Mike gave him a halfhearted smile. It shamed him to realize he hadn’t given Sean a thought in days. His own brother trapped in a snowstorm and he hadn’t wondered once how he was doing. But now, it was good to steer his brain in a different direction. “You didn’t kill the contractor, did you?”
Sean shot him a look, frowned and said, “No. Didn’t kill her.”
Mike frowned, too. “Something going on there?”
“Not a damn thing,” Sean told him, then changed the subject abruptly. “I don’t want to talk about Kate Wells, all right? Went by the office this morning. Glad to see everyone got the final changes in on ‘The Wild Hunt.’”
Huffing out a breath, Mike realized he hadn’t paid attention to that, either. One of their biggest games getting ready to roll onto the assembly line and he hadn’t bothered to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.
“Jenny’s Wise Woman character turned out spectacularly. Dave showed me the final sketches. That woman is talented.”
“Yeah.” Mike turned his face into the wind. Jenny was talented. And beautiful. And exasperating. And pregnant.
Sean was still talking. “Linda told me you haven’t been in to the office in days. You sick or something?”
“Or something,” Mike said. “You want some coffee?”
“Got a cappuccino on the way over.” Sean grinned. “It was worth waiting for. But you’re stalling. What’s going on, Mike?”
He shoved his hands into the back pockets of his faded jeans and rocked on his heels. He hadn’t told anyone about Jenny. About the baby. If Brady had been here, instead of in Ireland, Mike might have spilled the whole thing. But now, Sean was here and he found he needed to say it all out loud.
“It’s Jenny,” he said, looking at his brother. “She’s pregnant.”
A second or two ticked past as Sean simply stared at him, a befuddled expression on his face. Then a slow smile curved his mouth and he said, “I knew there was something going on between you two. And there’s a baby? That’s great, right?” He rushed across the patio and gave his brother a brief, hard hug. “I like Jenny a lot,” he said, stepping back and grinning. “And everybody’s noticed the red-hot chemistry between you two.”
Mike went still. He’d been sure that what was between Jenny and him was a secret. Private. “Everybody noticed? You mean people at work know about—”
“Well, they don’t know, but sure, there’s been some talk.” Sean shrugged. “Mostly the women. They really notice the stuff that sails right over most guys’ heads.”
“Great. That’s great.” Just what he wanted. All of his employees knowing about his private life, speculating, maybe even making bets on what would happen next.
“What’s the problem?” Sean asked. “It’s not like it would have stayed a secret for long. Not with Jenny pregnant. And here’s another question. If she’s pregnant, why is she out working on the hotel in Laughlin and you’re not with her?”
“She’s in Laughlin?”
“Yeah. Linda says she went out yesterday. She didn’t want to take the jet, so she drove, hauling all of her paint supplies with her.” He paused. “And you didn’t know anything about this, did you?”
“No.” Mike wasn’t happy about it, either. She could have told him she was driving out alone to Laughlin. He thought about that long, lonely road through the desert. Hell, there were sections where you could go for miles with nothing but sand on either side of your car. “She didn’t tell me.”
“Why wouldn’t she?”
Mike snapped his brother a hard look. “None of your business.”
“What’d you do, Mike?”
“I didn’t do anything,” he argued, feeling defensive even though he knew there was no reason for it.
“Yeah? The woman you’re crazy about is pregnant with your kid and you look like you want to punch somebody.” Sean tipped his head to one side and said, “Why don’t you spill what’s really going on?”
“She did this on purpose,” he muttered.
“Wow. She forced you to have sex with her?” Sean snorted. “You poor guy.”
“Shut up, Sean.”
“Do you get how ridiculous you sound? Get over yourself, Mike. She didn’t trick you. Or trap you. Hell, you’re not that great a prize.”
“Thanks. So glad you’re home.” Mike scrubbed one hand across the back of his neck and remembered that Jenny had said the same damn thing to him not so long ago. But you’d think his own brother would be a little more supportive.