AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her smile grew brittle around the edges. “It’s my baby. When and how I choose to share the news with my parents isn’t your concern.”
Want to bet? His jaw ached from grinding his teeth to keep from informing her that it damned well was his concern. But he knew that would be the worst thing he could say to her. A glimmer of an idea teased at the edges of his mind. If her parents didn’t know yet, he might be able to use that as leverage to get her to stay. Satisfied with his own cleverness, he let it pass. “So you aren’t tired. Is there anything special you’d like to do?”
She tilted her head to one side. “What I’d really enjoy is a hot air balloon ride. I read somewhere that you can take a one-hour ride over the Sonoran Desert that includes a champagne brunch—”
“No way.”
“I beg your pardon?” It was her snootiest royal tone. He decided not to tell her how much it turned him on. If he did, she’d probably never use it again, just to be perverse.
“You’re not going up in a hot air balloon,” he said instead.
“And you would be the one making that decision?” she asked in a too-gentle tone.
“I would,” he confirmed. “You’re five months pregnant. They probably wouldn’t take you anyway. Besides, you can’t drink champagne until after the baby’s born.”
When she suddenly shoved her chair
back from the table and stood, he was caught off-guard. “I don’t take orders from you,” she said through her teeth, both hands flat on the table. “What I do with my body and my baby is my affair and no one else’s.” And she spun on her heel and began to stomp out of the restaurant.
Rafe jumped to his feet. He fished money from his clip and tossed more than enough on the table to cover their meal, then surged through the tables after her.
“Go get her, buddy!” shouted some delighted onlooker from behind him.
She hadn’t reached the door when he caught up to her. He didn’t give her a chance to register his presence when he took her elbow and half-turned her, then swung her into his arms and began to stalk out of the eatery. Scattered clapping and scandalized laughter followed them as he carried her into the blinding midday sun. His damn sunglasses were in his shirt pocket and he couldn’t get to them without setting her down, which steamed him even more.
Elizabeth was squirming and struggling. “You Neanderthal! I hated this the last time you did it! Put me down immediately.”
“Not until you promise me you won’t do anything stupid,” he said, grimly quelling her struggles.
“Stupider than sleeping with you, you mean? That would be hard to top. That was definitely the stupidest move I ever made,” she said in a bitter tone.
He set her down beside the car then, crowding her with his body to keep her from getting away as he fished his keys from his pocket. “You weren’t complaining at the time,” he reminded her. He yanked open her door. “Get in.”
“No. I don’t wish to ride with you.” She folded her arms.
Rafe leaned very, very close. “Either you get in the car or you’re going to be the first pregnant woman ever to get turned over a man’s knee in this parking lot.”
She glared at him.
He stared at her with stony implacability.
Then she turned her back on him, sliding gracefully into the passenger seat. As he slammed the door and came around to the driver’s side, she said, “You don’t know that.”
“What?” he barked, still furious and wondering what in the hell she was talking about.
“You don’t know if I would have been the first pregnant woman to get her bum smacked in this lot.”
She wasn’t going to make him smile. But he could feel the anger draining away. “No, but I’d be willing to bet on it,” he said grudgingly.
There was a silence that lasted until he had pulled out of the lot and wound his way through the streets back to the freeway.
“Look,” he said, wondering why in hell he felt compelled to explain himself. “I wasn’t trying to give you orders. I was concerned for your safety.”
“You mean you were concerned for the baby’s safety,” she said quietly.
“No, that is not what I meant,” he said. “Could you possibly quit taking exception to every word I utter? The baby is still an unknown, an abstract to me, although I know that to you it’s a very real presence by now. Yes, it’s important, but not as important as your safety.”
“Because of your promise to my father.”
