Read Online The Family Way by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online

family. At least you’re still speaking to your aunt.“
    „What are you talking about?“ Pru stared at him in astonishment. „What family? You’ve never mentioned anyone, McCord.“
    He picked up the small designer telephone that was sitting on a nearby end table and handed it to Pru.
    „Call your aunt.“
    „But what about your family?“ she demanded.
    „I’ll take you to meet them after the wedding. I’m not fool enough to let you meet them ahead of time.“
    „But, McCord – “
    „One gauntlet at a time, Pru. Call your aunt.“
    Pru’s fingers felt cold and numb as she dialed her aunt’s number in Texas. Something was very wrong.
    It occurred to her that there were still too many things she didn’t know about Case McCord.

FOUR
    Three nights later Pru stood in front of the expanse of mirror that lined one wall of the elegant inn bathroom and wondered why she was feeling so nervous. It was McCord who waited for her out in the bedroom.
    The same McCord with whom she had lived for three months. The McCord who had taught her the wonders of her own sensuality. The McCord who could make her feel incredibly beautiful in bed.
    The McCord who had got her pregnant.
    It wasn’t as if he were a stranger. He had been her lover and now he was her husband. Soon he’d be the father of her child. Her attack of bridal jitters didn’t make sense.
    They had been married that afternoon in a small, simple ceremony with only Annie and Tony present.
    Considering the questions and uncertainty and the painful emotions Pru had been through during the two weeks leading up to the wedding, the ceremony itself was something of an anticlimax. She had been aware of McCord’s strong, steady voice as he made his vows, heard her own soft words and then, quite quickly, it was all over.
    McCord had settled her into the Ferrari afterward and turned to say farewell to his new brother-in-law.
    Annie had leaned down to speak to her sister through the window.
    „You still haven’t told him about the baby, have you?“ Annie had whispered.
    Pru had shaken her head, smiling. „No. This is a special time. The wedding and the honeymoon are for us, McCord and me. I want us to be able to concentrate on each other for a day or two. Then I’ll tell him.“
    „I understand,“ Annie had said, grinning. „I think I like your husband, Pru. He certainly handled Aunt Wilhelmina well the other night I thought I’d collapse laughing when she started grilling him on the phone and he just listened and smiled and said he’d have his banker write her a letter of reference. Poor Wilhelmina. I can just imagine her expression. There she was asking all those pointed questions and McCord just brushed past them.“
    „He can be very good at ignoring what he doesn’t consider important.“
    „The best part was when she asked him if he’d got you in trouble,“ Annie had said with a rueful grimace. „Tony was right. Aunt Wilhelmina really did ask that. I couldn’t believe it.“
    Pru had flushed slightly, remembering McCord’s response. Although she and the others hadn’t been able to hear the question, they had all known when it had come because McCord, phone to his ear, had rested his amused gaze on Pru’s scarlet cheeks.
    „Don’t worry about it, Aunt Wilhelmina,“ he’d advised. „If there’s trouble, it’s nothing I can’t handle.“
    For just an instant Pru had wondered if McCord knew about the pregnancy. The intensity of his gaze had almost burned her. But then she had told herself that he couldn’t possibly know.
    Aunt Wilhelmina had been almost too outraged to respond for several seconds. In the end, however, when the phone had been handed back to Pru, she’d pronounced herself reasonably satisfied with McCord.
    „Sounds like he’s got both feet on the ground, Pru,“ Aunt Wilhelmina had declared. „Bold as brass and proud as the devil, but that’s not altogether bad in a man. He also sounds slicker than a greased hog on ice.
    Be