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“Hi, stranger,” Jaime said. “Haven’t heard from you lately.”
“I’ve been sort of busy. How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be better in a week when the baby comes. Ouch. He’s active today. Lately he gets restless at night.”
Emma lifted her shirt and fanned her fingers over her still-flat midsection. She stared at her navel.
Was she going to be a mother?
“I had hoped to be in our new house before he was born, but it’s not going to work out,” Jaime continued. “I can’t wait to get out of here. Living with your father means living where there’s no privacy and no peace. He tells Cody what to do about everything. It drives me crazy. I don’t know why I let that husband of mine talk me into moving in here while our house was being built. We’d have been better off in a hotel.”
“I’m sure the maid service isn’t nearly as good at the Lancaster as it is at Chateau Montgomery.”
“True, but at least I could have my husband to myself.” Jaime continued her one-sided conversation, then must have noticed she no longer had an audience. “Emma, are you okay?”
“I think I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?”
Emma winced as Jaime’s voice shrilled in her ear.
“Emma, pregnant? Are you sure?”
“No, I’m not sure. I’m taking the test right now. And could you please keep your voice down?”
“Is it Nathan’s baby?” Jaime whispered. “Of course it is. Are you going to marry him now?”
“No.”
Being pregnant didn’t change anything between them. He still didn’t love her. But it gave her an excuse to lie to herself and say that no longer mattered. She was pregnant with his child. An illegitimate child. It had been hard for Nathan to grow up an outsider in his father’s household. Would he let his son suffer the same way?
“How long has it been since you took the test?”
Glancing at her watch, she realized that time was up. Emma raked an unsteady hand through her long hair. “About ten minutes.”
“Go check.”
Emma retraced her steps to the bathroom. She picked up the stick and closed her eyes. With a deep breath gathered in her lungs, she looked at the pregnancy test.
“Positive.” Emma sat down on the bathroom floor. “I’m pregnant.”
“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.” Jaime’s tone rang with conviction. “Cody said Nathan’s had a thing for you for years.”
Hope curled around Emma like a snake, slowly strangling her good sense. “If by thing you mean he wanted to get me into bed, then I agree. I know I’d be wasting my breath to ask you to keep this from your husband. But please tell Cody not to say anything to Nathan. I need to figure out what I’m going to do. And for heaven’s sake, make sure he doesn’t tell Daddy.”
“Call me later in the week and tell me how you’re doing.”
“I will.”
“And if you need anything, you know Cody and I will be here for you.”
Tears pricked Emma’s eyes. “Thanks.”
“Sorry to interrupt your meeting.” Missy, Sebastian’s executive assistant, stuck her head through the door and smiled in apology. “But I thought you should know that Cody Montgomery is here to see Nathan.”
Sebastian and Max looked at each other then locked their gazes on Nathan. “I thought you told Montgomery Oil that we passed,” Sebastian said.
“I’m sure it’s a social call.”
“Social?” Max demanded. “Since when are you so cozy with the Montgomerys?”
“Since Cody and I went to college together.”
“That’s why you were so damn confident you’d get to do the deal. You had an in with the old man.”
Annoyance briefly flared at Max’s accusation. Then, Nathan shrugged. Why bother defending himself? Let his brothers think what they wanted. Nothing held any appeal for him these days—not besting his brothers, not making money, not even the opportunity to purchase an Onderdonk painting he’d wanted for ten years. Since he’d walked out on Emma, all roads led to regret.
Nathan lifted his feet off the coffee table and strode out of the room. Lately, everything fed his restless streak, from his brothers’ uninspired decisions about the business, to sitting in his office where nothing stirred his interest, to going home to his empty condo.
He hated his life. It was lonely, dull and he’d never been more miserable. He’d failed to impress his brothers with his business savvy. In fact, he’d further aggravated his relationship with them by being surly and distant for the last two weeks. And he’d turned his back on the most amazing woman he’d ever met. He deserved to be miserable.
