The comment threw him. “You don’t?”
“No.”
So what was all this about then?
And then he knew. He’d told her he would take Nathan from her if he caught her with Drake again. And he would have done it—if he still believed she wanted the other man.
“Then we’re staying married,” he told her, getting back to what was important.
Her eyes widened, her mouth dropped open. “We are?”
“Nathan is ours. We stay together.” He wasn’t about to tell her this just yet, but for the first time their marriage wasn’t only about their son. He wanted her to stay.
“Oh.” She swallowed hard, then released a shaky breath. “Well, that’s okay then.”
“Yes, Gemma, it is.”
They completed the rest of the journey in silence. Peggy had been minding Nathan for the evening, but she was at the front door as soon as the car pulled up, her concern obvious. “A nice cup of tea will do you good,” she said, once they were inside.
Tate led Gemma up the stairs and waited until she was bed. Once Peggy had brought up the hot drink and left the room, he moved to leave, too. “I’ll be downstairs in the study if you need me. Just call me on the intercom.” He took a couple of steps toward the door.
“Tate, about Drake—”
“Just let it be.” He didn’t want to hear the other man’s name right now. He was beginning to realize his best friend wasn’t all he appeared to be.
Gemma couldn’t describe the joy in her heart as Tate closed the door behind him. He might have left her by herself, but she didn’t feel in the slightest alone. How could she feel alone when she would be staying married to the man of her heart and keeping the son they had made together? Perhaps even with time and understanding would come love?
Then she remembered Drake Fulton, and her throat convulsed. God, Drake had put all that at risk for his own malicious purposes. He’d made her think she’d lost the two most important people in her life. She couldn’t have endured losing Tate again. And thinking about losing custody of Nathan was debilitating.
Yet somehow Tate believed she hadn’t engineered the meeting with Drake. She didn’t understand why, or the reason he seemed to have mellowed. Could it be that he was finally seeing his best friend for the person he was? Or was it more that Tate was learning to trust her?
She prayed it was both.
Eleven
The next morning, Tate left Gemma and Nathan still sleeping and went down to the kitchen early. He’d had a restless night, his mind trying to figure out if his best friend had been full of lies all along. Drake had convinced him that Gemma was the one in the wrong, but suddenly Tate could accept she hadn’t been a party to that kiss.
Or was it merely that he wanted to believe in her? Was her innocence simply more palatable, something that would not only allow him to stay married to her but to sleep with her as well? But if that was so, why couldn’t he shake the image of that smug look on Drake’s face?
In the kitchen, Peggy passed him a cup of coffee, waited for him to take a couple of sips and then handed him the morning newspaper. “I think you’d better see this, Mr. Chandler.”
The headline screamed out at him.
Chandler’s Baby?
“What the hell!”
Newlywed Gemma Chandler faints at the Humanitarian Awards Dinner last night…#p#分页标题#e#
It went on to describe an eyewitness account of Gemma in a heap on the floor in the corridor.
Does the Chandler family have more than their award to celebrate? Will matriarch Helen Chandler soon have another great-grandchild to show the Australian public?
“Damn them!” Tate threw the newspaper back on the bench after reading a rehash of his recent marriage and the reason behind it.
“I see Drake Fulton was at the dinner, too,” Peggy said, indicating the article.
Tate scowled and took another look at the front page. He hadn’t taken much notice of the photograph, which showed his family leaving the hotel. Drake walked beside Tate’s mother, smiling down at her as if he was enthralled by what she was saying. It was the way Drake smiled at all women. Nothing unusual there.
Tate nodded. “That’s right. He turned up late.”
A frown appeared on Peggy’s face. “I see.”
Something made him look harder at his housekeeper. “Why, Peggy?” She hesitated.
“Peggy, is there something you’re not telling me?”
She gave a tiny pause, then, “Did Gemma faint before or after Mr. Fulton turned up?”
It was his turn to frown. “After. Why?”
“Well…”