Page 164 of The Price of Scandal

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” His fingers tightened on my arms. “We’re having a baby?”

I nodded, tears still clouding my vision.

“I think I need to sit down.”

I pushed him into the stool I’d vacated. “Are you all right?” I asked.

He nodded, then kept nodding, stars in his eyes. “What an adventure we’ll have together,” he said. “Of course, we’ll have to sell your Porsche and get a bulletproof minivan.”

“Oh, of course,” I agreed.

He slid his hands inside my lab coat and reverently placed his palms over my stomach. “How do you feel?”

“Elated. Terrified. Surprised. Hungry.”

“How are the intestines?” he asked.

“No troubles since the day we walked out of Flawless,” I said smugly.

“My parents are going to be over the moon to meet this little one,” he said, gaze lifting to meet mine.

“At least we can count on a positive reaction from one set of parents,” I quipped. I had a tenuous truce with my mother that no longer required me to bend to her whims and revoked her right to criticize me. We still didn’t spend holidays together. But that was just fine with me.

“Maybe your mother will welcome our impending nuptials and baby news as a distraction from trying to rake your father over the coals in divorce court.”

“Unlikely. But Bethenny and Ed will commission a nursery designer,” I predicted.

“And Jane will buy him or her a teeny tiny stun gun,” Derek said, a smile spreading across his handsome face.

“And Cam, Luna, and Daisy will be weird and wonderful aunts,” I said.

“Our baby will know nothing but love, Emily,” he promised me, his voice breaking on the word baby.

“Are you happy, Price?” I asked him.

“Dazzled.” He opened the jewelry box and then I was the dazzled one.

In the facets and shine of precious gem and metal, I saw our future. Our life together would sparkle.

“That is a big one,” I breathed.

“Hush, love. Not in front of the baby,” he teased, sliding the ring on my finger. “I’m of course assuming your answer is a yes.”

I glanced from ring to papers and back again. “Do you have a pen?”