overwhelmed by his arm candy.

There had to be something he saw in her, right? Maybe the prospect of having a child had her on edge – or maybe she was just nervous to be meeting the person who’d be carrying her DNA inside of them.

Maybe she was just a bitch.

Either way, it was none of Esme’s affair. If this couple wanted to have a baby, she was just the vessel. Even so…she couldn’t help but feel sorry for Daniel. It was obvious that he was the one who really wanted the child – Alyssa was just going along with things to keep him happy. Well, relatively happy.

“Well, there will be doctors’ visits involved.” Carmen responded to Alyssa’s latest proclamation with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “I’m sure you two will want to check up on Esme’s progress as she goes through her pregnancy. She’ll be visiting the clinic every two weeks or so for ultrasounds, to check on her nutrition, to make sure the baby is healthy-”

“Yeah, alright. We’ve got it. Responsibilities. We’ll do our best to make it.” Alyssa waved the facilitator off as if she were no more important than a buzzing fly. “Where do we sign? And how much is the check?”

Esme hid her grimace, trying to tell herself that this was Hartsford’s problem and not hers. At the very least, the kid would come out a peach. His parents were both gorgeous.

“We will make it.” Daniel leaned forward, locking eyes with Esme so she stiffened in her seat. “You can be certain of that. Every appointment. And we’ll be taking your contact information to keep in touch with you.” He extracted a gleaming silver business card from his pocket to lay on the table before her. Esme’s gaze flicked over it briefly – just long enough to scan the information engraved there.



DANIEL HARTSFORD

PRESIDENT and CEO

HARTSFORD BEEF HOLDINGS

ENID, SOUTH DAKOTA

(342) 881-0978



“That’s my personal number.” Her gaze rose to his once more and she flushed under the intensity off their cerulean stare. “If you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to call. We’ll need to speak again as soon as you’ve conceived, of course, to go over the health plan, nutrition and the doctor’s appointment schedule.”

When he spoke of his hypothetical child, the man was articulate and very serious, his expression earnest. Whatever interest that Alyssa didn’t seem to have in her potential son or daughter, Daniel had in spades. It was evident in the softness of his eyes and the excitement in his accented baritone that a child was what he wanted more than anything else in the world.

And Esme found that endearing.