Wanted by Her Lost Love - By Maya Banks Page 0,16
and Jarrod would have dinner with me tomorrow night.”
Ryan closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. There was no easy way to say this and his mom would know soon enough now that Jarrod had been over. Best she know now so she could get used to it. “Mom, you should know…Kelly is with me…and she’s pregnant.”
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end followed by thick silence. “I see,” she finally said. “I guess inviting Roberta is out of the question.”
Ryan blew out his breath at his mother’s snippy tone. Roberta Maxwell was a woman his mom had been shoving at him ever since Kelly had disappeared.
Though his mother had never come out and said I told you so, she didn’t have to. It was there as plain as if she’d hung a banner.
She’d never approved of Kelly. Never liked that Ryan was marrying her. She’d been polite, though. Ryan had demanded it of her. He wouldn’t allow any of his family to disrespect the woman he’d chosen to be his wife.
After what had happened with Jarrod and Kelly, he’d expected his mother to be more smug; but she’d been oddly sympathetic. The last thing he wanted at the moment, though, was to bring Kelly to an awkward dinner where his mom would sit with that pinched look on her face and Jarrod would say God knows what.
He’d wondered what would happen when the inevitable confrontation with Jarrod occurred. Now he knew, and it hadn’t gone at all as he’d imagined.
“I think we’ll do dinner another time. Kelly and I aren’t up to it at the moment.”
He said his goodbyes and hung up, starting the car and slamming it into Reverse. He needed some distance before he went off the deep end.
He drove aimlessly and ended up at his office building before he even realized that he was heading in that direction. He didn’t often drive, and usually only when he was leaving the city. He kept his car parked and used his car service. But today he hadn’t been in any mood to wait for pickup.
He parked and went up to his office, acknowledging Jansen’s look of surprise since he’d just told his assistant that morning that he wouldn’t be in for several days.
He waved off Jansen’s question of whether or not he needed anything and shut the door to his office. Then he flopped into his chair and swiveled around to stare out the window.
The weather had turned cold and gray, much more suited to his mood. After spending several days in Texas, where it was a good deal warmer, even in winter, coming back to the cold of the Northeast was a bit of an adjustment.
His cell phone rang, and he almost didn’t answer. It was Cam, and Cam would want to know what had prompted his departure from Moon Island. Ryan was supposed to fly back to New York with Cam and Devon but he’d left in a hurry with a flimsily uttered excuse.
Deciding not to delay the inevitable, he put the phone to his ear.
“You and Dev make it back?”
“There you are. Been trying to call you for the past twenty-four hours. Where the hell did you go in such a hurry?” Cam demanded.
Ryan sighed. “My investigator called. He found Kelly.” There was dead silence and then he heard Cam murmuring to someone else. Probably Dev.
“And?” Cam finally said.
“She was in Houston. I left the island to go and see if it was her.”
“And?” Cam asked again.
“It was. I brought her back to New York with me.”
“You did what? Why the hell did you do that?”
Ryan sighed at the incredulity in Cam’s voice. And then because he needed to unload on someone, he said, “She’s pregnant, Cam.”
“Oh, Christ. What is with all the pregnant women showing up? I’ll ask you the same question I asked Rafael when Bryony appeared out of nowhere. How do you know it’s yours?”
“I don’t believe I said it was mine,” Ryan said mildly. “What I said was that she’s pregnant.”
“Uh-huh, and you’d just bring your ex-fiancée back to New York with you because she’s pregnant with someone else’s baby?”
“Don’t be a smart-ass. The thing is, it could be my baby. Or it could be my brother’s. Are you seeing my problem now?”
“Man, I’d say you have a whole hell of a lot of problems that I’m glad I don’t have. What does she say about all of this?”
“That’s just it. She’s