Page 20 of A Linton Scandal

“Take it,” he ordered.

A part of me wanted to smack it away, but because Nao was behind us, I took his hand and swallowed the words I wanted to say.

I immediately resented the fact his hand felt warm and comfortable.

A bell dinged, right before the doors to the elevator opened. A man with a pleasant smile, and his silvery hair swept back in a stylish manner greeted us. His long white coat had his name stitched on the pocket, Dr. DuVall.

He greeted Mihai with a friendly smile. “I was a bit worried when Nao called me asking for an appointment on short notice.”

Mihai’s cold expression softened. “I will have Nao send you one of my father’s vintage wines to your house as an apology.”

He waved off Mihai’s offer. “No worries, this old man’s happy that it wasn’t serious. You know some of our clients enjoy dropping far more serious cases at our doors.” He turned his pleasant gaze to me, and I felt those warm eyes turn calculative. “And this is?”

“My Fiancée,” Mihai said, drawing me to his side, he turned to glance at me and I felt my stomach flop at the appearance of love in his eyes. I had to remind myself that we were pretending. “She’s been handling everything well, but I insisted that she get a checkup today. She’s only two months along, but we want to make sure everything is okay,” he continued, facing Dr. DuVall once more.

“Then let’s have nurse Lea take her to get tested, we’ll start with getting a few samples, and then we’ll do a sonogram,” Dr. Duvall said, and a woman who appeared kind stepped forward to escort me away.

I hesitated, for some reason I didn’t want to leave Mihai’s side. Mentally, I shook my head, and let go of his hand and followed the nurse. These feelings I felt growing needed to be nipped in the bud, I knew what was happening. I was growing attached and that was the last thing I needed to be with a man I was in a contract marriage with.

The only thing that could be between us was a mutual understanding and respect. He was putting on a show, to trick the people around us into thinking we were in love. I needed to keep my mind clear on that. Something told me if I allowed myself for even a moment to forget this was all fake, I’d fall hard and there wouldn’t be anyone to catch me.

I placed a hand on my belly, the only reason I agreed to his proposal was to protect my child. Other than that, everything else was second.

As we reached what looked to be a changing room. Nurse Lea stopped. “Inside there will be a set of clothes you can change into. Once done you can go to the seating area, and I’ll come get you.”

I nodded and entered the room and spotted the clothes that were on a bench in front of an opened locker. As I changed my phone started to ring and I glanced down to see it was my mother.

Thinking it over, I ignored it.

I knew it was petty, but I was tired of being forgotten. For the first time, I would let her experience what it meant to be forgotten. I wouldn’t answer her calls. I’d ignore her text and her emails. She could feel the level of loneliness I’d felt over the last few years.

It was exhausting always giving in and forgiving people for hurting me. I was tired of being walked all over, because I didn’t fuss about everything done to me.

Finished dressing into a loose pair of pants and shirt, I headed out only to stagger back when someone bumped into me.

“I’m sorry.” A hand caught me, keeping me from falling.

“No, it’s okay,” I said, as I met a pair of dark eyes rimmed by thick lashes. The woman was very pretty, her make-up was perfect as well as the face itself. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

She smiled. “No, it was my fault. I’ve been absent minded lately.” She apologized once more before she quickly left.

I watched her go for a second, before heading back to the seating area. Spotting Lea, I rushed over to her, and she took me to get my test done.

* * *

About an hour later,I had changed back into my clothes and was escorted to an office. Opening the door, I entered to find Mihai and Dr. Duvall, who both wore serious expressions. The minute they saw me, their expressions changed.

I paused at the door. “Did I interrupt?”

They both exchanged a look before Mihai stood. “No, we were discussing my son.”

“Your son.” I spotted Dr. Duvall’s probing gaze, and quickly changed what I was going to say. “Do you need more time to talk?”

“No, we’re done here,” Mihai said as he stood up and met me at the door.

I couldn’t help feeling curious. I wondered about what they’d been talking about. What exactly was wrong with Mihai’s son? While I was busy thinking about this, Mihai had already scheduled another appointment for me with Dr. Duvall and was soon escorting me back to the elevator.

“Is that you, Mihai?” a bright voice came from behind us. We stopped and half turned back to find two women standing at the desk. I recognized one of them as the woman I’d bumped into earlier. She noticed me at the same time, and the friendly shine in her eyes dimmed.

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