LITMIR.BIZ

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she might learn how to live with that.

      Might.

      But for now it was just more bad memories added to the new ones from being held captive. She hadn’t been beaten, but only because it could have caused her to miscarry. However, she’d certainly been slapped a few times and threatened daily. And yet the slaps and the threats hadn’t been the worst of it. The worst thing had been not knowing what the abuse would do to her baby.

      Grace moaned again, causing Jaycee’s attention to snap back to the woman. Another contraction, and this one seemed even harder and longer than the others.

      “We’re almost there,” Jaycee told her.

      No lie this time. The town of Silver Creek was just ahead, and next to the sign for the city limits was one for the hospital. Josh went in that direction, and it was less than a minute before he pulled into the E.R. parking lot where there was a team of medics waiting for them.

      The moment Josh stopped the truck, Jaycee hurried out. Blanca and Marita, too, so the medics could get to Grace.

      “There’s less than a minute between her contractions,” Jaycee told them, and they got Grace on a gurney and whisked her away.

      Jaycee was about to follow them when she found herself being placed on a gurney, too. The medics did the same to Blanca and Marita and wheeled them through the hospital doors. Josh was right there, hurrying along behind them.

      “The doctor will be with you soon,” a nurse said, and she put Jaycee into one of the E.R. cubicles. The nurse paused and looked at Josh. “Stay with her until I can get someone in here.”

      Josh nodded, though Jaycee was sure that staying with her was the last thing on earth he wanted to do. He no doubt wanted to check on his cousins or go after those escaped guards and missing women.

      Anything that didn’t involve having close contact with her.

      She heard Grace’s moans fading. Not because the woman had gotten quiet. But probably because she was being taken to Labor and Delivery and out of earshot. Jaycee hoped that she’d deliver a healthy baby and that she could soon put this nightmare behind her. Jaycee wished that for all the captives. Especially for those three who hadn’t been rescued.

      Soon, very soon, the quiet closed in around them, and because the room was small, Josh had no choice but to look at her.

      Correction: he looked at her pregnant belly.

      She saw the questions in his eyes. The doubts. Not about the baby’s paternity. He was right about that—she wasn’t a liar. Even though she had considered it. Briefly. After all, she was the last woman on earth who Josh would want carrying his child, and for a fleeting moment she’d wondered if he might want her to lie.

      “I really did intend to tell you about the baby,” she repeated, trying to answer some of those questions in his eyes. “I was worried that it’d cause you to blow a gasket or two, but I would have told you.”

      He nodded.

      That was his only reaction. He certainly didn’t deny that he would have been seriously upset to hear the news months ago. But then, Josh wasn’t a liar, either.

      “When’s the baby due?” he finally asked.

      “In four months.”

      Nine months after their weekend together in San Antonio. Their only weekend together. Yes, it’d been good.

      Darn good.

      But their last morning together, she’d seen that look in Josh’s eyes and known he hadn’t been looking for anything other than a short-term hookup. Old baggage, no doubt, since Josh had a love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation. So Jaycee hadn’t given him an out and walked away.

      Six hours later, he’d been shot.

      And they’d learned about her rogue investigation that had collided with Josh’s authorized one. If she had thought for one second that other agents were involved, she would have backed off. Of course, she hadn’t asked a lot of questions when she’d gone after those money launderers and killers. Jaycee had only been thinking about justice.

      Josh kept staring at her. Kept those questions in his eyes. She wasn’t sure what he expected from her. Wasn’t sure he’d tell her if he knew. But after all these months of being held captive, Jaycee had had time to figure out what she would say to him if she ever got the chance.

      Well, now here was her chance.

      “Look, I don’t expect anything from you,” Jaycee firmly stated. Giving him another out that he looked like he desperately needed. “I just wanted you to know because, well, because.”

      No reason to get into her old baggage. Or tell him that her own mother hadn’t told her birth father that she was pregnant with Jaycee. Not until it’d been too late anyway. Jaycee had never had the chance to know her dad, and even though he was a less-than-stellar person, she’d sworn she would never do that to her child.

      Even if the pregnancy was unplanned, like this one.

      Josh’s mouth tightened. His nostrils flared a bit. “It’s my baby. Expect something.”

      That didn’t sound like an offer of child support or shared custody.

      It sounded like a threat.

      And maybe it was.

      Josh hated her. But she couldn’t go back and undo this baby, and even if she could, she wouldn’t. Though Josh might not believe her if she told him, she loved this baby with all her heart and would do anything to protect it.

      “Expect something?” she repeated.

      “Yeah,” he snapped. And that was all he said for several moments. “Don’t expect me just to walk away. I slept with you knowing there could be consequences, and I’m man enough to accept it.”

      She lifted her shoulder, ran her hand over her stomach. “But you probably didn’t expect this consequence. We did use protection.”

      And clearly something had gone wrong. Jaycee had had a lot of time to think about every detail of that weekend, and while becoming pregnant had been the last thing on her mind, Josh was right. Sex, even safe sex, could make babies. And in this case, it had.

      She waited to see if he intended to say more about consequences and expectations, but he didn’t. He just kept staring at her and looking far better than he should have. His good looks weren’t something he worked at. They were just there. And even now, she felt that little tug that she always felt when she looked at Josh.

      Even when he was glaring at her.

      “How are you?” she risked asking. Normally it was a polite, rote question, but this time, she truly wanted to know. And she figured he wouldn’t want her to know.

      “Fine,” he snapped.

      Translation: he was not going to talk about this. But she had five months of catching up to do.

      She glanced at the badge clipped to his rawhide belt. “You left the FBI?”

      “For a while.” His jaw muscles went crazy again. “I’m on a leave of absence.”

      “Because you’re recovering from the gunshot wounds,” she finished for him.

      He made a sound, a rumble deep in his throat. No doubt a back-off warning. But Jaycee didn’t listen to that warning. “You’re a deputy sheriff?”

      He nodded.

      Getting information from him was like pulling teeth. “Well, the job seems to suit you.”

      The clothes, too. She’d known about his cowboy roots but had usually seen him in a suit or his undercover outfits. Now he wore jeans, a black T-shirt and boots. He had his Stetson in his left hand as if he’d always carried it there.

      “Something wrong?” he asked. Definitely not a friendly

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