Taming Emma(35)

He still didn’t speak, but she swore she could see beads of perspiration along his hairline.

“One of us has to do it, right? Go first?” Was she making a mistake? She wouldn’t know until she said it, but she knew she couldn’t walk away and pretend she didn’t feel what she was feeling. “I have feelings for you, Luke, and it’s not a teenage crush anymore. With you, I feel things I never have with anyone else, ever, and I think you feel the same. You fucking flew across the country to get me back! That has to mean something.”

He tensed, and when he spoke his voice was quiet, cold. “It’s natural for you to think you have feelings for me given the circumstances. I don’t want to hurt you, Emma, but I don’t feel the same. You read too much into my coming to get you. I only intended that you fulfill your obligation, that’s all. Like you said, I paid a pretty penny.”

She wondered if he saw her flinch.

He stood and she watched, absolutely not believing her eyes. “I think I made a mistake.” He walked inside, then turned at the balcony door. “Your clothes are in the studio. Get dressed. I’ll take you home.”

It was like he’d punched her right in her belly. She stared at the empty space he’d just occupied. What had happened? A few hours ago, they’d been closer than she’d ever been to anyone in her life. He’d told her he wasn’t just anyone. He’d found out what had happened to her and he’d still wanted her. And she’d trusted him.

One tear slid from her eye and her heart felt like someone, no, it felt like Luke was squeezing it in the palm of his hand, crushing it.

Emma got up, walked slowly to the studio, and got dressed. He stood waiting for her, car keys in hand, and front door open. She wasn’t going to fight him and she wasn’t going to argue or make a scene. Instead, numb and cold, she hugged her arms to herself and walked ahead of him into the elevator, then out to his car.

They drove in silence, neither looking at the other, until he pulled up in front of Nate’s house and she reached for the door handle. She paused and turned to him, opening her mouth to say something. But when she only met his profile, she closed it again and climbed slowly out of the car. He didn’t even wait for her to unlock the door and go inside before driving off. He apparently couldn’t get away from her fast enough.

Emma closed the door behind her. The light was on in the kitchen. She looked around at the strange scene. A pot of soup simmered on the stove, or at least the last of what was once soup did. She turned the gas off, but burned her hand when she tried to pick up the pot and put it in the sink.

“Nate?” she called out, taking note of the half-eaten plates of food on the table and the fork on the floor. “Celia?”

No answer. She went to the patio where the door still stood open, but no one was there. “Nate? Where are you? Celia?”

Her heart pounded. She took the stairs two at a time but knew they wouldn’t be there. Something was wrong and all Emma could think of was the baby. Something had happened.

“Celia!” she screamed, opening their bedroom door. Empty again.

Using the phone on the bedside table, she dialed Nate’s cell. He picked up but didn’t say anything.

“Nate, is that you? Are you there?”

She heard a choking sound. “Nate?” she asked, tears now gushing down her face. Her brother was crying on the other side of the phone. “Where are you? Where’s Celia? What’s happened?”

“The baby…” His sob made her cry out.

“What?” she screamed.

“It was too early…”

“Where are you?” She cut him off.

“Brandywine Hospital.”

“I’ll be right there.”







Luke’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He forced thoughts of Emma from his mind as he sped home. Evelyn’s call had caught him off guard. He shook his head at the complication his life had become. He thought he’d effectively cut off the first ten years of his life, but apparently the amputation hadn’t been thorough enough.

His biological father, David Lyons, hadn’t been abusive from the start. At least Luke didn’t remember violence until after he’d turned six. But maybe it had been going on all along and he was just too young to see it. He remembered feeling afraid of his father, but he attributed that to what he’d seen him do to his mother.

They lived just outside of London and his father was a well-respected, successful, powerful attorney. His mother was a beauty, a kept woman, and Luke completed their “perfect” family. To all outward appearances, they were just that—perfect. But behind closed doors, his father was a wife beater. Until he added child abuse to the list, that is.