Page 34 of A Baby to Make Her His Bride

Vienna’s arranging us tickets to an art show.

Vienna’s divorce is final.

Vienna’s coming to visit this weekend. Would you like to come for dinner?

He had agreed because it would be rude not to. To get it over with. Between him and Vienna, they had managed to convince Hunter and Amelia, and the world at large, that they had platonically shared a house for a couple of nights. Nothing untoward had happened.

Surely they could uphold that ruse for the duration of one meal? He was leaving for Santiago within the week, so they wouldn’t cross paths again for a long while.

He had hoped this meeting would prove to himself that whatever had gripped them in Tofino had been a mirage. He should have known he was kidding himself when a twitchy restlessness had gripped him as he counted down the hours to seeing her. When he had walked into his sister’s home, he’d felt Vienna’s presence so clearly it was as if he’d scented her. Every part of him had reawakened in a way he hadn’t felt since the day he’d met her.

Even as an expanding force had risen in him, he’d noticed she was wide-eyed with apprehension. She was bracing herself to face him, fearful of whatever he might say or do.

He’d done nothing. Or rather, he had tried to be as neutral as possible, but as his sister walked away and Vienna approached him, his abdomen had tightened with tension that had its roots in memory. In lust.

Nothing had prepared him for the blow she had delivered, though.

“This is lovely,” she murmured as the elevator let them into his foyer.

It was an older building, but the endless views of Vancouver Harbor and Stanley Park had sold him the minute he’d walked in.

She spared a moment to admire the view, then froze as she saw what hung over the gas fireplace.

“Why did you frame it?” She walked across to the sketch she’d made of Peyton, now matted and framed behind a pane of glass.

“I like it.” It felt telling that he’d gone to so much trouble, but he did like it and it was his niece. “What was I supposed to do? Tack it to the fridge with magnets? Do you want anything?” He went to the sideboard where he poured himself a whisky, neat.

“I didn’t bring my purse or phone,” she realized with a look at her empty hands. “But no. Thank you. I can’t drink.” She pointed at her middle, then folded her arms. “And yes, you are the father.” Her voice shook. “Why else would I tell you?”

He could think of a few hundred million reasons. It was astonishing how many women had begun throwing themselves at him now that he was revealed to be one of Canada’s wealthiest bachelors.

“You were just hobnobbing around Europe. It’s none of my business if you were with anyone, but it does create other possibilities where your pregnancy is concerned.”

“Really?” she choked. “Okay. Unlike perhapsyou, I haven’t been with anyone else.” A white ring appeared around her lips. Her cheeks went taut. “And it’s none of my business if you have slept around,” she continued facetiously. “Obviously. But it does create the possibility that you have other pregnancies out there. Do you?”

He supposed he deserved to have his words thrown back at him like that. They still rankled.

“I do not,” he said flatly. He couldn’t seem to forget abouther. He took a deep gulp of the fiery alcohol. “Tell me how it happened.”

She coughed out another humorless laugh.

The condom had split. He remembered. Vividly.

And this was exactly the situation—another unplanned pregnancy—that had risen in his mind like a cold specter when it had. She had reminded him she couldn’t get pregnant and he’d dismissed the whole thing from his mind, not wanting to wade through any of those old, conflicted emotions.

He held a threatening onslaught of feelings at bay now, watching as she rubbed her arms and paced a few steps to look out the windows again.

“The specialist couldn’t explain why it happened with you and not with Neal,” she said in a low, troubled voice. “Maybe thelackof stress? Once I was separated from him, I began eating better and sleeping better. I was happier. Or at least less unhappy. The doctor said that might have given my body a chance to level out, hormone-wise. Heal. She pointed out that the world is full of babies conceived after the mother was told she was sterile and decided to quit trying. Nature is mysterious. Sometimes it’s a matter of taking the pressure off, she said. And different couples have different chemistry.” Her cheeks went pink.

Yeah, they had a different level of chemistry all right. He could feel the pull of it even as he resisted fully accepting this news. It wasn’t that he didn’t want the baby. More like he didn’t want to want it then discover she didn’t.

“There’s no real explanation for why I got pregnant, but I definitely am. It’s definitely yours.”

“Okay. And?” His ears were ringing, and he was straining so hard to hear what she hadn’t yet said. He didn’t want to ask in case the answer wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

Whatdidhe want to hear?

The tendons in her neck flexed and she seemed to lose more color. She blinked fast and seemed to pull a cloak of dignity around her, standing taller as she did.

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