Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(68)

CHAPTER 26

STEELE’S mind went utterly and completely blank. He stared back at Maren, took in the anxiety written in clear lines all over her face. Her pale, drawn features. The fear in her eyes. The longer he remained silent, the more afraid she looked, and yet he couldn’t find his damn tongue to save his life.

Rage billowed through him like a storm. He was afraid to say anything for fear that she’d think his anger was directed at her.

“What did he do to you?” he finally demanded in a hoarse voice. “I’m going to kill the son of a bitch, Maren. I swear it. Did he force you? Does he know you’re pregnant with his child?”

If Caldwell knew, his obsession with Maren wouldn’t likely end. He would pursue her relentlessly and Steele would never let the man touch her again. If he died trying, he’d protect her with his last breath.

Maren looked gray and very much like she would vomit all over again. She swayed precariously, her eyes shadowed as she looked anxiously at him.

“Steele, he didn’t . . . I mean he isn’t . . .”

She closed her eyes, looking more ill than ever. Steele gathered her gently into his arms and stood, carrying her with him.

“The bathroom isn’t the place for a conversation like this,” he muttered.

He walked out of the bedroom and back into the living room, where he tucked her onto the end of the couch, bunching pillows around her so she’d be as comfortable as possible. Then he reached for a blanket because she was shaking like a leaf.

After ensuring her comfort and that she was warm, he sat next to her, purposely remaining close to her, their bodies touching. He took her icy hands in his, rubbing them gently between his palms.

“Maren, look at me,” he said in a gentle voice. “No matter what happened, you can talk to me about it. Unless that’s not what you want. If you’d prefer to talk to someone else, I’ll get them for you. Maybe your mom? Maybe we should call her now.”

She shook her head and a tear squeezed from the corner of her eye, alarming him. Oh shit. He didn’t do crying females. And Maren crying? Panic paralyzed him as he scrambled to try to think of what the hell he should do.

“It’s not what you think,” she said. “He didn’t hurt me. Didn’t touch me. As prisons go, his was rather opulent. He provided everything I could possibly need, spoiled and pampered me. Lavished gifts. No, I wasn’t there of my own free will, but he didn’t mistreat me in any way other than keeping me under lock and key 24-7.”

Steele’s eyes narrowed in confusion. Surely she didn’t mean what he thought she did. “So what are you saying? That you were with him willingly?”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m not pregnant with Tristan’s baby, Steele. He never touched me. He was growing bolder. I think if I had been there much longer, he would have . . . Well, I’d rather not think about where things were headed if I hadn’t gotten out when I did.”

Steele’s mouth dropped open in bewilderment. That wasn’t at all what he’d expected her to say. His mind was screaming what the f**k. This wasn’t making any damn sense at all.

“Then who the hell is the father?”

She pulled her hands from his grip and eyed him with huge, blue eyes, wide with anxiety, fear written clearly in her features. She looked like she was afraid of . . . him. The thought gutted him. He never wanted her to be afraid of him. Did she expect him to go off the rails because she’d gotten pregnant by some other guy?

“I’ve only been with one man in the last eighteen months,” she said quietly. “You. I’m pregnant with your baby, Steele.”

He stared at her in complete silence as he processed what she’d just dropped on him. There were so many conflicting emotions ranging from what-the-f*ck to absolute relief and elation. And a whole lot in between.

And when he did finally manage to open his mouth, he shoved his foot right in.

“I used condoms,” he ground out. “I’d never take such a risk with you, Maren. I’d never not protect you.” And then it hit him. “That last time. We didn’t use a condom. It had to have been then. God, I’m so sorry. I knew better.”

Before he could continue, she shook her head, biting into her bottom lip. “I was already pregnant then.”

She sounded defensive, but there was also a quiver in her voice that knotted his stomach. Fuck it all, he didn’t want her afraid of him. He wasn’t going to freak out and start denying responsibility. But this was huge on the what-the-f*ck scale. Life-alteringly huge.

He ran a hand raggedly through his hair and exhaled in a long whoosh, and then what she’d said finally registered. His eyes narrowed as he looked back at her.

“You were already pregnant? You knew that? And you didn’t tell me? What the hell, Maren?”

He was horrified. Not that she was pregnant. But that she’d been pregnant. If he’d known, he would never have left. Nothing would have been more important to him than her and his child. She would have never been kidnapped and held for weeks, terrified out of her mind and worried over the safety of herself and their unborn child.

He would have been there, even if it had meant relocating to f**king Costa Rica to be with her during her pregnancy. Or better yet, she would have been with him here, in his house, not in an isolated part of another country.