Sloane almost laughed. This, he had to hear.
“I’m a billionaire and so are you. We both have operations in the same city, so we’re in close proximity to each other.”
“Yeah, so?” Where the heck was she going with all this?
“I am looking to be impregnated by a man who is in the same income bracket as I am and who is close enough where his child can get to see him.” She sat back in her chair, looking satisfied with herself like she’d just given an explanation even a fool would understand.
Well, he must be the biggest fool on earth because he hadn’t heard a single word that made sense. “So you mean to tell me, in all of Montreal and its environs, I’m the only man you saw fit to approach with this cockamamie scheme?”
“Yes,” she said with a wide smile like he’d finally gotten it. “It’s important to me that the man be single, around my age, and a billionaire. Not because I want his money, of course, but because I don’t want someone who’ll later try to cash in on his good luck and blackmail me or something.”
“Or something,” Sloane said in a mocking tone, repeating the words she’d said earlier. “Now let me ask you something,” he said, keeping his voice as calm and even as he could, under the circumstances. “You’ve never heard of something called a sperm bank? This is the twenty-first century, you know. You don’t actually need a man.”
“Hell, no.” Melanie’s voice was surprisingly vehement and her eyes flashed as she glared at him. “I will not have a baby for some anonymous donor and leave my child fatherless. I want an actual man who my child can see and spend time with. I want my child to have roots, both on his mother’s and his father’s side.”
Sloane shook his head. “So you’re looking for a relationship? You want a man?”
Melanie rolled her eyes. “Where in all of that did you get that I want a man?” Her voice, so full of exasperation, made it clear that he was too darned slow. “I want someone who can give me a baby and be a father to his child. No strings attached. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“And you want me to do this because…”
Melanie heaved a dramatic sigh. “Were you listening to a word of what I said? I want you to do this because you’re a man, you’re right here in Montreal, you’re close to my age and you’re a billionaire.”
Sloane cocked an eyebrow. “Is that all?”
“No, there’s one more thing. You’re free and single and you look like you have no plans to settle down in the near or even distant future. Don’t you see?” Her voice rose in her excitement. “It’s the perfect solution for both of us. Neither one of us plans to get married any time soon but in the meanwhile we can at least make sure we have a child. ” Her face grew solemn. "Before it’s too late."
“And who says I have no plans to settle down?”
The question seemed to take her by surprise. “Well, you don’t, do you?” she stuttered. “Everybody knows you change women several times a year. You’re always in the papers with someone new on your arm. I just thought…” She shook her head and now she didn’t seem quite so confident. Instead, a look of doubt crossed her features. “You aren’t planning to get married, are you?”
“Not bloody likely,” he almost barked. It was true that he dated lots of women but marriage was not something he took likely. And he certainly wasn’t going to propose because a woman declared her undying love and swore she couldn’t live without him. He had to feel the same way too, right? “That’s beside the point. This is all too crazy, too…practical.”
“And that’s who I am,” she said earnestly. “A practical woman. I desperately want a child and I imagine you would one day want to be a father. Why not start now? This would be a straightforward arrangement. Love would have absolutely nothing to do with it.”
For a long while Sloane just stared at her, wondering where that brain of hers dug up this zany idea. But a practical one, at that. The lady had a point.
“So,” he said, his voice low and slow, “how do you propose we go about doing this? Where do we make love? My house or yours?” He’d asked the question half jokingly, just to humor her. He still didn’t know if he’d even go down that twisted road with her, tempting though it was to have her in his bed. He could imagine those long legs wrapped around his waist as he sank…
Her gasp put a sudden end to his musings. “I don’t plan to make love to you. All I want is your sperm. We can just go to the clinic and-”
“Oh, no, you don’t.” Sloane put up a hand, cutting her off mid-sentence. “I’m not going to any clinic for them to put my stuff in a bottle. You want my child, you‘d better get to work. And I don’t mean in your office.”
That shut her up real fast. Mouth agape, she stared at Sloane then her face grew red. “I’m sorry. I thought…”
“What? Backing out?” Sloane chuckled. “Am I so repulsive that you wouldn’t go there…even to get the child you say you so desperately desire?”
“N…no, you’re not repulsive at all. You’re actually…very handsome.” She blushed a rosier pink as the words left her lips, reminding him of the shy kid he’d seen so many years before. “I just never thought…”
“You know what?” Sloane said, tenting his fingers as he watched her. “You go home and think about it. I might…just might…grant you your wish. But only if you grant me mine."
***
How crass. Melanie could not believe Sloane Quest actually said what he did. She’d better get to work? He’d made it sound like she was some kind of lady of the night. She shuddered at the thought.
But now that she was home and thinking about it, as he’d so rudely ordered her to do, try as she might she just could not come up with an alternative. When she pondered and pondered and still could not identify another suitable but less demanding donor, she thought of ditching the whole idea. But then where would that leave her? Miles away from her goal, and her thirty-fourth birthday fast approaching. That was not giving her much time to give birth before age thirty-five.