Claimed: The Pregnant Heiress by Day Leclaire Page A

resist asking.
    He shrugged. “She met someone else.”
    â€œSomeone else? Really?” Emma couldn’t say why that surprised her. “Was she upfront about it?”
    â€œYes, although I’ve known women who weren’t as honest.”
    He made the admission with amazing calm, totally divorced from sentiment. It gave her pause on two fronts. First, this wasn’t the same man who’d taken her to his bed. That man had been the most passionate she’d ever known, a far cry from this cold-blooded, manipulative business tycoon. And second, it worried her that he could so completely cut off his emotions in regard to an issue charged with emotion. Would he do that with her? With their baby?
    Time to find out.
    â€œI have no objection to proving paternity after the baby is born,” she informed him. “But not before. The doctor warned that in utero tests run the risk of miscarriage and I won’t take the chance. Not when it isn’t necessary. Not when I’m one hundred percent certain you’re the father.”
    He absorbed the information before nodding his acceptance. “It would be foolish to take any chances with the baby’s safety. That doesn’t change the fact that I wanted to be there today to ask questions of my own.” He shoved his coffee to one side. The booklets she’d collected from the doctor’s office snagged his attention, along with the glossy photo the sonologist had handed her following the ultrasound. Something fragile and heartrending shifted across Chase’s face. “Is that our baby?”
    She slid the photo over the tabletop toward him, moved by the unguarded glimpse she’d caught of his reaction. “The doctor confirmed that I’m approximately nine weeks along.”
    â€œNine weeks?” Alarm combined with suspicion. “But we were together seven weeks ago, not nine.”
    She nodded in understanding. “Yeah, that threw me at first, too. But the doctor explained that they start counting the pregnancy from the first day of my last period. So, even though conception occurred seven weeks ago, I’m considered nine weeks along.”
    â€œGot it.” He leaned in and analyzed the gray and white swirls. “That lima bean in the middle…” He cleared his throat. “Is that our baby?”
    She offered up a smile, one that felt shaky around the edges. “Yup. That’s Junior.”
    He studied the photo for several long minutes. Taking a deep breath, he switched his attention to her, more determined than she’d ever seen him. “We have to come to some sort of agreement, Emma. An understanding of how we’re going to handle your pregnancy from this point forward. You’re intent on protecting your privacy and I’m intent on invading it—all because of our baby.”
    â€œOur?” She leaned on the word.
    â€œAre you saying there have been other men?” he shot right back.
    â€œOf course not.” Emma closed her eyes, fighting for a matching dispassion. “So what now?”
    â€œNow we discuss what happens after the baby is born.”
    She hesitated. “I agree,” she said slowly. “But you have to keep in mind that I just found out I was pregnant on Saturday. This is Monday. I need more than two days to come to terms with everything.”
    â€œCan’t we come to terms with everything together?”
    The question caught her off guard and without a ready answer. Even so, she had the sneaking suspicion that in the few hours between Saturday and Monday he’d already put a game plan in place. Probably in the few minutes they’d been sitting here, he’d been busy fine-tuning it. While she dealt with the emotional issues resulting from her pregnancy, he was busyrunning every play in the book. Chase was the logical type, someone who thought things through very carefully. She’d be willing to bet his game plan was