Delinquent Daddy (Banks / Kincaid Family #2)(26)

"Well, for starters, I don't want to be sitting here picking out baby names. I don't want to be seven months from becoming a father. I don't want to tell my parents I've made the biggest mistake of my life. I don't want to miss my first semester at Yale."

Blowing out a stream of curses under his breath, he surged to his feet and stormed off. And hormonal freak Ellie had become, she curled into a ball and cried.

Boston called her that night at one in the morning to apologize. He actually sounded sincere in his regret as he offered her an olive branch by announcing he liked the name Cassie. But there was still that note of desperation in his voice, telling her loud and clear how trapped he felt; he just wanted to be free of it all. He wanted out, and he wanted to attend Yale.

Getting into a bus accident the next day had been like providence. Ellie hadn't really been hurt. She'd barely gotten jostled, but the encounter had made her bleed and fearing for the baby, she'd agreed to go to the hospital. She'd been looked over and immediately cleared. She'd actually been waiting to be signed out when Boston had rushed into the emergency room where she was lounging on a cot.

She hadn't planned on lying to him. It'd been a spur of the moment thing that surprised her even as she did it.

There was a mixture of guilt and concern in his eyes when he stepped into her hospital room, like he felt as if he'd wished this kind of tragedy on her and now that his wish was granted, he realized how wrong it had been to want it. But he 101

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

came to her anyway, slowly, like a repenting sinner approaching the confessional.

"How are you?" he asked softly.

All she could do was nod and close her eyes. His trembling hand on her brow made her start crying all over again. When she looked up at him, he actually looked scared. "What about the baby?"

The idea hit her so suddenly, she didn't even really have time to change her mind before she asked, "Have you told your parents yet?"

He looked distinctly ashamed before he slid his gaze away and mumbled, "Not yet."

"Good," she rasped. "Because there's nothing to tell them anymore."

Boston whirled back in shock. "What?"

"There is no baby," she lied. "The baby's gone."

"You...you had a miscarriage?" She couldn't quite read how the news hit him. He looked struck, sure, surprised to say the least. His eyes seared into hers, so she could plainly see the thoughts and feelings flash through him. But they moved and changed so quickly, she doubted even he knew what was going through his head at that moment.

She turned her face aside. "I just want to be left alone, Boston. I want to finish college, go home to my aunt, and forget this ever happened. And you have to leave for me to do that. So, please...just go. I never want to see you again. I want to move on and forget."

He stared at her with wide eyes, clearly unable to believe she was sending him away. For the briefest of moments, he 102

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

looked hurt. If he'd kept that expression, if he'd done one thing to give her an ounce of consolation, she probably would've broken down and told him the truth.

But after taking a deep breath and clearing his face of all emotion, he nodded once and turned away. Ellie watched him leave; his stiff, straight back was the last thing she saw...for ten years.

"Well, I can understand why you did it," Nora said, jerking Ellie to the present.

She hadn't realized she'd spilled out most of her story aloud until her friend added, "You had a child to protect, and this jerk who'd just cheated on you was making a huge fuss.

If you want my opinion, I'd say you did the right thing. If you'd kept him from going on to Yale and passing his bar, he would've held that against you for the rest of your life and made all three of you miserable. I swear, Mendel resents Keller and me, and we weren't even forced on him. We actually planned on getting married and starting a family. It's not my damn fault he suddenly realized this isn't the life he wanted..."

Nora fell quiet and her eyes flashed guiltily toward Ellie's, as if she'd just realized she'd gone off on her own tangent.

Forcing a smile, she reached out and took Ellie's hand. "You did the right thing," she assured her. "You and Cassie have done beautifully without him."

Ellie nodded but bit her lip because she couldn't keep the doubt from plaguing her. A week ago, she would've agreed wholeheartedly with Nora. Boston had been so mad at her; he would've made a crappy dad. But now...now that she'd seen 103

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

him ten years matured and then seen how happy Cassie was meeting him and actually liking him, she wasn't certain of anything. She'd do any number of things for her daughter.

She might even let Boston Kincaid back into her life to make her little girl happy.

"Might" being the word of the day.

"Did you know Keller was the one who found him?" she asked.

After she explained the boy's involvement, Nora merely shook her head and grumbled, "I told Mendel not to leave that credit card lying around. The idiot." But she didn't look too upset. Rather she looked proud of her genius son. "I swear, someday, the FBI is going to show up on my doorstep because they've caught him cracking into top secret files.