She refused to look like a coward in front of Andrew, despite the nerves quivering inside of her.
He rose as she approached. Bypassing a greeting, Andrew went straight to the question she had expected. “Why didn’t you call me?”
She cleared her throat, wishing she’d prepared herself somewhat better for this conversation. “What makes you think you’re—”
“Hannah. ” He gave her a look. “Don’t even think about it. ”
She sighed in surrender. “Fine. ”
She’d simply been stalling for time, anyway. Even if she wanted to—which she didn’t—there was no way she’d convince Andrew he wasn’t the father of this baby.
“Were you going to tell me?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes. ”
“When?”
About the Author
GINA WILKINS is a bestselling and award-winning author who has written more than seventy novels for Mills & Boon. She credits her successful career in romance to her long, happy marriage and her three “extraordinary” children.
A lifelong resident of central Arkansas, Ms Wilkins sold her first book to Mills & Boon in 1988 and has been writing full-time since. She has appeared on the Walden-books, B. Dalton and
The Texan’s
Surprise Baby
Gina Wilkins
For my family, as always—
my wonderful husband, three extraordinary offspring, amazing son-in-law and precious baby grandson. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe what you all mean to me.
“
“Yeah. That was the first thing I noticed when I met her this morning after she came home from visiting her mother’s relatives in Shreveport. I guess no one in the family thought to mention her condition to me before. ” His twin brother, Aaron, sounded a bit surprised by Andrew’s apparent overreaction to a fleeting comment during an announcement-filled phone call.
“How, um, how is she?” Andrew asked, trying to wrap his mind around the news.
“Well, she nearly keeled over when I first saw her. Turned stark-white and swayed on her feet, scaring her family half to death. I thought she was startled by seeing me, for some reason, but it turned out she was just operating on very little sleep. Maybe a little dehydrated after a long drive. ”
Andrew’s fingers had tightened so hard around the phone that he thought he heard the case groan in protest. “How, uh, how far along is she?”
His own uncharacteristic stammering annoyed him, but Aaron didn’t seem to notice. “Shelby said she’s due in mid-September, so about six months. I guess it’s a surprise to you, because you haven’t seen her in almost a year. ”
“Not involved. No one really talks about it, but I got the impression this was sort of a one-time-thing accident, you know? Shelby told me it’s totally out of character for Hannah, but the family figures she was still stinging after the fiasco with her ex-husband and indulged in a little ego boost that left her with unintended consequences. She’s doing well, though, and everyone’s excited about welcoming the first member of the new generation of Bells. ”