The Baby He Wanted by Janice Kay Johnson

Author:Janice Kay Johnson [Johnson, Janice Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

LINA COULD NOT believe it when Bran slammed his car door before she could so much as get a word out. Her hand shook as she unlatched her own seat belt and grabbed her swim bag. The minute Bran opened the passenger door to let her out, she said, “You cannot be serious.”

“I’m serious about getting you safely into the apartment,” he snapped. “Pay attention.”

Fuming, she let him hustle her into the building and up to the fourth floor. His relentless concentration didn’t ease up until they were inside the apartment and he was locking the door behind them.

Lina stalked as far as the kitchen table, dropped her bag and turned to confront him, arms crossed. “What, you think you own the baby now? And, gosh, better keep the brood mare close to the barn to be sure she doesn’t wander off?”

Muscles knotted in his jaw, he flung his wet towel and suit toward the counter. “You’re pregnant. I want us to get married.”

She laughed in disbelief, even though boiling up underneath was...something else. “You’re crazy. This is not the 1950s. Single motherhood isn’t scandalous anymore, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Is single motherhood what you really want?”

Her mouth opened and closed.

“You really think people don’t still get married because they’re having a baby together?”

“Want to bet on how many of those marriages make it? Or what the kids go through with the divorce?”

“You mean, divided custody? Isn’t that what you’re suggesting?”

“But this is different!” She struggled to calm herself. “We don’t have to be hostile.”

“You’re yelling. That sounds pretty damn hostile to me.”

He, of course, wasn’t yelling. Instead, his expression had become remote. That stone face was probably useful on the job. When Bran’s brother lost his temper the other night, he probably hadn’t liked that cool stare any better than Lina did.

She’d quit believing Bran was just unemotional. She’d almost cried at what she saw on his face while he listened to their baby’s heartbeat. He’d just become good at putting a lid on all those things he didn’t want to feel.

She had the strange thought that his anger the night she’d got him to spill all the stuff about his sister was hopeful. His emotions had swung wildly. In reliving an awful part of his life, he had gone to an emotional place he hated. For her.

Still, she tried logic again now. “It makes no sense to tie ourselves together just because we’re having a baby. We can be good parents without—”

Blue eyes glittering, he paced toward her; she retreated, without daring to look over her shoulder to make sure she didn’t run into anything.

“When I make a promise, I keep it,” he said softly, which did not make what he said sound any less menacing. “I want a family.”

She quit backing away and stood her ground. “As a replacement to the one you thought you had lined up? And, oh so conveniently, this one comes with a baby already on the way?”

He was smart enough to look wary.

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