Silence stretched, feeling cold and strangled as I looked down at my hands, folding them over and over each other.
“I thought it couldn’t be. There was no way. You were only a one-night stand; you must have gotten pregnant after you left. So, I asked the woman. She said it was possible if you got pregnant before he …” He left the words hanging, like a hand squeezing around my heart as he struggled to get past them. “I wouldn’t let myself believe it. But then, yesterday, when I saw you coming out of the daycare center, and I saw him for the first time … there was no denying it. He is Noble through and through. He’s my brother’s kid, and he’s the only thing left of him. You’re selfish for taking him. Taking away the last piece of my brother I have.”
The tears welling up in my eyes were as pained as the sound of his voice turning so cold it could freeze fire. If his aim was to make me feel guilty, then he was doing a good job of it. I could see the repercussion of running away deep in the green eyes I loved so much. Even if I never regretted running away, I did regret what it did to those I left behind.
“I’m sorry,” I said into the silence.
Hunter, holding on to the steering wheel with a grip that could kill, didn’t even look at me as he growled, “No, you’re not.”
As the sign for Fellpeak rushed by, I felt anxiety rush into my veins. Twelve more miles, and I would be back in the snug grasp of the little, old town I hadn’t seen in over three years.
I had no idea how Adair had slept through most of the ride but, as if sensing our approach home, he had awoken and was staring out the window with big, round eyes. He held his kiddy cup in his mouth, keeping his teeth occupied on chewing the top while examining the outside world.
I fought for calm from Adair, but his care-free attitude—another trait of his father’s—wasn’t coming to me. I gripped the edge of the seat, taking long, deep breaths as I stared down at the passing tall evergreens that covered Fellpeak on three sides while a wide desert expanded in the east. That was what they got for being in the smack dab middle of Oregon.
The moist spring air seeped in through the crack in the window, the pine scent bringing back too many memories as I kept my chin tucked into my neck in an effort not to look out the window.
I couldn’t do this.
Nope.
I looked into my handbag. Maybe I should give the nail file a shot? Car floors aren’t that thick, right?
Or maybe I could get a one-way ticket from the next gas station to another state, or country, or outer space. Yep, outer space was a great idea. Of course, there was the whole no-oxygen thing, but oxygen was overrated.
“Calm down,” Hunter growled from next to me.
“I would if I could,” I hissed back, not in the mood to deal with the brooding bastard.
“You could always tell me the reason you ran.”
“And you could tell me the size of your penis.”
His eyebrows touched his hairline as his gaze flickered to me then back to the road, then back again.
Oh, yeah. Inappropriate questions always shut—
“Big,” he answered, like they were discussing the weather.
I stared open-mouthed at him, rationality taking a walk as I asked, “How big?” Now that we had stepped into this territory, my curiosity couldn’t handle it. He was at least six-foot-five with huge hands. You know what they say about big hands …
“I haven’t exactly measured it, but I get a lot of … comments.” His raised eyebrows and completely seriousness, husky tone made me very, very curious.
“Lots of women tell you that?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
“Every day.”
“Except yesterday. Because you were stalking me.”
He only smiled.
My mouth dropped open even further. The slut! I mean, yeah, if a man like that came up to a very lonely me in a bar with a body like that, I would certainly reconsider my vow of celibacy. However, with his attitude, cockiness, man-handling, and refusing to speak to me until all of twenty minutes ago, it had a price. The real question was: would I be willing to pay it?
Maybe after a drink or two.
Or five.
I wouldn’t listen to alcohol, though, because it led to lots of bad decisions.
“I …” I suddenly noticed the scenery change. Pine trees were exchanged for cement buildings, lampposts, and stores.
I turned to look out the windows and found myself surrounded. Fellpeak was all around me, and I had the horrible feeling it would never let me go again.
I’m going to hyperventilate. Or puke. Or both.
It hadn’t escaped my notice that Hunter had started a conversation to try to calm me down, and ever since I stopped talking, he had tried to restart it. I couldn’t reply, though, for fear it would be the cereal bar I had eaten at the last gas station.
Instead, my fingers bore down on the edges of his seat, not caring if I made holes in it. After all, it was his fault for kidnapping me.
It would have been better if the town had changed in the years I had been gone. But not even the yolk blotches on Mr. Jefferson’s house from when my friends had thrown eggs at it on Halloween had disappeared. Well, I didn’t do it. Even though it was amusing to see him all riled up, he was a nice man … to his cat, not other people, which was fine by me.
I watched the small market setting up under the cover of dawn. At least travelling in the early morning gave me some coverage. I hated the idea of being spotted by someone who would recognize me. Gossip spread fast in towns like these, and if someone saw me in Hunter’s truck, it wouldn’t take long to get to everyone I had ever known.
Despite the fact I hadn’t seen my friends or family in all the years I had been gone, I wasn’t keen to meet up with them. Therefore, I was overjoyed when Hunter continued past the center of town and then some, until there were only a few houses on the outskirts.
He pulled onto a small gravel road, parking in front of a house that screamed modern, yet was warm at the same time. It had dark-tinted glass windows with wood panels. The shape of the house was miss-matched with three different levels of roofing and an oak-stained chimney rising out of the lower roof. The roofing platforms came out over the edges of the building, providing shelter over the introverted doorway where marble stone spheres lined the steps up to the house.
I had been hoping he had a horrible house with beer and broken windows so I could complain about it enough to insist on having to move into a more “child-proof” and anti-broody men apartment. However, that would mean moving closer into the town, which I wasn’t ready for. Not to mention, my absence of money.
While my conscience battled between awe and disgruntlement, Hunter had already gotten out of the truck and was opening the boot, dragging the pink suitcase and bag out of the back.
I quickly undid my seatbelt, settling on the slight hope that the inside wasn’t as stunning as the outside, and slipped out of the truck. Adair had fallen asleep again, so I made sure to be quiet as I slipped the straps of his car seat over his arms and chest and scooped him up.
Unfortunately, Adair had been one of those chubby babies, and even now, his dead weight was only possible because of the mommy muscles I had built picking him up for the last three and a half years.
I kicked the door shut with my foot and almost unbalanced myself before following Hunter, who had long since reached the front door and was putting the keys into the lock.
He opened the door and marched in without waiting for me, leaving the door wide open so I didn’t have to use my hands, not that I could without dropping Adair. Although I wasn’t sure why Hunter was so mad at the world, I didn’t want to test out my theories on my baby boy.
Another Noble was a gift, and though I had only known Hunter for eighteen hours, I wasn’t exactly sure that another one of him would be quite as pleasant.
My hopes withered, as I expected them to, when I stepped into the architectural mastery of the interior. It had smooth black marble floors with a