Nine Months Part 1 (36 Hours)

by Beverly Barton

  She pulled a chair from the table, pushed it over to the counter and climbed up on the seat. Just as she reached out for the whisky bottle, Jared stormed into the kitchen and grabbed her around the waist. She plucked the nearly full bottle of Johnny Walker off the shelf seconds before Jared lifted her into his arms.

  “What are you doing?” She stared at him, breathless and flushed, her heart beating ninety to nothing.

  “You shouldn’t be climbing up on chairs. You could fall and hurt yourself. Hurt the baby.”

  “Oh.”

  She clung to the whisky bottle as if it were a golden prize, all the while staring at him with hungry eyes that reflected his own deep, devouring need.

  “Paige?” He wanted to carry her to bed and make slow, sweet love to her all night long, if only she’d let him.

  “Please, put me down, Jared, and I’ll pour you a drink.”

  He didn’t want to put her down, but he did. Easing his hand across the back of her legs, he slid her over the front of his body, slowly, intimately, allowing her to feel his arousal.

  “Every time I get near you, honey, I get hard.” He took the whisky bottle from her with one hand while he gripped the back of her neck with the other. “But you know that, don’t you?”

  She stared him straight in the eye, unflinching. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with the force of her accelerated breathing. “Please, don’t do this to me. Don’t take advantage of the way you make me feel.”

  “How do I make you feel?” He brushed her lips with his and smiled when she gasped. “All hot and damp and needy?”

  She squirmed, trying to free herself from his hold. He set the whisky bottle down on the table behind him and clutched her hip, drawing her even closer against his body.

  “What do you want me to say?” She looked at him, a fine mist of unshed tears in her eyes. “You make me want you. Want you enough to ignore my common sense. I did that once, the first time we met, and look what happened.”

  “Yeah, honey, I guess you’re right.” He loosened his hold around her neck but didn’t release her. Lowering his head, he nuzzled her throat and breathed in her sweet, flowery, feminine scent. The purely male instinct part of him wanted to tell her that the damage had already been done, so what would be the harm of giving in to their desire now? But the sane, sensible part of his brain warned him that Paige wouldn’t see it quite that way.

  Raising his head, he stared into her moist eyes and smiled sadly, then tenderly caressed her cheek. He released his hold on her and took a step backward, away from temptation. Paige sighed deeply but didn’t move.

  “I could use that drink now, honey,” he said.

  “Certainly.” Turning around, she opened a cupboard door, retrieved two small juice glasses and handed them to him. “I could use a drink myself.”

  Jared placed the glasses on the round wooden table, then opened the whisky bottle, poured his glass half full and gulped down a large swallow. He blew out a breath as the liquor burned a trail down his throat and landed like a ton of hot bricks in his belly. “Want me to fix one for you?” Glancing around, he noticed her opening the refrigerator door. “Good idea. Get some ice. We’ll have our drinks on the rocks.”

  Turning to face him, Paige held a milk carton in her hand. “I’m pregnant. Remember? I’m not supposed to have any liquor. This—” she hoisted the carton of skim milk in the air “—is my drink of choice for the next few months.”

  Paige set the carton on the table, then opened the freezer compartment in her refrigerator and lifted out a small plastic container filled with ice cubes. “Here’s your ice.”

  Reaching across the table, Jared grabbed the bowl, transferred a couple of ice cubes into his glass and placed the bowl on the table. He filled the glass to the rim with the Johnny Walker, then pulled out a chair and sat down.

  “Sit down, Paige. We need to talk.”

  She hesitated for a split second, then nodded agreement and sat. Jared sipped on his drink, all the while watching Paige, waiting for her to say something. She didn’t say a word, just poured herself a glass of milk and drank it very slowly.

  “So, all you want is to keep your job?” Jared asked. Some men would be grateful to think that they could get off so easily. Some men could walk away from a situation like this and never look back. Some men could forget a one-night stand with a stranger. Some men could deny their own child and not give a damn. Some men. But not Lawrence Jared Montgomery!

  What sort of heartless bastard did she think he was? He might not like the idea of having to marry her and take on the responsibility of a child he hadn’t planned to father, but he wasn’t the type of man who could walk away and never look back. He was responsible for getting her pregnant. If he had been thinking with his head instead of his— But that had been the problem; he hadn’t been thinking at all. Regardless of the circumstances of the baby’s conception, the child was his. His, dammit, and no child of his was going to come into this world illegitimate.

  “I’ve already told you what I want,” she said, then finished off her glass of milk and poured herself another. “Maybe it’s time for you to tell me what you want.”

  “I want to marry you.” He emptied his glass and refilled it quickly, adding more ice cubes.

  The music from the CD player permeated the uneasy silence. An ice cube in Jared’s glass cracked. Paige wiped her mouth with her index finger and thumb, then crossed her arms over her waist and stared at him.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because you’re pregnant with my child.”

  Sweet, warm relief spread through Paige’s stomach. She sighed. He wanted to do the right thing. She’d been so afraid he might not even believe the child was his, and now here he was offering her an almost perfect solution. Of course, he hadn’t said anything about love. But he did want her. He’d made that perfectly clear. And love could grow out of need, couldn’t it? If a man wanted a woman as much as Jared said he wanted her, then there was every chance that he might love her and just not know it yet.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she told him. “I didn’t expect this. I had no idea you’d want to marry me.” Hoped you would. Prayed you would. Dreamed you would. But never thought you would.

  Jared poured himself another drink. He didn’t usually drink much, certainly not the quantity he’d consumed today. But then it wasn’t every day that a man found out that he’d gotten a woman he barely knew pregnant, and he was going to be a father.

  “Well, I can’t think of a better solution,” he said. “Of course, getting married now wasn’t a part of my plan. But then getting you or anyone else pregnant right now wasn’t a part of my five-year plan, either.”

  “Your five-year plan?”

  “Yeah, I’m the kind of man who makes plans. I had my life all mapped out, until I met you.”

  “And I messed up your plan.”

  Jared nodded, then took another gulp of whisky. “If my calculations are correct, Montgomery Real Estate and Land Development will fulfill all my expectations within the next five years. That’s when I had planned to find the perfect wife, get married and have a son.”

  She had enacted this scene once before. With Kevin. He had told her that he wanted her, even that he loved her, but she hadn’t been quite what he needed in a wife. He had wanted to change her into his idea of the perfect woman, and for a while, she’d tried to be that woman. But in the end, he’d found his Ms. Perfect when he’d moved to L.A. and Paige had been left with a broken heart. And a determination never to try to remake herself into someone she wasn’t. Not for anyone. “A perfect wife, huh? I guess I’m not quite what you had in mind, am I?”

  “No, honey, I’m afraid you’re not.” Jared’s speech was beginning to slur just a fraction. “You’re beautiful. And you have the most fabulous body. And just looking at you drives me crazy.”

  He smiled at her. That damned killer smile that made her insides quiver. She didn’t like the way this conversation was going, but s
he had no intention of putting an end to it. While he was teetering on the verge of drunkenness, he was more likely to be completely honest with her. And that’s what she needed—honesty. Her future and the future of her child depended upon the decisions she made now. Without complete honesty between Jared and her, she might make the wrong decision and regret it the rest of her life.

  He drained the last drops from his glass and reached for the bottle. “I’ll bet you didn’t know that in the last four months every time I heard your voice over the phone, I got hard.” He leered at her, his gaze filled with lust. “You put the hoodoo on me, honey. I don’t want anybody else but you.”

  She knew the feeling. She didn’t want anyone else but him. Unfortunately, their wanting each other so desperately had gotten them into this situation. But only love could get them out of it, and Paige was afraid that for Jared, love didn’t enter into the picture. Responsibility, duty, maybe even an old-fashioned sense of honor. But not love.

  “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” She placed her hand over his where he held the whisky bottle.

  “Too much, actually,” he admitted, releasing his hold on the bottle. “We need to make new plans. Figure out all the details.”

  “We don’t have to do that tonight,” she said. “Tomorrow will be soon enough, when you’re completely sober.”

  “I’m not drunk, just a little fuzzy.” He grinned, the corners of his mouth curving up in a lopsided, closemouthed smile. “Besides, I came here to get everything settled. Tonight.”

  “It can wait another day.” When she started to rise from her chair, he reached across the table and grabbed her wrist. Looking at him, she saw that his smile had vanished. He stared at her with a hard, uncompromising glare.

  “Sit down, honey.”

  She eased back down onto the chair. He released her wrist.

  “I’m going to have to alter my plans to accommodate this accident.”

  Accident! She wanted to scream but didn’t. Instead she gritted her teeth and counted to ten.

  “I guess we both know there’s a good chance the marriage won’t last, but for the sake of the child, I think we should get married as soon as possible,” he said. “Next week, unless you’d prefer to plan something more elaborate than a brief ceremony in the judge’s chambers.” He paused; she didn’t respond, only stared at him. “Whatever you want. Money is no object.”

  “No, it wouldn’t be with you, would it?”

  He missed the sarcasm in her voice. “Of course, I’ll expect you to sign a prenuptial agreement, but while we’re married, I’ll buy you whatever your heart desires.”

  Paige didn’t doubt for a minute that Jared could buy her just about anything. But he couldn’t buy her the one thing she wanted most. His love. And without his love, or at least the hope that he would grow to love her, she would never marry him.

  “Signing a prenuptial would be no problem…if I agreed to marry you. Your money isn’t what I want.”

  “Good. Then that’s settled, isn’t it? We’ll live in the new house I just bought up in the mountains toward Squaw Creek,” he told her. “I’ll even deed the house over to you as a little wedding present. And after the baby’s born, I’ll want us to move back to Texas. That’s my home base. We can visit Grand Springs fairly often as I’ll need to keep check on the branch office here.”

  “You’ve given this a lot of thought, haven’t you.”

  “Yes, I have. Despite the fact that this baby of ours—” he looked meaningfully at her slightly rounded tummy “—wasn’t a part of my plans, he’s a reality neither of us can escape. I take full responsibility for my mistakes. This whole thing is my fault. If I’d used a condom—”

  Paige jumped up, knocking over her chair in the process. “Why you arrogant, egotistical, macho jerk, I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth!”

  Leaving the chair overturned on the floor, she whirled around and stomped out of the kitchen. Jared sat there for several seconds, not quite sure what had hit him, then he realized that Paige was angry. Very angry. Very, very, very angry—with him!

  Damn, what had he said that upset her so much? Hadn’t he taken full responsibility for the mess they were in? Hadn’t he told her that he’d marry her? Hadn’t he promised to buy her whatever her little heart desired?

  Scooting back his chair, Jared stood. The room spun around and around, then suddenly righted itself. Whoa, boy. You’ve had a little too much of the good stuff. It’s dulled your senses. Maybe that’s why she’s upset. Could be she doesn’t like a drinking man. But I’m not a drinking man, he told himself. Not usually. Just a rusty nail occasionally.

  Steady on his feet, he made his way into the living room without any trouble. He couldn’t be all that drunk. He wasn’t staggering, but he certainly was in no shape to drive up the mountain tonight.

  She sat on the sofa, her arms crossed over her chest and her feet tapping nervously against the wooden floor. She glared daggers at him. If looks could kill, he’d be a dead man.

  “Paige?” He walked farther into the room. “Honey?”

  “Leave me alone, Jared Montgomery!”

  He maneuvered his way across the living room at a snail’s pace, not wanting to say or do anything to set her off again. When he reached the sofa, he glanced down at her and smiled. Ignoring him, she tilted her chin and looked up at the ceiling. He sat down beside her; she scooted to the opposite end of the sofa.

  “Whatever I said to offend you, I apologize,” he said. “I didn’t come here to upset you. I came here to tell you that I’d marry you. That I’d make everything all right.”

  Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. She gritted her teeth and swallowed hard. “You can’t make everything all right.”

  He slid across the sofa and put his arm around her stiff shoulders. “Of course I can. I’m L. J. Montgomery. I’m stinking rich. I can—”

  “You’re stinking, all right.” She tried to shrug his arm off her shoulders. He gripped her upper arm. “How many drinks did you have before you came here tonight?”

  “I don’t remember,” he said.

  “Needed a little false courage?”

  “All I need…all you need…to settle this whole affair and make things right is for us to get married.”

  “I can’t marry you.”

  “Of course you can. You’re going to have my baby. Who else would you marry?”

  “We aren’t going to settle this tonight, not with your senses dulled by so much whisky. Go home. Sleep it off and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

  “It’s already settled,” he told her. “You’ll sign the prenuptial agreement and we’ll get married next week.” He tried to stand but swayed on his feet, then slipped back down on the sofa and rested his head on the cushioned arm.

  Paige tried to help him stand again, but he wouldn’t cooperate, and he was far too big for her to force him. “Come on, Jared. Get up. I want you to leave.”

  “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t?”

  “I shouldn’t drive in my condition.”

  Damn, he was right. She couldn’t let him drive. “I’ll call a taxi and have the driver take you to a motel for the night.”

  “Why can’t I stay right here?” He lifted his feet up on the sofa and bent his knees, curling up like a drowsy lion.

  “Because I don’t want you here.” She grabbed his legs and swung them off the sofa. He groaned but didn’t open his eyes. She punched him on the arm. “Get up, dammit. Jared? You cannot stay here all night.” He didn’t respond.

  She got up off the sofa, placed her hands on her hips and stood over him, glaring. He stretched out his legs as far as he could, rolled over onto his back and snorted. He was asleep! Now what was she going to do? She’d have to let him stay the night.

  Resigned to the situation, she went into the hall, opened the linen closet and removed a blanket and pillow. When she returned to the living room, Jared was snoring. She bent down
on her knees in front of the sofa, lifted his head and slipped a pillow under it. She removed his tie, laid it on the coffee table, and then did the same with his shoes and socks. After unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt, she jerked her hand away. Despite everything that was wrong between them, it was all she could do not to caress him, not to lean over and kiss him.

  Damn him! Damn his arrogant, egotistical, macho hide! How dare he think she wanted his money! How dare he think he was doing her such a big favor by marrying her! Who the hell did he think he was, anyway? Oh, she knew who he was, all right. He was L. J. Montgomery. He had more money than God! What he didn’t have was a heart. And a man without a heart couldn’t love anyone. Not her. Not her baby.

  Paige unfolded the blanket and spread it out over Jared’s long, lean body, tugging it snugly around his broad shoulders. Of all the men in the world, why was he the one she wanted?

  Standing, she looked down at the man sleeping on her sofa and wondered how on earth she was going to deal with him in the morning.

  Chapter Four

  Jared couldn’t remember the last time he’d awakened with a hangover. The best he could figure, it had been fifteen years ago, the night after Grandpa Monty’s funeral. At the time, he’d had two choices, either cry or get drunk. He’d gotten drunk first, and then he’d cried. He hadn’t done either since, not even when he lost his father three years ago.

  He opened his eyes, then shut them quickly. Bright morning sunshine flooded the room. He tried to lift his head off the pillow, but pain shot through his temples. Groaning, he massaged his forehead.

  “Good morning,” Paige said. “Want some coffee?”

  Jared’s eyes flew open. He gazed up at Paige, who stood behind the sofa. She held a mug in her hand.

  “Is that coffee you’ve got there?” he asked.

  “It’s hot chocolate,” she said. “Caffeine is off-limits to me for the duration of my pregnancy, and I can’t stand the low-octane stuff. But there’s a pot of regular coffee brewing in the kitchen.”