Falling For Grace

“I…thought—he—”

Her disconnected words halted completely as her gaze tried to access everything about him at once. Aside from being tall, he was lean and fierce-looking with hooded gray eyes, a square set jaw and chiseled lips, which at the moment were pressed together in a grim line. Hair the color of a lion’s mane curled ever so slightly against his collar and fell in a thick wave straight back from a broad forehead. Grace realized she was looking at one irritated but very sexy man.

“You thought he…what, Miss Holliday?”

Nervously she licked her lips, then pulled her gaze away from him to glance around the room. Funny how nothing in the cozy little kitchen had changed since Trent had come and gone. She supposed the only thing his presence had changed was her.

“Nothing. I…saw the light from next door and thought it was him. Sorry about the mistake.”

The young woman standing in front of him had a messy blob of coal-black curls piled atop her head. She was wearing white shorts and a loose red T-shirt. Her feet were bare and the legs connected to them were long and firm and shapely. But her legs were not what riveted his attention. It was the rounded protrusion evident beneath the swell of her breasts that quickly caught his eye. The woman was pregnant! Very pregnant!

The discovery distracted him, making him momentarily lose his train of thought. Which was a cardinal sin for a man in his field of work.

“My name is Jack Barrett,” he finally said.

She extended her hand to him and Jack felt inclined to take it rather than rebuff this pretty intruder. Which wasn’t like him, either. Jack didn’t usually give a damn whom he snubbed. Beautiful women included.

“Are you—did you buy this place, or something?” she asked in a faintly bewildered tone.

As he clasped her soft hand in his, he decided she couldn’t be more than twenty-two or three. Jack quickly racked his brain, trying to remember if Trent had ever mentioned a girl named Grace, but that was like fishing in a lake for a minnow. In the span of a work week he heard more names than most people heard in a year. And it wasn’t as though he associated with his nephew on a regular basis. Since his sister’s boy had grown up, Jack rarely saw the young man.

“Or something,” he said as he suddenly decided to move cautiously with Grace Holliday. If she’d been involved with Trent, there was no telling what she might want. But with the Barrett family, it usually boiled down to one thing. Money.

“Tell me, Miss Holliday, do you usually enter other people’s houses at night like this?”

A blush stole over her cheeks and Jack noticed that even though her face was bare of makeup, it was still rich with color. Delicate black brows and thick lashes, pale green eyes and skin that was tanned to a deep rose-brown. The image of a Tahitian goddess, he decided. Sensual, earthy, and naturally beautiful. Just the kind that ruined a man’s common sense.

“No,” she answered. “But the door was open and I thought—”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a sneering sort of smile. “And you thought Trent was here.”

She nodded and he could see disappointment all over her face. What did it mean? he wondered.

“Do you live here in Biloxi?” he asked.

She nodded again. “In the house next door. That’s how I met Trent. He was staying here earlier this year.”

Jack racked his brain again. Trent had finished college at midterm break back in December. He tried to remember if he’d told Trent he could use the beachside bungalow after that time. Not that it would have mattered if his nephew had used the house without his consent. Jack had never seen the place until today.

Two years ago he’d bought the piece of real estate on a whim. An employee with the firm had needed quick cash and Jack had written him a check without much thought to what he’d do with a beach house in Mississippi.

Two years was a hell of a long time to finally get curious about a place.

The words his secretary had spoken to him yesterday suddenly popped into Jack’s mind, putting an even deeper twist on his lips. He’d started to tell Irene that nothing could rouse his curiosity anymore. He’d done and seen too much. But he was glad he hadn’t. Because Grace Holliday would have made him out to be liar. She was doing more than rousing his interest.

“Uh…how long has it been since you’ve seen this—Trent?”

She grimaced as she considered whether to tell this man anything. “I—look, I don’t know you. Maybe I should just apologize for the intrusion and be on my way.”

Folding his arms across his chest, he eyed her suspiciously. “You’ve already said you were sorry once. That’s enough. But if you weren’t a pregnant woman, I would think you’d walked in here to steal something.”

Her green eyes widened with disbelief, then filled with insult. “I’m sure because I am a pregnant woman you’re thinking all sorts of things anyway.”

He was. But not the sort of things she believed he was thinking. And suddenly Jack decided he couldn’t let her know he was Trent’s uncle. At least, not for now. If he expected to find out who she really was and if her baby had any connection to his nephew, he was going to have to be very guarded about himself.

His gaze dropped to her left hand. There was no engagement ring or wedding band of any sort and she hadn’t corrected him when he’d addressed her as Miss.

“You’re not married to this Trent guy?”

She shook her head as a puzzled frown creased her face. “Why would you want to know?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “No reason, actually. But the way you were calling his name—you sounded pretty desperate to see him.”

Grace had been desperate to see Trent. Five months had passed since he’d left her and the baby behind. And during that time she’d mostly accepted the fact that he didn’t want her in his life. Especially on a long-term basis. But she’d hoped—prayed—that he would return for the baby’s sake.

“Yes,” she quietly admitted.

When she didn’t elaborate he asked, “Are you…planning on marrying this guy?”

A sad little smile curved her full lips. The expression bothered Jack more than he cared to acknowledge.

“No.”

His brows lifted ever so slightly. “Is he…the father of your baby?”

A shadow crossed over her face, closing it off to Jack.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “But I—have to get home now. Goodbye, Jack Barrett.”

For a moment, as she stepped past him, he considered latching onto her arm and stopping her. But he didn’t. She obviously didn’t want to talk to him. And he was in no position to press her without making himself appear suspicious.

When he heard the screen door softly bang behind her, Jack walked to the front of the bungalow and peered through the front screen.

Grace Holliday was crossing the small lawn in the direction of the house next door. Her head was down, her steps slow. No doubt she dreaded going home to face her parents with the news that it hadn’t been Trent she’d found next door, but an older, wiser and much more hardened man.

Hell, he very much doubted Trent was the father of her child anyway. If his nephew had stayed in the bungalow earlier this year, he’d no doubt brought friends along with him. If there was one thing Jack did know, Trent had always had plenty of buddies hanging around him. She could have gotten tangled up with one of Trent’s friends and was now looking for him to help her in some way.

One way or the other, Jack was going to find out. If for no other reason than his sister’s sake. Jillian was ten years older than Jack and had been divorced almost as many years as Trent had been living. The boy’s father had skipped out not long after the kid had been born, leaving Jillian to raise her son alone. The last thing his sister needed was for some money-hungry young woman to slap a lawsuit on her son.

By the time Grace entered the house and sank onto the side of the old four-poster, she was visibly trembling.

Clamping her hands together, she closed her eyes and willed the image of Jack Barrett away. She didn’t know who he was or why he was in Trent’s house. Yet one thing had been clearly certain, he hadn’t taken kindly to her little visit.

Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked hard, determined to keep them at bay. It was far too late for tears or disappointment, she fiercely told herself.

Still, when she’d first seen the light in the bungalow her heart had soared. She’d been certain Trent had come back. Not for her. No, any hope she’d had for the two of them had died months ago when she’d first told him about the baby. The news had forced him into admitting he’d never really loved her. And had never intended to have a lifelong relationship with her. He’d simply come to Biloxi for a bit of fun and to wind down from final exams at Texas University in Austin.

After the initial shock and pain of being used had worn off, Grace had accepted the fact that she’d been a fool. And slowly the feelings she’d had for Trent had died. But since then she’d kept hoping, praying, he would return for the baby’s sake. She wanted her child to have a father. She wanted her son or daughter to know it was loved by both parents. And tonight, for a brief moment as she’d raced to the bungalow, she’d thought her hopes had come true.