Claiming His Nine-Month Consequence

“I’ve never seen anyplace like this,” she breathed as she took a cupcake.

The other woman replied with a grin, “We have to compete with online retailers and can’t do it on price. So we make it an experience.”

“And you said surprises never involved cake,” Ares murmured to Ruby as they followed the fuchsia-haired woman toward the racks of bright vintage clothes.

Ruby smiled at him, her eyes shining as she bit into the pink-frosted cupcake. “I’ve never been more happy to be wrong.”

* * *

Funny, Ruby thought. She’d been so scared of coming to New York, she wouldn’t have done it, if Ares hadn’t forced her. But her first day here had already been one of the best days of her life.

She’d gotten to hear her baby’s heartbeat, and found out that she’d be having a little girl.

Ruby still didn’t understand Ares’s weird reaction after the ultrasound. She’d been hurt at first. Then he’d asked that the baby take his last name. It was sweet, really. Maybe he just hadn’t known how to express his emotions, she thought. But actions mattered more than words.

She loved that he’d brought her to a vintage shop, instead of a fancy department store.

The huge vintage warehouse had been a revelation. Ruby had never seen anything like it. Clothes from every decade, of every size and color, all housed together.

Looking around, she’d realized that the customers were like that, too. She smiled at babies in strollers wearing 1980s dresses and old seersucker suits, and an elderly woman in a vintage Chanel jacket pushing a bright green walker tricked out with rhinestones.

How could Ruby have been so scared of coming to New York City? These were her people. They were just like the folks she loved at home.

Maybe people were people, she thought, no matter where you happened to be.

“How did you create this place?” she’d breathed to the pink-haired woman helping her navigate the aisles, who turned out to be the owner.

Wanda had laughed. “How do you start anything? By being brave and jumping in.”

Those words rang in Ruby’s ears as she spent hours pleasurably going through the racks, selecting maternity clothes for herself and a few things for their coming baby. At the end, the entire cost of her new wardrobe, ball gown included, had been under three hundred dollars.

Ares had nearly choked when he’d heard the amount at the cash register. He kept asking Wanda how she could expect to make a profit, and repeating that he didn’t need a special discount. She’d assured him she was charging regular prices, but Ares still looked uncomfortable. Right before they left the shop, Ruby had seen him surreptitiously stick a bunch of hundred-dollar bills into the old painted mason jar marked “Cupcake Donations.”

As they climbed into the waiting sedan, with Horace packing all the shopping bags into the trunk, Ruby leaned back against the back seat with a satisfied sigh. She looked up at Ares as he got in beside her.

Reaching out, she took his hand in her own.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He looked down at her hand wrapped over his. He slowly lifted his dark eyes to hers.

Electricity crackled between them, and his gaze fell to her mouth.

A shiver went through her. Against her will, she licked her lips. She heard his intake of breath. Deliberately, he lowered his head toward hers.

At the last moment, she turned away before he could kiss her, ripping her hand from his.

She said in a small voice, “I can’t.”

“Why?” he demanded.

“Because…” She glanced unwillingly toward Horace, who’d just sat down in front of the wheel. She bit her lip.

“Because we’re not alone?” Ares said.

“I don’t see anything, ma’am,” Horace said from the front as he drove the sedan back onto the street.

Ruby gave a choked laugh, then said softly, “It’s not just that. I…” She paused, then finally shook her head. “Never mind.”

“Tell me,” Ares whispered, twisting a long dark tendril of her hair around his finger. As she met his gaze, her lips burned with the tantalizing memory of his kiss.

“I’m the mother of your baby,” she said haltingly. “And perhaps, someday, your…friend. But that’s all it can ever be.”