Summer Nights (Fool's Gold #8)(82)

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “I wasn’t looking.”

Nevada laughed. “No, it’s me. I’m not paying attention.” Nevada squeezed her hand, practically beaming. “Wasn’t the wedding wonderful? Isn’t everything perfect?”

Annabelle studied her friend. “Are you okay? You seem, um, different tonight.” Because saying “too happy” was a little too blunt. While Nevada was a lot of fun, she was rarely giddy. “Or are you enjoying the champagne as much as I am?”

Nevada drew in a breath, then sighed. “It’s not champagne,” she admitted. “I haven’t had any.” She glanced around, then lowered her voice. “Tucker and I just found out I’m pregnant. It’s totally unexpected. We’ve been using protection. But we’re newlyweds and we’ve been busy, so I guess we beat the odds. The plan was to wait for a couple of years, but here we are.”

She smiled widely. “I’m so happy.”

“Congratulations,” Annabelle told her. “That’s great news. Is it still a secret?”

“Yes. We’re not telling everyone until next week. We just found out yesterday and we didn’t want to take away from Heidi and Rafe’s wedding.” Nevada hugged her. “I’m so lucky. First Tucker and now a baby.” She laughed and then released Annabelle. “I need to get back to my sisters. Let’s have lunch next week.”

“I’d like that.”

Annabelle watched her walk away. She started to walk toward Shane, then stopped as her champagne-induced buzz disappeared as if it had never been. Cold sobriety hit her along with an impossible possibility. Nevada’s words rang in her head, as loud as bells, as frightening as the thunderous roar of an approaching train.

An unexpected pregnancy. They’d used protection. An unexpected pregnancy.

“No,” Annabelle whispered. “No. I’m not. I couldn’t be.”

They’d been careful. All those long nights of making love over and over again. They’d been careful.

If she was pregnant, Shane would…

She couldn’t begin to imagine, but it would be bad.

She told herself to stop it. Not to worry. That there was no way she was going to have a baby. But the knot of worry that had quickly formed wouldn’t go away. Which meant she was going to have to find out for sure. As soon as she could.

* * *

SHANE STABBED THE STRAW viciously, wishing it would fight back. He was pissed and had nowhere to put his anger. He’d been awake since dawn, taking care of Heidi’s goats then cleaning out the stable. The hard work had done nothing to dull his sense of betrayal.

To think he’d been the chump who’d offered to relieve Annabelle of her offer to milk Heidi’s goats while the happy couple was spending the weekend in San Francisco. Had she secretly been laughing at him the whole time? Why not? Here he was, being played again.

“You’re up early.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Clay had walked into the barn. His younger brother had a mug in his hand. He held it out.

“I brought you coffee. Mom said you were gone before she could make any.”

Shane put down the pitchfork and walked to his brother. He took the mug of coffee, set it on a nearby bench, then drew back his fist and hit Clay squarely in the jaw.

His brother went down like a sack of potatoes, landing on his butt. He stared up at Shane with an expression of disbelief.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

Shane rubbed his stinging knuckles. Despite the pain, he actually felt a little better. “Stay away from my girl.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Annabelle.”

“I know who, ass**le. What is this about?”

Shane picked up the coffee and took a drink. When he’d swallowed, he stared at Clay, still on the ground. “Yesterday. At the wedding. You were all over her.”

Clay moved his jaw back and forth. “Good thing I’m out of the business. You can’t hide a bruise in a picture that’s going to be on a billboard.” He sat up straighter and rested his arms on his knees. “Listen. I heard from Mayor Marsha that Annabelle still needed someone to help her with her festival. Something about a male sacrifice. I told her I’d do it. That’s it.”

Shane’s relatively good mood faded as the fury returned. “You are not going anywhere near her.”

“I’m helping your girlfriend. That’s what brothers do.”

“Sure. Pretend you’re helping. What else are you doing? Are you seeing her? Were you with her last night?” Because he’d planned to spend the evening with Annabelle, but she’d pleaded a headache and had gone home early.

“I was here,” Clay told him. “With you. What is going on? Why are you—” Clay’s expression of outrage shifted to something more like compassion. “I get it.”

“What?” Shane demanded.

Clay climbed to his feet. “She’s not Rachel,” he said quietly. “She’s nothing like her. For what it’s worth, I think you’re damn lucky to have found someone like Annabelle. You’re my brother, Shane. When Rafe was being a jerk, you were always there for me. We’ve been close our entire lives. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. I never touched Rachel and I would never get between you and Annabelle. But you already know that. What I can’t figure out is why you’re looking for trouble. Are you worried that she’s like Rachel, or terrified that she isn’t? Because if she isn’t, if she’s just what she seems, then you’re going to have to step it up and be worthy.”