The Tycoon's Baby Revelation - Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,10

she muttered, hurrying back out of the store.

It was after ten o’clock that night when she finally finished with everything she thought she could accomplish that day and sent an e-mail to her absent boss, giving him an update.

By the time she returned to the shelter, she was hungry and exhausted. She thought about stopping somewhere to get something to eat, knowing that the kitchen at the shelter was closed by now. But since she only had about four hundred dollars in her checking account, the amount she’d earned from her fast food job, she was loathe to spend any of it on something as silly as food. So instead, she’d parked the beat up old car in the back of the parking lot of the shelter and headed inside, looking for her sisters.

She found them curled up on the cots in the corner, doing homework by the light of the streetlight outside the big window. Sloane’s heart ached, wishing that she was smarter and faster or older so that she could give them what they needed; shelter, food, and security. Soon, she thought to herself as she wove between the other occupied cots in the large, gym area. Soon they would have enough money to find a small apartment. Even a studio would be nice! They wouldn’t have their own bedrooms, but they’d never had that luxury. When her mother had been alive, the three of them had shared a bedroom. But this…a cot in a homeless shelter really was a pretty desperate situation.

She paused, watching her sisters. Rayne was so determined and focused, looking down at her text book for a long moment before writing something in her notebook. Pepper was just as focused, but she had a stronger memory and didn’t need to write things down as often. Rayne could read faster, but Pepper remembered everything she read. It was pretty amazing that neither of her sisters had gone down the rebellious route, although Rayne was sixteen going on forty while Pepper had just turned fifteen and acted as if she were ready to tackle the world. Love for her sisters hit her hard and deeply. She loved them, and wanted to do more for both of them.

Even as she watched, Sloane noticed two of the younger men in the room peering over in their direction with a hungry gaze. No way, she thought! Their mother had gotten pregnant every time she’d lowered her guard and trusted a man! There was some sort of weird fertility going on with the women in her family, so no way would Sloane allow some guy to get close to her sisters! The way their luck had been going lately, a guy’s sperm could impregnate one of them from across the room!

Okay, that was just stupid and proved that she probably should have stopped for some milk on the way home from the Starke offices. A couple of dollars wouldn’t have broken the bank for the three of them.

But it was past ten o’clock now and all she really wanted was sleep. Eight hours of sleep and a comfortable pair of sneakers, she corrected.

Rayne must have sensed her presence because she looked up from her textbook and spotted Sloane. A bright smile lit up her pale features, and Sloane could detect the sparkle from her red hair even across the dimly lit room. Rayne nudged Pepper, who looked up as well, beaming when she spotted Sloane. Both girls jumped up from their cots and rushed over to Sloane who met them halfway. The three of them embraced each other, sobbing quietly.

“You got the job!” Rayne whispered softly because it was quiet time now. “I told you that our luck would change eventually!”

Sloane hugged them tighter, not wanting to acknowledge anything like good luck for fear that she might jinx it.

Pepper kissed Sloane’s cheek, hugging her tightly. “I’m so proud of you!” she whispered.

“We’re going to be okay,” Sloane said, fighting back the tears. Tears hadn’t done anything to save them over the past several months, so they were pointless. A waste of energy!

“Shut up!” someone yelled.

All three of them hushed quickly, because any sort of violation of the rules meant that they’d be tossed out onto the street for the night.

“Come on,” Sloane whispered and the three of them moved to the small corner space they called “home”.

“Go to sleep,” she whispered. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

Rayne and Pepper both nodded, looking warily around at the others, afraid to make noise.

As