Here Comes Trouble (35 page)

“Are you really pregnant?” His gaze bore into hers.

Her heart pounded up into her throat. “Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you at first –”

“It’s okay. You don’t owe my any explanations. I’m happy for you.”

She shifted her footing. “You are? You’re not mad?”

He set the picture down on the counter and took a step closer. “Why would I be mad?’

“Because…” Well, now she felt like an imbecile. “Usually I tell you everything and I wasn’t ready to start telling a whole bunch of people.”

“It’s all right,” he reiterated. “The most important thing is, are you happy?”

Was she happy? She’d been so concerned with telling Chase about his impending fatherhood, trying to decide what to do with the money and the upcoming art festival, that her own happiness wasn’t something she’d given a lot of thought to.

“I’m getting there,” was the best she could come up with.

“I’ll accept that,” he said as he placed a comforting kiss on her forehead. “Not so fast,” he stopped her when she turned away from him. “Who’s the father?”

Okay,
this
she was not ready to talk about. Brody could have all the pregnancy details he wanted but as to who fathered the baby…that subject was off limits. Especially to the father’s younger brother. “It doesn’t matter.”

“People always say that when it matters.” He placed two gentle hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “This man’s identity is none of my business. But whoever he is, I sincerely hope he plans on taking care of you.”

Unwanted tears built up in her eyes again. “He wants to marry me.”

“And do you want to be with him?” he asked as he blotted a tear away with her discarded tissue.

“Yes.” Heaven help her, she did. For all his pig-headedness and stubborn ways, Lacy loved Chase. “Yes, I do want to marry him.”

One corner of his mouth turned up. “Then, why don’t you?”

“Because I’m an idiot who has too much pride.” Another tear slid past her lashes.

“I doubt that.”

She pushed away from him. “No, I am. He asked me to marry him and I got mad at the way he asked. It was a stupid thing to get mad about.”

“How did he ask you?”

“He just blurted it out like it was some last minute decision. Like without me being pregnant, the thought of marrying me would have never occurred to him.”

Brody stepped up behind her and turned her around again. “Let me explain something to you about men. We’re not good with words. Put us in a complicated situation with a woman we have feelings for, and nine times out of ten we’ll screw it up. Chances are he felt a bit overwhelmed and didn’t know how else to express himself.”

Her teeth bit into her lower lip. “I don’t know.”

“I think both of you just need some time to think. Do I need to kick his ass for making your cry?”

“It’s Chase.” The words came out in such a tumbling rush, Lacy hardly realized what she’d done until it was too late. The huge weight that had lifted off her shoulders made her feel like she practically hovered in the air.

Brody’s dark brows slammed together. “What’s Chase?”

She pushed away from him again and stalked into the living room. “I didn’t want anybody to know at first. I thought if we kept it a secret it would, I don’t know”--she lifted her shoulders and let them fall back down--“Be easier.”

Not even a hair on Brody’s body moved. “Are you trying to tell me you slept with my brother and got pregnant?”

She bobbed her head up and down.

They stared at each other from across the room.

“I have to go,” he blurted.

“Brody…” Her only answer was the slamming of the front door.

Nineteen

Chase ran bleary eyes over the notes he’d made of the employee interviews from the day before. With the exception of Henry’s cryptic comment about taking a closer look at Diane, nothing even remotely suspicious jumped out at him. He’d kept the chef’s words in mind when interviewing her. Admittedly, the perspiration that glistened her forehead and erratic tapping of her finger against her thigh were a little suspect. But they were hardly anything to slap handcuffs on her wrist for. The only thing she had going against her was her schedule. Aside from Henry, she was the only employee who’d been at the restaurant every time something had been taken.

On the other hand, Diane had been a loyal employee for the past three years. Why would she risk her job like that? She seemed as likely a thief as Henry. On a negative note, her husband had been injured on the job and had been forced to take unpaid time off. He knew her family was strapped for cash, due to their meager disability income. Anita had been good about giving Diane extra shifts in order to help the woman out. Was Diane the sort of person to stoop that low when desperation took over? With no hard evidence, Chase only had speculation and mild suspicion; exactly the same thing he had several months ago when food first went missing.

The only thing he’d been able to suggest to his father yesterday was to install newer, more efficient cameras around the restaurant. Martin hadn’t blinked an eye. “I’ll get right on it,” was what he’d said. On an upside, Chase had been able to dismiss several employees, which pleased father. As it stood, Diane was the only person of interest.

He shoved away from the dining table and went to change into his workout clothes. Maybe a good, pounding workout would help him figure out what to do about Lacy. He didn’t need an MBA to figure out he’d completely blown it with her. The past twenty-four hours had given him time to reflect on the situation.

Did he see himself having kids? Sure, someday. But someday had always been in the distant future, not right around the corner. Nevertheless, that didn’t change the fact that it had happened.

In hindsight, he’d realized he’d acted hastily in asking her to marry him. Lacy didn’t want to marry anyone, least of all him. True, the two of them had had an out-of-this-world time in bed and got a long great, and were even going to be parents together. Did that mean they needed to walk down the aisle? Truthfully?

He didn’t
need
to marry Lacy, he wanted to marry her. That much he was absolutely clear about. Lacy on the other hand…he wasn’t sure what she wanted. In fact, he wasn’t sure even she knew what she wanted. Her unstable past had left her jaded enough to be wary of men. Chase had a feeling she’d lumped him in with all the other lowlifes who’d scarred her big heart.

After dressing in workout clothes, he went into the garage and set his treadmill on high speed. The pounding of the soles of his tennis shoes on the rubber surface echoed in his otherwise quiet garage.

Perhaps he needed to take a few days and let Lacy cool off. And, as Lacy wisely pointed out, he needed some time to figure things out too. Her announcement of being pregnant had taken him by surprise, to say the least. However, he wasn’t the sort of man who would default on his responsibilities. He’d take care of Lacy and his child by whatever means he could. If Lacy refused to marry him, then he’d do the next best thing by being as involved and active in the baby’s life as he could. Lacy was too good of a person to keep Chase from his own kid. She knew from firsthand experience what it was like to feel abandoned by a parent.

After a twenty-minute run, he shut off the treadmill and picked up his free weights. Thirty minutes of pumping iron did nothing to quiet his thoughts. He’d give Lacy until tomorrow. Then, they’d resolve their issues.

In the meantime, he showered the sweat from his body then went back down stairs to give his notes one last look-see. His father had requested a copy so he could make his own assessment of the situation. Chase had just made the copy from his printer/copier when someone kicked open his front door with enough force to make the wood crack back against the wall. He pounded out of the office to see who felt the need to ram through his front door like an eighteen-wheeler.
 

Brody’s hard eyes glared back at Chase. He stalked toward Chase like a predator, with his hands balled into white-knuckled fists and his eyebrows lowered like two angry, dark slashes. He was just about to ask Brody what the hell had jumped up his ass when Brody jabbed his fist out and tagged Chase right in the jaw. The whole thing happened so quickly that Chase didn’t have time to react or dodge the punch. His head snapped back and the sharp, coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. Bright lights danced in front of his eyes and an instant, skull-cracking throbbing overcame his entire head.

Chase’s gingerly touched his mouth and came away with red on his fingers. The son-of-a-bitch had bloodied his mouth.

“Nice shot,” was all Chase could say. He worked his jaw side to side to make sure nothing was broken.

Chase saw the blue flecks in Brody’s eyes when he took a step closer. “Of all the women in this town to screw, why her?”

His little brother had always had a fierce protective streak when it came to Lacy. It was like Brody didn’t think Lacy could handle herself and he’d unofficially dubbed himself her bodyguard. Chase understood, even respected, Brody’s big brother-like nature toward her. And if Lacy wanted to confide her in friend that was her prerogative. But, they were brothers for hell’s sake.

Given the thunderous look on Brody’s face, Chase decided playing dumb was not the wisest course of action. “I don’t know what Lacy told you, but this is between me and her.”

“You hurt Lacy, so now you have a problem with me,” his brother said through gritted teeth.

Chase brushed past his brother. “That’s very noble of you, but it’s still none of your business.”

Brody grabbed Chase’s shoulder. Chase spun around and shoved Brody away. “Punch me again, and we’ll have a real problem. And before you start lecturing me, I offered to marry her and she turned me down flat.”

“She turned you down because you’re an ass.”

A snort popped out of Chase’s mouth when he turned his back on his brother again. “I’m an ass because I tried to do the right thing?”

Brody followed Chase down the hall. “You know, you wouldn’t even have to worry about this if you’d been thinking with your head instead of your dick.”

“Is that what dad said to you when you first brought Kelly home?”

Tense silence was his answer. Chase stopped in his tracks and turned around. The muscles in his brother’s jaw grew hard like tempered steel. Thick, dark clouds practically swirled above Brody’s neatly combed hair.

He jabbed a finger in Chase’s direction. “The difference between you and me is that Kelly was never in love with me. But I wasn’t blinded by my own love not to see the truth staring me in the face. And you’re not an ass because you tried to do the right thing. You’re an ass because you’re letting her push you away.”

With those pearls of wisdom hanging in the air between them, Brody stormed through the still-open front door.

Great. Maybe Chase ought to go piss off his neighbors so he could be on their shit-list too. He scrubbed a hand over his coarse whiskers and gritted his teeth at the pain in his jaw. Such an outburst of emotion from Brody was rare. The youngest McDermott had always been as cool as a cucumber. Just what had Lacy said to him? Had she been all tears about how Chase was the big jerk who knocked her up?

She told him he hadn’t been thinking clearly. While she’d been right, that didn’t change the fact that he
did
want to marry her. His delivery had been a little unorthodox. How could he make her see he wanted to be with her, not out of obligation, but because he didn’t want to live without her?

****

When Lacy returned home after her lunch shift, a white van with an air-conditioning company logo adorning the side was parked along the curb in front of her house. A short man with a receding hairline and a blue uniform slammed the back doors to the van and walked across her freshly mowed grass.

“What the heck?” she asked herself as she hopped out of her car in the driveway without bothering to pull it into the garage. Her tennis shoes crushed the short blades of grass when she followed the man to the side of the house. “Excuse me? What’re you doing?”

Deep brown eyes encased in years of laugh lines started back at her. “I beg your pardon? Are you one of the neighbors?”

“Am I –” Lacy shook her head. “No, I’m the homeowner.”

The man returned to his task of whatever he was doing with her air conditioning unit. “We’re here to install the new air conditioner.”

Okay, either she’d slipped into the Twilight Zone or someone was playing a prank on her. “I didn’t order a new air conditioner.” Although she needed to. The ancient one the man currently tinkered with had become obsolete.

“I’ve got the work order right here.” He held a pink piece of paper between sausage-like fingers.

Lacy snatched it out of his hand and scanned the words down the page. Her eyes darted back up again and landed on one Chase McDermott. “Is it too late to cancel this?” As much as she understood Chase wanting to do something nice for her, Lacy had never been one to accept handouts. She certainly didn’t need it. She now had more than enough money to purchase her own air conditioner.

“It’s already paid for, lady. Take it up with the guy who placed the order.” The man continued to show her the top of his thinning hair as he ran his hands around the unit.