The Texan's Surprise Baby (Bell Family 2)

And with some other woman? she thought wistfully.

“Anyway,” he continued, “that’s why you asked me over, right? To talk about how we proceed from here.”

She nodded. “We have a lot of decisions to make.”

“We do, but the first and most important decision concerns us. Which brings me to a proposition I have for you.”

He cleared his throat, looking suddenly, uncharacteristically nervous. Her heart suddenly pounding against her chest, Hannah felt her eyes widen. Surely he wasn’t going to suggest...

“Hannah, would you—”

A hard thump on the back of the trailer made him whirl in that direction with a frown. “What on earth?”

She must have jumped a foot in response to the crash, which only demonstrated how much she had tensed when Andrew started to speak. He crossed the room to draw back the curtain and look out the back window into the darkness.

“Do you see anything?” she asked. “Is it still raining? Is the wind blowing?”

“No to all of the above.” He turned toward the door. “Maybe a tree limb fell?”

“There isn’t a tree behind my house,” she reminded him. “Not close enough for a limb to hit without any wind anyway.”

“Stay here. I’ll check it out, just to be safe.” He reached for the doorknob, shaking his head. “We really are going to finish this conversation eventually.”

She was sure he meant it as a promise rather than a threat. So it made no sense that she gulped and wiped her suddenly damp palms on her yoga pants in response.

She stood in the open doorway while Andrew walked around the end of her home to investigate the sound. The air still felt cool and damp against her face. Overhead, the clouds were beginning to drift apart, revealing patches of stars sprinkled in the night sky. Puddles on the asphalt road reflected the light from the security lamps on tall poles between the mobile homes. Across the road, she saw Pax snoozing on Steven’s porch, his stocky yellow body illuminated by the amber porch light burning beside the front door. Poor old Pax was going to miss Steven when he left for the fire academy. The dog would be well-cared for and would get plenty of attention from the rest of the affectionate family, but he and Steven shared a special bond.

She made a mental note to give the dog a little extra attention herself in the fall, then remembered that she would have a newborn infant by then. She swallowed hard again. Every once in a while, the reality of that huge looming change in her life overwhelmed her.

Speaking of imminent challenges...

Andrew came back into view, shrugging when he met her eyes. “I didn’t see anything.”

“That’s odd. I wonder what made that noise?”

“I’ll look again tomorrow in daylight,” he promised, coming up the steps. He paused when he reached the top. She didn’t immediately move out of the doorway.

“Well?” he asked. “Are you going to let me in?”

“I’m thinking about it,” she admitted, resting one hand against the doorjamb. She would let him in, of course, but considering where their conversation had seemed to be headed earlier, she didn’t think anyone could blame her for procrastinating.

Wearing a faint smile, Andrew crossed his arms and leaned back against the railing. “Is there a password or—”

She heard a loud crack and she cried out in shock when Andrew fell backward, disappearing from in front of her eyes.

Chapter Six

Rousing herself from her momentary paralysis, Hannah leaped forward. Andrew lay on the ground on his back, surrounded by broken segments of the redwood handrailing from her porch. Taking as much care as possible, she hurried down the still-slightly damp steps.

Andrew was already struggling to rise on one elbow when she reached him. His face was thrown into shadows, but she thought she saw a dark smear on his forehead. She touched her fingers to his face, and they came away sticky. “You’re bleeding.”

“Bumped my head on a rock,” he muttered, tentatively raising his hand to his temple. “It’s just a graze.”

“Don’t move, I’ll call for help.”

He caught her wrist when she would have moved away. “Hannah, it was a three-foot fall. I’ll be fine.”

Still, he’d fallen hard, landing awkwardly on rocks and the broken railing. She hovered nearby when he rose gingerly. Before he’d even made it all the way to his feet, she heard doors open and raised voices.