She opened her mouth to fill him in, but Sophie beat her to it. “It means that she has to stay in bed for the next two weeks at least.”
“Hell.” Logan raked a hand through his already disheveled hair. “That means she’ll have to stay with someone.”
“She is,” Sophie said, giving Claire a don’t-you-dare-argue-with-me look. “She’s staying with me and Trevor.”
Logan appeared a bit like a disgruntled bear upon hearing Sophie’s declaration. His eyes swung back to Claire. “The hell you are. You can stay with me.”
“She doesn’t want to,” Sophie cut in, crossing her arms over her chest in a familiarly stubborn posture. The action exaggerated her already huge belly, pulling her maternity shirt taut over the hard mound.
Claire had to bite back a grin. Her sister really did make an adorable warrior, so short and petite, with her tremendous belly almost dwarfing the rest of her body.
“Why don’t you want to stay with me?” Logan asked curtly, drawing her attention back to him.
The disgruntled bear now looked distinctly like a pissed bear. She chalked it up to lack of sleep.
“Well?”
“It makes sense to stay with Sophie,” Claire told him hesitantly, even though she had been arguing against that very same thing only a few minutes ago. She hated the thought of being Logan’s burden. Really, she wasn’t certain that she could live with him without either killing him or completely losing her heart to him.
Okay, so it was really only the latter that she feared. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t mind knocking him on the head every once in a while when he was being especially difficult. Which was, when she thought about it, almost all the time.
“Why?” he asked, his voice deceptively quiet.
She heard the undertones of steel but took her chances anyway. “Why what?”
He set his jaw on edge. “Why is it a better idea to stay with your sister than with the father of your baby? Didn’t it occur to you that I might want to look after your welfare?”
Actually, no, but she had a feeling that saying so would only enrage him more. She sent Sophie an imploring look.
Her sister took the cue. “I’m home all day. I could be there for Claire whenever she needed me. Trevor and I have a guestroom that would work perfectly.”
“I could work from home,” Logan returned. “I could be there for her too.”
“Well, you haven’t been so far, have you?” Sophie asked rather pointedly.
“Sophie,” Claire couldn’t help but protest. She knew her sister was only being protective of her.
Logan gave Sophie a look Claire couldn’t quite interpret. “She’s right. I haven’t been there for you the way I should have been, but I can make it up to you. Stay with me and let me take care of you.”
Why did he have to choose this moment, when her nerves were ragged from all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours? Why now, when she felt so suddenly vulnerable to him? She wanted to be strong and tell him his new effort was too little, too late, but she couldn’t. Not when he was looking at her that way, so expectantly, so pleadingly.
“Claire.” Sophie, aware that Claire was softening, gave her The Look.
She needed to explain some things to her sister. Heck, at this point, she probably even needed to explain some things to herself. She turned to Logan. “Could you give my sister and me a few minutes to talk?”
“Yeah.” He stood, looking like all his muscles were stiff from a night spent sleeping in the uncomfortable hospital chair. A wry smile curved his lips. “I’ll go get a coffee. You two want anything?”
Sophie and Claire declined and Logan left, his gait a little less smooth than normal. The moment the door closed on him, Sophie started in.
“You’re about to cave. What are you thinking, Claire? The two of you can’t even stand each other half the time. Do you really want to be trapped with him until the baby’s born?”
“He’s my baby’s daddy. Besides, no one said I have to stay there until the baby’s born. Just two weeks for starters. I can leave whenever I want.”
“That’s not a good enough reason,” Sophie said firmly, her eyes serious. “This isn’t just about the baby. It’s about you too.”
“I know that.” Claire toyed with the white sheet pooled at her waist, not really wanting to meet her sister’s eyes. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“What?” Sophie sounded incredulous.
