Page 35 of Finding Forever

Fern tried not to flinch at his words. She’d insisted he tell her and should have been prepared for the worst. She just hadn’t expected a complete repudiation of the baby as even a living being.

It frightened her a little… no, it frightened her a lot. Fern tried to tell herself that it was good, that his indifference meant that he’d never want her baby, never fight her for custody… But she feared that Cade’s indifference would also mean that the protection he currently offered Fern would never extend to her baby. And until she was able to take control of her own life, she needed to know that her baby would be safe here. That Granger would never exert any sort of control or influence over the child’s life. If anything happened to her, what would happen to her baby?

Who would champion him?

“See? I’ve upset you,” he sounded disgruntled and Fern blinked, coming out of her panic spiral and back to the present with a jolt.

“No. I mean… not really. Not in the way you think. I was just—” She gave a helpless little shake her head. “You feel the way you feel. I understand and I can’t hold it against you. You don’t owe me anything, Cade… quite the contrary. I’m indebted to you.”

He parted his lips and seemed about to respond, before he gave a curt impatient shake of his head and clamped his mouth shut.

“Is your meeting over?”

“Yes.” He elbowed his unbuttoned jacket aside and shoved his hands into his trouser pockets. An irritable glower settled over his handsome features and Fern wondered what bug had crawled up his butt this time.

“I was wondering about dinner?”

“What about it?”

“Was thinking maybe we eat out? Someplace where we’d be seen. Possibly photographed?”

Fern groaned inwardly at the idea.

“Do we have to?” she asked on a soft sigh. “I mean, I know we have to be seen together and stuff, but does that have to be tonight? I’m just so tired. So much has happened these last couple of days, I’ve barely had the chance to breathe. And theparasite”—sorry Baby, Mommy doesn’t think you’re a parasite at all—“is really sapping my energy levels right now.”

His lips thinned at the wordparasitebut he refrained from commenting, that moody gaze sweeping over her again, lingering on her hair.

“That’s fine. Another night then. I forgot to tell you, my sister-in-law Beth invited us to lunch tomorrow. I told her yes, I hope that’s okay?”

“That sounds lovely,” Fern murmured.

“Right, I have some work to catch up on.”

“Again?”

“What?”

“You’ve been catching up on work since we arrived. Haven’t you caught up yet?”

His lips tilted upwards and his eyes gleamed with what could almost be described as humor. “You sound like a nagging wife.”

She screwed up her face in a self-effacing grimace, nodding to acknowledge his comment.

“Yeah, I heard it as I said it. I just meant that you must be tired too.”

“Look, I don’treallyhave work to catch up on, aye?” he admitted with a frankness she found disarming and entirely unexpected. “It’s just the easiest excuse I could think of to extricate myself from an uncomfortable encounter.”

The admission startled a delighted laugh out of her.

“You know I’m always going to doubt you now, even when youdohave work to catch up on.”

“Most of the time it’s not a lie.”

“But it was this time?”

“I couldn’t think of anything else to say to you. This situation is fucked up and weird. Right? And you’re here, living in my house—my fuckingwife, for Jesus’s sake. With your legs bare, and your amazing hair wrapped around you like a silken cloak, flashing your panties with each restless shift of your arse…”

She squeaked, went bright red, and dragged a pillow over her lap.

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