Red Carpet Arrangement. Vicki Essex

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СКАЧАТЬ He hoped she wasn’t one of those women. They’d had fun that night, but that was it. She’d made that pretty clear herself.

      “Riley.” She gripped him by both arms, drawing him closer. “Look at me.”

      He searched her face, saw the desperate tears gathering in her blue eyes, a color as deep as the Pacific, the intense flush on her softly rounded cheeks.

      Her chin drooped, and he followed the motion down to the unmistakable baby bump hiding beneath her open jacket.

      “It’s yours,” she whispered.

CHAPTER TWO

      KAT HAD EXPECTED ASTONISHMENT. Shock. Denial and panic. She’d hoped for happiness. She’d been ready for anger. But she hadn’t anticipated the older woman with dark brown hair in a sparkly evening gown who appeared at Riley’s side.

      “Riley? What’s the matter?” Her quizzical gaze slid toward Kat. She wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

      “Come on.” He yanked her close, the heat of his breath draping over her neck. “And for God’s sake, cover that up.”

      She fumbled with the buttons of her jacket as he spoke briefly to the woman standing beside him. Her back stiffened and she stared at Kat. A petite younger woman in black with stilts for heels swept in, cupping Riley’s elbow. A few low words and now her eyes sharpened on Kat, too.

      Chicken nuggets. This had been such a bad idea.

      Around her, flashbulbs went off. Someone shouted a question at her. Then someone else. And suddenly, she was enveloped in shouting, and then a hand on the small of her back guided her forward as the men who’d previously tried to bum-rush her out closed in around her.

      They weren’t leading her away, though. Instead, they waded into a sea of upraised hands holding huge cameras, the flashes like lightning, blinding her. All she could see through her dazzled vision were dark-clad backs and shoulders. The air was so stifling, she thought she might pass out.

      All through it she could feel the heat of Riley’s body pressed against her side.

      “Don’t say anything,” he said in a low, deadly voice. “Don’t respond. Don’t look up.”

      It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to funnel cake off—that no one told her what to do. But then a car door opened in front of her like a dark maw.

      “Get in.”

      The air-conditioned leather interior was too tempting to resist. She ducked her head and launched herself into the backseat, quickly scooting over as the older woman in the evening gown slid in after her, followed more sedately by Riley and Stilts For Shoes.

      The door slammed shut, and the limo—she realized that was what she’d gotten into, with its rear-facing seats and the floor space between them—pulled away from the curb.

      “Back to the hotel,” Riley told the driver before turning his glare to Kat.

      Now three pairs of eyes scrutinized her across that narrow space. She occupied the front-facing seat all on her own, the others crammed together in their finery looming over her.

      Their questions all came at once.

      “What are you doing here?”

      “Who are you?”

      “How did you get past security?”

      “Riley,” the older woman said. “Do you know this young lady?”

      “My name’s Katherine Schwinn,” she interjected. She swallowed thickly. “I’m pregnant with Riley’s baby.”

      The older woman’s gaze canted to her belly and softened, and the questions that passed over her face all resolved into one gently spoken one. “How far along are you, dear?”

      “Twenty-six weeks.” She bit her lower lip, tried not to look at Riley. “I’m due the first week of November.”

      “Riley...” Stilts drew his name out. “Tell me this isn’t...”

      “Do you have proof?” he asked.

      She’d been prepared for his skepticism, but it still hurt. She met his glare unflinchingly. “What do you take me for?”

      “What do you take me for? You don’t think other women haven’t tried—”

      “Riley!” the older woman snapped. “That is not how you speak to a woman. I taught you better than that.”

      “Mom—”

      “Sorry for him.” Her eyes, a deeper green than Riley’s, twinkled. “My name’s Winnie. I’m this one’s mother. We’ve had a long night.”

      Riley’s mother? Fish sticks and tartar sauce, it really couldn’t get worse.

      “The movie!” Stilts exclaimed. She banged on the glass separating them from the driver. “Turn around. We’ve got to go back to the theater.”

      “We can’t,” Riley protested. “What about...” He waved at Kat. “We can’t risk going back and having her throw a tantrum in front of the press.”

      Anger seethed beneath Kat’s desolation and loneliness. She curved one arm protectively around her middle. Don’t worry, Sweetpea, Daddy’s just in shock...

      “You can’t not show up for your own movie premiere,” Stilts exclaimed. “You’re doing a Q and A after the screening, remember?”

      “Then, we’ll go back for that. Driver, hotel. We’ll sort this out and return to the theater in time for the end.”

      Kat bristled. “If you think you’re going to figure out the future of our baby in two hours—”

      “Two hours, two minutes,” Stilts breathed.

      “—you have got another think coming.”

      “If the baby is even mine.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

      Kat raked her fingers through her hair. “You think I would’ve put myself through all this if it wasn’t?”

      “People do all kinds of things for money.”

      So that was what he thought this was about. Well...he wasn’t that off the mark. She straightened. “The baby’s yours. I didn’t sleep with anyone else after you, nor for months before you. I’m willing to do a paternity test to prove it.”

      Riley harrumphed, yanked open the limo’s minibar and emptied a tiny bottle of whiskey into a glass tumbler. Winnie made a noise of disapproval. Kat wished she could share that drink to soothe her nerves.

      “Let’s cut to the chase,” Stilts said as Riley tossed back his drink. “What do you want?”

      Who was this woman? She looked far too СКАЧАТЬ