The Lawson Boys: Alex by Angela Verdenius Read Free Book Online Page B

looked back at the room, wondering
what he thought of it. She hadn’t changed the old furniture, loving
the feel and look of the old times. Cosier times. “Chuckie and
Sunny are mine. Now they’re all mine.”
    “Nice little
family.” His tone didn’t change, but there was a definite undertone
to it now.
    “Yes. They’re
my family.” Bending to place Chuckie on the floor, she stiffened as
her bottom bumped into his thighs. Abruptly she straightened.
“Sorry.”
    “No need.” But
he didn’t step back, keeping them in close contact.
    The only way
she could turn around without brushing against him was to step
forward and then turn around, to find him looking down at her.
    She hadn’t
imagined it, there was a fire burning in his eyes. Banked anger. Oh shit . Was he nuts after all? The war? The fighting?
    The past?
    He couldn’t
bloody know! There was no way he could know!
    “Ummm…” Swiftly
she moved past him into the hallway and heading for the door.
“Thanks for the lift. I’ll see you around, okay? That cup of
coffee, maybe tomorrow? I-”
    His hand on her
arm swung her around and before she knew what had happened, he’d
pressed her back against the wall with his big hands on her
shoulders. Leaning down, he looked her directly in the eyes and
growled, “When were you going to tell me, Harly? When were you
going to bloody tell me ?”
    “I don’t-” she
began, trying to pretend she didn’t know while the realisation that
he’d somehow, somehow , found out came crashing down.
    “When,” he
asked through gritted teeth, “Were you going to tell me that you
were pregnant with my baby?”
     
     

 
    Three
     
    Her breath
caught and he could see the panic in her eyes right before she
denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I-”
    “Don’t lie to
me.” Fury lashed through him, anger that she could lie about this,
now, while he was standing directly in front of her.
    “I’m not,
I-”
    “I deserve to know !” The words exploded out of him.
    He hadn’t
meant to ask her, not yet. He’d been going to give her a chance to
tell him, to explain, but seeing her tonight, watching her laughing
and talking with her friends while knowing all the while that she
kept everything a secret from him - he couldn’t take it.
    No more. Not
after all this time, all these months of knowing.
    Gazing down at
her, he watched as a myriad of emotions crossed her pretty face.
Sadness, fear, panic and shame. It was the shame that hurt the
most.
    His fingers
tightened a fraction on her arms. “Were you so ashamed to be
carrying my baby, Harly? Was it so bad that you couldn’t tell
me?”
    “It wasn’t
like that.” Her eyes flashed angrily.
    He welcomed
that anger because perversely, he couldn’t take the sadness that
had briefly filled her eyes. And that weakness he felt made him
angrier.
    Her hands came
up, breaking his hold, and she shoved him back a couple of steps.
“It wasn’t like that,” she repeated, her eyes narrowed and her
round cheeks flushed. “You have no idea what it was like.”
    “And isn’t
that the kicker,” he said from between clenched teeth, “because I
should have known what it was like, Harly. I should have
know.”
    Closing her
eyes, she took a deep breath, her breasts swelling with the
movement.
    Jaw clenched,
he didn’t take his gaze from her face, waiting in silence as she
collected her thoughts. That was a tactical error, allowing her to
get over the shock of his verbal ambush. An error he couldn’t
allow. “Why did you get rid of the baby, Harly?”
    Her eyes
snapped open in shock before dawning fury made them literally
blaze. “I never got rid of my baby!”
    “ Our baby,” he corrected harshly. “It was mine, too, don’t you forget
that.”
    “I never
forgot it!” Reaching out, she stabbed her finger hard into his
chest. “Not once, Alex, did I forget it!”
    “So if you
didn’t forget that I was the father, Harly, tell me why the bloody
hell you