Page 63 of The Right to Remain Mine

Coming around slowly, she sent him a look to kill. "Like what, if I miscarry, you want to know if you're off the hook?"

Raith sent her a dirty look. "Anything could happen," he said, scrawling his information on a piece of paper when he couldn't find a stray card.

He held it out to her, and she stared at it oddly for a moment. When she glanced up at him, he frowned. "What?"

She shook her head as if distracted. "It's odd," she murmured. "So much has happened between us and yet this is the very first time I'm seeing your phone number."

Guilt swamped him. Willow slipped the piece of paper from his fingers. And that was the closest contact they'd made in two solid weeks.

"I can always be reached on my cell phone."

She nodded once, then turned and was gone, slipping out the door like some kind of phantom. Raith fell into his chair and went back to staring at the computer, where a Roadrunner screensaver had popped up. But holy hell. What was he supposed to do now?

Nineteen

As the next couple of days dragged on, Willow started to feel pregnant. Her feet began to hurt, she was tired all the time and that whole morning sickness thing kicked in.

It sucked.

Since her father's birthday was as planned as it could get, she no longer had an excuse to go to Chase's in the evenings and was forced to return to a lonely, quiet house each night.

She visited her brother once, though, to tell him and his wife the big news. With Camille and Dylan knowing about her baby, she knew she had to inform the rest of the family soon or they would find out one way or another.

She'd gone to her parents first and then stopped by Chase's the next night, glad she'd waited to spread the news on two different days because it'd been stressful enough to look into her father's eyes and confess she was going to have a baby... without the assistance of a man in her life. Besides, Chase already knew about it by the time she gave him the news, which saved her from having to say it aloud too many times. Then again, it'd given him an extra day to think what he wanted to say to her, which hadn't been pleasant.

She worked late on Monday and didn't get home until well after dark. She'd stayed overtime with a woman who'd stopped by the office to cry on her shoulder because her ex-husband just might get full custody of their children since he made more money.

As Willow tried to cheer her client, she kept thinking she should be grateful Malloy had left at the first sign of a baby. Now, she wouldn't have to worry about a nasty custody battle or working out any form of child support. But the grateful feeling never came. All she felt was lost and alone.

/> Shoving her heels off as soon as she stepped inside the front door, Willow sighed and sank her throbbing toes into her plush carpet. She was going to have to resort to regular pumps before too long because heels no longer worked for her. Not very hungry, but knowing she had to eat something, she trudged sluggishly toward the back of the house.

As she entered the hall, however, she realized her kitchen was already occupied. The light from the living room spotlighted a human silhouette, letting her see shape and movement. Heart kicking into gear at the thought it might be Malloy, she stepped up her pace. Reality intruded though. There was no way Malloy would visit. He was gone.

Thinking it probably a family member then, she teasingly called out, "Hey! What're you doing in my kitchen?"

The guy—she could tell he was male by his shape—spun her way. The outline he made had her pausing; longish hair, thinner shoulders, short frame, he didn't match any member of her family

Suddenly, she realized how strange the situation was. The light was off in the kitchen. Why wouldn't whoever-this-was have turned on a light? Besides, her guest was standing there for too long without calling out a hello or revealing his identity.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, but she moved toward him, telling herself it had to be someone she knew, probably trying to scare her. As soon as she turned on the light, he'd laugh and say, "Boo. Did I spook you?"

When she picked up her pace, however, he whirled away and took off in the opposite direction. He slipped out the back door and pulled it shut at the same moment she flipped on the light. A shiver overtook her when she realized he hadn't been a family member or a friend.

Someone—someone she didn't know—had just been inside her home.

~ * ~

In the middle of giving some hotrod teenager a speeding ticket, Raith grumbled when his cell phone rang. Glancing at the pimply-faced kid who trembled as he tore his wallet apart, looking for proof of insurance he swore he had, Raith dug his phone from his belt and checked the number. He didn't recognize it, but answered anyway.

"Malloy."

"R-Raith?" a woman said, sounding wobbly and from a great distance away.

"Yeah?" he answered, frowning when he couldn't identify the hoarse voice. "Who's this?"

"It's... it's Willow... Willow DeVane," she added shakily, as if she didn't think he'd know her by her first name alone.

"What's wrong?" he asked, straightening as he frowned at the kid who'd finally found his insurance card and was now holding it out the opened car window.

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