Baby Be Mine(Spinsters & Casanovas Series Book 1)(122)

“Why didn’t you fill up yesterday if you knew it was running low?”

“Because the petrol was on sale today so I thought I’d take advantage—”

“You’re fired,” Hunter said, halting Winton midsentence, turning swiftly to follow Clarice’s footsteps.

“Whaaaaat?” Winton shrieked, running after Hunter. “Master Hunter,” he pleaded. “You can’t do this to your number one employee.”

Hunter didn’t listen to Winton’s moaning as he raced after Clarice. He needed to find her. His mission tonight was to stop her confessing to Anton. Come hell or high water, he would.

Once he got inside, though, his eyes searched frantically for that white silk Grecian goddess. Except when he did find her, she was already in conversation with Anton.

He let out an angry growl.

Bloody hell. He fisted his hands tightly. No way, there was no way he would let her confess tonight.

So Hunter made his way to her, but with every single step, someone was always standing in his way, an obstacle he had to somehow bypass to get to Clarice. And it wasn’t just any normal people; it had to be the old crows from Queenstown. God, he just hoped she hadn’t said anything yet about their baby.

“Ah, young Hunter?” one old man said. “How’s life here?”

“When’re you going to go back down south?” another asked. “I have lots of sheep. You can come have a look at them. My wooly one is named Molly; she’s always in need of a handsome young man like you to look after her. She can make you a good investment.”

South Island! Sheep! Investment! What’s so important about sheep anyway? He’d seen so many sheep since he was born it made his head spin, and he was definitely not a farmer. What was more important right now was to get to Clarice so she wouldn’t make a fool of herself. But obviously, Hunter couldn’t say any of those things. Instead, he just smiled and gave his greetings to the old crows who intercepted his path.

“Ah, no,” Hunter replied just out of politeness, though his eyes weren’t on them.

“What’s that?” one of the old crows asked. “Did you say go? When, when would you go?”

Obviously, this old bat was also hard of hearing.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I see one of my friends over there.” He feigned an excuse, no longer wanting to talk to them. “I should go say hello.” And then before the old croons could get in another word, he made his escape, hastening his steps to Clarice. He’d almost reached her side when the host suddenly announced for everyone to take their seats at the dining table, which in turn made everyone stand and block his way yet again.

Damn! He tried to fight his way through the congestion around the many dining tables so he could sit next to Clarice, but she somehow got swallowed in the crowd, disappearing from his sight. When he finally saw her again, she was already sitting next to Anton, smiling. And there were no spare seats left at their table. Could this be the worst day of his life?

Hunter flicked his eyes and saw a few spare seats a few tables away so he seated himself there. Suddenly, he felt someone sitting next to him. Turning around, he found Fern smiling at him.

“Well, Hunter?” she asked, blocking the image of Clarice and Anton together. “Does Fern look beautiful tonight? Will she be able to attract someone’s eyes tonight?”

“Yeah,” Hunter said absentmindedly, not looking at his friend at all, just trying to move his head so he could see Clarice again, but Fern moved in front of his face again, wanting to show off her beautiful green gown.