Billionaire Baby Dilemma by Barbara Dunlop Read Free Book Online

of the pool deck and wrapped it around Amelia to keep her from getting chilled.
    Byron watched her approach. Then he gestured to a lounge chair. Devin accepted his offer, stretching out her legs, draping the ends of the big towel across her bare stomach and thighs.
    The sun was warm on her wet limbs and her rapidly drying hair.
    As Byron sat down in the lounger on the other side of a small square table, his glance flicked critically to Lexi. Devin didn’t offer to ask Lexi to leave. Whatever the man had to say, he could say in front of her friend.
    Byron seemed to accept the situation. “I hear tell you’ve met Steve Foster.”
    â€œI have.” She focused her attention on adjusting the towel, making sure Amelia’s pale, delicate skin was protected from the sun.
    After a moment, she looked back up into the silence to see Byron regarding her with penetrating hazel eyes and a grim line of a mouth.
    â€œYou know there’s been some trouble between those boys.”
    Devin gave a small shrug. “Steve’s helping me out. Lucas is fighting against me. Is that the trouble you’re talking about?”
    Water sloshed in the pool as Lexi came off the air mattress.
    â€œMore to it than that,” Byron corrected.
    Devin steadfastly met his gaze. “Anything else is none of my business.”
    â€œI’d be willin’ to bet that it is.”
    She shook her head in denial as Lexi made her way through the shallow end and out of the pool.
    â€œYou’re the latest pawn in a feud that goes back a considerable long time.”
    â€œI’m not going to be anybody’s pawn.” Devin couldn’t care less about the emotional and financial entanglements of the Demarco family. She was fighting for Amelia, and that was the end of it.
    â€œWhat is it you’ve got in mind for an endgame?”
    Devin didn’t understand.
    Lexi wrapped a towel, sarong-style, around her dripping wet body and slicked back her blond hair as she moved toward them.
    Byron’s gaze tracked Lexi until she sat down. Then he glanced back to Devin. “What is it you’re hoping to get out of this?”
    â€œAmelia,” Devin answered.
    Byron’s skepticism came through in his squint. He leaned forward. “Just between you, me and the hitching post?”
    Devin leaned toward him. “Amelia,” she repeated.
    There was a long pause.
    â€œAnd you think ol’ Steve can give you a hand with that.”
    â€œWe think he’s the only one who’s offered,” said Lexi, from the lounger next to Devin.
    Byron stared first at Lexi and then at Devin. “And why do you supposed he’s offered to help?”
    Devin kept her voice low since Amelia was drifting off to sleep. “I don’t particularly care.”
    Steve’s lawyers were giving her a fighting chance against Lucas.
    â€œAltruism?” Byron mocked.
    â€œA concept you’re obviously unfamiliar with,” Lexi retorted.
    Byron ignored Lexi and spoke directly to Devin. “He’s sidling up to you like some slick ol’ polecat. He helps you now. You help him later. If you know what I mean.”
    Devin blinked. “Have I done something to make you think I’m stupid?”
    Byron drew back in obvious surprise.
    â€œI’m taking Steve’s offer at face value. I haven’t made him a single promise.”
    In fact, she’d offered an outright deal to Lucas to manage the shares if he’d let her keep Amelia, but he didn’t trust her enough to agree.
    And who was to say Steve was the bad guy in this little family drama anyway? So far, she’d put the black hat firmly on Lucas’s head. He was the one who’d plotted with Konrad to trick Monica and produce an heir to their grandfather’s company shares. Devin hadn’t forgotten that.
    â€œSteve would steal your last dollar as soon as look at you,” Byron warned.
    â€œAs opposed to