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Authors: Dallas Schulze

Home to Eden (23 page)

BOOK: Home to Eden
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"It does seem like this has been hanging around a long time," Brenda said, leaning around Gareth and giving her a concerned look. "You even went home early a couple of days ago. Maybe Gareth's right. Maybe you should see a doctor."

"I do not need to see a doctor." Kate strained for patience. "Now, could we please stop discussing my health?"

"Kate's right." Sara said briskly. "She's smart enough to know whether or not she needs a doctor."

"Thank you." Kate said gratefully.

"Don't thank me yet." Sara warned her with a smile. "Because I'm going to agree with my son to the extent that, if the symptoms hang around much longer, you really should let someone take a look at you."

"I will." Kate lied.

"It's already been hanging around too long," Gareth muttered stubbornly, but to Kate's relief, he let the subject drop.

After a moment, the conversation picked up again. Kate was grateful that she was no longer the center of attention, but her stomach continued to chum with nerves. She was vividly aware of Nick sitting silently across from her. As if compelled by a force outside herself, she looked up. Her heart jolted when she saw him watching her. Their eyes met and held. The indifference was gone, replaced by speculation and sharp question.

Frightened, she jerked her eyes away and stared at her plate, wondering if he'd been able to read the truth in her eyes.


Nick listened with half an ear to a discussion of the political scandal currently rocking the White House. Leaning back in a redwood deck chair, a half-empty beer bottle cradled against his stomach, he let the conversation drift over and around him. At the moment, his interest was in something considerably xiearer to hand than Washington.

From beneath half-closed eyelids, he saw Kate steal a discreet look at her watch for the second time in less than ten minutes. She'd barely said a word since lunch, he thought. And she'd managed to avoid looking at him entirely, not an easy feat in such a small gathering.

He lifted the beer bottle and took a deep swallow as he considered the suspicion that had taken root in his mind. It seemed impossible, and yet... There had been that moment when she'd looked at him and he'd read—or thought he'd read—something in her eyes. Something frightened and maybe—just maybe—a little pleading?

Kate stood, returning Gareth's questioning look with a light smile before moving toward the house. Gareth turned his head to watch her for a moment and then returned his attention to the conversation. Nick took another swallow of beer and watched the door close behind Kate.

This was neither the time nor the place, he reminded himself, even as he got up. "Anybody else need a refill?'' he asked. No one else did.

Not here and now, he thought as he walked across the deck and pushed open the door. It could wait. He could wait.


Kate was standing at the kitchen sink, holding a damp paper towel to her forehead, the social mask momentarily stripped away. She looked small and fragile, and he was suddenly sure he knew the answer to the question he'd yet to ask. Emotion caught him by the throat—anger and elation, hunger and fear.

Deliberately, he let the door thud shut behind him. She started and turned, the little color that was in her face draining away when she saw him. For an instant, she looked so vulnerable that Nick wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her. At the same time, he had the urge to grab her and shake her until her teeth rattled. If she really was....

"Feeling warm?" he asked as he moved into the room.

"I—it's hot today." She watched him the way a rabbit would watch a snake, with fear and just a touch of hope that maybe she could escape with her skin intact.

Not this time, Kate. I'm not backing away this time. She flinched at the sharp click of glass against tile as he set the bottle on the counter. He pushed his hands in his pockets, a hedge against the urge to reach for her.

"Something you want to tell me?" he asked.

The tone was almost casual but there was nothing casual about the look in his eyes, Kate thought. She swallowed and looked away.

"I don't know what you mean." Her response wasn't as firm as she would have liked, but it was hard to sound firm when her knees felt as steady as overcooked noodles. She leaned one hand on the counter for support, making an effort to seem natural—an unsuccessful effort, apparently.

"You're trembling," he said. "If you don't know what I'm talking about, why are you trembling?"

"I don't particularly like being here with you," she said, lifting her chin in a futile gesture of bravado.

"Not good enough, Kate." He took a step toward her. "Nausea, tiredness—interesting symptoms."

"Not really. Pretty common for someone with the flu." She edged back a half step.

"Lasting for weeks?" Nick arched one dark brow in question and moved closer.

"It...sometimes it takes a while to kick the flu." The counter was at her back, halting her retreat.

Nick stopped in front of her, much too close for comfort. He loomed over her, his broad shoulders filling her view. She wanted to push him out of the way and run. And she wanted to put her head against his shoulder and feel his arms around her, shutting out the world.

"Are you pregnant?"

The blunt question caught her off guard. She hadn't expected him to bring it out in the open, to voice the word she could hardly even bring herself to think. She stared at him helplessly, her mind emptied of clever answers and evasions. Not that they would have made any difference. He read the answer in her eyes.

His breath hissed out, as if he hadn't really believed it until that moment. The kitchen was utterly still around them. She heard someone laugh outside, but the sound was far off and without meaning.

"My baby," he said. It wasn't a question, but Kate nodded. She closed her eyes against the sharp sting of tears. This was what she'd been dreading, yet now that the moment had arrived, she was almost relieved.

"How long have you known?" he asked hoarsely.

"A little over a week."

"Over a week," he repeated. He shook his head as if trying to clear it. When he looked at her, his eyes were sharp and hard. "Were you going to tell me or were you going to try to pass the baby off as Gareth's?"

Kate whitened. Guilt put a sharper edge to her anger, because for one brief, shameful moment she'd considered that possibility. "I wouldn't do that,"

"No?" Nick arched one brow in question. "But you haven't told him the truth, have you? You haven't told him that we slept together. And just when did you plan on telling him that you're carrying my child?"

"She doesn't have to."

Nick heard Kate's horrified gasp as he spun around. Gareth stood in the door, his skin drained of color, his eyes blank with shock.

"She doesn't have to tell me," he repeated. "I already know."

Chapter 14

Nick groped for something to say but his mind was completely empty.

"Dad changed his mind," Gareth said, sounding as dazed as Nick felt. He lifted the bottle he held. "I came in to get him another Coke." His gaze shifted from Kate to Nick and his mouth curved in a thin, humorless smile. "Lousy timing, I guess."

"Gareth." Kate took a shaky half step toward him. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for you to find out like this."

"No?" He turned and set the bottle on the counter, his movements carefully controlled. "Just how did you plan on me finding out?" he asked. When he looked at her again, Kate flinched from the anger in his eyes. "Were you going to tell me over dinner some evening? Or maybe you were going to tell me after we slept together?'' Rage broke through the calm, putting a cutting edge to his voice. "Did you think I'd take this kind of news better after a good screw?"

''That's enough!" Nick stepped between them, as if to physically protect Kate from the sharp bite of his words.

"Enough?" Gareth looked at him, his eyes burning with rage and pain. "I don't think it's nearly enough." He looked past Nick at Kate, who stood white-faced and silent beneath the lash of his anger. "Is this why you've been keeping me at arm's length?" he demanded. "I've been worrying about your health, and the only thing wrong with you is that you're fucking my brother?"

"That's enough," Nick said again. "She's not the one to blame here."

"How noble of you," Gareth snarled. He shifted position so that he faced Nick squarely. "How the hell long has this been going on? Since you came home?"

"We didn't— It's not that way," Kate said, only to shrink back when he turned toward her.

"You're pregnant with another man's baby—my brother's baby. How the hell many ways can there be?"

"It only happened once," she offered and then winced at the weak stupidity of her words.

"Oh, well, that's all right then," Gareth said, his voice razor sharp and just as deadly. "If it was just once, then I guess I really don't have any reason to be upset, do I?"

"Back off." Nick stepped forward, this time blocking Kate entirely from his sight.

"You back off," Gareth said, his voice rising. "I want some answers."

"You've got a right to answers," Nick agreed. "But I won' let you bully her. Any problems you have are with me. Leave her out of it."

"That's a little hard to do, don't you think?"

"What on earth is going on in here?" Philip asked as he stepped into the kitchen behind Gareth. Sara was with him, her expression worried as she looked between her sons.

"We could hear the two of you clear outside," she said. "What's wrong?"

"Why don't you ask Nick?" Gareth said, gesturing sharply toward his brother. He turned away as if he couldn't bear to look at him another second. "Maybe he'll be able to explain to you how my fiancee happens to be carrying his baby."

Kate flinched as Sara and Philip looked at her. Shame was a solid lump in her throat, choking her.

"I don't understand," Sara said, bewildered.

"It's simple enough," Gareth snarled. "It seems Kate is pregnant with Nick's child."

"We gathered that much," Philip said, struggling to retain some control over the situation. "I don't understand how."

"Oh, come on. Dad!" Gareth laughed harshly. "It's simple enough. He's been fucking her."

"That's enough!" Nick said sharply. "This isn't accomplishing anything."

"Please," Kate whispered. "I can't bear for you to argue because of me."

"You should have thought of that before you slept with my brother," Gareth snapped. "Or did you think I'd just give you my blessing when I found out about it?"

His anger was all the more hurtful for being justified. Kate had no defense to offer, no excuses to give. There was nothing she could say that would make up for the pain she'd caused him.

"I'm sorry." Tears burned her eyes and she pressed shaking fingers over her mouth. She looked from Gareth's furious face to Sara and Philip who were staring at her in stunned disbelief. "I'm so sorry."

She turned and ran, fleeing the ruin she'd made of her life.

Nick looked at Gareth, his eyes cold and hard. "I know you've got a right to be angry but if you ever hurt her like that again, I'll forget that you're my brother and do my damndest to take you apart with my bare hands."

He didn't wait for a reply but turned and went after Kate, leaving behind a silence roiling with emotion.


Kate was halfway down the drive before Nick caught up with her. Though she must have heard him coming, she didn't turn or slow down but just continued walking.

"Kate." He caught hold of her arm and pulled her around to face him. "Where are you going?"

"Home." She fixed her gaze on his collarbone.

"On foot?"

"I can't stay here," she said hoarsely.

She turned away from him, as if to keep walking but he didn't let her go. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back against the hard strength of his body. "I'll take you home."

Kate jerked convulsively against his hold. She didn't want him to try and comfort her. She didn't deserve comfort, not after what she'd done. She didn't think she'd ever forget the way Gareth had looked at her; the hurt in his eyes.

"Let me go."

"No." The simple refusal startled her. Nick took advantage of her sudden stillness to gather her closer.

"Don't—"

"It's going to be all right." His breath stirred the hair at her temple. "ril take care of you." His left hand was splayed across her stomach, his fingers spanning her from hipbone to hipbone, covering his child—their child. "ril take care of you both."

Kate sagged against him. In some distant comer of her mind, she knew she should protest that she didn't need him to take care of her. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. But it felt so good to lean against his strength. She squeezed her eyes shut, her breath hitching as tears welled up.

"It's okay," Nick crooned. "Everything's going to be okay."

She didn't see how it could be, but she didn't protest when he turned her into his arms. It was just for a little while, she promised herself. She'd only let herself lean on him for a little while. Just until she gathered enough strength to pull away and stand on her own again—just the way she'd always done.

BOOK: Home to Eden
9.64Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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