Page 43 of The Hermit on the Hill

"Yeah, but as far as I know, she's never even had a serious boyfriend. I think she feels like the clock is running out on her."

"She'll be an amazing aunt." I had no doubt she would be. I could easily be offended by her suggesting I was lying about Sam being the father of my baby, but she was just being a good sister. How could I fault her for that?

"She will be. Need anything from the house?"

"A clone who can talk to my mother for me," I said.

Sam didn't laugh. He grabbed my hand from where it rested on my thigh and squeezed it. "She's your mother. She'll be thrilled about becoming a grandmother. If she's disappointed about anything, it'll be that I'm the father."

I spun in my seat to face him, surprised by the genuine concern in his voice. "Thinking maybe you should have been nicer to the townsfolk?"

His lips twitched in his version of amusement. Why was smiling so hard for him? "Nah, but maybe I shouldn't have tried so hard to buy your mother's inn out from under her."

I stared, not sure whether to laugh or cry. "You tried to buy my mother's inn? Why?"

He looked out at his house, tapping his thumb on the steering wheel. "It's a great property. A substantial business." He looked at me. "It's possible I was shorter with her than I should have been."

I laughed. "You? I can't imagine."

He did smile, then. A real, full smile. "I can forget about being polite when I see something I want."

His voice dropped on those last words and heat flared in his eyes. The cab of that truck suddenly felt way too small.

I flashed back to the way he'd held me in the dressing room, the way he'd called me baby so easily. That term of affection was as natural to him as if we were something so much more than two people pushed together by an unplanned pregnancy.

It was my turn to look away, out at the forest. "My mother and I. We aren't close." I was desperate to change the subject before he saw how much I wanted to fall into him and let him make me forget my worry. "She has some harsh opinions about the person I should be and all the mistakes I've made. Because I don't handle her criticism well, I've avoided sharing anything important with her."

When I turned back to face him, his jaw had gone hard, his eyes flashing with a different heat.

"I may not hold it together if she tells me this baby is just one more mistake I've made in a long line of them."

"She must be blind if she can't see how amazing you are."

Tears sprang to my eyes. It had been a long time since someone I cared about had said something so kind to me. "She thought my degree in history was a waste of time and money, because it couldn't lead to any kind of good job. When she stopped paying my tuition, I stopped calling home. It's only been in the last five years or so that I've started visiting her again and mostly only because I want to see my siblings and they're only ever all together at her house."

"She should have supported you, even when she didn't agree with you. That's what family should do. That's what I will always do for you and our son."

My throat tight, I swallowed hard. I couldn't imagine blind support like that and I wanted it so badly, but he was really talking about how he'd raise our son. I was just his baby's mother.

He might want to support me now, but he'd move on, meet someone else, and be a damn good husband. I couldn't forget that he didn't choose me to be his wife or his mother's child. He didn't even choose me to sleep with, not really. He seduced me so he could steal from me.

I pulled my hand from his and stared out the windshield. "I appreciate that, Sam, but let's just focus on doing what's best for our son."

"Jenna, I—"

A shape stepped out from the trees and into a shaft of sunlight. "Oh, my god. Is that your bobcat?"

"It sure is."

The creature, a compact, furry form, took three steps toward us, muscles bunching and releasing as he moved. His bright yellow eyes flashed in the sunlight as he turned to stare right at us.

"If I had my rifle with me, I could take care of him right now," Sam said. "But if I get out to get it, he'll run."

"Isn't there another way? Do you have to kill him?"

"I guess maybe I could tranq him and take him somewhere else, but what's stopping him from coming back?"

"I think Jared has some friends in the forest service. I'll ask if he can pick their brains. It doesn't seem right to kill him if he's not rabid or sick."

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