“Leah, it’s not gonna—”
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted.
Stone stopped, his beer bottle halfway to his mouth. His brain shifted from neutral to fifth gear, racing to figure out how that could be possible. He’d never had sex with her without a condom—they weren’t 100%, of course, but he’d still used them. And Leah had assured him she was on birth control. Hell, he still remembered her words when she told him.
You don’t have to worry about that, Stone. I’m on birth control. I don’t carewhatmy daddy says, I’m not gonna give him another heir unless there’s somethin’ in it for me.
Because he sensed she was bullshitting him, Stone pushed. “How far along?”
Please, God, let her be bullshitting him.
“I … uh … don’t know.”
“How’d you find out?”
It took her a moment. “I missed a period.”
“Just one?”
Her forehead scrunched. “Two?”
“You missed two periods?”
“Yes.”
“Did you take a pregnancy test?”
Leah chewed on her bottom lip. “Yes.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. Does it matter?”
“Yeah. If fuckin’ matters, Leah.”
“A couple of weeks ago, I guess.”
“And you’re just now tellin’ me?”
“I wanted to tell you in person.”
“Don’t take offense, but I’m gonna need to see the test for myself.”
“I didn’tkeep it. Gross.”
Stone rolled his eyes. She truly did think he was an idiot. “I’ll run to the store and get another one.”
“No,” she exclaimed, rushing over. “I … I wanna wait until I go to the doctor.”
“You’re in luck. We’ve got one right here in Coyote Ridge.”
He could see the fear in her eyes. “My own doctor. In Houston. I’ll go next week sometime.”
“Pregnancy test,” he insisted. “If it’s positive, I’ll go to the doctor with you.” Because he was convinced she was lying, Stone reached for his truck keys, then walked over to get his coat off the hook by the door. “It’ll only take me a few minutes. Twenty tops.”
He could feel her eyes on him as he put his coat on. The tension ratcheted tighter and tighter with every breath. He knew it was about to break because that was what Leah did. She was a horrible liar because she couldn’t stick with the story long enough to make it believable.
Please, God, don’t let it be true.
