The Stud by Barbara Delinsky Read Free Book Online Page A

when or where. I'll call you tomorrow. Will you be around?"
    "All day. I won't go anywhere. I'll wait for your call. Spencer, thanks. I really appreciate your doing this. "
    "I haven't said I'd do anything. "
    "But you haven't said no. You're thinking about it, and that's all I can ask. If you decide you can't, I'll be really disappointed, but I'll understand. It wouldn't be right for you to feel forced into doing something that you're against either for moral reasons or for reasons that—"
    "Go to bed, Jenna, " he cut in. "I can't think when you babble. I'll call you later. 'Bye. "

Chapter 4
    Spencer could have easily killed Caroline. Lying in bed, feeling distinctly disgruntled at three in the morning, he swore he would have, if he didn't love her so much. But she had always held a special place in his heart. From infancy, she had adored him. Sure, his parents had loved him, but not in the unconditional way Caroline had, and in turn, he had used his six-year edge to protect her whenever he could. Time had put physical distance between them, as had the needs of their individual personalities. As she'd grown older, Caroline had even had a thing or two to say about his nomadic life-style. Still, she indulged him more than his parents did. She made Newport a less confining place for him. Usually.
    But she'd done it this time. She had actually told Jenna that he might go along with the idea of donating sperm for Jenna's cause, and though no one had told him he had to do it, though no one was holding a gun to his head or binding his arms and legs and milking his seed from him, he felt trapped in an invisible— and infuriating—kind of way.
    Jenna was sweet and sincere. She was pretty in a dark-eyed, dark-haired, creamy skinned, well-bred kind of way. In the same well-bred kind of way, she was a successful businesswoman. He was sure she would make a good mother. He was also sure that despite any protestation she might make, she had her heart set on his helping her, which meant she would be crushed if he refused.
    But he didn't want to have a child. He didn't want the responsibility—and he meant what he'd told Jenna: he would be aware of that responsibility no matter how fervently she absolved him of it. He didn't want to know that a child of his was alive in the world while he was running around having fun. True, it wasn't an irresponsible kind of fun. It was self-supporting, even profitable when he tallied in the proceeds from sales of his books and movie rights. Still, it was fun.
    If only Caroline had nixed the idea from the start If only she had told Jenna that he wouldn't go for it or that he would be furious if she asked, he wouldn't be in such a mess. But Jenna had asked him, and she'd done it in a way that had made it very, very difficult for him to turn her down—because some of her points were valid. He didn't want them to be. He wanted the idea of single motherhood to be totally off the wall, but it wasn't, at least not as Jenna proposed it. She had thought everything out. She had the means, the desire and, he was sure, the natural aptitude for motherhood. She was also right about his parents being thrilled and, therefore, appeased where his leaving an heir was concerned—which raised another point that she had made that kept sticking in his mind. His estate was as sizable as Jenna's, but he didn't have a direct heir for it, either. Not to mention the fact that they would make a good baby together, he and Jenna. She was right there, too.
    So. What was he supposed to do? She was offering him something that he hadn't considered before but that had some merits. If he turned her down, he might never get another offer like it. If he turned her down, he might be sorry in ten or twenty years. If, God forbid, something happened to one or both of his parents the way it had happened to Jenna's, would he be sorry he hadn't given them the gift of a grandchild? If something happened to him, would he lie on his deathbed