Page 112 of Theirs to Take

His house was huge and gorgeous. “This is beautiful,” she said.

He shrugged as if it was no big deal. “I bought it when my mother passed. She left me a hefty inheritance and I used part of it to buy this place and some more to purchase my partnership with McTavish Industries. I needed to invest, andmy lawyer told me that investing in property is never a gamble. This neighborhood was up and coming, so I took his advice and bought this place.”

“It’s great,” she said.

“You might want to hold off on your judgment of my home until you actually get into it. I’ve lived here for over a year now and it’s still only sparsely furnished. I never really got around to decorating the place, not that I’d have any idea how to do that. I bought a sofa, a few tables, and a television. I outfitted the master bedroom and one guest room, but that’s as far as I got.”

“Well, I’m sure that what you’ve done will be lovely,” she assured.

“Let’s head in and we can eat. I ordered way too much food at my favorite place; we’ll just have to warm it up.”

“I’m pretty good at cooking in a microwave. Warming up takeout is my specialty,” she teased. “Thanks for letting me stay with you, Evan. If this gets too weird, please let me know.”

“I’m sure that it will be fine. I’ll show you to the guest room and you can get settled in after we eat—I’m starving,” Evan said.

“I am too,” she said. “I’m usually either hungry or exhausted these days. I thought that it was from the move across seas, but from reading my pregnancy books, it might be because of the baby.”

“Well, if you need some time off, just let me know and we can work it out,” Evan offered.

“No,” she breathed. “I need the work and if I take off for no reason, Alex and Rod will stick their overly protective noses into my business.”

“You know, they do that because they care about you, Carrie,” Evan countered. “Alex asked me to keep an eye on you and let him know if you need anything.”

“You promised,” she insisted.

“And I’ll keep my promise to you, Carrie. I’m a man of my word. You don’t know that about me yet, but you’ll figure it out. I won’t tell your cousins about your ex or the baby.”

“Thank you,” she breathed, “is that why you showed up at my apartment tonight?” she asked.

“No,” he said, “I mean, I promised Alex to keep an eye on you, but it’s not why I showed up at your place tonight. I just had this feeling. I can’t explain it without sounding crazy, but I knew that I needed to check on you. I got to the front of my development and turned around to drive back to your place.”

“Well, I have to admit, I’m happy that you did. I don’t think that staying with Mina would have been safe for either of us. I planned on taking off before dawn after I got some sleep.”

“That message you got earlier was from your ex, wasn’t it?” She had told him that she had received a message from home that made her homesick, but that wasn’t the truth.

“Yes,” she admitted, “it was a message from Alastair, and he told me that he knew about the baby. Apparently, he asked around about me, after I left home, and my overly chatty neighbors helped him trace my steps back to the pharmacy where I purchased the pregnancy test. He put two and two together and figured out that I was carrying his baby and then, he followed me here. Like I said earlier, my ex is a powerful man and has a lot of resources back home.”

“So, you didn’t change your number or get a new phone when you got here?” he asked.

“No, why?” she asked. “I wanted a way for my father to reach me if he needed to. He refused to come with me, and I was worried about leaving him back at home by himself.”

“I understand, but your phone can be traced. It might be the way that Alastair found you. Is it on now?” he asked.

“No, I turned it off after I read his message. I didn’t want to know if he tried to text me again, so I completely shut it off,” she admitted.

“Well, that helps. Can I have your phone please?” he asked. She pulled it from her pocket and handed it to him. Evan took it and got out of his car, placing her phone on the ground in front of the front tire.

Evan got back into the car and smiled over at her. “Sorry about this, Carrie. We’ll get you a new phone in the morning and you can call your dad.” He pulled forward, crushing her phone under the weight of his tire. She wanted to cry. Her last tie to home was gone, and she worried that if Alastair couldn’t reach her, he’d go after her father.

“If you’re really worried about your father, you’ll need to tell your cousins. It might be the only way to keep him safe,” Evan said. She wanted to tell him no, as she had done earlier, but he was right. Putting her father in danger wasn’t an option for her and the only way to keep him safe might be to move him to the States. Alex and Rod were the only two who’d have the resources to help her do that.

“Can I sleep on it?” she asked. “Alastair is in jail for the night, hopefully, and I’m too tired to think straight.”

“Sure,” he agreed. “Let’s get in and get you settled,” he offered. Evan parked in his garage and shut the door behind his car. She quickly hopped out and grabbed her bags from the back seat. “I’ll help with those,” he offered.

“I’m pregnant, Evan, not incapable. I can still handle my own bags,” she said. Carrie liked to think that she was a stronger stock than most other women. She had endured so much, mostly because of her inability to make a good decision. Ever since her mother passed, she felt as though she was cursed. Her father would joke and tell her that if it wasn’t for bad luck, she’d have no luck at all, but she didn’t find it as funny as he seemed to.

Carrie followed Evan into his house and whistled to herself as she looked around. Even the mudroom was impressive. “This is where I usually drop all of my things. It leads to the kitchen,” he said, nodding into the next room, for her to follow him.

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