Mountain Man's Accidental Surprise - K.C. Crowne Page 0,34

regard to my father. No one knew how I truly felt.

Until I told Graham.

He squeezed my shoulder, and the look on his face filled my heart with such warmth. He looked at me the way I had always wanted someone to look at me - with care and concern in his eyes. His face softened and his eyes were gentle, even though his face itself was rugged.

I felt safe with him.

Too soon for that, I reminded myself. I hardly knew him. I hadn’t been with any men before, so how could I be sure I was the best judge of character? Graham seemed almost too good to be true.

But I instinctively believed it to be true, even as I told myself not to.

“You don’t deserve the way he treated you, Emmy. Your father made his bed, and he needs to lie in it. You shouldn’t have to pay for his shortcomings with your life.”

I nodded. “I know, you’re right. But it’s more than that, Graham. It’s not just a concern over my life—”

I stopped short of telling him. The real reason I couldn’t go back wasn’t because of my fear of marrying a man I didn’t love and spending my life in misery. I might have done that to save my father, no matter how horrible he’d been to me, because the idea of anyone dying because of me was horrible. But I had to make a choice in that moment - my dad’s life or the life of the innocent child growing inside me. I knew Antonio wouldn’t let me keep another man’s baby, and the baby hadn’t done anything wrong. He or she didn’t deserve to die because my father made a deal with the devil.

I decided Graham deserved to know the truth, but before I could find the words, I heard footsteps in the hallway. Mason walked in from outside, soaking wet.

“Still raining?” Graham asked dryly, chuckling to himself over his terrible joke.

“What do you think?” Mason said with a cheeky grin.

“Not letting up at all, eh?”

“Nope. Not one little bit.” Mason looked between Graham and me. “Did I interrupt something?”

Graham glanced at me and I nodded, letting him know it was okay to tell Mason. After all, we were working together, right? They needed to know.

“She got a call from her dad. Lombardo has him and is threatening to kill him if she doesn’t return to Vegas.”

Mason cocked an eyebrow. “And?”

“And Emmy told him she’s not going back.”

“Damn,” Mason said, running a hand over his beard. He shot me a grin. “Good for you. Not many people would stand up for themselves like that.”

“Well, he dug his own grave,” I said, holding my chin up high. I tried to appear strong, but a lingering doubt in my head and heart cried out to me. He’s your father, Emmy, a voice spoke to me inside my head. He’s family.

Blood alone doesn’t make someone family, another voice argued. He had proven to me that I was worth nothing to him long ago, and he got us into this mess.

My child was my family. And I was the only person who could protect it.

“Any news on the roads?” Graham asked.

“The bridge leading to the property is still holding up, but barely,” Mason said. “Samuel’s working on alternate plans. We may end up having to leave this place and head for higher ground.”

“And go where? There’s nowhere as secure as our house.”

Mason shrugged. “We’ll have to figure it out. Everything’s fine for now, but we’ll keep checking. The rain should let up in a day or two.”

“Is that what they’re saying?” Graham asked.

“Yeah, and it needs to happen or the whole damn town might be in some serious trouble. The Liberty Dam can only do so much,” he commented, shaking his head. “This amount of rain is unprecedented for Utah.” He cleared his throat. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to change and relieve Eli on surveillance duty.”

Mason walked past us toward his room, and Graham turned back to me. “What were you saying before?”

“I—”

It wasn’t the place or time to tell him he was going to be a father. At any moment, one of his other brothers could walk in and interrupt us again. No, this was a conversation that needed to happen when we were completely alone.

“I just wanted to say that it’s not just my life at stake here, but all of yours as well. And I appreciate all that you’re doing for me.”

A crooked smile