by Debbie Mason
“Interesting,” Gage said, following him off the stage. “You didn’t answer my question. So should I assume that’s a yes?”
“Yes, she would, but no, I’m not interested.” It’s too bad he wasn’t. A recent poll indicated that while Ethan’s single status increased his popularity with the younger, more liberal voters, it hurt him with the older, conservative ones. Ethan smiled, shaking hands with several people in the crowd.
“Thanks, appreciate it,” he said at their promises of support, then walked away with Gage by his side. “Okay, I think I’ve worn this thing long enough.”
“Maybe you should leave it on. Here comes your fairy princess.” Gage’s laughter turned to a groan. “Oh hell, she looks pissed. What did you do now?”
“Nothing,” Ethan said, lowering his arm as Skye marched toward him with Grace and Madison in tow. He’d been approached by at least ten beautiful, very sweet, reasonable women today, so why was it that the only woman who set his pulse racing was the ticked-off fairy shooting daggers at him?
“You”—Skye jabbed him in the chest with a book—“are not my Prince Charming.”
“Yeah, you’ve made that pretty clear, cupcake.” He straightened her crown, looking into her flashing caramel-colored eyes. “What did I do now?”
She made a frustrated sound in her throat and went up on her toes. Her sweet, sexy body brushed against him, sending a familiar zing of heated awareness to every nerve ending. He fought the urge to dip his head and kiss her rosebud lips when she reached up, whipped the crown off his head, and waved it in his face. “How do you explain this?”
“I won…” He trailed off. Telling her that he’d won the hamburger-eating contest wouldn’t go over well, and they were already drawing attention.
Her gorgeous eyes narrowed, and she thumped the crown against his chest. “You won the hamburger-eating contest, didn’t you? Oh, you…” She made a growly noise in her throat, turned on her slippered feet, and flounced off with her wings flapping.
“Sorry, Ethan,” Grace said over her shoulder as she hurried after Skye.
“What was that all about?” Gage asked his wife.
“She, ah…” Madison glanced at Ethan and continued in a thick Southern drawl, “She’s a little stressed, is all.”
Gage put his hands on his wife’s shoulders and ducked his head to meet her eyes. “Not buying it, honey. What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing.” She cast a nervous glance in the direction Skye had fled. “I’d better go and calm her down before she starts reading the story. She’s liable to kill off the prince. Don’t take it personally, Ethan. She’s not feeling like herself these days.” Madison patted his arm, kissed her husband’s cheek, and took off.
“Do me a favor,” Gage said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Give Skye a wide berth for the rest of the day.”
“Plan to,” Ethan said, unable to keep from searching the crowd for a flash of purple.
“Yeah, right, I saw the way you looked at her. Trust me, you don’t want to go there, buddy. I like Skye, but she’s not for you.”
Ethan had heard the same thing from his mother and Claudia. He’d even said it himself. So why did his best friend warning him away from Skye leave Ethan with a hollowed-out feeling in his chest? “Any idea what she’s stressed about?”
“Who knows? Tired, maybe. She’s been helping Grace out at the bakery. I doubt she’s ever worked before.”
His best friend was probably right, but it didn’t stop Ethan from feeling defensive on her behalf. “You’re being a little unfair, don’t you think? Just because she’s rich doesn’t mean she hasn’t put in an honest day’s work before.”
Gage released a low whistle. “You’ve got it bad, buddy.”
“No, I… okay, yeah, I do,” he admitted at Gage’s knowing look. “But it’s nothing more than a physical attraction. I’m not a fool.” Though he was beginning to feel like one when it came to Skye. “I know better than to get involved with her, especially now. I just have to keep my distance.”
“Good luck with that. You’ve been searching the park for her ever since she left.”
“You may not have noticed, but she doesn’t want anything to do with me. Besides, I’ll be on the road, and she’ll be leaving town.”
“It’s probably a good thing you’ll be hitting the campaign trail, because it doesn’t look like she’s leaving anytime soon.” And Gage didn’t appear overly thrilled about it.
Before he could question Gage further, several older women surrounded Ethan.
Ten minutes later, as the blue-haired ladies walked off, his best friend grinned. “You always did have a way with older women. From what I’ve seen and heard today, you’re a shoo-in.” He clapped Ethan on the shoulder. “You’ll make a great senator. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, but we still have a long way to go. Bennett is running a solid campaign. We’ll—” He broke off when his mother rejoined them, his jacket draped over her arm. “Where’s Claudia?” With another Fourth of July BBQ to attend in the next county, they had to hit the road.
His mother handed him his jacket. “She wanted to get a picture of some Kendall person. Ethan, where are you going?” she called out, as he took off in the direction Skye had gone.
“What’s up?” Gage asked, jogging up to him.
“Skye’s Kendall.” And he’d seen her reaction when Claudia mentioned taking a picture of her in costume. “I have to get to Claudia before she finds her.”
Several yards away, adults ringed a group of children who sat on the grass under a weeping willow. Ethan made his way through the crowd toward Grace and Madison. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of red and zeroed in on the tall brunette. “Claudia,” he called out. She didn’t hear him and raised her iPhone.
Skye, who sat on a rock surrounded by at least thirty little kids, glanced in his direction at the same time Claudia said, “Smile, Kendall.”
Skye glared at Ethan as she continued reading the story and, in graphic, gory detail, killed the prince.
“I can’t believe she just did that,” Madison said, covering her face with her hand.
Neither, it appeared, could Skye. With a horrified expression on her pink-cheeked face, her gaze went from the book to the little kids gathered around her.
“Oh no, Madison, look, they’re crying,” Grace said.
“I can’t.”
Aw, hell, Ethan thought, when Skye looked like she might do the same. He started through the crowd with the idea of rescuing her. Gage stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Keeping your distance, remember?” he reminded Ethan. “From the way she reacted to you earlier, you’ll only make it worse.”
“No, don’t cry,” Skye pleaded. “The prince isn’t dead. He’s in a coma.”
Ethan bowed his head when two little girls in the front row cried louder. He raised it in time to see their mothers rush into the circle, scooping them into their arms. Whatever the two women said to Skye deepened the color on her already flushed cheeks. “Grace, Madison, come on. Do something,” he said. If they didn’t, he would.
Lily jumped up, pointing to the trees behind Skye. “Sugar Plum Cake Fairy, look. It’s the Evil Queen!”
“What? Where?” Skye asked, whipping her head around.
Thank God for Lily, Ethan thought.
Gage chuckled. “That’s my girl.”
Lily ran to Skye, grabbed her wand, and brandished it at the invisible Queen. Waving the wand, she murmured what sounded like a chant, then said, “She’s gone Sugar Plum Cake Fairy, and I made her take the spell off the sugar plum you ate. It was poisoned.”
“Lily’s getting a raise on her allowance,” Madison murmured.
“Maybe we can make her the Sugar Plum Cake Fairy,” Grace whispered.
“Thank you, Lily. I wondered what that awful taste was.” Skye hugged the little girl while making a comical face that had the kids laughing. “So, did I do anything bad when I was under her wicked spell?
”
Hands shot up in the air. Several boys didn’t wait for her to call on them and shouted what she’d done.
As shock and horror contorted Skye’s beautiful face, Ethan decided she should win an Oscar for her performance. She flipped through the pages, holding the book open for her audience. “See, my prince didn’t die. He rescued me from the Evil Queen, and we lived happily ever after.”
Chapter Four
The next morning, Skye sat on the edge of the bed numbly staring at the expiration date on the condom box in her hand. If she was pregnant, it was her own darn fault. Flopping onto the fuchsia satin comforter in the guest bedroom at Maddie’s, she stared at the pink chandelier overhead. It would have taken all of one second to check the box that night, but she didn’t. And she knew why she didn’t. Ethan O’Connor’s mind-numbing, toe-curling kisses had sucked the common sense right out of her head.
She supposed the three glasses of champagne she’d had at Maddie and Gage’s rehearsal party might have had something to do with it, too. As soon as Skye had seen Ethan standing by the bar in an expensive black suit that fit him to perfection, she’d been drawn to him like a bee to a daisy… or maybe a rose. Ethan was too sophisticated to be a daisy.
And the morning after, he’d looked even better. Which proved that champagne goggles weren’t to blame. Lying in bed with a muscular arm tucked behind his head, he had a lazy, satisfied grin on his sinfully gorgeous face. The tangled sheets rode low on his waist and bared an impressive six-pack and a sculpted chest. She’d barely resisted the urge to crawl back into the king-sized bed and run her fingers through his sleep-tousled hair. She released a resentful sigh at the memory.
Physically, Ethan O’Connor was her dream man. Her every erotic fantasy come to life. He sent her hormones and pheromones into overdrive. And when he opened his mouth, he sent her temper there, too. The man stood for everything she stood against. There was not a single thing they agreed upon. If she said the grass was green, he’d say it was brown in that smooth, lawyerly voice of his.
And she might be having his baby.
Hot and cold shivers raced up and down her spine, her stomach rolling on a nauseous wave. You’re not pregnant, she told herself firmly and sat up. Sliding a hand under the waistband of her black yoga pants, she brushed her fingers over her stomach. Firm and concave. No changes there. She brought both hands to her black, pink-trimmed sports bra and cupped her boobs. Definitely a change there. It hadn’t been the Cake Fairy costume after all. And not only were her boobs bigger, they were more sensitive, too. Cupcakes—it had to be all the sugar-laden cupcakes she’d eaten. Sugar was poison, and she’d been poisoning herself on a daily basis.
Dear universe, please let it be the sugar, Skye thought as she picked up her iPhone. The one extravagance from her old life that she couldn’t afford to let go. Even if she kind of couldn’t afford to keep it. Because no matter what Maddie said, Skye’s financial future rested on her blog. But before she checked for responses from the bloggers she’d e-mailed last night, she Googled pregnancy symptoms.
Missed period. She mentally checked off the box. Morning sickness. She gave it a half-check. Hers was an all-day sickness, or at least it had been up until a few days ago. Tender breasts. Another check.
She gave a guilty start as the bedroom door opened. Quickly closing the site, Skye tossed her iPhone and pulled up her legs to sit cross-legged on the bed, wrapping her right elbow over her left in a seated eagle pose.
Maddie stuck her head in. “Hi… What are you doing?”
“Yoga.”
“Oh, okay. How are you feeling this morning?” she asked, a touch of Southern in her voice.
Pregnant. “Fabulous.”
“You look better than you did yesterday. Your face is all glowy.”
Darn it. Skye mentally checked another box.
“Did you sleep well last night?”
“Like a log.” Dammit. Her stomach did a panicked dance as she checked off that last box. At any other time, with any other man, she would’ve blurted her fears to her best friend. But she couldn’t. If Skye was pregnant, as soon as she started showing, she’d leave Christmas. She wouldn’t tell Ethan.
There’s no way she’d subject her child to the same harsh censure she’d endured growing up. And she knew only too well that as conservative as Ethan was, he’d insist she marry him. She didn’t believe in marriage. Especially to a man who didn’t like her, let alone love her. What kind of environment would that be for a child to grow up in? She knew exactly what kind, since it was the one she’d grown up in.
“That’s good, because I just got off the phone with Grace,” Maddie said as she walked into the room. “She needs you to help out today.”
Skye had been mortified yesterday. Devastated that she’d made the little girls cry. She didn’t know what had come over her. Okay, so she did. Ethan had driven her to it. Ethan and her worries over their maybe baby. Seeing Claudia take a picture of her, a picture that made Skye look like a fool, only made it worse. Ethan already thought she was a joke. One more reason for her not to tell him if she was pregnant.
“I can’t work today. I have plans.” She was picking up a pregnancy test. And she’d have to drive halfway across the state to ensure no one saw her do so. “Grace told me yesterday that she didn’t need me.” She hadn’t said so in so many words, but after Skye had killed Ethan… the prince… she figured Grace didn’t trust her to help out at the fund-raising event Liz O’Connor was hosting for her son. The Sugar Plum Bakery was catering the Strawberry Social at the O’Connors’ ranch today.
“You have to. Desiree called in sick.”
“Liz O’Connor hates me. She won’t want me there.” And that was one more reason to add to the why-not-to-tell-Ethan list. “And I don’t want to see Claudia again.” Especially since Skye would be working the type of event she’d usually attend as a guest.
“Since when do you care what people think? You’ve always marched to the beat of your own drum, so keep marching. Grace needs you, and you need the money.”
Skye’s stomach dropped to somewhere in the vicinity of her toes at the reminder. She hadn’t moved past the initial shock and horror of thinking she might be pregnant to think about all that entailed. Supporting herself on minimum wage was one thing, but supporting a baby, too…? She’d need health insurance. She’d need… Tears prickled at the backs of her eyes as the weight of her worries came crashing down upon her.
Maddie frowned and sat beside her on the bed, taking her hand. “What’s wrong?”
Skye wanted to tell her, but she couldn’t ask Maddie to keep a secret from her husband. Gage and Ethan were best friends. And she wouldn’t put her best friend in the middle of the mess. Resting her head on Maddie’s shoulder, Skye swiped at the tear burning a trail down her cheek. “I feel like a failure. I’m twenty-eight, and I have no money, no home, no career. I don’t have anything.”
“You have me, and you have Vivi. And you’re not a failure. Come on.” Maddie squeezed her hand. “What happened to the woman who always told me, ‘When one door closes another one opens’? Or what about ‘It always looks darkest before the dawn’?”
Skye snorted and rubbed her nose. “She had her rose-colored glasses ripped off her face.”
“Maybe that’s not a bad thing. I bet one day you’ll look back on this and say it’s the best thing that ever happened to you. Everything for a reason, remember?”
“Are you going to quote every platitude I ever spouted?”
“Yeah, it’s kind of fun. How about this one: ‘Breathe and find your happy place’?”
Skye half-laughed, half-cried, and put her arms around Maddie. “I really do love you, you know.”
“I know you do, and I love you, too.” Maddie rubbed Skye’s back. “We’re going to figure this out. I checked out your blog last night. You weren’t kidding. It really is popular. I made up a list of potential advertisers that would fit your target audience.”
Wipin
g her cheeks with the back of her hands, Skye eased out of Maddie’s arms. “Really?”
“Yeah, really. We’ll talk about it tonight. You’ll be back on your feet in no time.”
With Maddie putting her stamp of approval on the plan, Skye felt more hopeful and positive. It made it easier for her to push her fears away. “You’re right. I will.”
“That’s more like it. But until you are, you’re staying with us,” Maddie said as she came to her feet.
Skye shook her head. “You know how much I love camping. I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t want to wear out my welcome.”
“Don’t be silly. Lily and Annie love having you around. Their auntie Skye is way cool in their eyes.”
“I am pretty cool, aren’t I? But you and Gage are newlyweds. You don’t need a third wheel.”
“We have two kids and another one on the way. What’s one more?”
Skye narrowed her eyes at her best friend.
Maddie laughed. “Come on. Grace wants you to wear black pants and a white blouse. I’ve seen your closet, so we’ll have to raid mine. Let’s see what I have that’ll fit you.” She gave Skye a quick once-over and frowned. “Have your boobs gotten bigger?”
* * *
The colorful glass beads holding up Skye’s messy topknot clinked as the delivery van bounced along the one-tract dirt road. “Geez, I thought the O’Connors were rich. You think they could pave the road.” She sounded a tad cranky, and Skye was rarely cranky. Her mood was probably due to the motion causing a return of her nausea. Either that or her inability to convince Grace that her working the event was a bad idea.
“You’re not feeling well, are you?” Grace said, shooting her a concerned glance.
“No, I’m good. Just a little carsick,” Skye lied. She wished it was the truth. Because she really didn’t want to think about the other explanation. After she’d changed into Maddie’s short-sleeved white blouse and black Capri pants, Skye had locked the bathroom door and filled one of the expired condoms with water. She repeated the experiment three times. They were all fine… no leakage. So she’d convinced herself she had nothing to worry about.