lunch, and dinner."
"I..." He cleared his throat again. "I read that morning sickness means a lot of hormones are being released. It's supposed to be the sign of a strong pregnancy."
Samantha dropped her hands to send him a withering, sidelong look. "Or it's something a man made up because he thought it might make a woman cheerier when she's hanging over the toilet."
He laughed. "At least you haven't flushed your sense of humor."
Samantha groaned. "You need to limit your contact with the mayor, D. B."
His expression sobered. "I wondered if I'd ever hear you say my name again."
No. She dug her fingernails into her palms. That look in his eye, that hoarse softness of his voice, would kill her if she let them get to her. He was her fling, for God's sake, a past fling, and she wasn't going to let him get close again.
"I said the wrong thing, didn't I?"
See? That was the danger. He was so damn good at reading her that he might easily discover she was in love with him. What would she have then? Her pride was the only thing keeping her upright these days. "I don't want to go backward, D. B."
There was an instant of silence. "I understand. What do you want? What are you going to do about the pregnancy?"
It was a fair question. Samantha glanced toward the sandbox and the chubby little ones playing there. "I'm forty-three years old and I don't know any more about being a mother now than I did at seventeen."
D. B. waited for her to continue without saying anything. That impressed her, it did, because his judicial nerves must be screaming. To father a child out of wedlock at his age, and with Samantha, of all people, would likely cause half the county to die of shock and the other half to ignite a recall election.
Too bad. She turned her head and looked him straight in the eye. "I'm going to have this baby."
He didn't blink. "Good." Then he smiled.
Oh, God. It was a smile brimming with joy and excitement. For a moment - a moment in which her own joy bubbled upward - she thought all the dashes to the bathroom were worth it, just for that one expression on his face. But then he ruined it.
"We'll get married, of course," he said.
She gaped at him. "Of course we won't," she finally answered.
His face hardened. "It's my baby."
"Mine too," she retorted. "And my life." And she wasn't going to tie it to someone who felt forced to marry her.
"Samantha - "
"You wouldn't acknowledge me at a Chinese restaurant two weeks ago. You can't tell me you'd even think of marrying me now if it wasn't for the baby."
He nodded shortly. "The baby changes things, I'll grant you that. Speeds things up."
"It changes nothing, not when it comes to talking about marriage."
"You're not being reasonable." He had the gall to look down his nose at her.
She glared at him. "Consult your book. I'm sure some man has written in there that pregnant women often aren't, which in my opinion is just another way to excuse the typical male's boorish behavior."
"I haven't even resorted to boorishness yet."
She was feeling a little panicky at the determined tone of his voice. There was no way she'd marry him. Not when she loved him and he didn't love her back.
"Face it, Samantha. We're going to be married."
She swallowed. "Haven't you heard? Wilder women don't wed and they don't run."
"I don't give a damn about that stupid motto and I don't think you do either. After all, you did run away from Hot Water."
"But I came back." Samantha took a calming breath as she stood up and moved away from the table, suddenly remembering the winning card she had yet to play. "After twenty years stripping for a living in Las Vegas. And for your information, that interesting story is going to come out in Celeb! magazine next week, and Celeb! on TV this weekend. So, D. B., if you still want to marry me after the whole world knows that, then I'll say yes."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Before the opening ceremony at the park, Samantha had left her car at Aunt Cat's. Now she met the older lady coming out of her house just as Samantha was unlocking her car door. Trying to appear calm and composed, she placed her fist over her stomach and smiled. "Can I give you a lift somewhere?"
Cat was a beautiful woman - all the Wilders were