Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
“But I want him to know,” she whispered, her voice tight with fury. “I want him to know it was me.”
His expression remained inscrutable, but his jaw flexed as he seemed to consider his next words.
“Okay, Fern, he’ll know it was you,” he conceded with a curt nod. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“But…” How to verbalize exactly what she was feeling without seeming too—
“You want to see his reaction, don’t you?” he said, a tiny thread of amusement running through his voice as he said exactly what she’d been thinking. “That’s bloodthirsty as hell, lass.”
She lifted her chin defiantly and shrugged, striving for nonchalance as she said, “I think I deserve that much at least.”
“Well, do me a favor and don’t listen to his fucking messages anymore, okay? They’ll only upset you and possibly make you ill again. What with your constitution being out of whack because of the… the—” He made a vague circling gesture with his open hand. “The thing.”
“The thing?” she repeated, tilting her head quizzically, amused herself now at his clear discomfort. “You mean the baby?”
He grimaced.
“I mean, it’s hardly that at the moment, is it?” His brow pleated.
“What would you call it then?”
“I’d rather not…” Oh, he really looked a little hot under the collar now. Back in a navy-blue Tom Ford suit, with a pristine white shirt and a striped gray and blue tie, he should have exuded confidence. Instead, he tugged at the collar as if it was choking him and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “What I think doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
“It shouldn’t,” he corrected her abruptly. “We’re merely strangers forced together under a set of extenuating circumstances.”
“That’s true,” she acknowledged. “But I’d still like you to answer.”
“So that you can get all offended about it?”
“What makes you think I’d do that? Like you said, we’re strangers, you don’t know how I’d react.”
“Look this pregnancy business is a complication I’d much rather not deal with right now. For me there’s no joy or excitement or anticipation. What you think of as a baby, I see as an inconvenient bundle of parasitic cells that’s only making you ill.”
Fern tried not to flinch at his words. She’d insisted he tell her and should have been prepared for the worst. She just hadn’t expected a complete repudiation of the baby as even a living being.
It frightened her a little… no, it frightened her a lot. Fern tried to tell herself that it was good, that his indifference meant that he’d never want her baby, never fight her for custody… But she feared that Cade’s indifference would also mean that the protection he currently offered Fern would never extend to her baby. And until she was able to take control of her own life, she needed to know that her baby would be safe here. That Granger would never exert any sort of control or influence over the child’s life. If anything happened to her, what would happen to her baby?
Who would champion him?
“See? I’ve upset you,” he sounded disgruntled and Fern blinked, coming out of her panic spiral and back to the present with a jolt.
“No. I mean… not really. Not in the way you think. I was just—” She gave a helpless little shake her head. “You feel the way you feel. I understand and I can’t hold it against you. You don’t owe me anything, Cade… quite the contrary. I’m indebted to you.”
He parted his lips and seemed about to respond, before he gave a curt impatient shake of his head and clamped his mouth shut.
“Is your meeting over?”
“Yes.” He elbowed his unbuttoned jacket aside and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. An irritable glower settled over his handsome features and Fern wondered what bug had crawled up his butt this time.
“I was wondering about dinner?”
“What about it?”
“Was thinking maybe we eat out? Someplace where we’d be seen. Possibly photographed?”
Fern groaned inwardly at the idea.
“Do we have to?” she asked on a soft sigh. “I mean, I know we have to be seen together and stuff, but does that have to be tonight? I’m just so tired. So much has happened these last couple of days, I’ve barely had the chance to breathe. And the parasite”—sorry Baby, Mommy doesn’t think you’re a parasite at all—“is really sapping my energy levels right now.”
His lips thinned at the word parasite but he refrained from commenting, that moody gaze sweeping over her again, lingering on her hair.
“That’s fine. Another night then. I forgot to tell you, my sister-in-law Beth invited us to lunch tomorrow. I told her yes, I hope that’s okay?”
“That sounds lovely,” Fern murmured.
“Right, I have some work to catch up on.”
“Again?”
“What?”
“You’ve been catching up on work since we arrived. Haven’t you caught up yet?”
His lips tilted upwards and his eyes gleamed with what could almost be described as humor. “You sound like a nagging wife.”