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Interesting,I thought to myself.
“Quinn, I never—”
“Why bother going through all that, by the way?” I demanded. “I mean, I’m already carrying your child. I signed all the paperwork. I’m doing all of the things you asked in your letters.”
With that I produced the still-unopened envelope I’d just received from the sonogram technician. I slapped it on the table and pushed it away.
“I don’t need any more of these, by the way,” I declared. “Just as I don’t need any more ‘dates.’ And while we’re clearing the air, Iespeciallydon’t need to be followed.”
My last words were punctuated with an icy, across-the-table glare. The giant bearded man endured it for a second or two before finally grunting.
“I wasn’t following you.”
“Ah,” I laughed sardonically. “He speaks! Good. I can’twaitto hear what your excuse might be for—”
“I was following the man who was following you.”
Seven
QUINN
Staring back into that hard, bearded face, my eyes narrowed doubtfully. I wanted to be angry. I wanted to call bullshit on him! But something told me it wasn’t bullshit. A gut feeling told me he was telling the truth.
“I didn’t see anyone else following me.”
“Exactly,” the big man rumbled. His expression remained wholly unchanged. “ButIdid.”
An icy chill crept up my spine, inch by inch. All remaining doubt was chased away.
“And why would someone be following me?”
Again the guys exchanged glances. They seemed even less comfortable than before.
“Talk to me!” I demanded. “Am I in danger? Is there something I did? Someone I wronged, or—”
“No, no,” Evan assured me quickly. “Nothing like that.”
He reached across the table and took my hand in his own. There was a time when I would’ve hotly embraced the gesture. Right now it only confused me more.
“Whoareyou?” I asked, directing my question at all of them.
They didn’t speak, but once again I got the sense that an inner conversation was happening between the three of them. One that didn’t require words.
“You’re military, aren’t you?”
It seemed obvious, and not just by their size. It was in the disciplined way they carried themselves, and the brother-like familiarity between all three of them.
“Ex-military,” Evan finally admitted. “But yes.”
“And you’rewatchingme,” I reasoned. “Following me around. Not just because I’m carrying your child, either. You ‘dated’ me for that part, didn’t you?”
Joshua looked abruptly guilty. “We wanted to get to know you personally, yes.”
“While still remaining anonymous,” I went on.
“Could you blame us?” asked Evan. “You’re going to be the biological mother of our child. Who knows where our paths will take us afterward? It stands to reason we’d want to learn as much about you as we could.”
“Sure does,” I shot back. “But did you ever think to justask?”
