“Paula insisted on always having a guest room for Pen since she moved to Dallas. We lost her to Texas a year before we’re losing her to you.” Louis’s words held no venom, and actually sounded kind of sad. “You’ll see when that baby is born. Just how much you’ll do for it. Just how protective you’ll become.”
Zach could imagine. He’d already been that way with Penelope. He met Louis’s eyes and confessed just that.
“I’m like that about your daughter. She’ll never want for anything. Our child wasn’t the reason we became engaged.” His ex-wife was, but Zach sure as hell wasn’t sharing that. “But the baby definitely gave us a good reason to stay that way.”
Louis nodded slowly, obviously trying to accept the fact that his baby girl had gotten engaged and impregnated by some billionaire cowboy. Damn if Zach could understand Pen’s father’s position when he imagined having a daughter of his own.
With a slap to Zach’s shoulder, Louis echoed his fear. “God help you if you have a girl.”
* * *
Zach shut the door to the guest bedroom after brushing his teeth, stepping lightly across the real wood floors that were scarred and in need of a good wax. Paula had mentioned as much when she’d shown them to their room before looking to Zach to check if he’d be appalled by staying in such squalor. Her words, said on a tight laugh.
He’d assured her he could sleep anywhere, and though he’d kept it to himself, he’d also considered that he would sleep anywhere as long as Penelope was by his side.
He climbed into the double bed, a tight fit, the mattress sagging in the center. Pen let out a soft hum and wiggled under the blankets. Wrapping his arm around her middle, he tugged her close and buried his nose in her hair.
When he’d met her years ago in Chicago at a party, he’d been in full-on playboy mode. He’d set his Dallas drawl to full-tilt and laid on the charm, promising not to get into any trouble lest Pen’s PR firm would have to step in and straighten him out. He hadn’t seen her after that, so running into her at a swanky club in Texas had taken him by surprise.
He wasn’t a man who believed in fate, kismet or meant-to-be, but as he allowed his fingers to drape over his fiancée’s abdomen, he wondered if he wasn’t seeing this for what it was.
A second chance.
But as the thought hit him, so did the palpable fear of screwing it up. Of being in a position to lose not only the woman beside him but also access to their child.
Zach hadn’t thought about fatherhood. Hadn’t thought about it even when he’d asked Lonna to marry him. But the moment Pen announced her pregnancy an overwhelming feeling of right swept over him.
It wasn’t just the baby. It wasn’t just that he was in his thirties and it was past time for him to consider starting a family. It wasn’t that he’d crafted a fake engagement to distract from the real issue at hand.
The game-changer was Penelope Brand.
She murmured in her sleep—or her half sleep, as it were—and he kissed her shoulder. He’d promised to claim her in this very bed, parents’ house or no, believing their sexual chemistry would rival the need for sleep and trump the need to be quiet with her parents down the hall.
Now, though...
She rolled in his direction, her eyes opening briefly then shutting again. The moonlight streamed through the window, highlighting her fair hair and kissing her curved cheekbone.
He’d claim her in a different way tonight.
He scooted in the springy bed to give her room. Her body was going through the rigorous toils of crafting a baby—their baby—and she needed all the sleep she could get.
He couldn’t give her everything, but that, he could.
* * *
The flight home from Chicago was quick, and soon enough Zach and Pen were changing from their comfy flight clothes into slightly more formalwear for visiting the Ferguson house.
One set of parents down, one to go.
She’d let Zach choose the nature of the venue, which he’d scheduled for cocktail hour. She’d argued about building their visit around alcohol since she wouldn’t be having any but he’d assured her she didn’t have to worry.
At a little after seven Saturday evening, Pen settled onto the settee across from the chaise longue in the sitting room at the Ferguson mansion.
Elle was perched formally on the edge of a high-backed chair, Rider settled into the one next to it. A female member of the house staff walked in with a tray holding four martinis with speared olives in each elegant glass.
Zach accepted his glass, but held up a hand when the younger woman bent to give Penelope her drink. “My fiancée is expecting, so she’ll need something nonalcoholic. Club soda with a lime, okay?” He pegged Pen with a playful look while she struggled not to swallow her tongue.
Evidently, breaking the news to his parents wasn’t going to be a slow build.