She ignored the purse he was holding out to her. “Please, Scott. I’m begging you just to hear me out. I know you have no reason to trust me—”
He made a sharp sound. “Christ, if that isn’t the understatement of the year.”
She ignored the sarcasm. “But if Mick’s superiors find out I’m alive, they won’t just go after me; they’ll go after my family. They know I betrayed them. I never meant to pass on anything important. I didn’t intentionally pass on information about your mission—it was a mistake. As soon as I found out about it, I tried to stop it and warn you. But then they tried to have me killed. I think they wanted someone to take the fall.”
She could tell he was furious by how hard he tossed her bag on the sofa. “So let me get this straight. Your defense is that you didn’t intend to be a good spy, but when you actually gave them something worthwhile by ‘mistake’ that I should give you points because you tried to warn me?” His voice was reaching dangerous levels of anger and that well-bred facade was definitely looking a little volatile. Had she really wanted to see him lose control just once?Be careful what you wish for.“And now I should feel sorry for you because they decided to make you their patsy?” He laughed harshly and looked at her as if she were an idiot—which is about how she was feeling. “Tough luck,Natalya. That’s the chance you take when you get into the treason and spy business. But I’mnot going to let you take me down with you. You are going back.”
She had never hated her birth name as much as when he said it. It was worse than the grade-school teasing she’d endured that had precipitated the change to Natalie. Apparently, he was done listening to her. He grabbed her arm and started dragging her toward the door with one hand, and with the other grabbed her coat and threw it at her.
“Wait! I need my—”
“Too late.” He opened the door and tried to shove her through it in front of him. “Your three minutes are up.”
But she stopped in her tracks, refusing to budge. “Stop, Scott!” she repeated. “You can’t do this.”
“The hell I can’t. I’m taking you back if I have to tie you up and drag you.”
He was about to physically force her forward and close the door behind him—with her purse and keys inside—when she blurted, “I’m pregnant!”
His forward momentum came to a chillingly cold stop. But it was nothing compared to the icy glare he leveled at her. It was a look as sharp and eviscerating as the edge of a razor. “What did you just say?”
She swallowed uneasily, having never been the recipient of that much raw hostility directed at her, especially by a man who’d once looked at her with such tenderness. “I... I’m pregnant.”
Her wobbly, uncertain voice apparently didn’t help her credibility any.
He still had her arm and hauled her up to meet his gaze. “You’re lying.”
The hatred emanating from him made her want to shiver. And cry. Most of all cry over what she’d lost. But maybe she’d never really had it. Whatever feelings he’d had for her had been predicated on a lie.
But not all of it had been a lie. She had to try to find a way to convince him.
“I’m n-not. It’s the truth, I swear.” Suddenly she thought of something. “I can prove it to you tomorrow morning.”
“Why not right now? I’m sure we can find a store with a pregnancy test. Or didn’t they teach you how to fake a pregnancy test in spy school?”
Her cheeks flooded with heat, but she didn’t rise to the bait or let him distract her. This was about the baby.Theirbaby. He might hate her, but he couldn’t change the fact that they were going to have a child together. “I fainted after I thought I saw you—or rather, did see you—at the light in town earlier and hit my head. The sheriff and town manager took me to the urgent care. The doctor drew blood and discovered the pregnancy. You can ask him. The drugstore in town is closed. There’s a Walmart about twenty miles away. It might be open—or you can wait until morning when the doctor is back and ask him.”
Natalie could tell from his stony expression that he didn’t believe her—or didn’t want to believe her. But there was just enough uncertainty for her to add, “It’s your child, Scott. I’m pregnant with our baby.”
If she hoped that her words might bring a drop of softness to his gaze, those hopes were quickly dashed. If anything, it only seemed to make him angrier. His expression grew fiercer and the icy barrier in his gaze more remote.
“How convenient for you.”
She jutted her chin up, responding to the snideness in his voice. “No, it isn’t, as a matter of fact.”
Did he have any idea of how hard this had been on her? Pregnant and alone, trying to protect not only herself but the baby she had no idea how she was going toprovide for and keep safe? Did he think she’d planned this as some sort of elaborate scheme if he miraculously returned from the dead to exact sympathy from him? He’d read too many bad spy novels.
He held her gaze for so long she felt like squirming. But she didn’t. She forced herself not to look away. She was telling the truth.
About the pregnancy, at least.
Seven
Pregnant.
Even just thinking the word made Scott feel sick.
It couldn’t be true.
