Read Online Not Quite Married by Christine Rimmer - Free Book Online Page A

his wake.
     

Chapter Four
    O nce the door had shut behind Dalton, Clara took Ryan’s hand. “Thank you for the teddy bear...and the balloons. I love them.”
    Ryan lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. She knew the guarded look on his face. He was hurt. “So. That’s him, huh? At last.” He pulled his hand from her grip.
    She suppressed an unhappy sigh. “It’s him.”
    “You finally told him.”
    “That’s right. Ryan, I’m sor—”
    “He gonna do right?”
    Exasperation curled in her belly. “I really, really wish that everyone would stop asking that. What does it mean, anyway, do right ?”
    “You don’t know?”
    “Of course I know.”
    “Then why’d you ask?”
    “Because I’m tired of hearing it. Because marriage is not necessarily the right way to go in a situation like this.”
    Ryan made a face—one that meant he didn’t agree with her, but he wasn’t going to argue the point. “The kid needs a dad who’s around, a dad who’ll be there for her.”
    “Judging by the way Dalton has behaved since I told him about the baby three weeks ago, I don’t think we need to worry about whether or not he’ll be around.”
    Rye grunted. “Three weeks since you told him, huh?”
    She waited until he met her eyes and then said softly, regretfully, “I should have talked to you, kept you up on what was going on, I know. I just...felt so tired. And I didn’t know where to begin.”
    Another half shrug. “Where’s he from?”
    “Denver. He’s a banker.”
    Ryan chuckled dryly and shook his head. “He looks like a banker.”
    She took his hand again. At least he let her keep it that time. And then she told him all the stuff she should have shared earlier, so he would have been prepared when he and Dalton finally came face-to-face. She went through the basics of what had happened on the island, and the misunderstandings that had kept Dalton from contacting her, and her from getting in touch with him.
    At the end, Ryan said, “So he turned you down, on that island?”
    “Yeah.”
    “What an idiot.”
    She squeezed his hand. “Spoken like the best friend any girl could ever have.”
    “He messes you over again, he answers to me.”
    “Rye, come on. He’s trying.”
    “Trying isn’t enough.”
    “Give the guy a break, huh?”
    “He needs to know you’ve got people looking out for you.”
    She blew out her cheeks with a hard breath. “Are you serious? The family was here. All my sisters, all but one of my brothers. Aunt Agnes. And Rory. And now you. Believe me, at this point he’s very well aware that there are people looking out for me.”
    “Good,” he said. “As long as he knows.” He gazed at her for a long moment. “Is he staying the night here? Or do you need me to come get you in the morning?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Clara. You want me to stay?”
    She thought of Dalton, out in the hallway. He really was trying and he was the baby’s father. She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “No. You go.”
    “You sure?”
    As if on cue, there was a tap on the door and Dalton stuck his head in. He scowled right past Ryan and locked eyes with Clara. “You need to rest.”
    She opened her mouth to tell him to butt out.
    But Ryan spoke first. “I suppose he’s right.” And then he pulled her close for a second hug—and whispered in her ear, “I mean it. He gives you grief, send him to me.” There was humor in that whisper and her heart felt lighter.
    When he pulled back, they grinned at each other and she said, “Will do.”
    And then he got up. “You need anything, you call.”
    “Thanks, Rye. I will.”
    Dalton stood by the door wearing a smoldering expression that said only his excellent breeding was keeping him from punching Rye’s lights out.
    Rye paused a couple of feet from Dalton. “You’d better take good care of her.”
    “I intend to.”
    Rye did that ridiculous two-finger, I’m watching you gesture, playing the moment for all it was worth, and then