The Doctor's Pregnant Bride? / The Texas Billionaire's Baby: The Doctor's Pregnant Bride? / Baby By Surprise

He liked the way her eyes widened when she was surprised, her lashes long and dark. “I thought I’d look at furniture this weekend. Would you turn your lie into a truth by helping me?”

A long pause ensued, then finally, “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“I wouldn’t have asked you otherwise. Why? Do you think it isn’t?” He hadn’t thought it through. The idea had struck, and he’d asked.

“We work together.”

Ted was unprepared for the blow of a rejection. He rarely asked anyone for help doing anything, but he also couldn’t remember being turned down before, either. “If you don’t want to, just say so. It’s not like it’s a date.”

Her gaze drilled his. “I’m sure Tricia would be glad to have you change your mind and ask her. She seemed ready and able.”

“If I’d wanted to ask her, I would have. It could be fun, Sara Beth. An adventure,” he added, appealing to that side of her.

They stood staring at each other. He waited her out.

“Okay,” she said. “I need to see your loft first or I won’t be able to picture the furniture in your space. I’m not a pro, you understand.”

“You have good taste. Actually, anyone probably has better taste than me, but your apartment is comfortable. I want comfortable.”

“And a place you can invite people over.”

“Yes.”

“Even if you don’t really want to,” she added, her eyes dancing with laughter.

They barely knew each other, but she’d figured him out. And he’d asked her to help him with the furniture because he’d already relaxed with her. She was easy.…

No. That was a complete lie.

She was trouble.

Chapter Five

Sara Beth let herself into her mother’s house at six o’clock on Tuesday night. No scent of food greeted her, which meant they would be eating out. “I’m here!” she called, then shut the front door.

“Be out in a sec,” came Grace O’Connell’s reply from her bedroom at the back of the house.

In reverse of Sara Beth’s housing situation, Grace owned her two-story Victorian, lived downstairs and rented out the second story to a Harvard law professor. It was the house where Sara Beth grew up.

“Cute blouse,” Grace said. “You actually shopped.”

“Guilty.” Sara Beth hugged her mom, wondering as usual if Grace was ever going to age. Although sixty-two, she looked much younger, her hair long, straight and blond, her few wrinkles mostly laugh lines fanning from the corners of her crystal-blue eyes. She and Sara Beth could trade clothes, if they wanted, they were built so similarly.

Sara Beth adored her. She’d had a wonderful childhood, had never felt denied anything—except a father, or even a father figure. If her mother had dated, Sara Beth never knew about it.

“How come you didn’t call me to shop with you?” Grace asked, stepping back to look at her daughter more closely. “I would’ve been happy to go along.”

“I didn’t plan it. I found myself in front of the Gap yesterday. Everything was on sale. I still spent way too much.”

Grace cocked her head. “Who is he?”

It wouldn’t do any good to hold back. Her mother could spot a lie every time. “It’s not what you think.”

“Anytime a woman who hates to shop goes shopping, and buys more than she thinks she needs, there’s a man involved.”

“You buy new clothes all the time. I’ve never seen evidence of a man.”

“I like to shop.” She slipped into her coat and stuffed her wallet into a pocket. “Did you buy new lingerie?”

Sara Beth almost choked. “No, Mother. I did not.”

“You’re blushing. Hmm. That’s interesting. Tell me about him.”

“We’re just friends.”

Grace rolled her eyes, hooked her arm in Sara Beth’s and headed toward the door. “Which is the most pathetic lie in the lexicon of dating.”

“It’s the truth in this case. I did go to a family dinner with him last weekend, but he called it a rescue date. His parents get on him about still being single and I went as a decoy.” And ended up being aroused by his touch. Not exactly within the definition of “friend.”

Outside, Grace slid her key into the lock. “So, he used you? How charming.”

“I said yes because it suited my purposes, Mom, not his. I’ve gotten in a bad habit of staying home, especially now that Lisa practically lives at the institute. I decided to shake up my routine.” She smiled. “So, where are we going?”

“Don’t change the subject, young lady.”

“There’s no subject to change. Nothing’s going on.” They turned right at the end of the walkway. Sara Beth guessed they were going to Santini’s, a small family-style restaurant two blocks away.

“Are you going out with him again?”

Sara Beth managed not to sigh. “Not on a date. I’m going to help him shop for furniture for his place on Saturday.”

“Why?”

“Because he asked.” And because I want to.

“Why aren’t you telling me who he is, Sara Beth? If it’s no big deal—”

“It’s Dr. Bonner, okay? Ted Bonner.”

Grace’s brows arched. “The new research doctor?”

“Yes. I’m on a special assignment to help him and Dr. Demetrios, at Lisa’s request.”

“Somehow I doubt that includes tending to their personal needs.”

“Look, Mom. It’s a change of pace, something new to do.”

“And you bought new clothes.”