The Misconception Read Free Page A

another. What if you do get pregnant, and he wants to play a part in the baby’s life?”
    “He can’t. You know that, Tracy. I neither want nor need a man to help me raise my child. He’s already signed a contract relinquishing all rights to any baby we might conceive.”
“What if he changes his mind?”
“It won’t matter. I’ve taken precautionary steps to assure he won’t be able to locate me if he does.”
“What kind of steps?”
“I’m going by the alias Rhea. In Greek mythology, she was the mother of the Olympian gods. Don’t you think that’s clever?”
Tracy didn’t even crack a smile. “What else?”
    “The only address he has for me is a post-office box, I made the hotel reservation under my alias and I’m not sharing any personal information. Why do you think I’m driving a rental car?”
    Tracy didn’t answer. Instead she looked hard at her sister, and uncannily zeroed in on the aspect of the plan that disconcerted Marietta most. “You do realize you have to have sex with him.”
    Marietta tried not to shudder. In her opinion, sex was a sweaty, undignified, unpleasant experience. Some women, Tracy for instance, claimed to enjoy it, but Marietta had found the deed was mainly about male gratification. In the animal kingdom, for example, the act often took less than ten seconds, and females seemed spectacularly unmoved by it.
    The only real benefit Marietta detected for most females, whether human or animal, was procreation. Which was what she needed to remember. For most of her life, she’d wanted to be a mother. As a child, she’d dressed her stuffed animals in diapers and pushed a toy baby carriage around the neighborhood. As an adult, her arms ached every time she saw a mother cuddling a sweet-smelling, cooing baby. If sex was the price she had to pay to get a child of her own, so be it.
    “Of course I know I have to have sex with him. I’m a biology professor, remember?” The wind blew through the open car door, and she shivered. “Would you let me go? It’s too cold to stay out here arguing with you.”
    Tracy’s head dropped. Reluctantly, she released Marietta’s wrist and backed away from the car. “You won’t let me talk you out of this, will you, Mari? You won’t even consider that something could go wrong.”
    “I’ve planned everything to the most minute detail.” Marietta slammed the door shut, turned on the ignition and listened to the rental car roar to life. She maneuvered out of the parking spot, rolling down the window to make her parting point. “The plane’s en route. The man who agreed to give me a child and disappear forever is on it. What could possibly go wrong?”
    AS THE PLANE did a bumpy landing dance down the runway, Jax theorized he’d gotten the wrong stomach when God handed out body parts.
    Anyone looking at him would see a very large, exceptionally strong man who appeared able to weather any hardship. Yet his stomach had soared and dropped with every air pocket the plane hit.
    Sweat broke out on his forehead. Geez, he hated to fly. Takeoffs and landings were such torture he had to call on all his willpower not to squeeze the hell out of the armrests. He’d done that once, and the plastic had cracked like an eggshell.
    He much preferred driving, but, unfortunately, that wasn’t an option. Not only would it take too long, but it would look bad. Very bad. And one thing Jax Jackson hated to look was bad.
    The plane finally skidded to a stop, causing everything he had drunk that day to slosh against the wall of his stomach before settling into an uneasy peace.
    When he was certain the nausea-inducing flying machine was motionless, he got unsteadily to his feet. He made sure nobody was watching before he pinched his cheeks to restore his color. Then he smoothed down his suit pants with hands he wouldn’t allow to shake and got into the stream of passengers deboarding Flight 707.
    “I hope your flight was enjoyable.” A pretty blond flight