back in the chair with his coffee cup in his hand, studying her. “Was that note the best you could do?” he added. “A terse ‘Need to talk to you when you have time. Best wishes, Elissa’?”
She flushed. “I’d already tried your ranch and your office. Nobody seemed to know where you were.”
“Nobody did, for a while,” he said. He didn’t mention that the past few weeks had been pure hell. His temper had become so vile that it had already cost him two of his best junior executives. So much for testing that absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder business, he thought angrily. She didn’t look any the worse for wear, but he sure as hell did. He stared at her coolly. “Are you having any morning sickness?”
She almost dropped the coffee cup.
“Well, why else would you bother to contact me?” he chanced. “It wasn’t out of love. You told me how you felt when you left,” he said curtly, his dark eyes glittering at her across the table. “The only possible reason was that I’d made you pregnant. So here I am.” He didn’t mention that he’d practically bought an airline to get here that fast.
“There was no rush,” she said. “I’ve got everything worked out. My parents know,” she added softly. “They didn’t make accusations or rage at me or even try to shame me. They said...” She bit back tears. “They said people are human.”
“Oh, God,” he whispered roughly. Though he himself was delighted—surely she’d reconsider and marry him now—he hadn’t thought about how her parents would take the news. He wasn’t surprised that they’d stand by her, though. They were good people, and they loved her.
“It’s all right. I make more than enough money to take care of myself and the baby. And you can visit if you like,” she told him. “But I’d rather you waited a while,” she said, lifting tired eyes to his. “I don’t want people gossiping, and it’s the last kind of complication you need right now.”
He stared at her blankly. Bess said Elissa had called, so didn’t she know that Bobby and Bess were back together? “It’s my baby,” he said simply. “I want to take care of you both.”
“I don’t need taking care of, thank you,” she said with forced calm, remembering that he hadn’t bothered to make a move toward her in seven weeks and that Bess was now living with him.
He exhaled angrily, leaning forward to pin her with his dark, quiet eyes. “I’m responsible for you,” he said. “This is all my fault.”
“I’m not blaming you,” she replied. “That isn’t why I contacted you. I gave my word that I would, if it happened.”
He stopped breathing for an instant. “That’s the only reason you got in touch with me?”
Her eyebrows arched with practiced carelessness. “What other reason would I have had?”
He wanted to throw something. “You loved me once,” he growled.
“Oh, I’ve gotten over that,” she assured him, rising to put the empty cups into the sink and praying that he wouldn’t see through the fiction of what she was saying to the agony underneath. She swallowed down tears. “It was just infatuation. I was pretty naive, you know, and you were very experienced. Any girl can lose her head with a sexy man. I just happened to be a little too naive. You see—” She turned to tell him a few more choice lies, but he wasn’t there. Seconds later, she heard the front door open softly and close. Then a car engine roared once, and she heard the vehicle drive away.
It had no sooner pulled away than the phone rang. What a night, she thought miserably. At least, thank God, she’d kept her composure. King hadn’t guessed how she’d grieved for him, and that was something. He’d leave her alone now, and she and the baby would be each other’s world. King wouldn’t have to sacrifice his happiness with Bess on Elissa’s account.
She lifted the receiver on the second ring, hoping her parents hadn’t been disturbed again. “Hello?” she said, wiping away a tear.
“Elissa?”
It was Bess. Elissa glared at the telephone. “If you’re looking for King, you’re too late. He’s on his way back to you—I made sure of that—and you don’t have to worry. I won’t bother him again. The baby and I will manage just fine.”
“Baby?” Bess sounded shocked.
“King will tell you all about it, I’m sure. It’s no concern of his anymore.”