Shotgun Groom. Kristin Morgan

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СКАЧАТЬ narrowed his gaze. “You know what.”

      “No, I don’t.”

      “Then you’re obviously forgetting the last time I came over to discover that you had cooked all my favorite foods for no particular reason. But we both know that in the end you did have a reason. You had volunteered my services as judge in that pie-tasting contest, remember? And do you remember what a catastrophe that turned out to be?”

      Beth gave him a placative smile. “Now look, Jack, that women’s club was happy to have you as their judge...originally. In fact, for a time you had the entire membership charmed right down to their silverdyed roots. It wasn’t a catastrophe until you made it into one.”

      “Me?” he said, incredulously, placing his fingertips at the center of his chest. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I simply picked a winner. Isn’t that what a judge in any contest is supposed to do? How was I supposed to know that all those little old ladies were going to suddenly turn on me when I announced the winner and it turned out to be the same woman who had won the contest the previous year?”

      “Jack, all those women were well into their seventies—some, probably, in their eighties. Most of them were great-great-grandmothers. They weren’t exactly going to eat you alive.”

      “Yeah, well, you can stand here and say that. It wasn’t you they were aiming their dirty looks at. To this day, if I meet up with a couple of them in the supermarket, they won’t even speak to me.”

      In spite of the serious discussion she had planned for later that night, Beth laughed at Jack’s recollection of that particular afternoon. Thank goodness, she had gone with him to help with the contest. Otherwise, he would have panicked for sure. As it was, he had vowed never to sit in judgment of another woman’s cooking for as long as he lived. “It wasn’t that bad, Jack.”

      He placed his hands on his hips. “Look, I like little old ladies as much as anyone, but please tell me that you haven’t volunteered my services to them again.”

      “No, Jack, I haven’t,” Beth said prudently, suffering from a moment of slight indignation. After all, she’d only volunteered his name to the Retired Women’s Business Club of Acadiana because he’d said he wanted to get more actively involved with the community. And regardless of what he thought now, he was a better citizen today because of it. “It’s nothing like that. Besides, it just so happens that the committee chairperson this year didn’t ask me to find a judge for the contest.”

      That remark seemed to fly right past Jack as he gazed at her. “Okay,” he said, “if it isn’t another contest, then what is it?”

      Surprised that he was on to her so easily—she had honestly thought she’d been doing such a great job at hiding her emotions—Beth paused momentarily to regroup. “Uh... It can wait until after we have dinner.”

      Jack narrowed his eyes in concern. “I-don’t think so. You’ve made it sound too serious for that.”

      Beth cleared her throat. “Look, it’s no big deal. Certainly it isn’t anything that you’re probably imagining,” she said, hoping to somehow stall him for as long as she could. She simply wasn’t ready to tell him about her idea. Besides, she had a wonderful evening planned for them. If she got lucky, by the end of it Jack would be willing to help her with her dilemma. But if she jumped the gun on everything and told him her plan now, there was no telling what might happen. The truth was, she liked to stick to a game plan. It made her life predictable... stable.

      Beth glanced up and found Jack frowning at her. “Frankly, Beth,” he said, “I don’t know what to think. Are you sick or something?”

      “No,” she said, giving her head a hardy shake.

      “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

      “No, of course not.”

      “Well, that’s a relief,” Jack said. Then he deepened his frown. “Look, whatever it is, it can’t be that bad. I’m here now, I can help.”

      Suddenly tears sprang to Beth’s eyes. “Oh, Jack, I knew I could count on you,” she said.

      Taking her by the shoulders, Jack looked deep into her eyes. “Of course, you can count on me,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile. “So stop worrying. Everything is going to be just fine.”

      Somehow, Beth managed to give him the smile she knew he wanted from her. “As a matter of fact, it’s starting to look that way already,” she said, suddenly experiencing a wave of deep, unbridled emotion. Emotion that had suddenly taken a detour from its normal path and was now channeling its way through her heart. She loved this guy more than anyone else in the whole world. So why shouldn’t her feelings for him come straight from her heart? She pressed her body against his and for a brief moment reveled in the comforting thought that he was near. “And it’s all because of you, Jack.” Gazing up at him with wide, soulful eyes, she gave him the brightest smile she could possibly muster under the circumstances.

      A silly-looking grin slipped up one side of his face. “See,” he said teasingly, landing a playful blow to the side of her jaw. “Your Knight in Shining Armor has arrived. He’s just packaged differently than you thought he would be.”

      Beth was captivated by the thought. But she quickly reminded herself that she had strict rules of conduct against such things happening between them. For heaven’s sake, Jack couldn’t be her Knight in Shining Armor. He was her best friend.

      With that in mind, she shoved aside her disturbing thoughts and forced herself to laugh out loud—which, needless to say, was as much for her benefit as it was for his. “Yeah, right,” she said, teasing him back.

      Widening his grin, he glanced over his shoulder as though in search of something. “Well, I don’t see anyone else lined up for the job. I guess I’m all you’ve got—at least for the time being. You know the old saying,” he said laughingly. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

      Beth was smiling at Jack’s silly attempt to make her laugh when suddenly she sobered, reminding herself of what she had planned. “Oh, Jack, this is no laughing matter. This is one time I’m in desperate need of your help.”

      Placing his hands on his hips, Jack came to an immediately standstill. “Okay, Beth,” he said, with a slow shake of his head. “I can’t take any more of this. I need to know what’s going on here. It’s time you level with me.”

      Beth was trembling on the inside. Clearly it seemed her moment of truth had arrived. “I want a baby, Jack.”

      Chapter Two

      Suddenly Beth found herself at a loss. Now that her carefully laid plan for a perfect evening with Jack was lying in shambles at her feet, she didn’t know where to begin her story. She hated when something she had planned so meticulously went haywire. She felt stripped of her confidence, and her stomach was in knots.

      After taking in some badly needed oxygen, she suddenly found herself wondering how she was ever going to explain in no uncertain terms to her very best friend in the whole wide world that she wanted him to compromise a small portion of his future for the sake of her own.

      In that moment she wondered how she—or anyone—could even think of being so selfish.

      But then, in almost the next second, the thought of never СКАЧАТЬ