The Rented Bride (Highland Billionaires Book 1) by KyAnn Waters, Tarah Scott Page B

brow furrowed. “What’s wrong, baby?” Her eyes widened in concern and she hurried around the couch to him. “Is it your grandfather?” She stopped beside him and touched his arm. “I hate that you worry so much.”
    The change from carefree to concern had been too quick…too complete. But then, she was an actress. She’d thrown herself into the role of a lifetime: loving woman, wife…mother-to-be.
    Her brow drew down in a pretty frown. “You’ve been under so much pressure this last month, and we haven’t seen each other in over a week.”
    Another week in which she’d been planning her next movie in New Zealand—and sitting on the board at Horizon Media .
    She stared up at him, eyes filled with worry. “I wish we had time for a little privacy. I want you so badly it hurts.” She stepped closer. “Make love to me, Trent.”
    Love? That was a joke. Nothing they shared was about love. Maybe not even for him. She’d wanted her bank account strengthened. He wanted a family. Maybe he’d been too blinded by goals to see he was forcing her into a mold he wanted.
    But he’d never lied to her.
    She slipped her arms beneath his jacket again and hugged him. “We could work a little more on that baby.”
    Trent froze. Three weeks ago, when he’d asked her to marry him, she’d said yes and even suggested they have a baby right away. She’d made a production of tossing her birth control pills into the bathroom trash before pulling him into bed. 
    Bitterness soured his stomach. He didn’t have to worry about her being pregnant. She had a movie—three movies—to make. When he’d left that following morning, her first order of business would have been to dig the pills out of the trash, then to take her daily dosage.
    “Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to be pregnant before we say the I do’s,” he said in an even voice.
    Her arms tightened around him. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful? We could make the announcement on our wedding day.”
    Trent closed his eyes against the pain.
    “Knowing there’s a great-grandchild on the way might give your grandfather enough hope to hang on for a while,” she said.
    “You could know that quickly?” he asked.
    She giggled. “Of course, silly. A woman knows these things.”
    “What if you don’t get pregnant?”
    “You worry too much.” She kissed his neck. “Think of all the fun we’ll have trying.” Her mouth slid up his jaw.
    Trent tensed. “How will your director feel when you take a break to breastfeed our child?”
    She froze. He counted four heart beats of silence before she said, “What are you talking about?”
    He grasped her arms and shoved her back far enough to make eye contact. “Will you stop shooting when our child cries for his mother?”
    “Trent.” She tried moving closer, but he tightened his grip.
    “After all, you’ll have plenty of clout on the set as part owner of Horizon Media .”
    “What do you mean?” The shrill note in her voice gave her away.
    Lindsey twisted free and he took a step back. She crossed her arms as if to warm herself against a sudden chill in the room.
    “Trent—”
    “When were you planning to tell me, Lindsey? The first day on the shoot? The day after the wedding? Or would you have let me believe there was a baby to keep me with you while you traveled half way around the world to film another movie?”
    She paled and he knew he’d hit on the truth.
    “Then you would what, claim you lost the baby?”
    “It wouldn’t be that way.”
    “Do you have any idea what that would to do me?” He paused, eyes locked with hers. “What that would do to my grandfather?”
    Her lower lip quivered. “You don’t understand.”
    “Don’t I?”
    She shook her head. “No. I planned to have them move the film date to later in the year.”
    “You don’t have that kind of pull.”
    Her eyes flashed. “I own Blood Silk .”
    “A company that is one-tenth the size of Horizon ,” he cut in. “At most, you would have