Baby By Surprise by Karen Rose Smith

Author:Karen Rose Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2009-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

As Francesca opened the front door of the old Victorian a half hour later, Grady was right behind her, carrying her suitcase. She was vitally aware of his physical presence. She had been since they’d almost made love in his living room.

Silently, he followed her inside. She went in, turning on lights as she went.

He stayed in the foyer. “Should I leave your suitcase here?” he called.

Seeing that everything on the first floor was still as it should be, taking in a breath of the old house and the light cinnamon scent of potpourri, she returned to the foyer. “Yes, just leave it there.”

His brow furrowed. “I could carry it upstairs.”

Yes, he could. But her dependence on him was over. “It’s okay. Really.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets.

Francesca knew she had to slice through the tension, but wasn’t quite sure how to do it. “Thank you for inviting me to your house this week. The truth is—I’ve never had anyone look after me that way.”

As he studied her, the lines around his mouth didn’t cut quite so deep. “I guess that’s why it was so hard for you to relax.”

“I relaxed,” she protested.

“When I wasn’t around.”

He really was on the mark. They couldn’t seem to be around each other without generating…something—something that was incendiary and dangerous and she knew would eventually hurt them both. They had no basis for a relationship beyond their attraction and this pregnancy.

He added, “I’d still like you to let me know how you’re doing, how you’re feeling. Will you do that?”

“I will,” she assured him, knowing now he really cared about her welfare.

He proved that again as he moved toward the door and asked, “Do you have food in the house?”

“Enough. I’ll get some groceries tomorrow.”

To his credit he didn’t ask how she would get those groceries.

Her phone rang.

“You’d better get that,” Grady said, and stepped outside.

“Thank you,” she called after him.

But he just tipped his hat and strode to his truck.

Her phone rang again. As she closed the door, she turned to answer it. She swallowed around the lump in her throat. Was she upset because Grady was leaving?

She was startled to see Darren’s number on the caller ID. Why would Darren Whitcomb be calling her at home?

Anxiety tapped at her chest as she picked up the phone and told herself there was nothing to be afraid of. She’d left Darren. It was over.

“Hi, Darren.”

“Hi, yourself. I tried to call earlier. I heard about your accident and I wanted to know how you were.”

Did he know about the baby, too? Probably. Hospital scuttlebutt was faster than Amtrak. What he didn’t know was whose baby it was. No one had known that except for Tessa, Vince, Emily and Jared.

“It was kind of you to call, but I’m fine.”

“I heard one of the nurses say you came in Friday to take care of the Vasquez baby, but that you weren’t returning to your own house.”

Why would Darren care if she was at her own house? “I stayed with…a friend.

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