Playing Dirty by Jamie Ann Denton Read Free Book Online

and burned with an intensity that nearly halted his breathing.
    And possibly pregnant? Was this Avery’s way of planting himself firmly in her life? Or was it nothing other than Mattie wanting more children? The latter made the most sense, but the former fed his jealousy.
    He’d always been a little possessive where Mattie was concerned, never in a smothering sense, just a normal, healthy male reaction to anyone who looked a little too hard at his woman. Not once during their marriage had he ever doubted his wife’s fidelity. But this was different. The rational part of his mind told him that she’d done nothing wrong. She’d believed he was dead, she’d been a widow. Hell, she’d even mourned for him for three years before she started dating Avery. There was nothing unusual about her wanting to start a family with her new husband. The problem was the irrational part of his mind that claimed Mattie was his and his alone.
    “I’m trying to understand.” He settled his hands on her shoulders. “Our daughter is five years old. I can imagine how you’d want to start a family before she gets much older. But you have to understand that it hurts like hell that someone else could be the father of your children.”
    Her eyes filled with anguish and more tears spilled down her cheeks. He pulled her against him. These were extreme circumstances. He imagined there’d be a lot more tears before all this ended.
    He held her close, finding his own comfort in the feel of her in his arms, of her own slender arms wrapped around him as she clung to him. God, he’d missed her so much. He wished like hell his homecoming could have been different. They should have been rejoicing instead of being torn further apart. He was a drowning man, treading water against a whirlpool of emotions, and his last hope of rescue had just been sucked under.
    What if she was pregnant? He wanted to tell her that it didn’t matter, that he’d raise the child as his own. But he honestly did not know if her giving birth to Avery’s child would make a difference to him or not. Every time he looked at the kid, would he be reminded that Mattie had made love to another? He didn’t like the answer skirting around his conscience.
    “How did you know?” she asked, her voice muffled against his shirt.
    He slid his hands from her back to her shoulders and set her from him. “Know what?”
    “About Phoebe,” she answered, then sniffled. “How did you know about her?” She stepped away, using the heel of her hand to wipe the tears from her face. Her eyes were puffy, her nose pink. She looked adorable.
    “Paul told me about her in Brussels. I’ve seen the pictures you have on the mantle. She’s beautiful. She looks just like you.”
    She gave him a weak smile as she sat on the edge of the bed. “That’s where the similarities end,” she said in a dry tone. “Trust me.”
    He leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb. “Tell me about her,” he asked, glad for the change in topic.  
    “She-devil.”
    He lifted a brow and grinned. “She can’t be that bad.”
    “Ha!” She scooted onto the center of the bed and pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around her legs. “Just wait. You’ll be amazed. The things she says, the things she does.” She shook her head as she let out a long stream of breath filled with a combination of exasperation and love for their daughter.  
    “I’m surprised I don’t have a head full of gray hair,” she continued. “She’s fearless. Just when you’re convinced she has a mutated gene that the medical scientists would die to dissect, she does something completely adorable.” Her face softened. “She reminds me a lot of you.”
    “I can’t wait to meet her.”
    She bit her lip and looked at him with a worried frown. “Ford? How are we going to explain this to her?”
    We . Maybe there was a chance for them. “I’d think the truth would be the easiest.”
    She didn’t say anything, but he could tell by