Read Online The Price of Honor by Emilie Rose - Free Book Online

shape. He’d seen ultrasound images before—mostly of horse fetuses, but also a few belonging to friends gushing about their imminent parenthood. “This is your baby.”
    She swiped at it again, but he held it out of reach. “Yes. Give me the picture.”
    And then the black writing stamped in the white border registered. Today’s date and the words 12 Weeks.
    â€œYou’re three months pregnant.” His mind spiraled back.
    â€œSo?” she snipped, folding her arms and lifting her chin.
    But it was the fear lurking in her eyes, rather than her defiant posture, that caught his attention. He had never given Megan cause to fear him, and there could only be one reason she would do so now.
    A deadly calm settled over him, clarifying his thoughts.If the child were someone else’s, she would have no reason for trepidation. “You love me. You would not have been intimate with another man.”
    Resignation slowly crept across her features and her shoulders slumped. “No, I wouldn’t have cheated.”
    â€œThe child is mine.”
    â€œNot if you don’t want it to be.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?”
    â€œIt means, Xavier, you can walk out that door right now and never look back. Forget we ever had this conversation and go on with your life, your marriage.”
    Again, not the answer he had expected. “Did you arrange this ‘accident’ to coerce me into marrying you?”
    She scowled. “If I had, don’t you think I would have told you? What good is leverage if you don’t use it?”
    â€œPerhaps you intended to wait until after the bébé was born to make a claim and the engagement announcement foiled your plan.”
    â€œDo you really believe I’d do that to you? Do you trust me so little?”
    As far as he knew, Megan had never lied to him. “How— When did this happen?”
    She sighed and pushed a tangled lock of damp hair from her face. “I don’t know. I’m guessing Madrid. Remember when we ran out of condoms, and you bought some from that sketchy little shop near the show grounds? Maybe then.”
    His body throbbed at the memory. “We ran out of protection because you were insatiable.”
    Her face flushed. “Winning does that to me, and that was a really good weekend for me and my horses. You should know. You collected a ton of prize money. But you were the one who couldn’t wait until we returned to the hotel.”
    So he had been. Recalling that lust-filled afternoon made his body overheat. He had nearly taken her in the dark corner of the petit magasin where they had purchased the dusty box of condoms. As it was, he had barely been able to restrain himself until he could drag her into the dressing rooms of the show grounds for hard, fast, as-silent-as-they-could-make-it sex.
    All that was irrelevant now. “How long have you known?”
    She clutched the collar of her robe so tightly her knuckles blanched. “I found out about an hour before I learned of your engagement.”
    Which explained the unpleasant scene in her cottage and her abrupt departure. “Why did you not inform me then?”
    â€œBecause you said you didn’t want children with me. That our relationship was casual. ”
    â€œThat was our agreement.”
    â€œWe also agreed that either of us could end it at any time with no hard feelings. Well, I ended it. You’re the one who screwed up everything by following me here. But you can go home to your future wife. She’ll provide you with heirs and I—” Her voice broke. She pressed her lips together and closed her eyes as if struggling for composure. “I’ll have my baby. We’ll be fine without you.”
    He battled the frustration boiling inside him. After more than a decade of plotting, he was on the verge of regaining his ancestral lands and restoring the pride his father had carelessly stripped from the