BEVERLY BARTON – Nine Months (страница 8)

“Are you Jared’s administrative assistant?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then you can help me. Please tell him I’m here.” She held out her hand to Paige. “Marcy Dailey. Jared asked me to meet him here.”

“Paige Summers.” Still seated behind her desk, she lifted her hand and exchanged a cordial greeting with Ms. Dailey. Returning the woman’s smile, Paige wondered just who Marcy Dailey was.

“Oh, you’re Mr. Montgomery’s interior decorator, aren’t you? I’m Kay Thompson. You picked up the keys to Mr. Montgomery’s house from me a couple of months ago.”

“Oh, yes, Ms. Thompson. I remember you.”

“I thought you’d finished the decorating job,” Kay said.

“I did. I’m not here on business. Jared called earlier today and asked if I was free for dinner tonight.”

Paige felt as if someone had hit her in the stomach. His first night back in Grand Springs and he already had a date. With another woman! And not only was the other woman beautiful, she was nice, dammit!

“I’ll tell Mr. Montgomery that you’re here,” Paige said.

You are not going to let this upset you, she told herself. What difference does it make? She already knew that she didn’t mean a thing to Jared, that he’d put their night together behind him. As far as he was concerned, it hadn’t happened. But it did happen, she wanted to scream. And I have the living proof growing inside me.

Before Paige had a chance to inform Jared that his dinner date had arrived, he opened his office door and stuck his head out. “Ms. Summers, could you— Oh, Marcy, hello.” He glanced down at his watch. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was so late. Give me a minute and I’ll be right with you.”

“Is there something you need?” Paige asked.

Yes, Jared thought. I need for you to stop looking at me with those sexy brown eyes of yours. I need to get you out of my mind. I need to regain my equilibrium and put my life back on track. “No, Ms. Summers. It can wait until tomorrow.”

He rushed back into his office and reemerged after putting on his jacket and straightening his tie. Without giving either employee another glance, Jared said, “Good night. See you both in the morning.” He took Ms. Dailey by the arm and escorted her out of the office.

Paige jumped up from her desk and ran toward the bathroom. She thought her bouts with morning sickness had ended weeks ago, but she made it to the rest room just in time. She lifted the commode seat, bent over and vomited.

Kay rushed in behind her, wet a paper towel and handed it to Paige. “You haven’t had one of these episodes in weeks. Are you all right?”

Paige had thought she’d hidden her morning sickness quite well and had been unaware that Kay suspected anything. Her friend had never mentioned it.

“Thanks, Kay.” Paige flushed the commode, then accepted the damp towel and wiped her face with it. “I’m all right now. It’s been a trying day. I think the stress of having Mr. Montgomery here in the office just got to me.”

“Stress over L.J.’s presence might have triggered this little bout of nausea, but it doesn’t explain the weeks of morning sickness you’ve been experiencing.”

“Morning sickness? I don’t know—”

“I was pregnant once,” Kay said. “I was sick for four and a half months. I miscarried the baby. Lucky for all of us, I guess, since my marriage didn’t last.”

“Kay, I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, my problems are in the past. What about yours? You’re obviously pregnant and unmarried.”

“Do you think anyone else here at Montgomery’s suspects?”

“No one suspects a thing. Believe me. I hear all the gossip that goes on not only at Montgomery’s but in the entire Wellman building.”

“Kay, I’d rather you didn’t mention this to anyone. I know that, sooner or later, my condition will become apparent, but until then—”

“I won’t tell a soul.” Kay wrapped her arm around Paige’s shoulders. “Are you and the father going to get married?”

“No.”

“Is he already married?”

Paige gasped. “No, of course he’s not married.”

“Then what’s the problem? Is it that he doesn’t want to marry you or don’t you want to marry him?”

“He doesn’t know about the baby.”

“What? Why haven’t you told him?”

Paige closed the commode seat and slumped down, sitting before her trembling legs gave way. “You and I have become friends these last four months and I trust you, but—”

“Don’t tell me anything you don’t want me to know.”

“I’ve told my parents. My mother is the Rock of Gibraltar. My father has murder in his heart.” Paige laughed shakily. “They’ve promised to stand by me and help me get through the pregnancy. My mother’s agreed to take care of the baby until he or she is old enough for preschool. And with my salary and good insurance, I should be able to get by just fine.”

“Why haven’t you told the father?”

“Because…” Paige hesitated, wondering just how much she dared tell Kay. “I’ve had only one other lover. The college boyfriend I told you about, and we’d planned to get married. Things didn’t work out after he got a job in L.A. and met the girl of his dreams—the boss’s daughter. There hadn’t been anyone else since Kevin. Not until four months ago.”

“So, four months ago you started a new relationship and accidently got pregnant.”

“I didn’t start a new relationship,” Paige said. “I did something unthinkable. At least, it was unthinkable for someone like me.”

“What did you do?”

“I had a one-night stand with a stranger.”

“Oh, my God, Paige, you didn’t!”

“I’m afraid I did. We got trapped in the elevator that Friday night in June that Grand Springs lost its power.”

“You had sex with a perfect stranger in a stalled elevator?”

“Uh-huh.” Paige nodded her head.

“Then you have no idea who he is, the man who fathered your child? You never saw him again?”

“I saw him again. The following Monday morning.”

“The day you started work at Montgomery’s?”

“Yes.”

“He works here in the Wellman Building?” Kay asked.

“Yes.”

“For heaven’s sake, Paige, who is he?”

Paige hesitated a moment. “L. J. Montgomery.”

For once in her life, Kay Thompson was utterly speechless.

Chapter Three

Paige was thankful that Jared had left the office for an early lunch and had told her not to expect him back until after two, if then. Despite his totally professional attitude toward her the entire morning of his second day back in Grand Springs, he had seemed nervous and edgy. And once or twice, when he’d thought she wasn’t looking, she’d caught him staring at her. Smiling, she had returned his stare, giving him an opportunity to say something—anything—personal. But all he’d done was clear his throat and look away. If he’d wanted to say something to her, why hadn’t he? Maybe her wishful thinking had made her imagine the longing in his eyes, or perhaps it had just been a reflection of the longing in her own heart.

How was she going to work alongside Jared day after day, see him walk out of his office with his dinner dates time and again, and then have to order morning-after roses for those women, as she’d had to do today for Marcy Dailey?

“Eating in today?” Kay asked as she entered the employees’ lounge.

“Yes, I brought a microwave meal.” Paige pointed to the low-fat, low-calorie pasta dish she’d just warmed.

Kay tossed a brown paper bag on the table, pulled out a chair and sat down. “I brought tuna with fat-free mayo on whole wheat and bottled water. I’m watching my figure. What’s your excuse for eating that stuff?”

“I’m watching my weight, too,” Paige said. “I’m only five-five and I’ve gained three pounds more than I should have. Dr. Petrocelli says that since I’m already well-rounded—” Paige rolled her eyes and sighed “—I need to watch my weight or I could easily balloon into an elephant by the time the baby arrives.”

“Speaking of Baby Montgomery, have you given any more thought to what we talked about last night?” Kay unscrewed the lid from her bottled water.

“Shh!” Paige glared at Kay. “Anyone could overhear you. No one knows I’m pregnant, and I certainly don’t want anyone suspecting that Jared is the father.”