At the Millionaire's Request Read online

  “You have a reputation as a gifted children’s speech pathologist. But you turned your back on a career….”

  “You don’t have any idea!”

  “I don’t have to.” Gavin held up a hand. “I’m a father. I’d slay dragons and storm fortresses if it would make my son the way he was. I can’t help him, but you can.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “I don’t buy that. You got positive results in the past. Why not now?”

  “I don’t owe you an explanation.”

  “No. That’s true. But the fact is I’m not giving up until I get one.”

  M.J. recognized the determination on his dark features. “An explanation? It’s called survival, Mr. Spencer. I simply can’t get wrapped up in a child. I can’t do it anymore.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t have the heart. My son took it with him when he died.”

  AT THE MILLIONAIRE’S REQUEST

  TERESA SOUTHWICK

  Books by Teresa Southwick

  Silhouette Special Edition

  The Summer House #1510

  “Courting Cassandra”

  Midnight, Moonlight & Miracles #1517

  It Takes Three #1631

  The Beauty Queen’s Makeover #1699

  At the Millionaire’s Request #1769

  Silhouette Books

  The Fortunes of Texas: Shotgun Vows

  Silhouette Romance

  Wedding Rings and Baby Things #1209

  The Bachelor’s Baby #1233

  *A Vow, a Ring, a Baby Swing #1349

  The Way to a Cowboy’s Heart #1383

  *And Then He Kissed Me #1405

  *With a Little T.L.C. #1421

  The Acquired Bride #1474

  *Secret Ingredient: Love #1495

  *The Last Marchetti Bachelor #1513

  **Crazy for Lovin’ You #1529

  **This Kiss #1541

  **If You Don’t Know by Now #1560

  **What If We Fall in Love? #1572

  Sky Full of Promise #1624

  †To Catch a Sheik #1674

  †To Kiss a Sheik #1686

  †To Wed a Sheik #1696

  ††Baby, Oh Baby #1704

  ††Flirting with the Boss #1708

  ††An Heiress on His Doorstep #1712

  §That Touch of Pink #1799

  §In Good Company #1807

  §Something’s Gotta Give #1815

  TERESA SOUTHWICK

  lives with her husband in Las Vegas, the city that reinvents itself every day. An avid fan of romance novels, she is delighted to be living out her dream of writing for Silhouette Books.

  To speech-language pathologist Christine Rosenthal who patiently and in great detail answered all my questions about what she does.

  To my friend and middle school teacher, Connie Howard, who reminded me that her niece Christine is an SLP.

  To my friend and kindergarten teacher, Marilyn Tobin, who was at dinner with Connie and me when grateful parents stopped to thank her for her dedication to their son.

  The encounter inspired this book. The three of you are an inspiration to me and all your students in spite of the way it sometimes feels.

  Teachers rock!

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter One

  Gavin Spencer would make a deal with the devil if it would help his son.

  And this just might be hell, he thought, staring at the high school kid with his red-tipped, spiked Mohawk and so many piercings it looked like he’d fallen face-first into a tackle box.

  “In the office they said I could find M. J. Taylor here,” he said to the teen sprawled in a student desk.

  “Who?”

  “Your teacher.”

  “You mean, the sub?”

  “If M. J. Taylor is your substitute teacher, then yes.”

  “Yes what?”

  “Yes, that’s who I mean,” Gavin answered, barely holding on to his temper.

  He didn’t have time for this. Every minute he wasted was a minute of normal that his son Sean wouldn’t have.

  “Why?”

  “Why what?” Gavin asked.

  “Why do you want her?”

  In two seconds he’d grab this skinny, disrespectful spiky-haired worm and shake him till his piercings fell out. Huffing out a long breath, Gavin counted to ten. Manhandling a kid was most likely not the way to get what he wanted.

  “It’s none of your concern why I want her. I just do. Where is she?”

  Spike shrugged. “Took Evil E to the office.”

  Evil E? Gavin really was in hell and it was getting more difficult by the second to believe M. J. Taylor was the angel he’d been promised by his son’s doctor.

  At that moment the door opened and a woman walked in accompanied by a male student. To Gavin’s immense relief her blond hair was perfectly normal, worn straight to just past her shoulders. Her only piercings were silver hoops in her ears where piercings were supposed to be. She looked very young, but her navy slacks, long-sleeved white cotton blouse and sensible low-heeled shoes told him she wasn’t a teenager. He couldn’t say the same for the white-faced ghoul dressed in black beside her.

  Gavin stared at the newcomer. “This must be the infamous Evil E.”

  The kid glowered more, if possible. “Famous? Is that good?”

  “Infamous,” she corrected, frowning at Gavin. “His name is Eveleth, you fill in the blanks.” Then she looked at the kid. “Your homework is to look that word up in the dictionary.”

  “But I’m suspended.” The tone was just this side of insolence.

  “That doesn’t mean you don’t have homework. It simply means you have several days of time out to think about your behavior and figure out how to make it acceptable in the classroom before coming back to school.”

  “I didn’t start it. He did.” Lifting a finger, he pointed at Spike.

  “You were supposed to be gone, Sullivan,” she said to hardware face.

  “I was waiting for him to come back for his stuff.” The languid teen instantly jumped up and went for the ghoul, shoving the sub out of the way.

  Recovering quickly, she got between them and tried to break it up. “Knock it off, you two,” she grunted, pushing against ghoul’s chest.

  For all the attention they paid her, she might have been an ant between two chihuahuas. But the stubborn look on her face said she wasn’t giving up. And that’s when she got popped by a stray fist.

  Gavin grabbed ghoul by the neck of his black T-shirt and easily yanked him back. The physical intervention startled him long enough for Gavin to step between the two and sweep her out of the way with his arm.

  “Back off before you get hurt,” he ordered.

  “They’re my responsibility.”

  “The responsible thing to do would be to get help while I keep them from killing each other.”

  She nodded then picked up the phone on the wall and spoke to someone on the other end. Two minutes later the door opened and a beefy man who looked like campus security burst into the room and the teens froze. He took one look at the situation and shook his head.

  “Office,” he barked at the two combatants. “Now.”

  The two creeps glared at each other, breathing hard. Then Spi
ke shot Gavin a drop-dead-bastard look before he sauntered out the door, every step broadcasting his message: screw you and every other adult on the planet. The ghoul followed in his cocky wake.

  “You okay?” the guard asked the teacher.

  “Fine,” she said, letting out a breath.

  Then the door closed and they were alone.

  She met Gavin’s gaze and her hand shook as she tucked a strand of silky blond hair behind her ear. “Thanks for your help.”

  “I’m glad I was here.”

  He studied her from head to toe, which didn’t take long as she barely reached his shoulder. Her hair was fine and straight, a center part sending the silken strands to frame her small face. Her too long bangs caught in the thick, dark lashes framing her big blue eyes—eyes that tilted up, catlike at the corners, which was the only striking thing about her. She was slender, delicate and almost fragile-looking.

  He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but when a woman was a man’s first, best hope, he wanted someone more…more something. Wings, a halo and the ability to walk on water would be a definite plus. He’d figured taller, too. Then he noticed the red mark just forming below her eye and anger surged through him all over again.

  He cupped her cheek in his palm and gently probed the area beginning to swell. “This needs ice. Are you really all right?”

  Her beautiful eyes widened as she quickly backed away. “I’m fine,” she said. “And grateful that you were here.” Then she stared at him. “Why are you here?”

  “I’m looking for M. J. Taylor.”

  “You found her. And you are?”

  “Gavin Spencer.”

  She looked puzzled. “The name doesn’t ring a bell. Do you have a student in one of my classes?”

  He wanted to ask if he looked old enough to have a child in high school but decided he didn’t want her to confirm it. What he’d been through with Sean had most certainly aged him. Instead he let his gaze wander over water stains in the acoustical ceiling and numerous desktop carvings in the thirty or so desks lined up in rows. This classroom was pretty grim.

  “The real question is, why are you here? From what I just saw, tax money would be better spent on pepper spray and self-defense lessons than books and computers.”

  She laughed and it was a lovely sound. The shadows disappeared from the depths of her blue eyes.

  “It’s really not that bad. I like working with teenagers. They’re funny and spontaneous. Today was just one of those days. An argument over a girl. Something happened at lunch.” One slender shoulder rose in a shrug. “Teenage passion mixed with an abundance of hormones is not a pretty sight. Most of the time those two are actually quite pleasant and bright,” she said, glancing at the door where the teenagers had disappeared.

  “You sub for them a lot?”

  “I’m a permanent substitute. I know. It’s an oxymoron. I’m taking over the class for a teacher who recently had a baby.”

  Suddenly the sparkle was gone and the shadows returned, and he wondered why.

  “What frightens me the most is that those two will be making the decisions about our welfare when we’re in our declining years,” he said.

  “One hopes not those two in particular,” she said, the corners of her lips curving up.

  “You should do that more often.”

  “What?”

  “Laugh. Smile.”

  Again the amusement disappeared and she was all seriousness. And sadness. “Training the next generation—our caretakers—is no laughing matter.”

  “So why do you do it?”

  “I have to make a living.”

  Everyone did. But he’d learned the hard way that if you had a lot of it, you became a target for the unscrupulous and morally challenged who wanted it. “You don’t have to make a living like this,” he said, glancing around again.

  “That’s presumptuous.” Her gaze narrowed warily as she studied him. “You never answered my question. Are you here about a student?”

  “I’m here because you’re a speech pathologist.”

  “How did you know that?” she asked sharply.

  “Dr. McKnight gave me your name.” Gavin saw recognition in her expression, which told him she knew the neurologist.

  “I was a speech therapist. Now I’m a teacher.”

  “A substitute,” he pointed out. “Why?”

  “I got burned out. This is less intense.”

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but that fight was pretty intense.” He looked around her classroom, then met her gaze. “Playing referee is better than helping children?”

  “I believe I’m still helping children. But none of that is any of your business. So, Mr. Spencer, unless you have a student in my class that you want to discuss, I think we’re finished—”

  “I want to discuss a student. But he’s not in your class. He’s my son and he’s in Kristin Hunter’s first-grade class.”

  “I know her reputation. He’s in good hands and couldn’t be in a better school.”

  Gavin knew that. It’s one of the reasons he’d bought his central California estate, Cliff House. He didn’t want his son in private school as he’d been. And all his research about the area had confirmed that Northbridge Elementary was the best. There were things he couldn’t give Sean—like a mother—because he’d taken steps to make sure the scheming opportunist who’d borne him a son would be out of their lives forever. But Gavin had grown up without benefit of maternal influence and he’d turned out okay. Sean would, too. There was no doubt in his mind. Because his boy had been doing great, until that terrible day—

  “It is a good school,” he agreed, pushing away the painful image.

  “He’s a lucky little boy.”

  Not so much, Gavin thought. If luck were involved, Sean would have been undamaged by the accident. But he was damaged and he needed therapy. Gavin intended to see that he got it.

  “My son suffered a fall that resulted in traumatic brain injury. It changed him. He needs therapy, Miss Taylor, and you come highly recommended. From all accounts, you’re the best.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Spencer—”

  “Gavin.”

  “I don’t do that anymore. I can’t help your son.” She turned away and walked over to the desk. After opening the bottom drawer, she pulled out her purse and slung the strap over her shoulder.

  Before she could walk out the door, he curled his fingers around her upper arm to stop her. “Wait. You’ve made up your mind? Just like that?”

  Surprised, she looked up at him, then at his hand, and he removed it. “Not just like that. There’s no decision to make. I’m retired from the profession. Goodbye.”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “School is over for today. I’m leaving now. It’s customary to say goodbye.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it. I’m told you have a gift for connecting with children. But you’re turning your back. And you won’t explain why?”

  “I don’t owe you an explanation.” But there was sympathy in her expression when she added, “I’m sorry about your son. I truly hope you find someone for his therapy and that he makes a full recovery.”

  “I’ve already found someone,” he pointed out.

  “Not the right someone. I can’t help him.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  “Then you heard wrong.”

  M.J. had been fine, making real progress putting her life back together. Until Gavin Spencer. Two days ago she’d seen the sorrow and anguish in his eyes when he talked about his son. Sorrow and anguish. She knew them well, along with gut-wrenching grief. At least Gavin Spencer’s son was still on this earth. Pain tightened in her chest when she thought about her own son. Her Brian. Her sweet boy. She missed him terribly.

  Still.

  Always.

  And, God help her, she couldn’t put her heart and soul into another child. She just couldn’t.

  Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them away.


  These troubling thoughts were all Gavin Spencer’s fault. If he hadn’t come to school the other day, all this would be buried as deep inside her as she could get it. But he’d brought it to the surface again.

  She was tired when she guided her small, clunky compact car into the long drive leading to the house. As always, it came into view after she passed the tall cypress trees lining the road. She loved the big old Victorian where she’d grown up. More importantly, her mother and aunt loved the house that had been in the family for three generations.

  And M.J. didn’t want to be the generation that lost it. Since it was her fault ownership was in jeopardy, it was her responsibility to make sure it stayed in the family.

  Frowning, she pulled up behind the sleek, shiny black Lexus sedan parked in the circular drive. When she shut off her ignition, the little car shuddered for several moments before going still. To the best of her knowledge, her mother and her aunt didn’t know anyone who drove an expensive car like this. Their bingo, bunco and bridge-playing buddies zipped around in small compact cars—in better condition than hers.

  As M.J. crossed the wide porch that wrapped around the house, she glanced once more at the black car and wondered if the sleazy bank official twirling the ends of his oily black mustache might be waiting inside to take her house away—in the very finest tradition of the Perils of Pauline. But that was silly and paranoid. She was making the payments on the mortgage her mother knew nothing about.

  Inside, she proceeded to the kitchen, picking up the sound of voices. As she got closer, she realized one of them was masculine and disturbingly familiar. She stopped in the doorway and saw her mother sitting at the oak table with Gavin Spencer. Apparently he was a man who couldn’t take no for an answer.

  There was always a first time, M.J. thought, walking into the room. Two pairs of eyes—one blue, one very dark brown—stared at her.

  “M.J., you’re home. Finally. I was starting to worry.” Evelyn Taylor fiddled with the china floral-patterned teacup in front of her. “After that incident at school the other day—Well, I worry that you’re not going to come home at all.”