Hold Me (Fool's Gold #16)(78)

Starr’s happiness faded as her mouth straightened. She sank onto the sofa. “Is it bad?”

“No. I’m not sick, you’re not sick. We’re staying in Fool’s Gold. It’s something else.” She settled next to her sister.

How on earth was she supposed to come clean? She was going to sound like an idiot. Which she was, in a way.

She tried to smile but had a feeling it came out more as a scary grimace. Still, Starr stayed where she was and didn’t shriek or anything.

Destiny opened her mouth then closed it. Simple was better, she decided, then went for it. “I’m pregnant. Kipling is the father.”

“Oh, wow.” Starr stared at her. “I knew you two were, like, going out, but I didn’t know... Wow, so are you keeping the baby?”

“Yes.” She hadn’t considered not keeping it. “I am. So I guess you’re going to be an aunt.”

Starr grinned. “You’re right. That’s cool. I can help. I don’t know anything about babies, but I can learn.”

Destiny didn’t know anything about babies, either, but didn’t think saying that out loud would make either of them feel better.

“Kipling proposed to me.”

Starr grabbed her hands. “Did he? That’s wicked! When are you getting married? Because that’s what people do, right? Get married and have babies? It makes them a family.”

Destiny started to tell her, no, they weren’t getting married. That lots of people didn’t get married. Then she remembered that Jimmy Don had never married Starr’s mother. Jimmy Don was the kind of father who hadn’t married her mother or taken her in when she’d needed a place to go. He hadn’t even remembered her birthday.

Destiny squeezed her hands. “It doesn’t make them a family,” she whispered. “It’s the loving that does that, not being married.”

“But getting married helps.”

Talk about an unexpected twist, Destiny thought helplessly. Kipling wasn’t her idea of a sensible choice. There was too much chemistry between them. Sure he was kind and caring, and he would always be there to support her. She liked how he could have had a huge ego based on his previous career and fame, but he didn’t. He was practically ordinary.

But the sex thing concerned her. Strong emotions were nothing but trouble. She didn’t love him, and he didn’t love her, so that was a start, she supposed. But was their friendship enough to sustain a marriage? Even more to the point, had his proposal been a knee-jerk reaction to the news, or had he meant it?

Because until she’d stared into her sister’s face, it had never occurred to her to say yes. And now, it seemed, she might not have a choice.

* * *

KIPLING HAD DECIDED not to push Destiny. He knew she’d been avoiding him, but time and geography were on his side. Not to mention the fact that they had to work together. Finding out she was pregnant was news that would take a while for him to absorb. He was still dealing with it himself. But them getting married wasn’t an option. She was having his baby, and he was determined to be a part of his child’s life.

But she was still making her way, so he didn’t seek her out. They had a second search scheduled, and there was no way she wouldn’t show up. So he’d loaded up his gear, driven to the search area and waited.

She arrived minutes after him. When she stepped out of her car, she had on her usual jeans, T-shirt and hiking boots. Her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail. She wasn’t wearing makeup.

That was his Destiny, he thought with a smile. Honest. The shadows under her eyes were a testament to the fact that she hadn’t been sleeping. He would guess finding out she was pregnant had messed up a lot of things in her life.

“Hi,” she said cautiously when she saw him. Her expression was wary.

“No.”

She blinked. “No what?”

“No, I’m not going to talk about our personal business at work.”

“Oh.” She visibly relaxed. “Okay. Good. Are you ready?”

He held up his tablet, with tracking software installed. “I am.”

The rules were similar to what they had been for the first search. Cassidy had gone about a mile or so in from the main road. She would keep moving away from them for about a mile, then turn in a different direction and start walking in wide circles. A classic pattern for someone who was lost.

If this test went well, then they would expand the practice sessions. Volunteers would pose as the missing person, Kipling and Cassidy would run the search and Destiny would move to observation only. After each practice search, she would run the debrief.

“Where do you want to start?” Destiny asked.

He knew she was talking about their test and not her pregnancy. He pointed to the path. “We’ll take the obvious road first.”

They were each equipped with GPS tracking devices that would feed real-time data to the computer program. Destiny put in the data they had, including Cassidy’s approximate start time and the fact that she was being classified as a hiking novice. For their purposes today, she was.

Kipling watched Destiny work. She was quick and efficient then told him they could move out. He motioned for her to lead the way.

For the first few minutes, they didn’t talk. He walked easily, his injuries not bothering him today.