LITMIR.BIZ

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all they know, it could be me.”

      She blinked at him. Of course there had been times when she’d kept the truth from her parents, or squeaked around the actual facts, but to lie like this felt wrong on too many levels. Yet she was tempted.

      The baby existed and she would have to deal with that. Dev was offering her a way to minimize the damage with her family, while allowing her to be a single mother and still pursue her dreams. It was almost too good to be true.

      “What do you get out of all this?” she asked.

      “Jimmy’s child gets the family name. I get to be a part of his or her life.”

      “You can have both of those without marrying me.”

      “I want to make this right,” he told her. “I can’t take back what was done, but I can do my best to help. You don’t know me, Noelle, but you’re going to have to trust me on that.”

      She wasn’t sure much trust would be required. Devlin Hunter was the kind of man to get everything in writing. Which meant there would be paperwork.

      “I don’t want what Jimmy would have inherited,” she said. “That’s too much.” Dev’s company, Hunter Manufacturing was a massive, multimillion dollar business. “Maybe some child support and a house.” She winced. Even that sounded too greedy. “Just the child support,” she amended. “Jimmy would have paid that anyway.”

      Dev shoved his hands into his slacks pockets and smiled at her. “You’re saying yes.”

      “Oh.” She turned the idea over in her mind. “I guess I am.” When had she decided this was what she wanted to do? Did it matter? Dev was right. Accepting his proposal made her life much easier.

      She still wasn’t sure what he got out of the deal. Unless it was to be part of a family again, even for a little while. But was that even important to him?

      “I don’t know you at all,” she said.

      “We’ll change that,” he promised. “Let’s have dinner tonight. We can work out the logistics, set up a timetable and move forward.”

      That made it sound as if they were closing a business deal rather than discussing a marriage. And when she thought about it, she realized it was true.

      “All right,” she agreed. “Where do you want to meet?”

      “My house.” He moved around the desk and grabbed a piece of paper. After writing the address, he handed it to her. “Six-thirty?”

      She took the paper and nodded. “Okay. I guess I should, uh, get back to work.”

      “You’re not due in for another couple of hours.”

      “I know, but I’m already here.” She walked to the door, then glanced back at him. “Thanks for everything.”

      “Thank you, Noelle,” he said. “Don’t worry more than you have to. We’ll get this worked out. Everything will be fine.”

      She smiled and left. Fine? She was pregnant with her late boyfriend’s child, she had just agreed to temporary marriage with a man she didn’t know, for a bunch of reasons she couldn’t remember, and she had big plans to lie about the whole thing to her family.

      Fine didn’t really cover it.

      Chapter Two

      Noelle left work shortly before noon. She’d already put in more than her usual amount of hours and cleared out her in-basket, which felt good. She’d been efficient, determined and focused. It had been the only way to get through the hours. If she allowed herself to stop moving, she would think about what had happened that morning. She would think about being pregnant and Dev’s impossible proposal and she would lose it. Not something she wanted to do in front of all the women in the office.

      So she kept a smile on her face and her mind on her work until she could escape to her car and drive home, where she knew she would find her mother. Funny how at nineteen, all she wanted was to run to her mom and be comforted. Maybe that need never went away. Yet in about eight months, she would have her own child to think about.

       “Impossible,” Noelle murmured as she drove out of the Hunter Manufacturing parking lot. “The entire situation is impossible.”

      How could she be pregnant? How could she consider marrying Devlin Hunter? While she couldn’t change the former, she could work the latter. She’d been crazy to accept his proposal. Taking the easy way out was never smart, she reminded herself. She’d jumped at what he’d offered because it smoothed things over, but she knew better. And that was why she was so determined to get home. Her mother always left the church office for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. They would sit down and Noelle would confess everything. Then her mother would tell her how to get out of her fake engagement with her boss.

      Noelle knew that Dev would probably push back. He was that sort of man. But in time he would come to see that he could still be a part of his brother’s child’s life without going to the extreme of marrying her. While she would welcome child support, she wasn’t going to insist on it. Somehow she would get by.

      “Hey, Mom,” she called as she walked in the back door of the two-story house she ’d lived in since she was a kid. The place was old and a little run-down but homey and comfortable. She moved from the laundry room into the kitchen, where she found her mother sitting at the table.

      “Hi, honey,” the older woman said with a smile that didn’t seem quite right. “I didn’t expect you home for lunch.”

      “I got to work really early, so I finished early,” Noelle said as she took a seat and smiled at her mother. It was only then that she noticed the other woman seemed to be brushing away tears. “Mom? Are you all right.”

      Her mother sighed. “I’m fine.” She sniffed. “Okay, I’m a little weepy, but it’s no big deal. Your father and I…” She swallowed. “We had a fight. We don’t do it very often, so we’re not good at it. Maybe we should take a class on the twenty-seven best ways to argue.”

      Her attempt at humor fell flat. Noelle touched her arm. “We never hear you and Dad fight. You get crabby from time to time, but not real arguments. Is everything okay?”

      “It’s fine. I told your father I’m tired of working in the church office. I want to do more. Meet other people. We’re so insulated.”

      Noelle didn’t know what to say. Her mother loved working in the church office. At least that’s what she’d always said. For as long as Noelle could remember, her mother had talked about how lucky she was to work with great people and be part of a caring community.

      “I thought it was what you wanted,” she said at last.

      “Well, it’s not.” Fresh tears filled her mother’s eyes, then spilled down her cheeks. “Oh, I hate getting emotional. I need to do this. It’s important.”

      “Why?” Noelle asked.

      “Because…Because…” She drew in a breath, then shoved her hand into a pile of envelopes. “Because of these. Your father is so stubborn. He says the Lord will provide, and He does. Sort of. But there is also reality and helping one’s self. I’ve always had to be the practical one in the relationship and I don’t mind that. It’s just when he makes things more difficult…”

      Noelle bit her lower lip, but didn’t say anything. Her mother had never talked to her like this before—as if she were an adult.

      “There’s not enough money,” her mother said flatly. “There are too many bills. Your college hasn’t been very much and when you transfer to UC Riverside, we’ll be able to spring that, but Lily’s going to that private Christian university. Of course we’re delighted she was accepted and they will provide some financial aid, but still…Then there was her graduation car.”

      A family tradition, Noelle thought,

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