Page 15 of Nothing to Beat

“No,” she said.“This is one of those things that happens whether you know it or not.I figure at some point, or not, I’ll know.”

“You were scared to be disappointed.You want to be pregnant.”

“Conning your brother into giving it a shot once was difficult enough.I don’t have it in me to hoodwink him twice.”

Yeah, okay… so she could, it wouldn’t take much.It was distancing themselves afterward that was the real hard part.

“You do have it in you, Seq.If it’s something you want, you’ll get it.”Tripp’s smirk grew.“Not like my brother’s ever fought you off.”

From each other, their focus went to the stern man standing at the foot of the bed.Okay, he was cute again.All angry and grumpy, she missed the days when it was her job, and delight, to loosen him up.

A whole stream of people barreled through the suite disrupting her burgeoning fantasy.They heard them coming before the cascade of bodies burst in.

“Ben is on his way.”

“This is insanity,” she said, pushing herself upright while Tripp adjusted the pillows so she could sit against them.“No one has to worry.No one has to—”

“You’re carrying the next generation of Breckenridge in there.”Darroch’s arm went around Savanna to pull her against him.“Guess ours will be the spare.”

All suspicion suddenly turned on the affianced couple.Good.Let’s see how they liked it.

“We’re not pregnant,” Savvy said, elbowing her love.“And, Gentleman, you’re not being kind.”

“What’s not kind about that?I can’t wait to meet the little guy.”

Caber, another brother, didn’t let that one slide.“Might be a girl.”

“A girl.”

The sentimentality in Alice’s voice cracked her heart.

“Alice, I really don’t know.I don’t.”

“The gender?”Caber asked.“Or if it exists?”

Tripp, still close, back to the others, showed sympathy in his smile, but what could he do?

“Nothing you can do to get them all out of here, Priest?”she asked.“You’ve never hesitated to clear a room before when necessary.”

“Think if I use my usual tactics, Breck might rip my head off.”

Think?Might?No, darling Tripp, there’d be no question about it.

Giving in, this wasn’t going away on its own.“I don’t know if there’s a baby.There might be a baby.I don’t think there is, but…”

“You never took a test?”

The question was valid.No, in the regular course of their lives women didn’t go around taking pregnancy tests for no reason.Except… Breck hadn’t given an inch, his tense muscles remained tight, and it wasn’t fun to see him so scrunchy.

“We have tests upstairs,” Roxie said.

“We do?”Zairn asked.

Roxie rested her weight against him.“Come on!You think with all the sex that goes on around here, Jane isn’t doing random spot checks?I think we get them wholesale.”

“Jane’s in California.”

“What does that matter?She doesn’t have to be in the state to hold us accountable,” Roxie said.“She’s attentive, she notices things.”