Page 51 of The Christmas Cowboy

He had no response to that other than another frown.

“Liam is going to be raisingourkid. Mine and his. He’s the legal father of my child.”

“Oh, yeah? We’ll see about that.”

She turned to leave but he grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into it.

“Where do you think you’re going? This isn’t over.”

“Oh, yes, it is.” She jerked her arm away and walked off. She managed to make it to her truck before she started shaking.

Oh my God. What am I going to do now?She’d known this meeting was coming but stupidly, she hadn’t been prepared.

She rubbed her arm where he’d grabbed her. She pushed up her sweater sleeves and saw his finger marks on her arm. Hopefully they’d go away before Liam saw them. She had a feeling he was not going to be happy about Trent manhandling her.

Chapter Twenty-One

What was shegoing to do now? Hope Trent decided he didn’t want a baby anyway and just forgot about it? Sure, he’d said he wasn’t finished but maybe he’d rethink things and blow her off.

And maybe he’d make a big deal and claim the child and her father would find out the truth and then there’d be no reason to stay married to Liam. Except she was in love with him. Maybe she should just go ahead and cut him loose now. It would be preferable to having Trent expose the truth to the world. Still, even if she called things off with Liam, Trent could still go public.

She found Liam down at the barn, cleaning tack. “We need to talk.”

“Okay.” He continued what he was doing. “Let me just finish this saddle.” Once he finished, he washed his hands and said, “What’s up, Val? You look upset.”

“This was a mistake,” Val said. “A huge mistake.”

“What was a mistake?”

“Us. We should never have gotten married. But I was a coward, afraid to tell my father what had happened.” And now he was going to find out anyway. Furious with herself, she paced the small room.

“Val.” Liam grabbed her arm as she passed him.

“Ouch!” Damn, he’d grabbed her in the exact same place Trent had. Much more gently, of course, but it was already sore.

Liam let go of her immediately. “Damn, Val, I didn’t mean to grab you that hard.”

Rubbing her arm, she said, “You didn’t.”

“Let me see.” He pushed up her sleeve. Trent’s handprint was clearly visible. “What the hell? Did I do this?”

“No, it happened earlier today.”

His expression turned angry. “Who did this? Who hurt you?”

She might as well tell him. “Trent.”

“Where did this happen? Where is he?”

“I ran into him outside the diner. And I have no idea where he went after that.”

He grabbed his jacket off the hook he’d hung it on.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to explain to the bastard why putting his hands on you was a very bad idea.”

“Don’t. It won’t solve anything.” He looked uncertain and still angry but then he sighed and gave in.

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