The Soldier's Baby Bargain by Beth Kery Read Free Book Online Page A

going to be blasé about the fact that I was going to have a child?”
    “I don’t know,” Faith stated honestly. “I guess I just assumed you’d...”
    “Be satisfied seeing the baby a few times a month and on half the holidays?” Ryan asked when she faded off uncertainly.
    “Well...you’re a pilot,” she said, as if that explained something.
    “And?”
    “Pilots are always on the go. One place is as much home as another. I just assumed you wouldn’t consider the distance between Holland and San Francisco as significant as most people would.”
    He came to a stop at an intersection of a quiet residential neighborhood. “Family is very important to me, Faith. It always has been. That value was instilled into me a long time ago by my parents.”
    Her throat grew tight. “And then you lost them at such a young age,” she whispered feelingly. Of course family was important to him.
    “Besides, if I move back to Michigan, I’ll be closer to my sister and her family. Mari is in Chicago. She’s going to have another baby, too.” He blinked as if in realization and gave her a small smile. Her heart seemed to throb as if in answer. “As a matter of fact, she’s only a few months ahead of you.”
    “The baby will like having a cousin of the same age,” Faith said, returning his smile.
    The moment stretched as they sat there in the running car in the silent neighborhood, staring at one another and considering the future.
    Ryan finally cleared his throat and resumed driving.
    “You never told me if you knew the sex of the baby,” he said.
    She shook her head. “Not yet. I hadn’t decided yet if I wanted to know or be surprised. Do you?” He glanced at her quickly. “Want to know?”
    She watched as his expression went blank. He looked almost grim as he stared out the front window.
    “I don’t know,” he said hoarsely after a moment. “One second, I think this whole thing has settled in, and the next I feel...”
    “Overwhelmed?” she wondered.
    He nodded once.
    “I understand. It takes a while to fully absorb it,” she said quietly. She studied his profile as he drove, wondering over the fact that she was sitting in the car with Ryan Itani—her former husband’s good friend, the father of the child that grew in her womb...one of the most magnetically attractive and masculine men she’d ever encountered.
    Maybe she was still overwhelmed, as well.
    He pulled into her driveway a few minutes later. Faith studied her hands in her lap as he put the car in Park. She needed to banish this pervasive nervousness. She needed to get used to dealing with Ryan, with being around him.
    “Would you like to come in and have a cup of coffee?”
    “Yes.” The bluntness of his reply made her head come up. In the dim dashboard lights, she could see him studying her. “But I’m going to say no, nevertheless,” he added.
    “Why?”
    He abruptly turned in the seat as far as he could, given his big body and the confining space of the car. He took both of her hands in his. Spikes of pleasure prickled up her arms when he caressed her wrists with slightly calloused thumbs.
    “I still want you, Faith. I think it’s only fair to tell you that.”
    She started, shocked by his bold statement. She stared out the window to her neat, attractive ranch house, trying to gather her thoughts. It was hard with him stroking her skin and what he’d just said echoing around in her brain. She reached wildly for the threads of logic spinning around with a vortex of doubts and desire.
    “You’re just saying that because you’re confused about the baby,” she said.
    “You said I was saying it last time because I was confused about Jesse’s sudden death. When are you going to believe that I’ve always found you attractive, Faith?”
    She looked at him in alarm.
    “I never would have done anything while Jesse was alive. That’s not my style. I know it’s not yours, either,” he said in a low, compelling voice. “The truth is,