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‘And I was getting it from all angles at work.’
Still he said nothing, and she looked at his granite features.
‘Why are you acting so cold?’
‘I’m not acting,’ Ethan retorted. ‘Iamcold, Merida.’
‘No, you’re not. That night we met—’
‘I wanted you inbed!’ he retorted. ‘I can be charming if I want.’
‘So you werefakingbeing nice?’ Merida let out an angry incredulous laugh. ‘What about the next morning?’ It still killed her the way he had ended things. ‘Were you pretending then?’
He could not bear to think about that morning, so he got back to this night. ‘When are you due?’
‘December the fourteenth.’
Thisyear. He would be a fatherthisyear.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ Merida said, and the panic in her voice sounded a lot like the way he felt.
Yet he remained calm on the surface. ‘We are where we are.’
‘What does that evenmean?’
That he would deal with it. In the same methodical way he dealt with any drama that landed on his desk.
Emotions were not helpful when it came to decision-making, and his head and his heart were both pounding now. He was looking at the night they had met through less than rose-coloured glasses now, and wondering if Merida was quite as innocent as she made out.
Sure, she’d been a virgin in the flesh—but, hell, had she seen an opportunity? Arrogance might have a part in his thought process, but it was more than that. For as long as he could remember he’d been warned to be more than careful. Mothers had deliberately enrolled their daughters in the same schools as him, young women had switched to Columbia when they’d found out he was there, just for a shot at the Devereux name.
But rather than accuse he decided to get out.
‘I’m going to go,’ he told her. ‘Right now I think you need to rest, get some dinner...’
‘You’re going togo?’ She was aghast. ‘You’ve just found out that I’m pregnant and you’re walking off...?’
‘Yes,’ Ethan said. ‘Or I might say something I regret.’
‘Such as?’
He gave a terse shake of his head. ‘We’ll speak tomorrow. You’ve had months to get your head around the fact there’s a baby on the way. I’ve had a couple of hours, Merida. It needs to sink in.’
He needed a clear head, and so too did she—though there was one thing that had to be said.
‘I would never have asked you to have an abortion.’
She just stared.
‘But I would never have chosen this situation either.’
‘And you thinkIwould?’
He refused to be drawn. ‘Get some sleep,’ Ethan said. ‘I’ll be back tomorrow, after I’ve spoken to a few people.’
‘Speak tome!’ Merida shouted, and then all the weeks of pent-up fear and anger erupted. She ran at him, but Ethan was less than impressed with her drama.
‘I shall be back tomorrow, and we’ll work out how to proceed.’
