The Bachelor's Baby(33)

“I hear that,” he murmured, his thumb shifting against her upper arm in a caress of sympathy.

They were almost at the diner when they bumped into Andie Bennet and Heath McGregor as they were leaving. Both were dressed for work in construction boots and khakis.

“Oh, hey you two. Congratulations!” Meg greeted them, not having seen Andie since they’d been named the winners of the Great Wedding Giveaway. “Linc, you remember Lily from the auction? I met her through Andie. We were in school together, and this is her boss—” she winked as she deliberately overlooked their couple-dom, having always suspected Andie had a thing for her brother’s best friend long before the two of them got together publicly. “Heath.”

“We’ve met,” Linc said, nodding and shaking hands in greeting. “Andie did the wiring for my office. In fact, I’ll need to move up my timetable on rewiring the rest of house and the scope of that renovation has changed. I need the place finished sooner than later, so I’ll need a full crew out there. I’ll call you for some estimates,” he said to Heath.

“Sounds good,” Heath said in the way of a man who owned his own business and was used to accommodating his customers, but Meg saw Andie’s gaze skim to the hand Linc kept on her elbow.

Meg tried to divert her friend’s curiosity by asking about the wedding, but Andie wound up asking, “How long are you in town this time?”

And Meg came up against reality with a smack. Linc’s grip on her arm tightened. She didn’t know if that was in support or apprehension.

“I, uh…” Meg drew a small breath and pasted on a big smile before throwing herself on the mercy of the town’s grapevine. “I’m back for good.”

“Really?” Andie’s gaze flicked to Linc’s and Meg doubted the woman needed her certified electrician’s ticket to see the live connection between the two of them. “That’s great, but I thought you loved Chicago?” She brought her attention back to Meg.

“It’s a long story,” Meg averred. “Let’s have a girls’ night soon and I’ll tell my story to everyone at once. Save repeating myself. We’re starving, aren’t we, Linc?”

*

Linc promised to call Heath, held the door for Meg, and bit back a facetious, Girls’ night? Didn’t they call them baby showers under these circumstances?

But he could see Meg was unnerved. Which was probably his fault. He was a doer. Once he’d put together in his head that his baby was coming and needed a place to sleep, well, he needed to get the room ready.

The heavy aromas of bacon, eggs, and coffee painted the warm air of the diner and Meg returned more than one smile as they were shown to a booth.

“Hi, Annie,” she greeted their waitress. The woman poured him a coffee and they exchanged a few words before she left to fetch an herbal tea for Meg.

“I keep forgetting what a small town is like,” Linc admitted once they were alone. “That everyone knows everyone else. All their business.”

Meg pulled off her vest and set it beside her. “I’d think oil rigs would be the same.”

“They are,” he agreed, trying to keep his gaze from dropping to check out her chest.

He’d left his coat in the truck, needing to cool down after she’d put a mental image of her naked breasts into his mind’s eye, but he’d grabbed his hat. Now he took it off again and set it beside him in the booth, giving his hair a quick ruffle and smooth with his fingers.

“It was pretty hard to have so much as a private thought out there,” he allowed, “but once I started traveling, I was always the outsider. I knew the men talked about me, but I didn’t care. Well…” He shrugged. “I cared if they thought I was being heavy-handed. I was there to get a job done so I needed cooperation, not pushback, but even last night, thinking about…” He skimmed his gaze down her front now, finding himself looking for evidence of a baby that wasn’t there yet. She was still slender and, yeah, he couldn’t help noticing that those very nice, weighty breasts of hers looked better than ever.

He snapped himself out of what could easily become a hypnotic study.

“The last thing I’m worrying about is what people in this town think of me. But it’s different for you, isn’t it? These are your friends. Did I give away too much out there?” He jerked his head toward the sidewalk.

Annie came back with Meg’s tea and she ordered toast and a fruit cup. Linc frowned at her skimpy appetite as he requested the rancher omelet and a double side of ham.

“I knew what I was doing.” Meg cupped both hands around her steaming mug as Annie left. “Both in moving back here and coming out for breakfast with the guy I won at the bachelor auction.” Her mouth took on a fatalistic twist. “People are going to talk. There’s no escaping that. And I’m as nosy as most. Probably worse, so I can’t complain,” she added with a rueful smirk. “I actually like that people look out for each other here. One of the hardest things for me to get used to in Chicago was feeling anonymous.”