Protecting His Pregnant Lover - Leslie North Page 0,47

smart. Sometimes your brain can get in the way. Be sure to consult your heart in this too. I haven’t seen Levon Asher in years, but from what I remember when I met him back when you two were in high school, he seemed like a decent boy. And his parents were wonderful people. Simple folk, but good and kind. If he’s turned out anything like them, he’ll be a good partner for you. Your father and I look forward to seeing him again the next time we’re in the States. You’ll have had the baby then too.”

“Yeah.” Olive’s father told one of his bad dad jokes, but she was only half-listening, her mind still stuck on Levon. Finally the connection grew fuzzier and it was time to go. “I love you both. Be careful!”

“You too dear,” her parents said. “And be sure to have that talk with Levon.”

The computer screen went black as the connection severed, leaving Olive to stare at her own reflection. Usually, hashing things out with her parents put her fears at ease, but today, they’d only added new tension to her already overloaded system. The fact that they were right about her need to talk to Levon about his plans for the future didn’t help either.

Olive didn’t like uncertainty. She was a woman of facts and figures, a scientist. She liked things cut and dried and clear as crystal. Levon was nothing but a big walking question mark to her at the moment. The only place they seemed perfectly synchronized was in bed, but fabulous sex didn’t a relationship make.

She snorted and turned away from the computer to get up and walk into the living room. Could she even call it a relationship? Not really. They were partners in solving this case, that was all. And with the baby, of course.

Absently, she placed her hand over her tummy and sank down onto the sofa to stare around at all the unfinished baby items around her that they’d brought over from her place. There was the crib, the highchair, the playpen, even the mobile she’d bought. All just sitting there in pieces waiting to be assembled into what she hoped would be working order. She’d hoped to have more time to get it all together, but time was quickly running out.

And if that wasn’t a metaphor for her life presently, she didn’t know what was.

Olive took a deep breath and let her head fall back on the cushions to stare up at the ceiling. Her parents were right. She and Levon needed to hash this out, once and for all. It was scary, yes. Not just because she loved him, but also because she wanted to do the right thing for their baby. But the scariest thing of all for Olive was not knowing.

They had been lab partners once. Bed partners too.

But could they be a forever family?

16

Levon returned home that afternoon feeling like he had a belly full of cut glass. After going over the footage with the local PD and Principal James, he was left with the awful task of telling Olive the truth about her favorite student. That Franklin Monroe was, in fact, working with the Reapers. Then there was the fact that after the trashing of her classroom and the threatening note the gang had left behind, both the PD and Principal James had agreed that Olive needed to be put on an immediate leave of absence for her own safety until after this whole mess was resolved.

He hated that he’d been right about this. It was almost enough to make him long for his academic days, back when he had been wrong so often. He hesitated on the porch of the rental house, exhausted down to his very bones. He knew telling her was the right thing, but it was hard. Harder than pretty much anything Levon had done so far in his life, and that was saying something. He’d faced down dictators and homicidal militias, but seeing Olive Owen hurt and disappointed might just kill him.

Given her condition, he’d have to break the news on both counts to her gently, but he’d have to be clear. Levon was determined to resolve the case as quickly as possible, but he still needed to be thorough and that would take time. Olive would have to remain here at the rental house, and under his protection, until the Reaper presence was permanently eradicated from Harper’s Forge.

Dammit. Levon tried to rehearse the words in