The Soldier's E-Mail Order Bride (Heroes of Chance Creek) by Seton Cora

Author:Seton, Cora [Seton, Cora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, Military, Suspense
Publisher: One Acre Press
Published: 2014-07-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

‡

“Your color scheme met with approval?” Austin asked Ella an hour later when he met her at the coop. He’d been relieved when he saw Regan walk back to the Hall where Mason met her. Hopefully the newlyweds would take a well-earned nap and relax for the rest of the day before rejoining them for dinner. He wanted time alone with Ella.

“Seeing as all I did was match the color of the Hall the best I could, there wasn’t much for her to object to.” Ella sat back on her heels, paint brush in hand. She was coating the chicken coop with a weathered gray paint.

“Does that mean you two are getting along?”

Ella chuckled. “Yeah, we are. I think Regan really wanted us to live in the Hall, but she’s coming around.”

“Mason and I will move the bed into the bunkhouse by nightfall.”

“Great.” She smiled up at him.

Austin considered his next words carefully. “We never discussed children.”

“We never discussed much of anything, if you think about it.”

“Maybe we better start.”

She leaned forward to dab more paint on the coop, revealing a swell of breast under the scoop neck of her T-shirt. With her baseball cap on and her hair pulled in a ponytail through the back, she looked like any other country girl around these parts, except for her luminous beauty.

Since she hadn’t responded, he figured it was up to him. “I never planned to have kids.”

“Why not?”

Her expression was inscrutable. Austin thought about her question. “Being in the Special Forces is dangerous. I know what it’s like to lose a father. I wouldn’t put a child through that—or a wife.”

“That makes sense. I’d given up on kids myself. If I’d taken off time from my career for pregnancies and births, I would have missed too many scripts. I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I have. And Anthony didn’t want them.”

“But now you’re done with acting. And with Anthony.” He shifted nearer, restless as usual when he heard the actor’s name.

“And you’re done with soldiering.”

He nodded. That still felt strange to acknowledge, but it was true. “Have you changed your mind?”

She held very still for a long time, as if checking in with her body to find the answer to that. “Yes.”

“Yes?” Austin was unprepared for a prickle of excitement that brought his body on alert. Hadn’t he just told himself there was no way he would have kids?

“Yes, as long as we can make a deal. Think about it this way. If I can get pregnant right away, then no one will question our marriage—including Heloise. Once Heloise signs over the deed next year, we’ll get divorced and the baby and I will go on our way.”

“What? Hold on now.” Austin straightened. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. She thought he’d knock her up and then let her walk away—just like that? What kind of man did she think he was?

The kind who entered into a marriage of convenience, he supposed. After all, he’d had no problem with that deception.

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