Her Baby's Hero. Karen Sandler

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      Better to stay as close to her as possible. All the better to keep the pressure on. He needed to tie things up as quickly as he could, get back to San José.

      Fate had just wrenched his life into a sharp U-turn, not toward disaster as it had twenty years ago, but toward…something new. Unexpected. He didn’t like surprises.

      He just needed time to wrap his mind around it, to understand how his world had lurched into unpredictability. He’d learned twenty years ago that if he didn’t want the rug pulled out from under him, he’d better keep himself in line, have every detail worked out completely. Otherwise, chaos would sit on his doorstep.

      Ashley’s brown eyes drew him, tugged at something inside him. Without a mother for so long, he never learned the knack for giving comfort, had never considered it something expected of him. That was a woman’s purview. But Ashley’s troubled gaze drove him to reach for her.

      He folded her hand in his, intending to give her a pat, a smile to ease her. But the moment he touched her, his world shifted again, lust and a baffling longing wrestling inside him.

      With the chair and sofa sitting at right angles, his knees nearly brushed hers. The lightweight fabric of her flowery dress shaped her legs, tempting him to run a hand along her still-slender thigh. It might have only been one night, a cataclysmic hour of lovemaking, but he remembered distinctly the feel of her taut skin as he trailed his fingers up to that sweet mystery shrouded in rose-gold curls.

      His heart pounded in his ears as he leaned closer, fitting his knee between hers. Balancing on the edge of the chair, he lifted his hand to curl around the back of her neck, threading his fingers into her hair. Her wide brown eyes fixed on him, the heat in them unmistakable. Her lips parted, inviting him in, begging him to brush his mouth against them.

      He was near enough to hear her breathing, to catch a trace of her scent. Her inner thigh felt impossibly hot against his leg and an urgency to press her back against the sofa, to cover her body with his exploded inside him.

      He let go of her hand, intent on exploring her body. But the terrain had changed, and with the first light contact against her rounded belly, he froze. She’s pregnant! What the hell are you doing?

      He pushed back, jumping to his feet. “God, I’m sorry.”

      She just stared at him, looking as stunned as he felt. Color had risen in her cheeks, whether from embarrassment or arousal he didn’t want to consider.

      “I had no right to touch you.”

      Her chest rose as she took in a breath. “No, you didn’t.”

      “But my intentions here…” He struggled to frame what he wanted to say. “My only purpose here is to fulfill my obligations. There won’t be any other relationship between us.”

      She tipped up her chin. “Of course not.”

      Feeling like a complete idiot, he edged toward the door. “I should go. Get myself set up at the inn.”

      When she started to push to her feet, he motioned her back down. “I’ll call you.” He shoved open the door and let himself out into the afternoon sunshine.

      He didn’t let himself think until he’d pulled the Mercedes back onto the road. He had a to-do list a mile long in his PDA, most of which he could take care of with his laptop and a data line. He’d have to call his stepmother, Maureen, and his brother’s caretaker, Harold. He’d only brought one change of clothes, so a trip down to that big box store in Marbleville would be in order. Shopping somewhere that didn’t stock Gucci and Armani would horrify his stepmother, but he doubted anyone in Hart Valley would notice the lack of designer labels.

      Could he reach his attorney this late in the day? He needed a trust fund set up for the baby. Another one for Ashley. Maureen would squawk about that, too.

      Should he call his stepmother’s butler, have him set up a suite of rooms for Ashley in the mansion? He’d want a place ready for her when he brought her back with him. Preferably in the east wing, opposite his own rooms at the other end of the sprawling Tudor. As far from his as possible.

      Like the sweetest fragment of a dream, Ashley’s face drifted into his mind. He ought to blot it immediately from his consciousness, but he let it linger as he slowed at the town limits. He hadn’t allowed himself to feel even the least anticipation at the prospect of seeing her again. Now something very akin to pleasure threatened to blossom inside him.

      Even though she meant nothing to him. She’d been a casual friend at Berkeley, someone he knew wouldn’t fit into the life that waited for him outside the university. Their one frantic night of passion hadn’t changed that fact.

      But the baby did. The baby changed everything. It meant he would have to make a place for Ashley, even if she was nothing more to him than the mother of his child. He could never let her go, not completely. She would always be that one small puzzle piece whose edges never quite matched, whose brilliant colors flamed in the otherwise drab tapestry of his life.

      Not five minutes after Jason left, Ashley’s cell phone rang. Deep in the sofa’s cushions, her body still tingling in the aftermath of what had nearly happened between her and Jason, she stared at the device burbling away on the breakfast counter across the room and considered ignoring its summons.

      But it was most likely Sara, and if Ashley didn’t answer, Sara would be on her way back here, lickety-split. Ashley had enough on her hands coping with Jason’s overbearing presence without Sara complicating matters. Her counselor sister would have her under the microscope, analyzing Ashley’s every emotion toward Jason. She’d never believe the short-lived passion of six months ago had burned itself out completely that night.

      The phone stopped ringing, but Ashley knew better than to expect Sara would leave it at that. She’d better call her sister back before Sara grabbed her car keys.

      With a heave, Ashley pushed up from the sofa and hurried to pick up the phone. It rang again almost immediately. Sara’s number flashed on the display.

      “Hey, are you psychic?” Ashley smiled as she answered, hoping it would mask the edginess in her voice. “He just left.”

      “He’s the father, isn’t he?” Sara rarely minced words.

      “Yes.” Twenty-three years old and Ashley still felt like a baby sister. “Guilty as charged.”

      “Why now?” Sara pressed. “All these months since you found out, you’d think he would have turned up before now.”

      Ashley took a breath. “Until today, he didn’t know.”

      Several seconds of silence ticked away before Sara asked, “And now that he’s heard the happy news?”

      “He’s staying for a couple days. To work things out.”

      “Staying where? Not with you?”

      “Of course not. At the inn.”

      She could imagine Sara’s scowl. “Does he know about—”

      “No.”

      “You have to tell him.”

      Ashley tried to rub away СКАЧАТЬ