When his gaze landed on Stijn again, surrounded by his three matched beauties, the perfect solution hit him.
***
The next morning, bright and early, Asher returned to the Janssen castle to meet with Stijn, and he brought his checkbook.
Greer’s father met him in his study, a surprisingly modern and opulent room given the bizarre medieval look of the rest of the house. “I’m glad you came today,” Stijn said, greeting him with an insincere smile and a handshake.
“Very much so,” Asher lied as the man led him into the room and they both sat. “How’s your daughter today?”
For a moment, Stijn’s expression grew puzzled. “As far as I know, she is fine. Why do you ask?”
“Because she’s pregnant with my child.”
Stijn didn’t pause. He opened a box on his desk and pulled out a cigar, then snipped the end off of it. “Forgive me, Mr. Sutton, but I thought you were coming here today to talk about financials.”
Cold bastard. “I’m getting there.” He relaxed in his chair. “Your company’s in trouble, isn’t it?”
Stijn lit the cigar and took a puff before answering. “Anyone can look at our quarterly reports and see that profit margins have been growing narrower over time. I’m afraid with the Internet, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to compete with free porn websites.”
“I’m prepared to purchase an extremely large share of stock in Dutchman,” Asher said bluntly. “As much as it takes to gain control of the company.”
Stijn froze. He studied Asher for a moment, then placed the cigar in an ashtray. “Go on.”
“I’m willing to pump money into your company to keep it afloat. Whatever you need. My company’s worth billions now and increasing more every day. I can help you turn things around. I’ve got the capital to do so.”
“That is very generous of you. And what do you want from me?”
“I want you to get married.”
His eyebrows went up, and his expression reminded Asher of Greer. “You what?” Stijn repeated.
“I want you to get married,” Asher said again.
“I’ve never married.”
“Now’s a great time then, don’t you think?”
“I have three girlfriends. Triplets.” He put a finger to his ashtray, nudging it idly. “How am I supposed to choose between them?”
“I don’t know and don’t care. Make it a contest. Put it in your magazine. Whatever floats your boat. I don’t care if you marry the family dog. I just want your daughter to plan the wedding.”
“I see.”
“I just have one condition.”
“It seems you have many conditions. What else can you possibly want?”
“I want to be your best man.”
A shrewd smile crossed Stijn’s face. “Now, I am starting to understand.”
“I thought you might.”
Chapter 4
G-Force: Guess who I saw at my father’s party last night?
Tay: Who???
G-Force: Asher!
Tay: OMG NO, GREER. JUST NO.
G-Force: Yes. That jerk.
Tay: Did he look like hell? Did you want to slap the shit out of him?
G-Force: No, he looked good. He always looks good, Taylor. Always. The man can’t possibly look bad. It sucks. And as for slapping the shit out of him, I did.
Tay: You did what???
G-Force: He figured out I was pregnant. Guess I’m showing? And then he asked if it was his.
Tay: Oh my god. There are not enough emojis in the world for the expression on my face.
G-Force: Right? And then he kept rambling about how it was such a huge mistake to sleep with me. I wanted to kick him in the nuts. I hate him.
Tay: I’m glad you slapped him because I would have flown in just to do it for you!
G-Force: Thanks, Taylor.
Tay: You should tell Gretchen she needs to kick his skeezy ass out of the wedding.
G-Force: I can’t. She’s stressing out as it is, and with Levi dropping out, there’s been enough scrambling. Forcing her & Hunter to pick another groomsman goes against everything in me as a wedding planner. I’ll just suck it up.
Tay: Hugs. Gotta go. Raid soon!!
Greer clicked off the messages with a sigh, and then put her phone down. Taylor’s idea of asking Gretchen to boot Asher from the wedding was a good one, but she wasn’t brave enough to go through with it. Gretchen had warned her that she planned on being a bridezilla, and so far, well, she hadn’t been far off the mark. She’d wept a storm of anxious tears when Levi had bailed on the wedding, and Greer couldn’t imagine putting her friend through anything like that again just because Greer was too stupid to not sleep with Asher.
It was just going to be Greer’s burden to bear. She could do it, though. She’d see Asher at a few social events between now and the wedding, the rehearsal, and that was about it. She could handle it like an adult. No problem. After all that, she’d never have to see him again.
Her hand smoothed down her stomach. It was slightly rounded despite her only being three months along. She was going to be one of those lucky, lucky people that did everything early, it seemed. Early to have morning sickness, early to show, and maybe she’d even have the baby early.
Is it mine?
Her teeth clenched and she wanted to punch something. How many people did he think she was freaking sleeping with? The nerve. If she hadn’t hated him after that night, that little question had cinched it. She felt nothing but loathing for Asher Sutton.
Good riddance. Even as she thought the words, it hurt. It hurt that he thought so little of her that he even had to question it. It hurt that he’d rambled on and on about what a mistake it was to sleep with her. Being around Asher was like pouring salt into an open wound.
She needed to give it time. Six months from now, Gretchen would be getting married, and Greer would be practically ready to give birth. A lot could happen in six months, and by the time she had to see Asher again, months would have passed. She’d be completely over him by then. Maybe then it’d even stop hurting.
Knock, knock. “Miss Greer? Your father wants to talk to you downstairs in his study.”
Greer sat up on her narrow bed. “He does?”
“Yes, ma’am. Says it’s very important. Can you come down?”
“I’ll be right there.” Odd that he’d send someone to come find her. Normally he sent her an email—even when she was living under his roof. Perturbed, she found her shoes and then headed downstairs.