Page 2 of Unexpected Union

And while the face was familiar, the bodysure wasn’t.

He felt the shock like a kick in the gut,his eyes unable to leave her waist.

Audra was pregnant?

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

Shock blocked out any delight he might havefelt at seeing her. Known for his ability to analyze new testimonyinstantly, his mind inexplicably shut down. He could only staredumbfounded trying to absorb what he was seeing.

The world seemed to tilt on its axis.

“Mitch?”

She spun around. Her blonde hair gleamed inthe sunlight streaming in through the tall windows. While almost asshort as his at the back, she grew it longer on the sides where itcovered the tips of her ears. The feathery bangs normally made herbrown eyes look large and mysterious. Now they held the sameshocked disbelief his did.

His gaze was still locked at her waist as hetried to take in the fact that his wife, whom he hadn’t seen inmonths, was pregnant.

Very pregnant.

And he hadn’t known a thing about it.

“What are you doing here?” Audra asked.

“Never mind me.” He looked up at her andcaught the wary look in her face. “Was there something you neededto tell me?” he asked his voice as hard as tempered steel.

He watched as she swallowed, her gaze neverleaving his. Taking a breath she stalled for time as a myriad ofexpressions crossed her face.

“I’m pregnant,” she said at last.

Fury burned as he continued to stare, thestrength of his feelings foreign to him. Normally he could controlhis emotions, but not in the face of this.

“Who’s the father?” he asked.

She reacted as if he’d slapped her, her headsnapping back, her eyes widening.

“You are, of course,” she retorted, colorflooding her cheeks. “What a rotten thing to say. Whose else couldit be?”

“I have no idea. You walked out on me,remember?”

He didn’t have a lot of experience withpregnant women, but she looked enormous.

“How far along are you?”

She hesitated only a moment before replying.“Almost eight months.”

“Eight months. In all that time you couldn’tpick up the phone to call and let me know about this?”

Anger grew. If she was truly pregnant withhis child, why hadn’t she let him know? No matter how far apartthey’d grown, there was no excuse to keep this from him. Herleaving had left a hole in his life. To compound the situation bydeliberately keeping him in the dark about their baby wasinexcusable.

“Or maybe there’s another reason,” he saidsilkily, wanting to hear her denial again, afraid she might notrepeat it.

She tilted her chin up and glared athim.

“I resent your implications. I didn’t leaveyou to go to some other man. You know full well why I left.”

“I know why yousaidyou wereleaving. Did being pregnant have anything to do with it?”

“Of course not. I didn’t know I was pregnantwhen I left.”

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