The Marriage Contract

A Billionaire’s Baby Plan

Desmond Pierce wants a child—but the conventional route won’t do for the reclusive inventor. Enter McKenna Moore, a medical student willing to be a surrogate mom...and to marry by proxy without ever meeting her husband. But when the baby’s health requires McKenna to not only face Desmond but also live with him, their chemistry explodes. Soon McKenna is in his bed, where he wants her to stay. But saying yes to making their marriage real puts McKenna’s dreams at risk—and forces Desmond to reevaluate everything he’s ever wanted...

McKenna pulled back.

But Desmond still had her trapped between his body and the table. Her pulse thundered in her ears as they stared at each other.

“That was...”

“Amazing?” he supplied, his gaze hot. “Yeah. But I’m sensing we’re going to stop now.”

“See, we communicate just fine.” She gulped. “I’m just...not sure this is a good idea.”

They were not two people who had the luxury of an uncomplicated fling. They were married with a divorce agreement already hammered out. That was not a recipe for experimentation, and she wasn’t much of an experimenter anyway.

Where could this possibly go?

“Oh, it’s a good idea.” His piercing gaze tore her open inside as he promised her exactly how good it would be without saying a word. “But we both have to think so.”

With that, he stepped back, releasing her.

She took a deep breath and nodded. He was being gentlemanly about it, putting all the balls in her court. “I agree. And I don’t think that right now.”

Her mind didn’t, at least. Even if her body did.

* * *

The Marriage Contract is part of Mills & Boon Desire’s No. 1 bestselling series, Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men...wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.

The Marriage Contract

Kat Cantrell

www.millsandboon.co.uk

USA TODAY bestselling author KAT CANTRELL read her first Mills & Boon novel in third grade and has been scribbling in notebooks since she learned to spell. She’s a Mills & Boon So You Think You Can Write winner and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award finalist. Kat, her husband and their two boys live in north Texas.

Dayna Hart: this one is for you because

Beauty and the Beast is your favorite.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

One

Despite never having believed in miracles, Desmond Pierce witnessed one at 7:23 p.m. on an otherwise nondescript Tuesday as he glimpsed his son for the first time.

A nurse in navy blue scrubs carried the mewling infant into the small room off the main hospital corridor where Desmond had been instructed to wait. The moment his gaze lit on the baby, he felt a zap of recognition in his gut.

My son.

Awed into speechlessness, Des reached out to touch the future.

Warmth and something totally foreign clogged his throat. Tears. Joy. Vindication.

Amazing. Who knew money really could buy happiness?

The kid’s face screwed up in a wail of epic proportions as if the nurse had poked him with a pin. Des felt his son’s distress with deeper empathy than he’d ever experienced before—and that was saying something. It winnowed through his pores, sensitizing his muscles almost to the point of pain as he held himself back from snatching the boy from the nurse’s arms.

Was this terrible combination of wonder, reverence and absolute terror what it was like for all parents? Or had he been gifted with a special bond because his son wouldn’t have a mother?

“How are you this evening, Mr. Pierce?” the nurse inquired pleasantly.

“Regretting the sizable donation I made to this establishment,” he growled and immediately bemoaned not taking a moment to search for a more acceptable way to communicate. This, after he’d vowed not to be his usual gruff self. “Why is my son crying?”

Better. More in the vein of how he’d practiced in the mirror. But the hard cross of his arms over his chest didn’t quell the feeling that something was wrong. The baby hadn’t been real these last forty weeks, or rather Des hadn’t let himself believe that this pregnancy would end differently than Lacey’s.

Now that he’d seen the baby, all the stars aligned. And there was no way in hell he’d let anything happen to his son.

“He’s hungry,” the nurse returned with a cautious half smile. “Would you like to feed him?”

Yes. He would. But he had to nod as emotion gripped his vocal cords.

An explosion of teddy bears climbed the walls behind the rocking chair the nurse guided him to. A vinyl-sided cabinet with a sink occupied the back corner and the counter was strewed with plastic bottles.

Des had done a lot of research into bottle-feeding, as well as all other aspects of parenting: philosophies of child rearing, behavioral books by renowned specialists, websites with tips for new parents. He’d committed a lot of it to memory easily, largely owing to his excitement and interest in the subject, but then, he held two doctorates from Harvard. There were not many academics that he hadn’t mastered. He was pretty sure he could handle a small task like sticking the nipple into the baby’s mouth.