Read Online Pursued (The Diamond Tycoons 2) by Tracy Wolff - Free Book Online

forgot about everything else. It turned out the diamond trade was a fascinating—and brutal—world, one where human lives were often valued much less than the stones they mined.
    She was so riveted by the stories that she didn’t even notice Stephanie stopping by her desk until her friend put her hand on Desi’s arm. Then she nearly jumped through the roof.
    “I’m sorry!” Stephanie laughed when Desi had finally calmed down enough to take a breath. “I just wanted to see if you were ready to go to lunch.”
    “Oh, yeah. Of course. Give me five minutes to get all this in order, if that’s okay.”
    “No problem. Looks like you got a decent story after all.”
    “Looks like. I hope I can do it justice.”
    “Of course you can! You’ll be off the galas and into the news pages in no time.”
    “From your mouth to God’s ears,” Desi told her.
    “Hush! Don’t let Malcolm hear you say that. He’ll think you’re talking about him!”
    They both laughed then, largely because Stephanie was right.
    Desi closed her computer and locked up all of her paper research in her desk. It was early days yet, but it was never too early to be careful with her information. Another lesson her father had taught her before she’d hit her tenth birthday.
    “Ready to go?” she asked after gathering her purse.
    “Absolutely.” But before she could step out from behind her desk, Stephanie leaned closer and whispered, “Actually, I was hoping you had a tampon I could borrow. I always carry a couple in my purse, but for some reason I only had one today and there’s no way I’ll make it through the afternoon without an extra.”
    “Oh, right. Of course. I keep mine in my desk.” Desi turned to open the drawer where she kept her personal stuff and pulled out the box of tampons she’d put in there weeks ago. But as she opened the box, it hit her that it was
un
opened. As in it had
never
been opened.
    But that was impossible. She’d brought the box to work eight or nine weeks ago, when she’d used up the last of the old one. How could she have not had a period in the past nine weeks? And, more important, how could she not have noticed? She’d never had the most regular periods, despite being on the pill, but she’d never gone this long without one before, either. Alarm bells should have sounded at one point or another. They were definitely sounding now.
    “Are you okay?” Stephanie asked as she reached out a hand to steady Desi’s suddenly shaky form. “You’ve gone pale.”
    Desi didn’t answer. She was too busy doing the math in her head. And then redoing it. And then redoing it again. But no matter how she looked at it, no matter how she counted, she should have had a period before now. Even worse, if she’d been close to her regular schedule last month, she would have been ovulating right about the time she and Nic had met.
    Her knees gave way at the realization, and she probably would have fallen if Stephanie hadn’t shoved the desk chair under Desi at the last second.
    “Are you okay?” her friend asked again.
    “I don’t know.” The words sounded hoarse as she forced them out of her too-tight throat. It wasn’t possible. It just wasn’t possible. She had been on the pill for years. And except for that first time on the balcony, she and Nic had used condoms. Which shouldn’t have mattered in terms of pregnancy because she was on. The. Pill.
    Except…except, she hadn’t had a period. And—she took stock of her body, which felt totally normal except for the low-grade dizziness she’d been fighting for a few days—she had none of the signs that she would soon be getting a period. No cramps. No aching. No spotting. Nothing.
    Nothing but dizziness. Nothing but a missed period. Nothing but—oh, God. Ohgodohgodohgod. For a second she thought she was actually going to have to put her head between her legs.
    “Can you tell me what’s wrong?” Stephanie asked, crouching down beside her. “Are you