answer. I get what I want without any further obligation to the boy’s mother. Once the heir is born, she goes her way and I take the child and go mine.”
“And you’re definitely going through with this?” she asked, looking more doubtful with each passing second.
“Yes.” He leaned back in his desk chair. “I want you to research the state laws and compile a list of reputable agencies specializing in surrogacy. I’ll expect it on my desk by noon.”
“Is there anything else you need?” she inquired, rising to leave.
“No. That will be all for now.”
As he watched her close the door to his office, Luke could tell that she strongly disapproved of his decision. But he knew her well enough that she wouldn’t voice her objections. And that was one of the many reasons Haley Rollins made the perfect executive assistant. She was amazingly efficient, had business instincts that rivaled his own and knew when to voice her opinions and when to keep them to herself.
An hour later, Haley breathed a tiny sigh of relief as she closed the Internet browser on her computer. It appeared that Luke would have to forego his plan of producing an heir through a surrogate. From everything she found on the subject, the state of Tennessee had taken a clear stand and only allowed married couples to enter into surrogacy agreements.
Nibbling on her lower lip, she glanced at his closed office door. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Luke should have a child of his own. She did. But only for the right reasons. And she certainly didn’t consider having a baby simply because he needed someone to run Garnier Construction eventually to be one of them.
Unfortunately, her boss wasn’t the type to give up that easily. He’d made up his mind, set his course of action and that was that. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he would somehow find a way to get what he wanted. He always did.
Her chest tightened at the thought. She’d been giving babies a lot of thought herself after receiving a birth announcement from a friend and would give almost anything to have a baby. Considering her feelings for Luke, she’d like nothing more than for him to be her baby’s daddy. But aside from the fact that he’d never looked at her as anything more than his extremely competent executive assistant, she wanted all the things he wanted to avoid. She wanted love, marriage and the close family life she’d never had.
She slowly pushed away from her desk and walked over to tap on his office door. There was no sense in thinking about any of that now. His plan had run into a huge obstacle and was effectively stalled, at least for the time being.
“Luke?” He was on the phone and motioned for her to enter, so she seated herself in front of his desk as she waited for him to end the conversation.
“I’ll be there on Saturday. Set up a special meeting for me with the office staff, then I want to visit the job sites to meet the construction crews. In the meantime, reassure them that I have no plans to make any major changes. Their jobs are just as secure now as they were when Emerald, Inc. owned Laurel Enterprises.”
Hanging up the phone, he turned his attention her way. “I take it that you’ve already compiled the list of surrogacy agencies?”
“I didn’t get that far,” she stated, shaking her head. “It appears that your plan has run into a bit of a snag.”
“And that would be?” he prompted.
“State law allows only married couples to hire surrogates.”
She could tell when he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand that he wasn’t at all happy with the news. “Are there any exceptions?”
“If there are, I couldn’t find them.” Shrugging, she added, “There are a few states where the law is more liberal on surrogacy, but this isn’t one of them. How-ever, it doesn’t appear to be illegal to enter into a verbal agreement with a woman as long as there’s no compensation other than medical expenses and she willingly signs over her rights to the child.”
“Did you consult with my attorney?” he asked, a deep frown creasing his forehead.
She shook her head. “Mr. Clayton is out of town for the next week and I hesitated calling anyone else due to the discretion needed for a matter this sensitive. Besides, from everything I could find on the issue, the state law is quite consistent—married couples only.”
Luke nodded slowly but remained silent, mentally reviewing what new course of action to take. “In other words, I need to find a woman with the traits I want and one who would also sign over her custodial rights immediately after giving birth.” He looked thoughtful for several long moments. “That would be taking a huge risk without the protection of a binding contract.”
Haley should have known he’d immediately start thinking of other options to obtain his goal. That was the way Luke worked. When he ran into a roadblock, he found the best way around it.
But the thought of another woman bearing his child caused a tight knot to form in the pit of her stomach and she suddenly felt the need to escape his presence. “I’ve decided to take the rest of the day off,” she announced, quickly rising to her feet. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t count on me being here tomorrow.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
She wasn’t surprised by his puzzled expression. In the five years she’d worked for him, she had never taken time off other than her annual two-week vacation. But she wasn’t about to explain what she didn’t fully understand herself. He wouldn’t want to hear her explanation anyway.
And really what could she say to him? Oh, by the way, I love you and it breaks my heart to think of you having a child with another woman.
No, she needed space to regain her perspective and come to grips with the fact that no matter what it took, Luke would find a way for his outrageous plan to work. She wasn’t part of it.
Walking to the door, she turned. “To borrow one of your favorite phrases when you don’t wish to share details…let’s just say I feel like taking the time off and leave it at that.”
“All right, that’s it.” As he hung up the phone, Luke sent his desk chair sailing backward and quickly rose to his feet. “I’m going to put an end to this ridiculousness once and for all.”
Grabbing his suit jacket from the coat tree, he stuffed his arms into the sleeves and headed for the door. Nothing had gone right since Haley walked out of his office yesterday and she had just called in “sick” for tomorrow. Facing another day with Ruth Ann, the temporary secretary, was completely intolerable and he wanted to know what the hell was going on. He didn’t for one damned minute buy Haley’s weak excuse that she just didn’t feel well.
“I’ll be out of the office for the rest of the afternoon, Ruth Ann,” Luke growled as he passed the woman seated at Haley’s desk. “If you can figure out how, forward all my calls to my cell phone, otherwise just take messages.”
“A-all right, Mr. Garnier,” she answered in a whiny tone that further irritated him. “W-will there be anything else?”
“No.”
Ruth Ann’s voice not only resembled the sound of fingernails scraping the surface of a blackboard, she looked and acted as if she was scared to death of him. And that was only scratching the surface of the many problems he had with Haley’s temporary replacement.
To say the woman was absolutely incompetent would be the understatement of the year. Ruth Ann couldn’t make a decent cup of coffee, couldn’t find anything in a simple alphabetic filing system and found the phone to be an utter and complete mystery to her. She somehow reached the public relations coordinator for the Tennessee Titans football team while attempting a conference call with his satellite office in Atlanta.
He needed Haley back on the job immediately. She kept his office running like a well-oiled machine. Not to mention the fact that she made a damned fine cup of coffee.
As Luke navigated the late-afternoon