The Heiress's Pregnancy Surprise (Heirs to an Empire 2)

She shook her head. “No, the thing with Amelie’s pretty much resolved. She’s left Paris with Marie for a new start. How they do that doesn’t matter to me, as long as they keep Aurora out of it.”

Their drinks arrived and she poked at the lime wedge with her little straw. “The truth is, Jacob, I came here to tell you something in person that I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.”

His pulse took on a different drumming now, not one of anticipation but a slow thudding that told him something big was coming. She’d found someone else. She was getting married. Though why she’d have to tell him that in person was beyond him...

“Whatever it is, I promise I’m fine, Charlie. Just tell me.” He lifted his glass for a sip.

“I’m pregnant.”

He nearly spit out the beer; instead he inhaled and started to cough. Had she said...pregnant? He put down his glass and stared at her, his lips dropped open. “You’re...but we...” Realization hit him and he closed his eyes. “Except that first time. Even though we were careful.”

“Yes,” she said softly, so that he barely heard her over the voices and the music in the background. “Except that first time.”

And now she was having his baby.

“You’re sure? You’ve taken a test, seen a doctor?”

She nodded. “Yes, to both questions. I’m two months along now. And Jacob? There was no one else. Not before, and not since.”

He hadn’t even been going to ask her that. “Of course,” he said, letting out a massive breath. “I would never think you’d lie, Charlie. Your conscience would eat you alive.”

She smiled then. “Thank you. For believing me.”

Jacob ran his hand over his face, then took a rather bracing swig of beer. It said a lot about the people she’d been involved with that she’d have to thank him for accepting she was telling the truth. When he put his glass down again, he felt ready to say what he needed to say. “Whatever you want or need from me, you’ve got it.”

She sat back and lifted her highball glass, almost as if she was hiding behind it. What was she going to ask him for? Money? She had plenty of that, though he would gladly support his kid financially. The air strangled in his throat. Marriage? Or the opposite—signing away any parental rights? Any of those options made him feel faint, something that a man in his line of work never felt. He was going to be a father. His head swam with the words. He’d stared down the barrel of a gun more times than he could count. Nothing had weakened him like impending fatherhood.

“I don’t know what I want,” she finally said, looking down at the table. “It took me by surprise a few weeks ago.” She looked up and her gaze touched his and then slid away. “I’m financially set, and my family is wonderful. I can do this on my own if I want to.”

So why did she sound so unsure beneath the bravado?

“I’m sure you can.”

“I’m not after anything. We agreed to two days together, then we said goodbye. No ties. No lingering emotions. Just good memories.”

His fingers tightened around the glass. “This is much bigger than a memory.”

Charlotte’s eyes narrowed. “Then what do you want? Certainly not to be a father. And I know you’re not interested in a relationship.”

“How do you know that?”

She stilled, stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“How do you know I’m not interested in a relationship?”

“Because of Jacinta.”

She said the name so bluntly that he winced. But since New York he’d had time to think, too much time. There were things he wanted to say that he couldn’t say here, in a busy pub on a weeknight.

“I live two streets over,” he said, then drained the last of his pint. “Why don’t you come over, have something to eat, and we can talk about this.”

“I got a hotel.”

“I’m sure. And I’m not asking you to stay the night, though you’re more than welcome. I have lots of space.” He leaned across the table. “This is an important conversation, Charlie. I’d rather have it in private.”

She nodded, her face paler than he remembered it, and reached for her handbag. He tossed some notes on the table to cover their drinks and a tip and then escorted her outside into the spring air.

She inhaled deeply and let it out. “Oh, the fresh air is nice.”