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Her elation at the good news from the doctor turned to dread as they pulled into the driveway. It was so unfair that this woman, basically a complete stranger, could waltz in and throw her life into such chaos. Kady remembered that night at the restaurant, and couldn’t even imagine what her reaction would be when Mia found out she was pregnant with Archer’s child. She had a moment of fear and panic for herself, and her unborn baby just starting to grow inside her. That woman was seriously, certifiably crazy!
“Dammit, Archer told Mia to stay away from our home,” Kady practically yelled.
“Hey, calm down, will you?” Daryl said, trying to ease the situation and the tension that now held Kady in its grasp. “You have to stay healthy for two now.”
“I swear if they’re in the house again, I’m calling the cops,” she retorted hotly, trying to take Daryl’s advice at least for the baby’s sake. “I don’t know how much clearer he needs to be beyond ‘stay away from my house’.”
“If they are in there, Archer appears to be in there as well,” said Daryl with a little frown.
Irritated now, Kady got out of the car and stormed inside through the kitchen door, the same one she had entered so unsure of herself that first day those few weeks ago. She walked through the small entryway into the large, extensively equipped kitchen and saw two female figures, both trying to be stealthy, crouched by the back wall.
Her temper erupted full blast as Kady saw them creeping through what had become her home, what would soon be her child’s home.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here!” Her voice was like a canon shot breaking the tense silence, making both women jump and spin. Kady normally would have felt some satisfaction at the look of guilty horror on their faces, but the thought of any threat to her and Archer’s child had her moving towards them, the phone already in her hand and ready to dial.
“Oh, Kady. You’re home.” Mia’s sickly smile did nothing to hide the hatred burning in her gaze. “Archer just invited us over–“
“You need to get out right now! I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
Kady cut her off just as she opened her mouth and before she could spew any more lies.
“If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the cops and filing charges against you for harassment, and breaking and entering.” The deathly seriousness of her voice convinced them that she wasn’t bluffing. And she really wasn’t. There was a fierce protective flame burning inside of her like a raging bonfire and she pitied whoever was dumb enough to threaten her or her baby.
There must have been an echoing spark shining in her eyes, because the women took one look at her and scurried back out through the door, leaving Kady to fume alone in the resounding silence. She was really beginning to despise that woman and the drama that erupted whenever she smashed into her normally peaceful, happy life.
What would it take to make her realize that she would never have a chance with Archer? That they had something real together that her crazy could never touch. With the thought of Archer, Kady wrapped her hands protectively around her still flat middle. A surge of joy swept through her, calming a little of the rage that Mia and her sidekick had kindled inside her.
After making sure that they really had left for good, she shut and locked the kitchen door. Then she went in search of Archer and found him upstairs in his office.
“Do you even know who I found in the kitchen just now?” she asked him in an angry tone.
“No, who?” he asked, his interest clearly still mostly on the work he appeared to be doing on his computer. It looked like stocks or something, but since he was suspended from buying or selling until after the hearing, she supposed he was probably just keeping up with the market.
“I can’t believe this,” she growled. “Mia and that other chick were down there looking though the cupboards. I kicked them out, of course, but don’t you think it’s time we did something about them?”
“I’m trying to stay under that judge’s radar,” Archer reminded her, angry at the intrusion of their privacy, and at his inability to act on it. “If he sees me in the same report along with that stupid little socialite, he might lock me up and throw away the key without even bothering to read the article at all, and then where would we be?”
“Well, at least we can tell him about this baby,” she whispered softly, patting her still-flat belly with a wry smile. “Six weeks, I guess.”
“Huh, what did we do, tag you on the first night or something?” Archer chuckled as warmth spread through his gaze, wrapping around her and squeezing her with a feeling of tenderness so intense it nearly took her breath away.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you did it at least within that first week in any case,” she said with a grin. “You tried hard enough.”
“Well, I didn’t see you complaining about it,” he reminded her, smirking triumphantly.
“Why would I complain about that?” Kady asked. “You are a magnificent lover and you know it.”
“Wow, you really are in a good mood about this,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “You want to go make sure he stays in there, just in case?”
“What? How does that work?” Kady asked innocently, playing along.
“Oh, you know, we just keep having sex as much as possible, same as before, and eventually the belly would get in the way so we’d have to be more creative,” he teased her. “Doesn’t that sound fun?”
“Making love to you always sounds fun, you silly man,” she commented, and stepped over to give him a kiss.
Archer wrapped her into his arms and held her there, his embrace just tight enough that she almost had to tell him to ease up, but it felt so good she just let her head fall into the cradle of his strong chest. There was nowhere she felt safer or more loved in the entire world than in Archer Devonshire’s arms.
She sighed in regret when he pulled back, kneeling down and putting his face against her belly to whisper in soft tones. “Hey in there, this is your dad. Are you going to come out as a really hot girl who also has a flair for business or something?”
