For Their Baby

He nodded grimly and backed away from the counter. She went through the motions of turning the store over to Cheyenne, then met David at the door. They strolled out onto the boardwalk without speaking.

She tried to read his expression. When the shock of being turned down wore off, what kind of emotion would take its place? How he behaved right now might tell her a lot about who David Gerard really was. Would he be angry, insulted to have his generous offer rejected? Would he use it as an excuse to wash his hands of her? Would he be polite, but secretly relieved?

Of all the men she’d ever met, he was the most difficult to figure out. For a couple of minutes, he didn’t speak at all. He moved to the railing and leaned his elbows on it, as if this were any lazy afternoon and he wanted to watch the water.

She joined him there, pulling her sweater close around her chest. The winter sun sparkled on the waves, but didn’t provide much warmth. The wind was loud in their ears.

She started to say again that she was sorry, but she stopped herself. If he had a petty temper or a fragile ego, she wasn’t going to play beta dog, rolling over and showing her belly. She wasn’t asking for David’s charity, but for his partnership. The child she carried was his.

A gust of wind caught her curls and began to play rough. She grabbed the longest ones and tucked them behind her ears. She clenched her jaw, so that she wouldn’t shiver, and so that she wouldn’t say anything before he did.

Finally, he took a deep breath and turned to face her. “I’m not sure what to say. I might have expressed myself badly. You don’t have to answer right away, of course. Maybe it would help if you took some time to think it over.”

“I don’t need to think it over,” she said. “I can’t marry you. The truth is, I hardly know you.”

He didn’t quite let his gaze drop to her stomach, but one corner of his mouth turned up, acknowledging the irony. “Fair enough. But I promise you I’m healthy, law-abiding and relatively sane. If you’d like, I can provide references.”

“This isn’t a job application.” She smiled, in spite of herself. “Although I’ll be darned if I know quite what it is.”

For a second, he smiled, too. Then his face sobered, and he reached out to touch her wrist with cold-tipped fingers. It was a gentle contact, and she felt no urge to pull back.

“It’s the biggest decision we’ll ever have to make,” he said. “One that will change our child’s life forever.”

She didn’t have an answer for that. Of course, as a lawyer, he would be good at framing arguments.

She stared at him, hoping for inspiration, but she got distracted by how elegant, handsome and intelligent he looked. How reasonable and calm. His hair lifted, sparking gold as invisible fingers of wind moved through it. The sun spotlighted his face, and his piercing eyes seemed an impossible blue. Just surface stuff, of course, but as baby-daddies went…