Shotgun Bride

After getting their order, he drove to her apartment. He followed her up the stairs and into the building. Once inside, he put the bags on the kitchen table where a thick book sat. The Complete Guide to the Nine Months of Pregnancy. Hawk picked it up.

The book detailed the changes in her body and even mentioned food that might upset a pregnant woman. Too bad it hadn’t mentioned coffee.

“Were you going to tell me?” he asked accusingly.

Guilt swamped her, followed by anger. “You can get off your high horse. As I recall, you didn’t want to get married, so why would I think my being pregnant would make a difference?” Her harsh indictment hung in the air.

“It would’ve.”

That wasn’t a comfort to her. Or was it? “How was I to know?”

“Have you been sick often?”

“I’ve been puking in the mornings and in the afternoons. Certain smells drive me into the bathroom to lose my lunch. Obviously, coffee is one smell I can’t tolerate.”

“Then I’d say it’s fortunate we’re going to get married.”

“You should write for a greeting-card company,” she replied. “You’ve got a way with words.”

He tensed as if she’d hit him with a lash, but he didn’t return the hostility.

The instant the words were out of her mouth, Renee wanted to take them back. It would gain them nothing to be at each other’s throat. In spite of everything, marriage to Hawk was the logical solution for this mess and probably the easiest. Too bad it wasn’t the most palatable.

She wanted to ask him why he was doing this, but she knew the answer. Hawk’s devotion to Emory was legendary around the company. It was as if Hawk had become the son that Emory had lost. And not only would Hawk protect her, but Emory would also have his socalled son marry his illegitimate daughter. It was perfect solution for some people. Just not for her.

“Why don’t we eat? We can talk about how we’ll tell your father about the baby. It makes our marriage that much more important. Now it’s not only your safety that’s up to me, but our child’s, as well.”

Although Renee didn’t want to sit down and talk, her stomach growled. Ignoring him, she stepped around his body and reached for one of the sacks. If he thought everything was going to be as it was before, then he was in for a big shock.

He waited until she was almost finished with the biscuit before he repeated his earlier question. “Did you plan on telling me about the baby?”

“It wasn’t going to be a secret much longer.”

“But you weren’t going to tell me,” he pressed.

“As I recall, you didn’t appear to want any involvement.”

“I wouldn’t have walked away,” he tersely replied.

Her eyes narrowed. “I see. You would’ve endured.”

A muscle jumped in his jaw. “We can speculate all we want but the facts won’t change. We’re going to be parents, and that should be our main concern…and your safety, of course.”

He reached out and grasped her hand. The electricity that always seemed to be there ignited.

“Renee, I know you wanted something different. A romance, a church wedding with all the trimmings. But I can’t give those to you. I wish I could.”

“I don’t want your pity, Hawk.”

Cupping her chin, he shook his head. “It isn’t pity, Renee. It’s regret.”

Great, just what a prospective groom shouldn’t say. He regretted the situation. It didn’t comfort her.

Hawk leaned against the passenger side door of his car. Pregnant. Renee was going to have his child. The very idea of it shook him to the core and ripped through the wall of emotions that he’d fought a lifetime to suppress. His own mother had been expecting him when his parents were forced to marry. She had used the event as a club in every argument his parents ever had. He could still hear her shouting how he’d ruined her life. He clamped down on the memories.

Instead, he thought about Emory. Would Emory be excited about the idea of a grandchild? Of course he would be, but Hawk knew that none of the other Sweeneys would welcome the news. It made protecting Renee all the more important.

Would she ever have told him about the child?

Don’t be stupid, his conscience told him. You two weren’t talking. Why would she tell you that she suspected she was pregnant? But as she said, it wouldn’t have stayed a secret much longer.

He didn’t like the idea of not knowing about the child. They hadn’t planned on it, but no matter what, he wouldn’t walk away.

Hearing the front door close, he watched her walk toward him. Renee Michelle Girouard was a beautiful woman, with deep-blue eyes and long auburn hair that caught fire in the sunlight.

The first time he’d seen her, when she’d come to work at Texas Chic between her junior and senior year in college, Hawk knew he was in trouble. His attraction to her had scared him, and he’d tried to ignore his body’s reaction. That was why he made sure not to be around when he knew she was. Her flawless, pale skin was accented by a well-formed mouth, expressive eyes that a man could lose himself in and auburn hair that she wore wrapped in some sort of twist at the back of her head. He remembered when that soft hair had tumbled down and enveloped both of them in a world of pleasure and delight.

He put the brakes on his thoughts. He didn’t need to make himself any more miserable than he’d been these past couple of months. But he had ignored his misery. His ex-wife had taught him well. Don’t listen to your heart. The few relationships he’d had since his divorce five years earlier only reinforced the idea that he would never find a woman with whom he could share common ground.

“Are you ready?” he asked, pushing away from the car. They were going to go back to the hospital to reveal their secret to Emory.

She looked up at him. He always liked the way she’d fit so well into his arms.

“I’m as ready as I can be.”

After he closed her door, he walked behind the car. He was going to be a father and a husband. The news was unsettling. But more than that, in the back of his mind loomed the fear that maybe this woman could find a way to get through the wall he’d built around his heart.

Emory smiled at the couple from his hospital bed. He looked ready to run around the room and shout. “So we’re going to have a wedding this Saturday?”

“Yes,” Renee replied. “Hawk convinced me.”

“When he sets his mind to something, it usually gets done,” Emory replied.

“Tell him the rest, Renee,” Hawk urged.

“What else?” Alarm threaded Emory’s voice.

She swallowed. “I’m pregnant.”

Emory’s gaze went from Renee to Hawk. He knew what the old man was silently asking.

“I’m the father,” he told Emory.

A smile of delight lit the old man’s face. “I’m going to be a grandpa?” The wonder in his voice touched Renee’s heart.

Although she hadn’t worked through her feelings about Emory being her father, Renee liked and respected him as a human being. He was a smart, cagey man, who dealt fairly with those around him. She grasped his hand and smiled. “I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re pleased.”

“That doctor better have gotten all that cancer, because I want to see my grandchild grow and get married one day, too.” A new life seemed to come into his eyes. “I’ll announce your marriage at the reception at the house on Saturday night.”