“No, it’s not, but Firth in his infinite stupidity made me aware of something I hadn’t really thought about.”

“Such as?”

“When my father’s will was read there were two points that Fran and I brought to mediation in hopes of overturning. One was the fact I had to get married, and you already know how that ended up.”

“Yes, I do,” Joanna said, giving the rings on her left hand a quick glance.

“The other...well, the other had to do with producing an heir. The bylaws stated it must be done, but when Fran argued that point a few weeks after you and I were married, she won. Apparently, the mediators believed they didn’t have the right to act as God, nor did the company’s ancestors.”

“So if you won the point, why suddenly do you want a baby?”

“When the idea of having to be forced to have a child came up, I was adamant about never allowing that to happen—”

“Imagine that,” Joanna said under her breath.

A hint of amusement crossed Addison’s Face. “Yes, well, anyway, what Firth made me realize was that if I don’t have an heir, then everything I’ve accomplished or will accomplish will be for naught, and before I’m cold in the crypt, the company and the Kanes will be gone. I have no sisters. I have no brothers or cousins or aunts or uncles, so I’m it. If I don’t do this, the Kane bloodline ends with me and so does the company, and I don’t want that to happen.”

“Addison, tell me the truth. If you weren’t the only Kane, would you still want a child?”

“I honestly don’t know. I never wanted a dog, but I’m kind of used to him now,” Addison said with a half-hearted grin.

“There’s a big difference.”

“I know, but that’s all I can give you,” Addison said as her grin disappeared. “I don’t know the first bloody thing about children, but I can afford as many nannies as it would take and the best boarding schools and universities, and they’d never want for anything. That shouldn’t be such a bad life, should it?”

“You tell me, because you just described your childhood.”

Addison’s brow wrinkled as Joanna’s words sunk in, and she hung her head. “Christ, you’re right.”

“I’m not saying it was the worst childhood in the world, Addison, but it wasn’t the best either.”

“I know.”

Joanna reached for her glass and took a sip of her drink while Addison, seemingly lost in her thoughts, rested her elbows on her thighs and stared at the floor.

Putting down her glass, Joanna reached over and placed her hand on Addison’s knee. “So, I have a question for you, and you have to promise me to be completely honest when you answer it. All right?”