Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

Morgan cursed and shoved his hands onto his hips. He was so angry he couldn’t think straight. Funny thing, though, was that he was angry at himself, not at her. He looked for his shirt and, once he found it, pulled it over his head. He needed some air. She was probably running away from the father of the baby. But why?

He walked over to the door and unlocked it. When he opened the door, the wind blew damp air into the room. He didn’t bother looking back at Amanda. Instead, he closed the door behind him and went to check on the bike. The rain had stopped, though it was still windy. He checked his watch. It was only five in the morning, another hour till dawn. He decided to take a ride to clear his head.

He didn’t bother with a helmet since he’d left it in the room. He wasn’t going to leave her there, as much as he wanted to. He’d made the decision to take her wherever she needed to go, and he would still do it, but he needed some answers from her. Whether she told him the truth or not would be up to her.

After nearly fifteen minutes of riding, he could finally breathe again. Knowing she was pregnant hadn’t dampened his attraction to her. If anything, it had made it worse. It was the memories of his wife and their child that had stolen his breath. Flashes of how she’d looked when she first started showing kept flashing before his eyes. He could remember how excited she was. She had wanted to start decorating the nursery the next day. They’d fought over that. He had wanted to wait for a couple of months.

Somehow he couldn’t work up guilt over that anymore. So many of his feelings concerning his wife and child’s death had grown dull now. At the time it hadn’t mattered that they had been having trouble. They could have worked things out, given time. Only they hadn’t been given any time. Now all he felt was empty when he thought about them.

Why was Amanda on the run if she was pregnant, and how far along was she? He couldn’t believe he hadn’t known. She should be home decorating a damn nursery somewhere. In a perfect world, that was where she would be right now. Morgan knew there was no such thing as a perfect world. In a perfect world, his family wouldn’t have died in a car wreck while he was halfway around the world.

He pulled off the highway, onto a muddy turnout, and stopped the bike. He needed to decide what he was going to do about her before he returned to the motel room. If he continued to take her where she wanted to go, he knew he would end up sleeping with her again. What he should do was find the next town with a bus stop and buy her a ticket to ride. Somehow he didn’t think she would take the ticket, though.

Could he leave her there and keep going? What was he going to do with her if he let her ride with him? He was going to Oklahoma to visit an old army buddy. He couldn’t show up with her—could he? No.

Nothing was going according to plan, which was why he rarely made plans. He’d spent the last several weeks helping out a couple of buddies protect their women. Now he was stuck babysitting a pregnant one. If she wouldn’t tell him where to take her, he’d choose a large enough city that she could find a job and drop her there. He’d carry her all the way to Montana and drop her there. She’d be able to get help there. He couldn’t do anything for her other than give her a ride.

Shaking his head, Morgan turned the bike around and headed back to the motel. Everything would depend on how she answered his questions. If he felt like she was lying, he would send her on her way.

When he parked outside the door of the room, he realized he didn’t have the key card to get back in. What would be the chances she wouldn’t let him in?

“Damn.”

The door opened.

He climbed off the bike and waited to see what she would say.

“I thought you were going to leave me, but then I noticed you hadn’t taken all your stuff.” Amanda’s face looked freshly scrubbed.

“Thought about it. And remembered all my stuff was still here.”

“Please don’t leave me. I won’t be any trouble,” she all but whispered.

“We need to talk first,” he said.

She nodded.

“Are you dressed enough to ride?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Grab the key card and the helmets, and let’s get something to eat. You need something besides junk food in you.” Morgan climbed back on the bike and waited for her.

Amanda grabbed the key card and helmets and closed the door behind her. She handed Morgan his and pulled the other one on before climbing on the back of the bike.

“Hold on.” Morgan started the bike and pulled out. “Same place okay with you?” he called back.

“Fine.”

Less than five minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of the little diner. Morgan was relieved they were open. He figured they would be, but you never knew in little hole-in-the-wall towns. He steadied the bike as Amanda climbed off, then stepped off and opened the door to the diner for her. The waitress at the counter nodded at them to take a seat.

Morgan followed Amanda over to a booth. She slid in one side and pulled a menu off the napkin holder and handed it to him. She avoided looking at him and concentrated on the menu she’d procured for herself. The plastic menu shook in her hands.

Hell,
Morgan thought.
She’s a nervous wreck now. That sure as hell can’t be good for the baby.

The waitress wandered over to take their order. He listened to her order scrambled eggs and toast, then added his own order to hers.

“Bring her an extra order of eggs. She needs to eat more,” he said.

When she opened her mouth to argue, he lifted his eyebrows and stared at her. She closed her mouth and looked back at the table. That was too easy, he thought.

“How far along are you?” he finally asked.

“About twelve weeks.”

“Does the father know?”

“Yeah, he knows.”

“And?”

“And, he knows. That’s all there is.” She still didn’t look at him.

“Wrong answer. If you want my help, you’ve got to be honest with me.”

The waitress brought them their drinks—coffee for him and juice for Amanda. Still, Amanda didn’t say anything.

“Fine. I’ll take you as far as the next town with a bus station, and then you’re on your own.” He sipped his coffee and waited.

“Look, this isn’t easy for me.”

“I never said it was. Life isn’t easy, and now that you’re going to have a baby, it’s only going to get harder. Deal with it now before you have too much on your plate to do it later.” Morgan clamped his mouth closed. Maybe he’d said too much.

She looked up at him, then away out the window. He could almost hear her thinking it all over.

“He doesn’t want the baby,” she finally said.

“Happens, but you don’t run away just because the father doesn’t want to be responsible.”

“You do when he threatens to make you have an abortion, though.”

Chapter Five

“He can’t do that,” Morgan assured her.

“His goons can. They almost had me strapped to a table when I got away.”

“Who in the hell is the father?” Morgan asked.

“Guy Winthroup,” she said.

The waitress interrupted them with their food. Amanda didn’t think she was going to be able to choke any of it down, but she knew she had to try for the baby’s sake.

“Name doesn’t sound familiar,” Morgan said.

“He’s running for mayor of Memphis, Tennessee. He’s forty-two years old and already had a fiancée that would make the perfect wife of a mayoral candidate. I wasn’t supposed to be in the picture for long. I was a problem to be taken care of.”

“Not to mention a baby on the way,” Morgan added.

“Right.”

“Still, he can’t make you have an abortion. Go public with the affair. Once his name is ruined, he has no reason to try and force you to have the abortion anymore.” He salted his eggs, then picked up the pepper. He looked across the table and nodded at her food.

“Eat. You need to get something solid in your stomach besides that junk we ate last night.”

“I’m trying,” she said.

She stirred the eggs after adding salt and pepper, then decided to start with the toast. She picked up a slice and buttered it.

“He made it clear that if I fuck up his chances with his fiancée or the election, he’d sue for the baby. I don’t have anything to fight him with.” She bit into the toast and chewed.

“So you think he will still go after you if you mess up his chances with the society bitch?” Morgan asked around a mouthful of eggs.

“Well, he said, ‘Hell will freeze over before you have that bastard you’re carrying.’”

She dropped the toast back to her plate and leaned her head on her hands. She really wasn’t hungry, and remembering how Guy had looked at her stomach with such loathing only made it worse.

“Do you think he’s still looking for you?” he asked.

“Yeah. I caught sight of his two goons at the last truck stop, which was why I was trying to get a ride when you helped me. Then the guy you almost ran into is one of them.” She twirled her fork in the eggs. “I can’t figure out how they keep finding me.”

“If they have money to spend, they can pay for information. Lots of people will sell out their own mother for a buck. You’re easy to spot, too.”

“Maybe I should dye my hair.”

“That would probably help. Change your clothes style, too.”

“Soon as we get somewhere that I can access some money, I’ll do all that.” She finally made herself take a bite of the eggs. They weren’t too bad.

“Access money? How?”

“I have a savings account that I can tap for money.”

“Nope, he can track you that way. Have you gotten money out of it since you ran?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s how he’s found me, huh?” She sighed and dropped the fork to the plate.

“I would say so. No more accessing money. Do you have a cell phone?”

“Yes.” She pulled it out of her back pocket.

“Turn it off, and leave it off. GPS tracking is amazing nowadays.” Morgan watched her turn the phone off and then shove it back into her pocket.

“I wonder what else I’ve screwed up.” Amanda sighed.

“Eat. We’ll figure this out.”

“So you’re not going to kick me to the curb?” she asked.

He swallowed and took a sip of coffee before answering her. His mouth worked for a few seconds as if trying to decide what to say.

“No. I’ll help you get somewhere safe, but you’re going to have to do exactly what I tell you. Understood?”

Amanda relaxed. “Understand. I’ll follow your directions, no problem.”

“To begin with, you are going to have to start eating better. You’ve barely touched your breakfast.”

“I’m not really all that hungry,” she admitted.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re eating for two now. Which reminds me, you need vitamins of some kind, don’t you?”

She blushed. “Yeah, prenatal vitamins. I haven’t been to a doctor yet.”

“When we get you some new clothes and hair dye, we can get some from the pharmacy. I think they have some you can get over the counter.”