Burned Hearts by Calista Fox

to be resolved and the bad guys to be locked up. As Dane had mentioned, the trials would begin soon, and I highly doubted they’d be dragged out, given all of the evidence he’d provided.
    As I thought of the decimated Lux, I felt a flutter in my belly. The first sensation of the baby stirring. I set aside the dryer and went into the bedroom, where Dane was sprawled on the California king, resting against the mound of pillows, reading a book. As I entered, he set the hardback novel aside and gave me a suspicious look.
    â€œYou’re smiling.”
    Yeah, not exactly something I’d done of late.
    I carefully sat on the mattress so as to not jar him and placed his good hand on my stomach.
    â€œCan you feel anything?”
    I knew it wasn’t really a kick. My doctor had told me I’d feel a light “popcorn popping” or the fluttering I’d experienced around this time of my pregnancy, but actual kicks were still a bit off. Didn’t matter. Just feeling the baby move inside me was a wonderful, reassuring sensation.
    Dane concentrated hard but then gave a slight shake of his head. “Nothing yet.”
    â€œIt’s very subtle. But I feel it.”
    He raised his hand and cupped the side of my face. “That’s incredible. You’re incredible.” Love blazed in his eyes and it warmed my heart.
    â€œI hope I’ll be a good mom.”
    â€œYou’ll be the best.”
    I inched forward and kissed him softly. “At least I know how not to be an evil witch from hell.”
    That would be my own mother. A woman who had not only destroyed my father and abandoned me years ago, until she’d discovered I had something she finally deemed of worth—money and prestige—but who also recently threatened my father’s stellar reputation as a former PGA favorite in an attempt to extort cash from me. She’d even tried to collect on the tragedy at 10,000 Lux.
    I didn’t feel guilty that she and I were estranged, that I held no love for her. I’d had to sever that tie long ago, for my own sanity. I wasn’t sure anyone could honestly say they wanted absolutely nothing to do with a parent, but sometimes it was born of sheer necessity.
    I had yet to tell Dane my mother had returned to Sedona after the explosion. Kyle had helped me deal with the situation at that point. I’d needed her off my back, away from me so that she didn’t create more drama and tension.
    Granted, I still harbored a hint of apprehension over how she’d respond if she learned Dane was alive and that we were married. Would she darken my doorstep again? Concoct some other method to get her hands on my money?
    I wouldn’t spend the rest of my life paying her off; I’d already discerned that. Nor would Dane. But what if she used our secret marriage against us? Worse, what if she used my pregnancy against us?
    Kathryn DeMille had proven she wasn’t above dirtying her own hands to better her situation. She’d been willing to fess up to adultery for the sake of a lucrative book deal if her blackmailing me didn’t pan out. Luckily, Dane had put a stop to that insidious plot.
    She was definitely a piece of work.
    I shuddered.
    Dane frowned. His thumb whisked over my cheekbone. “Hey. What are you thinking about?”
    I didn’t like keeping anything from him, so I admitted, “Something I failed to tell you after I was released from the hospital and figured out you were among the land of the living, though working undercover with the FBI.”
    The crease between his eyes spoke volumes. If something disturbed me or posed a problem, he wanted to be the first to know. So he could deal with it.
    But my independent nature forced me to try to solve my own crises. Which irked him in that possessive it’s my job to protect you, Ari sort of way.
    However, I said, “Just mentioning my mother makes me fear she’s going to materialize in a plume