The Cowboy's Forever Family. Deb Kastner

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ this even possible? Laney and Brody had been separated. And now she was pregnant? How could he have missed that fact when Laney was here for the funeral? A looming sense of guilt and responsibility clouded Slade’s thoughts.

       Brody’s baby.

      “You owe me some answers,” he pressed, turning to face her full-on. One way or another, she was going to tell him everything.

      She sputtered and gasped. Her irises flared, darkening the chocolate brown of her eyes. “You are the most arrogant, self-absorbed man I have ever met in my life. This isn’t about you, and I’m certainly under no obligation to answer to you. What would possibly make you think I’d tell you anything, especially after the way you’ve treated me today with all your blustering and bullying?”

      Slade flinched. He was many things, but he wasn’t a bully. Maybe he was trying to intimidate her a little bit, but for good reason. He was after the truth. And Laney did owe him that much, even if she didn’t acknowledge it right now. He had an obligation toward that baby. But maybe he was approaching her wrong, although he didn’t have the slightest idea how to fix that problem. He took a mental step backward, regrouping his forces against the stubborn woman.

      “Brody was my best friend.” Nothing like stating the obvious, but he had to say something to fill the awkward void left by her question.

      “He was my husband,” she launched back, spitting the words. “Not that you would have any idea about the kind of commitment a man and woman make to each other.”

      He hissed through his teeth. He had less use for love than he did for Laney. Just look at what it had done to Brody. He glared at her belly rather than meeting her gaze. One way or another, he was going to pull the truth from her.

      “I don’t understand. You didn’t even look pregnant at the funeral, and now you just show up in Serendipity out of nowhere.” A statement of fact, even if it resembled an indictment. “What’s your angle, Laney? Why are you really here?”

      * * *

      What was her angle? What was her angle?

      How dare he?

      Laney pulled in a deep breath through her nose in an unsuccessful attempt to force herself into a state of calm she didn’t feel—not so much for her sake but for the baby’s. If it wasn’t for the little one growing inside her, she might very well have launched herself at Slade and really given him the what-for he clearly deserved. She had the notion he’d never been walloped by a woman before, and it was high time he was taken down a notch or two.

      Or ten.

      Despite her best efforts, her heartbeat roared in her ears and her pulse skyrocketed. If real smoke could blow from her ears she’d be steaming like a kettle right now.

      “I wasn’t yet showing at the funeral, but I knew I was carrying Brody’s baby.”

      His piercing blue eyes narrowed on her and he stepped forward, looming over her and puffing out his chest like a rooster. As if that would intimidate her. She was exactly right in saying he was nothing but a schoolyard bully.

      “How did this happen?” His voice was low and icy.

      “Excuse me?” Both of her eyebrows arched, disappearing under her hairline. If Slade didn’t know the facts of life she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to explain them to him. The very idea was laughable.

      “You and Brody were having a baby together, when I know for a fact you two were separated well before his—” He paused and his voice deepened and turned gruff “—accident happened.”

      “Obviously, we spent some time together trying to work things out,” she retorted, clipping her words. “He was my husband,” she reminded him again.

      “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

      Wow. He might as well have slapped her. She could give and take as well as the next woman, but it wasn’t only her character he was maligning. It was Brody’s. And Slade was casting a shadow over their beloved baby, as if the unborn Beckett was some kind of mistake.

      “You can’t imagine how I felt when I discovered I was pregnant,” she informed him coldly. “I was so happy. So angry. And horribly, horribly saddened by it all. I’m responsible for raising Brody’s baby all on my own. He or she is all I have left of my husband.”

      He shrugged. “But you sure didn’t take any time after his death to grieve for him, did you? You ran away to—wherever—instead of sticking around.”

      “Take that back.” She shoved at his chest and he immediately raised his arms in surrender.

      “I’m only saying how it looked to me.”

      “Then maybe you need to get glasses. Not to mention giving me—and Brody—a little more credit.”

      He jerked his chin. She wasn’t sure whether he was agreeing with her or merely acknowledging what she’d said.

      “I had my reasons for leaving town after the funeral. And Brody and I were trying to work it out,” she reiterated, in case there was any doubt whatsoever in the big oaf’s mind. “Brody is the only man I’ve ever loved. But it didn’t help that you put ideas in his head, did it? Led him away from his family obligations without a care for how it affected me. Don’t you have a conscience?”

      He had the good grace to flinch, but the way he was eyeing her rounded middle, as if weighing her words for truth, made her want to cover her belly with her arms to protect the child within.

      “Why were you crying?”

      His question caught her off guard, not only the words themselves, but the muted tone in which they were asked. Surely he hadn’t picked now to decide to control that wicked tongue of his. He’d already done too much damage to go back now.

      “I—” She started to deny she’d been crying at all, but that would have been a lie. She had been crying. He’d caught her with tears pouring down her cheeks. She couldn’t very well deny it now. “Sometimes my emotions catch up with me. I try to keep them in check, but every so often, something reminds me of Brody and it’s just too much of a burden for me to bear.”

      “Yeah,” he agreed, sifting his finger through his thick black hair. “I know what you mean.”

      He probably did, at least to some degree. For all his faults, Slade had been Brody’s best friend and had known him from childhood. He had to be hurting, too, she supposed, in his own ill-mannered way. Maybe that was part of the reason he was acting like such a Neanderthal. Not that that was any excuse for the way he’d treated her when Brody was still alive...

      “Where are you parked?” he asked gruffly.

      “Back at Brody’s folks’ house.” She glanced around her but saw only grassland in every direction. It all looked the same to her. She hadn’t realized she’d wandered so far from the homestead. Not only could she not see the house from here—she didn’t even know from which direction she’d come.

      She was lost.

      Not that she’d admit that particular fact to Slade.

      “You СКАЧАТЬ