by Day Leclaire
She sagged against the door frame and lifted a hand to her temple. “I’m feeling a little light-headed. I think I should be in bed.”
Chase reached her side in two pain-filled swift strides. He’d never felt more helpless in his life. Gently, tenderly, as though she were made of spun glass, he lifted Emma into his arms and limped to the bed. He set her down on the crisp, white sheets. And then, unable to help himself, he crawled in beside her and cautiously pulled her close.
“Are you all right? Am I hurting you?”
“You’re not hurting me. And you’re not hurting the baby, either.”
The words came like a blow to the solar plexus and all the air escaped his lungs in a painful rush. For a split second he couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. She didn’t know. Dear God, she didn’t know. Why the hell hadn’t the doctors told her? “Emma, about the baby…”
“Did you mean what you said to Rafe in the hallway?”
He struggled to shift gears. “What part?”
“Any of it. All of it.” She sighed. “But especially the part where you said that you loved me just for me. That you weren’t trying to seduce me in order to distract me the way Rafe suggested in his email.”
He closed his eyes and pressed a kiss into the halo of tangles on top of her head, careful to avoid the scrapes and bruises. “I meant it. I love you, Emma. It might have taken me a while to figure out that’s what I was feeling, but I got there eventually.”
“You hid it pretty well.”
“I had to.”
“Because of your father. So I couldn’t use those feelings against you the way he did when you were ten.”
“Yes,” Chase admitted gruffly.
She tilted her head back and met his gaze. The compassion he read there nearly gutted him. “You’re safe with me, you know.”
“Am I?”
She cautiously turned so they faced each other. “I love you, Chase. I think I first fell in love with you on a cool November day when we fought over which of us had dibs on a taxi.” She opened to him, allowed him to see every thought and feeling. She held nothing back, but gave it all to him. “And I fell in love with you all over again when you sat on the bathroom floor beside me and dumped a dozen pregnancy tests in my lap. You were so gentle and caring and considerate.”
A gruff laugh escaped, catching him by surprise. “Please. I’m begging you. Don’t tell anyone that. I’m supposed to be a hotshot badass.”
A smile flirted with her mouth, then seized hold, growing with each passing second. “Okay. It’ll be our secret.”
He couldn’t believe they were lying here laughing. Nor would they for much longer once Emma knew the truth. “Sweetheart, there’s something I have to explain—”
She covered his mouth with the fingers of her good hand. “Not yet. Let’s do this first. Do you mind?”
The pain was so great he couldn’t speak around it. He simply shook his head.
“I don’t care about Worth Industries. I do care about the people and what Rafe’s plans might do to them.” She continued to hold him with her gaze. “He’s going to gut the business, isn’t he?”
“Maybe.” Chase blew out a sigh. “Probably. I don’t think even Rafe knows at this point.”
“Then there’s still time to change his mind?”
“I hope so.” He cupped her chin and tilted it upward. “I’ll work on him, I promise.”
“Thank you.”
He thrust his hand in his pocket and pulled out the ring she’d left behind when she’d left the condo. It seemed ages ago. An eternity ago. “Emma, I love you and I want to marry you. Someday—” He swallowed hard. “Someday I’d like to have children with you. But what matters most is that whatever life throws at us, we deal with it together.”
She held out her hand and wiggled her fingers at him. “I think I’d like to have that ring back on my finger, if you don’t mind.”
He leaned in and kissed her with cautious passion. At the same time, he slipped the engagement ring onto her hand. He took his time with the kiss, putting every ounce of love and adoration into it that he possessed. And she returned it with the openness and generosity he’d learned was such an innate part of her character.
For a brief moment he thought of their child. He’d have liked to have had a daughter, one as delicate and elegant as her mother. And maybe someday they would. Not in August. But if Emma was willing, soon.
The kiss deepened and the dream faded to the background, replaced by the here and now. He held Emma in his arms…she was safe and sound, and secure. She loved him, as evidenced by the blistering passion lurking in the depths of their kiss. At the earliest possible moment, he intended to make her his wife. Reluctantly, he pulled back.
“I know you’ve been avoiding this conversation,” he began.
Emma stroked his cheek with her good hand. “I didn’t lose our baby, Chase.”
He closed his eyes. This was going to be far worse than he thought. “Emma—”
“Listen to me, Chase. Look at me.” She waited until he did. “The doctors you overheard discussing a miscarriage? I don’t know who they were talking about, but it wasn’t me. Since this is the prenatal section of the hospital, it could have been any number of women.”
He locked his jaw in place as he struggled to accept her words. “You…you didn’t lose the baby?”
“I didn’t lose the baby,” she repeated and smiled. Her smile was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “She’s fine. But they want to observe me for the next twenty-four hours to make sure it stays that way.”
Chase opened his mouth to ask another question, but something Emma said finally registered. “She?”
“Well, it’s still a bit early to be certain, but the sonologist sounded fairly confident. Something about parallel lines being a girl and a dome being a boy. We have lines. Lots of lines.” She rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her good arm around his waist, snuggling against him. “So do you want to discuss names first or should we talk about wedding dates?”
“Uh—”
“Names it is. I’m thinking Penelope after your mother. We could call her Nell for short.”
Chase shook his head, dazed. “Nell?”
“Excellent suggestion.”
“Emma?”
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“How do you feel about getting married in a hospital gown?”
“I don’t care what I’m wearing or where we marry.” She stole another kiss. “So long as it’s to you.”
“I love you, Emma. And I swear to you we’ll make sure that our future will have nothing to do with what we experienced in the past. We’ll change it for the better. You’ll see.”
“Of course we will. Because you’re not your father and I’m not my mother. We’ll make better choices.”
She’d given him the perfect answer. For the first time that day he allowed himself to fully relax. To embrace the sense of peace and joy and calm certainty that filled him. Finally, finally, finally he had everything he wanted in his life. Emma, the woman he loved, held safe and secure within his arms. Their precious daughter, still nestled safe within her mother’s womb. And in a matter of days, a home. A real home.
A home in which to live out their dreams for a better tomorrow.
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Day Leclaire for her contribution to The Takeover miniseries.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7933-3
CLAIMED: THE PREGNANT HEIRESS
Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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*The Royals
†The Dante Legacy