The Tycoon's Tots

The Tycoon's Tots by Stella Bagwell Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: The Tycoon's Tots by Stella Bagwell Read Free Book Online
Authors: Stella Bagwell
of an argument for his case. But now, looking across the table at Chloe, he knew deep down he was glad hewasn’t married. Which didn’t make a bit of sense. He couldn’t be looking at this woman as anything but a foe.
    â€œHave you ever been married?” he asked her.
    Three, even two, years ago that question would have filled Chloe’s eyes with tears. Now it simply brought a caustic laugh to her lips. “No. I guess I’m just not…good marriage material.”
    He didn’t know what she meant by that. And right now he couldn’t care. He was here to get the twins. Nothing more. Nothing less.
    Turning his gaze on the twins, who were presently entranced with three small children in the booth next to them, Wyatt said, “For the past ten years I’ve been busy getting my career off the ground. Then I turned thirty a few months ago and I began to realize how much I’d like to get married and have children.”
    Then why didn’t he marry and have some of his own? Chloe wanted to ask. And leave her babies alone.
    Wiping Anna’s face with a napkin, she said, “You might as well know right now, I’m a frank person. What I say, I mean. There’s no way on earth I’d give up the twins. I love them. They’re my children and—”
    Wyatt held up his hand. “At this point I know how you feel. I even respect you for it. But—and I’m saying this not for myself, but for the twins—you need to stop and consider the difference I could make in their lives.”
    Chloe did her best to remember Justine and Rose’s advice to hang on to her temper. “Like I said, I won’t give up the twins, but let’s just say for instance that I did. How would you take care of them? You have a job. You couldn’t be mommy and daddy to them all the time.”
    â€œI have plenty of money to hire a nanny while I’m away.”
    She arched one brow at him. “You think a nanny can replace family?”
    He shot her a dry look. “They’re two little babies. They don’t know who’s related to them.”
    She groaned. “You just don’t get it, do you?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou don’t understand what it means to have a family around you,” she answered.
    He looked insulted. “I had a family. At one time in my life.”
    â€œYou had a mother and father. A sister. But were you all a family?”
    His gray eyes were suddenly the color of blue steel. “Do you mean, did we all sit down together at breakfast for a bowl of cornflakes every morning? Or watch ‘Lassie’ together every Sunday evening?”
    What was it about this man? Chloe wondered. How could he make her feel so infuriated and so torn all at once? He was full of sarcasm, and she wanted to tell him how superficially he viewed life. Yet she also wanted to give and show him the kindness, the closeness she knew he desperately needed.
    â€œThat wasn’t really what I meant,” she said, then made an impatient swipe through the air with her hand. “And since you don’t understand, I’ll try to explain it this way. I’d much rather the twins be watching ‘Lassie’ on Sunday evening with their family than worrying over how to fatten their bank accounts.”
    â€œFrom the look of things, it wouldn’t hurt you and your sisters to do a little worrying.”
    He could have said anything but that. For months Chloe had lain awake at nights wondering where the ranch’s next dollar would come from and how it was going to cover everything her family needed to live. And his sister had put them in this desperate situation!
    Acid words burned her tongue, but she kept them to herself as she stood and quickly began to unbuckle the babies from their high chairs.
    â€œWhat are you doing?”
    â€œI’m going home.”
    His eyes roamed her flushed face. “I’ve made you an

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