The Pregnancy Surprise - Kara Lennox 2 стр.


Oh, would you, Reece? Miss Greer asked. Youre such a good guest, and I hate to impose when you and your cousins have been so nice, but I would rest easy knowingknowing Sara doesnt have to handle everything.

Reece removed his glasses and rubbed one eye before answering. Wellsure, I can do that for you. But Ill be going back to New York next week. If I dont return soon, Ill lose my job.

Next week?

I thought your family owned the company, Sara said. Isnt your boss your father? He wouldnt fire you.

You obviously dont know my father.

Dont you still have lots of vacation left? she asked him. Cooper, Reeces cousin, had said this was Reeces first vacation in eight years. Eight years! How did he stand it, the same job, crunching numbers day after day after day?

I hadnt planned to use it all, he said. But dont worry, Miss Greer. Ill stay for at least a few more days, and if you need to be in the hospital longer than that, well work something out.

The doorbell rang.

That must be the paramedics, Sara said as she went to answer it.

Reece tried not to feel annoyed that Sara had volunteered him for a job before consulting him, knowing he couldnt refuse in front of a woman lying on the floor with a broken hip.

Just promise me you wont leave the finances to Sara, Miss Greer whispered. Dont get me wrong, shes a lovely girl, sweet and generous to a fault and a hard worker. But she doesnt have a head for business. Have you ever seen her checkbook? Its the stuff of my nightmares.

Reece couldnt help it, he actually shuddered. Hed caught a glimpse of Saras checkbook when shed brought it out to pay one of her hippie-artist friends for a handmade ceramic teapot-an entirely useless item in his opinion, but Sara had been in raptures about it. The checkbook register was written in five different colors of ink and had more cross-outs than a third-graders book report.

I know exactly what you mean, Reece whispered back.

You cant let her touch the B and Bs checkbook-or the calendar. Shell write down the wrong dates.

Ill handle it, promise, Reece said. You focus on getting well.

Miss Greer pinched his cheek. He hadnt let anyone get away with pinching his cheek since he was eight years old. Youre a good boy, and so handsome, too. How is it no woman has caught you?

A few had tried, especially after a radio station had named him one of the top-twenty bachelors in Manhattan. But he suspected most of them had been more entranced with the cachet of the Remington family name than with Reece himself.

The truth was, he liked living alone. He liked having everything just so, and the one time hed gotten close enough to a woman that shed halfway moved in with him, it had driven him crazy.

Shes in here. Sara directed the paramedics into the kitchen, where they had Miss Greer on a stretcher in no time. The older woman didnt complain, but Reece could tell by the tension in her face that she was in pain.

Well follow in Reeces car, Sara said, patting Miss Greers arm as the stretcher passed by her.

Reece waited until the stretcher had cleared the kitchen door. We will? he said to Sara.

Of course we will.

Shouldnt we call someone from Miss Greers family?

She doesnt have any family. Shes never married or had children. And we cant let her go to the hospital by herself.

I thought I would stay here and clean up the mess in the pantry, Reece said, and fix the shelf. Shouldnt one of us be here to take care of the guests?

The guests know where we hide the key. Theyve all stayed with us before, so its no big deal. But if you want to stay here I guess thats okay.

Isnt it kind of unsettling, just letting strangers into your house to roam about?

Sara laughed. He loved to hear her laugh, the sound a bell-like tinkling. You New Yorkers! You think the Silversteins are going to steal us blind when we have their credit-card information?

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Good point. He nodded.

Anyway, B and B guests are nice people in general. Thats what Ive found. They never steal anything.

Personally, Reece thought Sara was far too trusting-of everyone. The way she wandered all over the world, crashing wherever someone offered her a bed, sharing meals at the homes of people she barely knew, anyone could take advantage of her.

But she would never believe him. Something bad would have to happen before she would become suspicious and skeptical like him.

He frowned at the thought. He liked her innocence. It was part of what made Sara, Sara.

So can I borrow your car? she asked.

You dont have a car? Come to think of it, hed never seen her drive. Hed seen her ride off on a battered bicycle, but he hadnt imagined that was her only transportation.

Mine broke down when I was driving back from Santa Fe, and I couldnt afford the repair bill, so I sold it and rode the bus the rest of the way home.

How do you survive without one?

Port Claras not that big. I walk or ride my bike, and now that the streetcar is running again, I ride that. But the hospital is all the way in Corpus Christi. So can I borrow your car?

The thought pained him. Hed just bought that car-a cream puff of a Mercedes, barely used. Hed been thinking about buying a car anyway, and hed intended to purchase something conservative and practical. But the little blue Mercedes had caught his eye.

He seldom succumbed to impulse purchases, and the car was unlike anything hed ever owned, but he hadnt been able to walk away from it.

He hadnt even let his cousin Max drive it.

All right, Ill go to the hospital with you, he said to Sara. Miss Greer would probably appreciate someone there to handle the paperwork, he reasoned.

When they were settled into the Mercedess leather bucket seats, Reece entered their destination in his satellite navigation system and they were off. The GPS routed them over the causeway that linked their little barrier island with the mainland, which was a relief. He always felt nauseous on the ferry, which was the other way off the island.

Ive been dying to ride in this car, Sara confessed. Do you like it?

So far. It was the most sinfully decadent car hed ever bought.

Why didnt you hire someone to drive your car down from New York, like Cooper did?

I didnt own a car. With the cost of parking and maintenance in Manhattan, using public transportation or taxis makes more fiscal sense. Ill probably end up selling this one.

But what if you want to take a Sunday drive? Or a road trip?

Its easy to lease a car if you really need one. But he hadnt taken a road trip since college, and even back then he hadnt seen the point in it.

I miss my car, she said wistfully. It had over two hundred thousand miles, and I logged every one of them.

Maybe time to get a new one then. Old cars arent as safe as the new ones, and not as economical or environmentally friendly, either.

Yeah, well, if I could buy a new one I would. Ill have to settle for a used one, once I save enough money.

At least she understood the concept of saving money. A lot of people didnt-they wanted to buy everything on credit.

He wondered how people like Sara made it in the world. She was obviously not stupid. She was pretty-more than pretty, actually-and personable. He knew not everyone had been born with the advantages he had, and maybe her parents hadnt sent her to college, but there were lots of careers that didnt require a degree.

She could have gone into sales, or gotten an entry-level job at a company and worked her way up. But instead shed chosen to drift aimlessly-at least, that was the way it appeared to him. He doubted she had any savings or property. Have you made any plans for retirement? he asked suddenly.

She stared at him as if hed just sprouted an extra nose. Excuse me? Im twenty-nine. I havent planned for next month.

Now is the perfect time to start thinking about it. If you saved just a hundred dollars a month-

What is this? Youre not going to try to sell me swampland in Florida, are you?

Obviously hed made a conversational gaffe. I just worry about you.

Oh. She backed down a bit. Well, thats sweet, but I dont worry about me, so why should you?

Exactly.

His answer seemed to flummox her. You hardly know me.

Weve lived under the same roof for almost three weeks now. I know you better than you think.

She smiled and cocked her head flirtatiously. And here I thought you didnt know I was alive. You hardly ever say anything to me.

That was because she often made him tongue-tied. It certainly wasnt because he didnt notice her. With her swirly, bright-colored skirts and tie-dyed shirts and big, dangly earrings, how could anyone miss her? Not to mention that mountain of curly brown hair and those big, soft hazel eyes.

She was watching him carefully with those incredible eyes, and his mind went blank. Talking about finances, he was in safe territory. Anything else, and it was hit or miss.

I didnt mean to shut you down, she said. If you really want to tell me about how I should save for retirement, Ill listen.

He shook his head. Never mind. I overstepped. I apologize.

Neither of them said a word the rest of the way to Corpus Christi.

Chapter Two

Sara knew shed blown it. Shed finally engaged Reece in a conversation-a real conversation, not just Would you like more coffee? or Thanks for breakfast.

But shed gotten her back up because hed asked her about her future, and she had a reflexive defense mechanism built in about that. Every time she visited her parents, they hammered her about how she chose to live her life.

Reece obviously disapproved of her, too. When hed said he worried about her shed softened, but it was too late-her reaction had sent him right back into strong-and-silent mode.

She wondered what to do next. Shed never been timid where men were concerned, and if she saw one she liked, she let him know, and she persisted until she found out whether there was any interest in her.

The jury was still out with Reece. She hadnt flirted openly with him, since Miss Greer would not have approved of her hitting on guests. Yet she felt a certain chemistry at work whenever they were in the same room.

Once they reached the hospital, Sara sat in Miss Greers treatment room while Reece took care of the paperwork. He stuck his head in the door once to see how their patient was doing, but then he disappeared again.

Maybe he didnt like being around sick people. But when he returned a short time later with a doctor in tow, insisting that he take a look at Miss Greer now, she realized he was just doing his man thing-solving problems, making things happen. She had tried to snag a doctor in the hallway-twice-but theyd blown her off. She was doubly glad shed insisted on Reece coming to the hospital, or Miss Greer might have waited in the treatment room being systematically ignored till the cows came home.

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