Billionaire Baby Dilemma

Billionaire Baby Dilemma
Barbara Dunlop

Family was everything. Control was everything else.So when Lucas Demarco discovered he shared custody of his orphaned niece, he was determined to change the situation at once. Especially since the baby's aunt, Devin Hartley, despised all the Demarcos. Yet he'd underestimated Devin's devotion. She believed he only wanted the baby as part of a family power play.But Lucas had their niece's best interest at heart. Convincing Devin of that fact wouldn't be easy. Especially when his desire for her was out of control - and about to turn them from enemies into lovers.

“You Play Dirty.”

He didn’t even bat an eye. “Only when it counts.”

“Why do I get the feeling it counts a lot?”

“I play to win.”

“This isn’t a game, Lucas.” A little girl’s future was on the line. Amelia wasn’t some pawn to be passed around at the whim and convenience of the adults in her life.

He paused for a moment, expression hardening, obviously taking offense at Devin’s candor. “That’s why it counts.” He rapped his knuckles decisively on the tabletop. “How long will it take you to move in?”

Dear Reader,

One of the greatest things about writing a baby book is the chance to relive cherished memories. There’s nothing quite like bringing that first wee one home from the hospital, then muddling your way through feeding, diapering and sleep schedules. The idea for Billionaire Baby Dilemma came from remembering all those new dads valiantly learning the ropes.

In Billionaire Baby Dilemma, Lucas Demarco is thrown reluctantly into the role of daddy. Where mothering comes naturally to Devin Hartley, at first all Lucas can see is a smelly, sticky, squirmy little package of noise. That is, until baby Amelia weaves her way into his heart.

I hope you enjoy Billionaire Baby Dilemma. It was a pleasure to write!

Happy reading,

Barbara Dunlop

Billionaire Baby Dilemma

Barbara Dunlop

For Karen and Martin.

BARBARA DUNLOP

writes romantic stories while curled up in a log cabin in Canada’s far north, where bears outnumber people and it snows six months of the year. Fortunately she has a brawny husband and two teenage children to haul firewood and clear the driveway while she sips cocoa and muses about her upcoming chapters. Barbara loves to hear from readers. You can contact her through her website at www.barbaradunlop.com.

Dear Reader,

Yes, it’s true. We’re changing our name! After more than twenty-five years of being part of Harlequin Enterprises, Silhouette Books will officially seal the merger by taking the company’s name.

So if you notice a few changes on the covers starting April 2011—Silhouette Special Edition becoming Harlequin Special Edition, Silhouette Desire becoming Harlequin Desire, and Silhouette Romantic Suspense becoming Harlequin Romantic Suspense—don’t be concerned.

We’ll continue to have the same fantastic authors, wonderful stories, eye-catching covers and emotional, compelling reads. We’re just going to be moving under the overall company name, which will make us even easier for you to see in the stores, on the internet and wherever you usually find us!

So look for the new logo, but remember, beneath the image will be the same promise of romantic stories of love, passion, adventure, family and a whole lot more. Just the way you like them!

Sincerely,

The Editors at Harlequin Books

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

One

Lucas Demarco was a man who liked certainty. He liked concretes, and he liked control. What his cousin Steve Foster was proposing lacked every one of those essential elements.

“Primarily Brazil,” Steve was saying. “But East Palites is a free trade zone for all of South America. Pacific Robotics would be in on the ground floor for high tech.”

Lucas hoisted his dripping wet sea kayak and paddle over his head and started back up the short path from the family’s private dock on Puget Sound to their boathouse. “The political situation is far too unstable.”

“They’re not going to nationalize the high-tech sector,” Steve countered, as he followed along in business suit and a pair of loafers. “That would be suicide.”

Lucas flipped the kayak onto the grass outside the boathouse and uncoiled a garden hose. “Right. Because lunatic dictators always make rational decisions.”

“If we don’t do this, Lucas, somebody else will.”

“Let them,” said Lucas, unzipping his life jacket and slipping it off over his wet suit. It was a warm May evening, but the ocean temperature was still cold enough to turn a person hypothermic. “I don’t mind being second into a market like that.”

Steve’s hands went to his hips, wrinkling his dark suit jacket. “This isn’t your decision.”

“It isn’t yours, either. And a stalemate means we stick with the status quo.” And that was fine for this particular stalemate. But Lucas knew they had to resolve the situation around his orphaned, baby niece Amelia, and they’d have to do it very soon.

He and Steve each owned forty-five percent of Pacific Robotics, making Amelia’s ten percent the key to the corporation.

Lucas knew it, and Steve knew it, and so did several dozen lawyers, company executives and competitors. Whoever controlled Amelia was the swing vote in every Pacific Robotics corporate decision from here on in.