Page 64 of Best Laid Plans

‘I thought that perhaps we should go out on dates like other couples,’ he said. ‘To find out –’

He stopped as if he was searching for the right words.

‘To find out if we can fall in love?’ Lucy supplied in a cold little voice she hardly recognised.

‘Yes,’ he said, clearly grateful that she understood.

Lucy was devastated. She was fighting to breathe. Will had been her friend since high school. For heaven’s sake, he’d slept with her on two occasions. He was the father of her baby, andyet he still needed to take her out on dates, to find out if he loved her.

A cruel icy hand tightened around her heart.

‘I really don’t think dating would work,’ she said, miserably aware that her life and her silly dreams were falling to pieces. ‘If you were ever going to fall in love with me, it would have happened by now.’

‘But, Lucy, I –’

‘No!’ she cried and she held up her hands to stop him. ‘I’m an expert in this area, Will.’ Despair launched her to her feet.

Will’s face was as pained as it was puzzled. He stood too.

Tears clogged Lucy’s throat and she gulped to force them down. ‘I know all about trying to manipulate love.’

‘What do you mean?’

She saw the colour flee from Will’s face and for a moment she almost retreated. Why should she force Will to hear her confession?

He wasn’t going to PNG anymore. Perhaps that was enough. She should be grateful for small mercies.

But no, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t be a coward. Will was, after all, her baby’s father. Her confession wouldn’t change that.

She took a deep breath and dived in. ‘I tried to make you fall in love with me once before and it didn’t work.’

Dismayed, he shook his head. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’m telling you something rather terrible, actually.’ She fixed her gaze on a huge, muddy tractor tyre. ‘I started going out with Josh, because I was hoping you’d hear about it and get jealous.’

She heard the shocked sound Will made, but she couldn’t look at him.

‘My plan backfired,’ she said. ‘Josh was more than I’d bargained for.’ Her cheeks flamed. ‘Then I discovered I was pregnant.’

Shyly, she lifted her gaze.

Will’s eyes were wild, but he held himself very still, hands fisted. ‘Please tell me that Josh didn’t force you?’

‘No, he didn’t use force, but I was young and he was very persuasive.’

A harsh sound escaped him. He began to pace, but then he whirled around to face her. ‘Is that why you became engaged to him? Because you found out you were pregnant?’

‘Yes.’ Tears spilled suddenly.

Tears of shame.

And relief.

It was so good to have her confession out in the open at last. ‘I was such an idiot and I ended up being trapped by my mistakes.’

‘Goose.’ With a choked cry, Will closed the gap between them. He pulled her into his arms. ‘I thought you were in love with Josh.’

She shook her head and pressed her damp face into the curve of his neck.

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