The Millionaire's Intriguing Offer

Be Mine

Bailey wished he would just leave. She couldn't stand the stunned look on his face. Obviously he'd thought that now that he'd explained about the letters and she'd forgiven him for his angry accusations, and he'd forgiven her for hiding the truth so long, things would just go back to the way they were before the trip.

It was so much more complicated than that.

She never, never should have let things go this far with Jack. It was her own fault.

Why had she even gone to Sag Harbor with him? All those memories. And with them, more certainty than ever that she and Jack lived in two separate worlds, and trying to combine them would lead to nothing but heartbreak.

He'd be way better off with someone like Caylee, his "not cousin," and the woman his mother clearly wanted him to end up with. Caylee fit. Bailey never had.

"Look," Jack said, "if it's my mother, I hardly ever see her. And I wouldn't mind not seeing her at all. My life is here in Miami."

"Do you think I would want to be the reason you never see your mother at all? Get serious, Jack."

"I am serious. About you. About us."

"I don't fit. Not in Sag Harbor. Not at your family home in Connecticut, I'm sure. Not at the glitzy social events in New York City. And no, not even here in Miami. You're a wealthy successful lawyer with a trust fund, for heaven's sake. And don't forget, one of the hottest bachelors in Miami. Mitsy wasn't the only one bidding a ridiculous amount of money hoping to win a date with you." She sighed. "And I'm a-"

He cut her off. "You're a successful woman with a graduate degree in social work who has dedicated her life to helping others. On top of that, you're a talented artist in your own right. My grandfather loves the sun catcher you made for him. It's stunning. You have a job you love, and friends who adore you. On top of that, you have a kind heart." Jack paused. "And you are far and away the hottest woman I've ever known."

Bailey snorted. "Yeah, right, you with the string of socialites you've dated think I'm the one who's hot."

"Bailey. I'm serious."

"Look, I get that we work well together, when it's just us. I admit no-one has ever made me feel the way you do."

"Then what-"

This time it was Bailey who cut him off.

"You can't ignore where I come from."

His face showed that he just wasn't getting it. Did the man live in a bubble?

Jack spread out his hands. "You come from a small family farm in Iowa, with parents who, I happen to know, also adore you. You come from a grandfather who was as good a man as I've ever met anywhere. Bailey, I don't understand what the problem is."

The look of incomprehension on his face was making her crazy.

"Then let me explain it to you," Bailey said. "My biological father is a career criminal. He was in and out of jail as long as I can remember. He's probably in prison right now. I don't know. We don't keep in touch.

"My mother is an addict. I can't count how many times she was in and out of treatment facilities. It never stuck. I don't know where she is now, or even if she's still alive. I've known since I was a little kid that it was only a matter of time until she would overdose once too often and no one would get to her in time.

"I don't care about them. Either of them. That makes me cold, doesn't it? Not at all that kind person you were describing a moment ago.

"And I'm more like them that you know. I'm afraid to drink even a glass of wine, because I could end up exactly like her, unable to stop. I've studied this. A propensity to addiction is hereditary. My grandmother was a closet alcoholic, did you know that? Wine was her drug of choice, and she destroyed her liver. My grandfather saw the pattern repeat itself again with his daughter. My mother.