Expecting A Fortune. Jan Colley

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СКАЧАТЬ knew a little of the history. Skylar and Blake’s real mother, Trina, was run off the Fortune Estate, sans children, when Nash discovered her cheating on him. By all accounts, Patricia, Nash’s third wife, was more of a mother to them than their own.

      “I don’t know Skylar as well as I should.” Nash lifted his coffee cup. “She bottles things up. She’s close to her brother, and Patricia and Maya, but doesn’t seem to need the rest of us much.” He gave a sad little smile. “We all think the world of her, but it’s true, we’re a family that doesn’t talk easily about feelings.”

      “I’ll take good care of her, sir. I know it’ll be strange at first, a new country, being away from her family. But I’m in a position to give her anything she wants.”

      “What she wants? I think what she wants is her independence. And her horses. Girl always loved her darn horses.”

      “I have more than enough horses to keep her happy.” Zack pushed his plate away and leaned his arms on the table. “It’ll be a good life, Nash, and I’ll bring her and the baby back whenever she wants.”

      “It’s not me you have to convince.” The older man sighed heavily. “There’s too much goin’ around in my old brain at the moment. Thing is, I don’t think Skylar knows a lot about the ways of men. She’s an innocent.”

      Not that much of an innocent, Zack thought grimly.

      A flash of blue through the window caught his eye. Their subject mounted the steps outside. “Do I have your blessing, sir?” he asked quickly.

      “My blessing?” Nash stuck his thumb in his belt, his tired blue eyes peering out under thick graying brows. “If you can get the girl to agree then…” He nodded slowly, then raised his head.

      Skylar entered the room, looking mutinous. They both watched her approach and Nash inhaled sharply. “How the heck did we all miss it?” he murmured. “It’s as obvious as a poke in the eye she’s expecting.”

      Both men stared at her candidly, though doubtless Zack’s reaction was vastly different than her father’s. To an outsider, she was dressed as normal: jeans, a longish flannel shirt with a shapeless navy jacket over the top. Her light brown hair shone in braids, what he could see of it, with her signature baseball cap jammed on top.

      The moment she’d opened the door last night, the knowledge that she was pregnant hit him like a sledgehammer between the eyes. Wham! She’s pregnant. Wham! It’s mine.

      Wham! Not again…

      He’d always considered her pretty. Her wide mouth turned up at the corners with a sweetly pronounced bow in the middle. Arched brows dipped low in the middle of her forehead in that interesting way some women had that looked like they were on the verge of frowning. The old adage about pregnant women glowing was true, the proof of it standing in front of him now. A luster to her creamy skin, freckles seemed more pronounced, her eyes more blue. In his mind, the shy and scruffy tomboy who never looked him right in the eye, had been replaced by one hellishly attractive woman.

      One very ticked off woman. As if she could read his thoughts, she glared at him, her chin tilted up defiantly. “What are you doing here, upsetting my father?”

      Nash raised his hand. “Now, now. He’s not upsetting me. We’re just having a chat.”

      She kept her eyes on Zack. “About me, naturally.”

      Zack folded his arms, torn between a worrying stab of desire and annoyance.

      “Get yourself some breakfast, girl,” her father ordered. “Let’s talk this thing out.”

      Skylar narrowed her eyes even more for good measure then stalked to the buffet and poured some juice into a glass. She returned to the table and sat.

      Zack looked pointedly at the glass. “Shouldn’t you eat something?”

      “Don’t start,” she retorted.

      Both guns blazing, he thought with wonder. Where had this spitfire been hiding?

      Nash looked at her daughter. “Zack has asked me for your hand.”

      She scowled. “How quaint. Is that a New Zealand custom?”

      “Skylar,” Nash hushed her. “Do you like him at all?”

      She exhaled and looked away with a shrug.

      “Well, I assume you liked him well enough to make a baby with him,” Nash rumbled.

      Skylar’s eyes shot around the room, resting on Peggy clearing a table over by the window. “Dad!” Her freckles almost disappeared in the crimson glow. “I’ve told him I’ll take care of everything,” she said in a low voice. “He can see the baby whenever he wants. If he wants.”

      Zack swallowed his scathing reply. He would deal with that when they were alone.

      Nash cleared his throat. “See, I think Zack might be a little like me. When I asked your mother to leave, it was on the proviso that she leave you kids here. I couldn’t bear to be parted from you, any of you.”

      “Lots of people are single parents,” she began. “Statistics say…”

      Nash cut her off. “Not in this family, girl. You’re a Fortune. I would ask you to consider the implications of that in all you do.”

      Skylar’s eyes widened.

      Nash continued in a softer tone. “Just because it’s the modern way doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone.”

      She glanced meaningfully at Zack. “If you want to be more involved, then you’re just going to have to spend more time in the States.”

      He frowned at her. She seemed to have left the stammer behind, as well.

      Then she did something that rocked him to the core. She leaned right back in that age-old pose of pregnant women everywhere, one hand cradling the bottom of her belly and the other moving slowly, lovingly, just under her breasts.

      Something slammed in his chest. Man, he’d never wanted to touch something so much.

      “Zack?”

      Nash’s voice cut through his longing. Zack cleared his throat for the second wave of attack. “We can come over two or three times a year. I know you’ll want the baby to grow up knowing family.”

      Skylar’s sweet mouth compressed and she huffed out a sigh. He frowned at her, annoyed with himself for being distracted, even charmed by her. “Skylar, I’m offering you marriage. Security. A good life for that baby of ours. There will be no stigma about single parents, or why Daddy doesn’t live with you. You and I aren’t romantics. We are sensible, well-grounded people. We’ll damn well make this work for the sake of the child.”

      Her mouth still a straight line, she put her nose in the air and looked away.

      Nash rested his elbow on the table, his fingers moving through his graying hair. “I wish Patricia were here. She’d know what to say.”

      Skylar looked at him, concern softening СКАЧАТЬ