LITMIR.BIZ

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into the ground trying to prove yourself to me.” A chain jingled on the other end of the line as Jacqueline Presley undoubtedly fidgeted with her jewel-studded glasses chain. “I can tell your father to release a portion of your inheritance now. Or you could have simply invested that money from Aunt Eliza and had a nice little nest egg while you pursued real art.”

      Lauren’s chest went tight. A typical stress reaction around her mom, especially when Jacqueline went down this path …

      “You could be as good an artist as I was, Lauren, if you just applied yourself.”

      Lauren twisted her fists into her satiny damask bedspread. The debacle with the accountant would only fuel her mother’s arguments. She felt ill. “Mom—”

      “I’m going to be in the city next week.” Jacqueline plowed ahead. “We can lunch.”

      Good God, once her mother was on a roll with her list of all the ways Lauren wasn’t living her life right, it usually ended with a list of eligible young men she’d met. Men Lauren would just love. Men like Jason.

      Her mother was going to have a cow when she learned about this pregnancy.

      “Mom, it’s been great talking to you—” she stood, tugging her sweater over her hips “—but I really have to go.”

      “You have plans?”

      And if she didn’t? Her mother would keep talking. Might as well be honest. “I do have a dinner date with a work associate. Not a date kind of date.” Babbling only made things worse, and worst of all made her fear becoming like her mother.

      “Please, dear, do go and pretty yourself up. And remember, pink is not your color. Ta-ta.” Her mother hung up.

      “Argh!” Lauren thumbed the off button so hard her nail polish chipped. She tossed the phone on the bed, pacing and shaking her hands as if she could somehow flick away the irritation.

      The hurt.

      After all these years, she should have gotten used to her mother, and actually, this conversation hadn’t even really been that bad in the big scheme of things. But she could hear the mania building, knew how close her mother was to the edge. One small nudge would send her flying into a full bipolar swing. Since her mother refused medication and therapy lately, the highs and lows grew more extreme.

      Finding out about the baby would be more than a small nudge for Jacqueline Presley. Add the embezzlement, and who knew how her mom would react? One thing was certain, her mother wouldn’t handle any of the news calmly.

      Passing a potted fern under the window, Lauren snapped off a dry frond. What would it be like to have a mother she could turn to right now? Her hand slid to her stomach. She would do whatever it took to be that kind of support for her child.

      Lauren turned the fern stand so the other side of the plant received equal time in the sun. If only she could have a few weeks to regain her footing outside the high drama. If she just had some space to gather her thoughts, plan, put her life on track again …

      The ring box in the middle of the mattress drew her eyes like a magnet. Her feet followed, leading her toward the bed.

      Jason’s offer of a temporary engagement spiraled through her mind. Tempting. Dangerous. Could she risk that much time in California in close quarters with him?

      Then again, with her life in New York ready to implode and her own health a bit touchy, could she afford not to?

      Jason guided the rental car along the two-lane road leading into a quaint small town about forty minutes out of the city. Lauren sat beside him, her head resting back, that crazy sweater purse of hers cradled in her lap against the gentle curve of her stomach.

      Of their baby.

      He finally had Lauren alone for a few hours and he needed to make the most of them. He’d dug deep for everything he knew about her, had approached the evening as an account he needed to win.

      Yeah, thinking of this analytically was a helluva lot easier for him than contemplating how important it had become to win this point. The more he thought about the crook who’d stolen from her business, the more pissed off he got. She was so damn talented. He’d recognized her extraordinary artistic gifts from their very first meeting.

      His fist tightened on the luxury sedan’s gearshift. The urge to do more than protect—to take action—fired through him, stronger than anything he could remember since he’d been on assignment in the Navy.

      Of course, persuading Lauren would be easier if she was awake. She’d been out like a light before they hit the city limits. If she didn’t wake up by the time he reached their destination, he would simply circle the block until she woke up or he needed to refuel the car. As much stress as she’d been under, she undoubtedly needed the sleep. And he could press his point better with a well-rested Lauren.

      Vintage streetlamps dotted the roadside, casting dim orbs for a shadowy view of the small stores and shops. Snowflakes skittered in front of the sweeping beams of the headlights, the occasional car swishing past in the other lane.

      Ring, ring. Her cell phone cut through the silent car with soft wind-chime tones, buried deep in her funky sweater purse. Too deep for him to fish out. Would she simply sleep through it?

      She stirred, then jolted awake, her long eyelashes sweeping wide and blinking fast. Lauren grabbed her purse and stuffed her hand inside. She pulled out the cell just as the ringing stopped. She frowned.

      He turned down the radio, jazz music fading. “Do you need to take that call?”

      She shook her head and stuffed her phone back in her bag. “No, it’s fine. I can call back later.”

      “I understand if you have work commitments.”

      “It’s not work.” She fidgeted with the handle on her purse, the strap looking as if it was made from the arms of a sweater. “My mother. She calls. A lot.”

      From her tone it didn’t sound as if she looked forward to those calls, but still, they talked. He hadn’t spoken with his parents since his dad disowned him, vowing he’d broken his mother’s heart by turning his back on everything they’d done for him. Hell, he didn’t want to go there in his mind. Better to focus on Lauren. “What did your family have to say about the baby?”

      She pitched her purse on the floor. “I haven’t told them yet.”

      Strange. “She calls but she doesn’t visit?”

      “We haven’t seen each other in a month. I only started showing a couple of weeks ago.”

      “They’re going to hear soon. Hell, I heard clear across country. I’ll go with you when you tell them.”

      A laugh burst free. “Who said you’re invited, ego man? Besides, they’re divorced.”

      He eased up on the accelerator as they approached a curve, careful to keep the car well below the speed limit. He had precious cargo on board. “I thought we were going to try and get along for the baby’s sake.”

      “Sorry.” She folded her arms under her chest and stared out the window, trees stretching ahead in the historic suburb, full of whitewashed fences and brick colonials. “I’m upset about work and taking it out on you.”

      He wanted to remind her he could fix that work problem in a flash, but decided not to push his luck. Better to go at this from a different angle. “You can’t genuinely expect to keep it a secret that I’m the baby’s father, can you? Your parents will find out eventually. If they’re going to get upset, maybe it would be best to run a preemptive strike. We tell them as a unified front, catch them off guard, then head out before they have a chance to ask questions.”

      “That sounds good in theory, but the odds of getting both my parents in the same room together are slim to none. And the second one of them finds out, that person will be on the phone blaming the other.” She shook her head, her booted feet crossing and uncrossing

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