Excerpt from:  Her Secret Bodyguard

Noah stared in utter disbelief. "You’re hiring someone to what?"

Sami erupted from her chair. Why did he look so shocked? He said he’d been hired by her mother, that Babe knew about the ad. So why the sudden outrage? "To father my baby, of course. Isn’t that what we’ve been discussing all this time?"

"It may have been what you were discussing, but—"

She attempted to walk off some of her agitation, the chatter of her bracelets drowning out his words. "Don’t you understand? I chose this method because a clinic is so...so clinical. It’s impersonal. I think that’s terrible! Having a baby shouldn’t be a clinical process. And it shouldn’t be impersonal." She helped herself to another square of chocolate, savoring the creamy texture as it melted on her tongue. She instantly felt calmer. She held out the box. "Would you like one?"

"No. What I’d like is an explanation."

"You don’t know what you’re missing." Clearly the man had no appreciation for the finer epicurean treats in life. "I want to know all about the man who will father my son or daughter. I want to know what sort of genes will be combining with mine. What he looks like, what he thinks about, whether he has more than two brain cells rattling around in his skull."

"Whoa! Time out." He added something beneath his breath, a ferocious slew of words she was better off not attempting to decipher.

She planted her hands on her hips and swiveled to face him. "What’s wrong?"

"Is that what all those men in the hallway are for?"

"Of course."

"You’re looking for someone to father your baby?"

Her frown deepened. "Maybe I should also schedule a psychological exam, just to play it safe."

"I suggest you schedule one for yourself, as well."

He climbed to his feet, towering over her. Maybe it was his penchant for wearing black she found intimidating. Really, couldn’t he have softened the effect with a bit of lemony-yellow or peachy-coral? Or perhaps it wasn’t the intense black at all, but the way his shirt stretched over impressively broad shoulders and clung to powerful thighs. Or maybe it was the manner in which he fixed those piercing gray eyes on her. It took every ounce of self-possession not to squirm like a schoolgirl. She hadn’t felt this way since... Since... Well, good grief. Come to think of it, she’d never felt this way.

"Have you lost your mind?" he demanded.

As far as she was concerned, there was no question about it. She scowled. "I suspect I have. Maybe if you moved all—" She gestured at the muscular wall of black blocking her path. "All that further away, I could think straight."

His eyebrow—his black eyebrow—shot upward. Amusement dimmed the anger glittering in his gaze. "Am I standing too close?" he asked blandly.

"Yes. To be honest, I’m typically one of those people with little to no sense of personal space. But with you..." She shook her head. "I may have to install a buffer zone."

He took a deliberate step backward. "Better?"

"Much thanks."

"Good. Now perhaps you can answer my questions. You put an ad in the newspaper for sperm donors?"

"Yes. Though I worded it a bit more politely than that."

"How politely?"

She swept to the coffee table by the chairs, bracelets jangling in agitation, and picked up a scrap of newspaper. "Didn’t Babe show this to you?"

He took the ad from her and removed his reading glasses from his shirt pocket. Another frown lined his brow, but Sami suspected this one came from his need for the glasses. She was willing to bet he despised them because they gave visible expression to an irritating weakness. A man like Noah might make allowances for weaknesses in others, but she doubted he tolerated them in himself. Propping the half-glasses on his nose, he read the ad aloud.

"Man between the ages of 25 and 40 needed to contribute his all in a brief romantic encounter. Will be well-paid for his efforts. Required to produce positive fruit from aforementioned labor. Must sign contract that any and all results will be the exclusive property of recipient."

He carefully removed his glasses and pocketed them. "Have you lost your mind?" he asked with impressive calm.