Tempted by the Wrong Twin (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 8)

For the rest of the day, as they played with Ellie and had a barbecue lunch, Harper felt like she was simply going through the motions. Nick had said he’d sleep in her bed, but he’d been staying awake all night. He’d purposefully hidden what he was doing, lied about it. It was vital that she understand the reality of Nick’s condition, partly because she could be called on to make a statement to the court in Ellie’s custody hearing. She was a lawyer and would already be lying to a court of law—that was bad enough. To be caught in that lie because her partner in crime had withheld information from her? That would be bad for all of them.

More importantly, she was bringing two precious babies into the world with this man—she had to be certain she knew how he was handling his condition, and that he’d tell her of any changes, so she could mitigate any issues for the babies and for Ellie. Sure, she knew he would plan around any sleepovers Ellie might have in the future so she wasn’t affected by his nightmares, but Harper would be irresponsible not to wonder if there was anything else he wasn’t telling her...

How could their arrangement survive if she couldn’t be sure what was truth and what was lie?

Ten

Nick arrived back from dropping Ellie at Melissa’s house feeling like crap. It was getting harder and harder to let his daughter go—one day with her every two weeks wasn’t nearly enough time. The only thing that made it close to bearable was knowing Harper was waiting at home.

But when he walked into the living room, emotionally wiped out, he found her sitting on the edge of the sofa, strangely alert. And she wasn’t happy—there was an air of tension radiating from her.

“Everything okay?” he asked warily as he dropped his keys and wallet on a side table.

“We need to talk.” Her voice was clipped and precise.

Nick winced. It was worse than he’d thought. He headed for the sofa and sat across from her, needing the angle to see her expressions—he hadn’t seen Harper angry before, so he didn’t want to be flying any more blind than he already was.

He paused to take a breath, then plunged headlong into whatever was waiting for him. “Have I done something you’re not happy about?”

She crossed her legs, and the foot hanging in the air bobbed to a silent beat. “You could say that.”

Hell. He squared his shoulders. “Tell me.”

“The question is whether you were going to tell me,” she said, her cheeks flushed pink.

Pulse racing now, he scanned through everything that had happened since breakfast. They’d definitely been happy together then—Harper had kissed him as he left and made all sorts of promises about tonight. He’d ducked out to pick up Ellie, introduced her to Frank, and Ellie had thanked Harper for getting the dog. Harper had seemed really affected by the moment, so things were still good then. After that they’d had a picnic on t

he blanket, told Ellie about the babies, then had a barbecue. In fact, they’d both been with Ellie all day—there hadn’t been much chance to do or say anything controversial, so he was at a loss.

“You’ll have to give me a hint,” he admitted.

She reached behind her to a long table that ran along the back of the sofa that had photos and other paraphernalia on it. She grabbed the murder mystery he’d been reading—and which he’d left beside the bed—and held it up. “When did you read this?”

His stomach dropped as it all clicked into place. “Last night.”

“The entire book?” she asked calmly, but her eyes were steady in their focus. “In one night?”

“Yeah,” he said and blew out a breath.

She tossed the book onto the cushions beside her. “Have you slept at all since you started sharing my bed?”

He shook his head and admitted the truth. “I normally catch a nap in the morning before I start work. I don’t need a lot of sleep.”

She crossed her arms under her breasts. “You’ve been lying to me.”

The accusation was like a slap to the face, even though it was true. He had been lying to her—lying by omission—and it had felt wrong every time he hadn’t told her. But he’d chosen the lesser of two evils, and he still thought it had been the right call for them. Convincing Harper of that would be another matter, though.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been honest about when I sleep, but you have to see that it’s the best option for us.”

“How?” she asked. “Explain that to me.”

“Harper,” he said gently, “I saw your face when you witnessed me having a nightmare. It’s burned into my memory banks—there’s no way you can pretend it didn’t scare you.”

“Yes, it did scare me. Of course it did—I had to try to make sense of your anguish and agitation while I was half-asleep. I had no warning, so it was a shock. Now that I know, I’ll be prepared if it happens again.”

“You need your sleep while you’re pregnant and working full-time. Being woken each night because of my nightmares is not good.” He scrubbed his hands through his hair. “Look, I can see why you’re upset—I’m just not the man I used to be. I can’t do all the things I used to.”

“No,” she said, her voice low. “I’m upset about the lie. We’re in the middle of this intense situation together—we married to protect your custody of your daughter from your ex-wife and her fiancé. To protect our babies’ relationship with both their parents. To protect Tate Armor from Maverick. All while you’re dealing with the aftereffects of fighting a war on the other side of the world. Plus we can’t tell anyone about our marriage arrangement except Malcolm, just in case Melissa finds out. In the midst of this, all we have is each other.”