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‘You wouldn’t hurt me,’ she said, meeting his gaze head-on, making sure her voice never wavered.
She was rewarded by a sudden vulnerability in his expression. ‘How can you know that, Heather? How can you know I’m not just like all the rest of them?’
‘Because you asked me here tonight to teach you how to love your niece and nephew,’ she said softly. ‘You’re a good man. I don’t know what else your father did—or your grandfather and your great-grandfather and so on—to make you think otherwise. But I’ve only been here two days and I can already see that. So how about you try forgetting about the past and focussing on the future for a change?’
‘Like you are?’ he asked, his defences back up. ‘I know the money I offered you was good, but can you really tell me that’s the only reason you’re staying? That you’re not avoiding having to admit to your scandalous pregnancy in your home town?’
Heather looked away. ‘I never said that wasn’t part of it. My dad doesn’t deserve another scandal being brought down on him.’
‘And neither do you.’
Reaching between them, Cal took her hand in his, and Heather glanced up to meet his gaze again. The wicked gleam was gone, and so was the anger and the defensiveness. In its place was an expression Heather couldn’t quite identify, but it made her stomach flip-flop all the same.
Was ten weeks too early to feel the baby move? Probably. Which meant this was something else.
And whatever it was, it scared her.
‘We’ll figure this out, okay? Together.’ Cal’s voice was rough, as if admitting to his family’s past had torn his throat raw.
‘Okay,’ she whispered back. ‘Okay.’
Because she believed him. Even if she had no idea how they could do it.
CHAPTER NINE
CAL WAS SUDDENLY all too aware of the softness of Heather’s skin under his fingers and the trusting look in her eyes. God help her, she honestly believed that he was different. That he wasn’t just like all the others.
He almost didn’t want her to stay long enough to realise she was wrong.
Her copper curls fell around her shoulders and he longed to run his fingers through them. Wanted to reach an arm around her and pull her closer. To brush his hands down her sides, her curves, until they rested at her waist and he could lean in for the inevitable kiss he could feel building...
Except he couldn’t.
He could see it in her eyes that if he pressed his lips to hers right now Heather wouldn’t pull away. Knew in his bones that she wanted this as much as he did.
Was it the strange closeness that came from knowing each other’s secrets? From being with the only other person in the world who knew everything? Or was it something more basic? Primal? A connection between them that came from attraction and lust and nothing more?
Or was it the strange sense of trust she brought out in him—something Cal had thought bred out of him generations ago?
Perhaps the problem was that it was all three. He wanted Heather—but she was beautiful, so that was hardly a surprise. And he could relax with her in a way he couldn’t with anyone else, because she knew the truth. Most of all, he trusted her, and that felt wonderful.
But, despite all that, he couldn’t have her. Couldn’t let himself give in to this moment, however tempting it was.
He might be a Bryce, but Heather had given him a glimmer of hope that he could beat down those genes and actually behave the way the rest of his family pretended they did. She was pregnant with his brother’s child. She was scandal enough already—he couldn’t make it worse by seducing her.
Especially now he knew what that kind of scandal would do to her, and to her family, if she had to live through it again.
Swallowing hard, Cal pulled back and watched the light in Heather’s eyes flicker and fade. But then she gave a small nod and he knew that she understood.
However much they both wanted this, it could never be a good idea. And they were just going to have to live with that.
‘I should get back to the children. Check they’re actually asleep this time.’ Heather was on her feet before she’d finished the sentence. ‘Oh, I got in touch with the hospital, by the way. I have a scan booked in two weeks’ time.’
