The Stud Read Online Free PDF Page A

effect, if you'd like. "
    "You're missing the point The point is me —" he jabbed his chest with the side of one loafer "—inside me. I'm not a block of wood. One of the reasons I don't want to have children is that I'm not a good candidate for fatherhood. My work takes me all over the world. I'm never in one place longer than several months at a stretch. I go where I want, when I want, and I like it that way. If I had kids, I'd feel guilty doing that. "
    "There'd be no need for guilt. The ground rules here would be different. You could do your part and then forget about it. "
    "Come off it, Jenna, " he snapped, and quickened his pace. "What about illness? What if the child developed something? Don't you think I'd feel anything? What if, God forbid, it needed a transplant of some sort? Do you think I could ignore that? And then there's the practical matter of getting you pregnant in the first place! Your doctor may have a standard procedure for this, but, according to what you say, that standard procedure requires that I be here at the time you're ovulating. Correct?"
    "Yes, " she said, working to keep up with him.
    "Well, what if I'm not? You want fresh sperm, but what if I'm halfway around the world. "
    "Florida isn't halfway around the world. You said you'd be in the Keys for a while. "
    He stopped and scowled at her. "Did you set me up for that? Did you deliberately get me to tell you that to strengthen your argument?"
    "No, I—"
    "Your argument isn't strengthened at all. " He set off again. "I'd have to be here to donate fresh sperm at the very time you're ovulating, which means dropping everything I'm doing to sit in a little room and whistle a happy tune. And what happens if it doesn't take? What happens if you don't get pregnant the first time? Does your doctor's standard procedure guarantee results?"
    "Of course not, " Jenna said, climbing the steps to the lawn only slightly behind him. "It may take a while. "
    "A while? Two months, three, four?"
    "Maybe. "
    "And I'm supposed to fly up here each time and do my little thing?"
    "I'm asking you a favor, Spencer. A favor. "
    "Hey, you guys!" Caroline called, coming at them across the lawn at the same time that they cleared the steps. "We were beginning to think you drowned. "
    Spencer sputtered out a mocking sound, but he didn't push his sister away when she slipped an arm around his waist. That didn't mean she was fully escaping his wrath. Gruffly he said, "Did you honestly think I'd go for this, Caroline?"
    Caroline shot a worried look at Jenna, who had come to a halt on her other side. "He's mad?"
    "Not mad, " Jenna murmured. "He just needs more convincing. "
    Rising instantly to the cause, Caroline told Spencer, "I think it's a wonderful idea. Mom and Dad aren't the only ones who want you to have a child. I do, too. I miss you when you're gone, and you're gone all the time. If I had a little Spencer to be an aunt to, I'd be in heaven. If my best friend was my niece or nephew's mother, I'd be in seventh heaven. "
    "Yeah, and you think our parents would leave it at that? They'd be demanding that I marry Jenna and give the baby our name. "
    "That's out of the question, " Jenna said with such force that both pairs of Smith eyes flew to hers. She looked straight at Spencer. "From the start, I told you I didn't want to get married, and I mean it. I'm not looking for a husband—I'm not looking for in-laws— I'm not looking for an aunt or grandparents for my child. I'm not looking for money, and I'm not looking for a name. My baby will be a McCue. So, much as I love them, if your parents start pushing for marriage, I'll fight them even harder than you will. "
    "You will?" Caroline asked with blatant disappointment.
    "I told you I would, Caroline. From the very beginning, from the very first time I mentioned this to you, that was one of the ground rules. I don't— want—to get—married. All I want is a baby. "
    "Which brings us back to the point I was trying to make, "