Boss Meets Baby(157)

‘I wish you had.’ Her face troubled for a moment, Georgia let herself revel in the feelings of safety and protection that Keir’s strong arms so tantalisingly engendered. ‘I had a couple of really disturbing nightmares,— and I couldn’t go back to sleep after the second one.’

‘Oh?’ Now it was Keir’s turn to look troubled. He brushed back some soft chestnut hair from her smooth forehead, his gentle touch eliciting a small explosion of delicious tingles up and down her spine. ‘What were they about? Want to tell me?’

‘No. I think it would upset me too much.’

And there was still the small matter of her pregnancy— to discuss…Georgia sighed and started to free herself from his embrace. She walked across the elegantly varnished wooden floor to the other side of the room, pulling the opened sides of her soft grey cardigan together across her pink T-shirt and black skirt as if suddenly feeling the cold.

‘I need to tell you something…’

‘Sounds very serious!’

There was the ghost of a smile on his compelling mouth, and he shrugged his shoulders as if she might possibly be exaggerating just how serious the matter was. For an instant, Georgia wanted to delay telling him the news, and instead encourage this unusually happy mood he seemed to be in. But, as great as the temptation was, she knew she couldn’t put her confession— off any longer.

‘It is serious, Keir. I think I’m pregnant.’

‘What?’

The previously teasing light in his eyes seemed ominously to go out.

Georgia’s hand subconsciously went to her stomach, as though to protect herself. ‘I haven’t done a test yet, but the signs are all there.’

‘I’m sorry, but you’ll have to give me a few moments here…’ His hand absently touching the side of his temple, Keir appeared genuinely stunned. ‘I always used protection,’ he said, shaking his head slightly. ‘How can that be?’

He doesn’t believe me, Georgia thought, and for a long, interminable second she was sucked into a vortex of pure blind panic. Her own inexperience suddenly made her very afraid.

‘I don’t know.’ Her hands curled into the material of her skirt and her mouth went dry as chalk. ‘Perhaps we weren’t always as careful as we might have been? Sometimes that can happen…’ Her voice trailed off, and she hardly knew how she confronted the shock that clearly marked his handsome face.

‘How long have you known?’

‘I only found out yesterday…My—my breasts were tingling, and I suddenly realised that my period was over a week late. They’re always so regular, and I should have noticed…But I—I haven’t exactly been thinking straight these past few days.’ Her glance was clearly distressed, and she pulled it away from the disbelief she was convinced she saw on his face, looking anywhere but at him.

‘Well, clearly we have to address this—don’t we?’

‘Address it?’ Georgia’s knees began to feel weak. He sounded so cold…so unemotional…so detached. It was like a nightmare.

‘We have to come to some decision about what we’re going to do.’

Was he going to suggest a termination? Now she really did feel as though her legs wouldn’t hold her upright. As shocking as the realisation that she was pregnant was, not to mention the glaring hard fact that her life was about to change beyond all recognition because of it, she knew she would never voluntarily— travel down that particular road of anguish. She was certain, too, that when Noah found out he would not want that for her either.

‘You’re upset,’ she said, her voice cracking a little as she looked up at him again. Her heart longed to bring back the seductive humour he had so captivated her with only a few short moments ago, but she thought that perhaps she would never be treated to such an event again. The assessingly clinical glance Keir gave her in return did nothing to reassure her.

‘Upset? That’s an understatement! How did you expect me to react, Georgia?’

‘Well, how do you think I feel?’ Georgia burst out, her— eyes sparking with sudden fury. ‘What do you imagine being pregnant means for me, Keir? I’m a single woman, supporting myself as well as helping my brother build up a business! How do you think a baby is going to affect my ability to earn a living? My God, you men can be so bloody selfish sometimes!’—

Before he could answer her, Georgia ran to the other side of the room, pulled opened the door and rushed out.

The Strachan family portraits that gazed back at her from their gilt frames on the corridor walls seemed to mock her distress as she quickly passed them, as if to say, Did you really think that someone like you could be part of this great family?