HER SECRET, HIS BABY by TANYA MICHAELS

Author:TANYA MICHAELS, [MICHAELS,, TANYA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ROMANCE
Publisher: HARLEQUIN
Published: 2013-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Arden suppressed a yawn, staring out the window at hundreds of twinkling stars. “I may have to spend the night in the truck. I’m too stuffed to move. Not that I’m complaining.”

“I have to say, my mother went all out. She must really like you.”

Was he really that blind? Arden wasn’t the one Caroline was trying so hard to win over. “I would’ve said it was more a case of slaughtering the fatted calf to welcome home the prodigal son. In this case, literally.” The Frosts’ freezer was full of prime beef they themselves had raised. Had it been strange for him as a boy, eating a steak that might have had a name only a few months ago?

“I’m not that prodigal. I was only gone for a week.”

“Nonetheless, she’s happy to have you home. Happy and scared. She’s afraid you won’t forgive her.”

“You think I want to be angry with her? I didn’t ask for any of this. Waffling between all these emotions sucks. It’s confusing. And exhausting.” As they walked toward the house, a motion-sensor light flooded the yard.

She took the opportunity to steal a better look at his expression. Did he classify her in the “any of this” he hadn’t asked for, one of the factors currently screwing up his life? She would never, ever wish away the baby, but for the first time, it occurred to her to wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t been pregnant when she’d encountered Garrett in the grocery store. Would they have met for a drink, maybe? Reexplored their physical connection? Would there have been a chance for them to develop something more?

“I know what you mean about the emotional exhaustion,” she said. “When Natalie and Danny died, I was livid. But maintaining that level of outrage over the unfairness of it all left me depleted. Listless. It was a long, slow climb up out of that pit.” Her night with Garrett had been a major catalyst in that process. She only wished there was more she could do to help him with his own personal crisis.

Inside, he asked, “Ready to turn in?”

“No. I slept too long this afternoon,” she said ruefully. His bed was impossibly comfortable. “But if you’re tired, I can read or something.”

He didn’t answer at first, and she wondered what he was thinking. Would he prefer the solitude of his own company? Or was he as reluctant to say good-night as she was? “How about we look into that online registry idea?” he suggested finally. “My computer’s in the bedroom.”

Fifteen minutes later, as Arden wiggled her bare toes and sipped from a steaming mug of generously honeyed chamomile tea, she decided that Caroline Frost was a genius for having thought of this. Arden had changed into a pair of pajamas, and Garrett was stretched out next to her in a pair of plaid flannel pants and a well-worn charcoal T-shirt, his muscles delineated beneath the thin cotton. This was so much better than rolling alongside him at a retail warehouse like his fat cyborg friend.

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