Chapter Eight
Ethan stood at the pasture fence and watched his animals. The geese that he’d inherited when he bought the place and the two Appaloosas he’d purchased four years ago. He’d named them Faith and Tim, after his foster mother’s favorite country singers, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
Since Faith was in foal, she would soon be adding another member to his small ranch. But neither the geese nor the horses needed any special tending from him. Because of his hours at work, Ethan paid someone to take care of that. But watching them soothed him.
Well, sort of.
Nothing was going to do a decent job of soothing, but at least out here he could take in the crisp November air to help clear his head. And he could give Livvy a little privacy to get settled into her temporary quarters.
After Eden had delivered that bombshell about the woman, Anna, and her six-year-old daughter, Ethan had gotten behind the wheel of the cruiser and driven them here.
He hadn’t peppered Livvy with questions or speculation.
Not when she’d had that stunned look on her face.
He had just gotten her to his house and led her to the guest room, where he’d suggested she get some rest.
Like soothing, rest probably wasn’t in the cards either, but maybe Livvy could use this time to mentally process what she’d learned. Of course, then the speculation would kick in. The questions without answers.
Was Livvy Anna’s daughter?
Had Ivy actually used the daughter to get back at Paul and Anna?
Hell, did Anna and her daughter even exist?
Basically, that was the account of a dead woman, Ivy, and even that was iffy. It was entirely possible that Anthony had constructed the diary. Ethan didn’t know why the man would have done that.
Not yet anyway.
But he was hoping Grace would get to the bottom of it when she brought Anthony back in for questioning.
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t happen until tomorrow morning.
Anthony’s lawyer had seen to that by insisting he needed to gather some background info before his client was “grilled” again by the cops.
Grace and some of the deputies were gathering info as well.
Anything and everything on Anthony, New Hope itself and former clients, surrogates and employees.
So far, that number was already over the one hundred mark and growing.
Proof of that was the text from Rory that Ethan had gotten just minutes earlier with several pages of names.
Ethan glanced down now at that text, and he sighed. Time to go back in and get started on some research. Maybe he wouldn’t wake Livvy if she had indeed managed an afternoon nap.
But no such luck.
He heard the geese squawking—the feathered security system that alerted him that someone was coming.
As usual, they were spot on. He turned toward the house and saw Livvy making her way to him.
And he got that punch of heat that he didn’t want.
His body wasn’t interested in listening to his brain about that. His body wanted Livvy.
Yeah, even now.
Even with all the guilt that he felt over sleeping with her and getting her pregnant. And now they had the added stress of this damn investigation. One that threatened to rattle Livvy to the core.
As she got closer, their gazes connected, and while she didn’t smile in greeting, at least it didn’t look as if she’d been crying. That was something.
“Did you tell everyone to keep me out of the text loop for a while?” she came out and asked.
“I did,” he admitted. “Hard to sleep with beeps and rings going off every few seconds.”
“Hard to sleep, period.” On a heavy sigh, she walked closer, stopping right next to him and shifting her attention to the horses. “Any chance that Faith and I will be having our babies around the same time?”
He liked the change of subject. Not exactly neutral, but maybe talk of horses and babies would help ease the tension he could practically feel thrumming off her body.
“I think Faith’s offspring will be a little later than yours. Ours,” he corrected, and that was somewhat of a victory for him to be able to say that aloud and not think of only the grief.
Now Livvy did smile just a little. It didn’t last, of course.
“Anthony must have thought this Anna had something to do with his mother’s murder,” she said, voicing what was already on his mind.
“And I suspect it’s possible that Anthony knew exactly what was in the diary, and he wanted the blame pointed right at me.
Maybe punishment by proxy if he thought Anna was my mother and that I was somehow involved in Ivy’s death. ”
Again, that had occurred to Ethan, and if it was true, then it meant Anthony was playing some kind of dangerous game.
“It’d be a needle in a haystack to look for women named Anna who gave birth to a daughter thirty-four years ago,” Livvy went on. “But that’s what I started doing instead of taking that nap. No luck,” she let him know.
She followed that with a soft sound of…well, he didn’t know. But the alarm zinged through him when she pressed her hand to her belly.
“Are you all right?” he couldn’t ask fast enough.
She nodded. “The baby moved.” Livvy took his hand, placing it over the spot. “Wait for it,” she instructed.
Ethan did, but he didn’t have to wait for his body to tell him that this felt amazing. And intimate. The kind of touching couples did, and Livvy and he weren’t together like that.
That thought flew out of his head when he felt the little thump beneath his hand. Yeah, definitely amazing, and he laughed before he could stop himself.
“When did that start?” he asked.
“A few weeks ago. The doctor says that’s right on time and that the baby’s movements and kicks will get harder.”
Definitely amazing to think of all that going on inside her, and this was just the beginning. Five months into something that would change both of their lives forever. Heck, it already had.
“You saw the ultrasound,” Livvy reminded him. “So, you know whether this is a boy kick or a girl kick.”
Ethan nodded and eased back his hand. “I do. Do you want to know?”
She stayed quiet, obviously considering it, and shook her head. “Now doesn’t seem the right time. Not with a murder investigation hanging over us. It should be celebrated. Not one of those gender reveals,” Livvy quickly added. “Just…uh…well, something we can savor.”
Savor. A certain part of his body thought that was a great word. An accurate one that didn’t only apply to learning such a vital detail about their baby.
Yeah, being around Livvy wasn’t easy.
The images of her flashed through his head. Images of that night when she’d been naked and on the sofa with him. He’d kissed her then. Held her. But mainly it’d been a frantic rush to try to sate the fire that had ignited inside them.
The fire that was still there.
Ethan tried to force himself to turn away from her. It didn’t work. Nothing did. He just felt that damn heat consuming him again. Felt that need for her clawing away at him.
“Uh, I could go back inside,” she offered, clearly aware of what was going on. Of course she was. Because he could see that same fire in her eyes.
She actually managed to move and was in mid-turn when Ethan slid his arm around her and pulled her to him. He did exactly what he knew he shouldn’t do.
He kissed her.
Their lips touched. Barely. Breath to breath. But even that slight touch alerted him that this was about to turn into something much more. Something hot and filled with need that could quickly get out of control.
Did that stop him?
Nope. Ethan just skimmed his hand down her back, and he inched her closer. Then, closer. Until their mouths were no longer just touching. Until this wasn’t just some peck of comfort either. This was a full-on kiss that kicked up those flames big time.
He deepened the kiss, angling his mouth to hers. Livvy did her own share of maneuvering and angling as well. She had given into the fire and need as quickly as he had. And that wasn’t a good thing. One of them needed to stay in control here, or they’d land in bed again.
But Ethan couldn’t stop himself. Couldn’t stop this out-of-control need he had for her.
She smelled so good, her scent curling around him. He wanted to start a long, slow kiss so he could taste every inch of her. Then he’d make love to her. For hours. A lofty goal since he was already primed and ready to go.
The need just kept on building, rushing through him along with her taste and the feel of her body against him. In that moment, he’d never wanted anyone as much as he did Livvy.
And that came through in the kiss.
He slid his tongue over her bottom lip, tasting her. Taking in even more of her. His pulse was thundering now, his breath was stalled in his lungs, and every part of him was on fire. Still, somehow he managed to hear something.
The geese.
They were squawking, and Ethan instantly knew they were alerting to a visitor. He cursed himself for having Livvy out in the open like this. For letting his guard down. Then, Ethan did more cursing when he saw the familiar car slam to a stop in front of his house.
Hell, it was Vernice.
His former mother-in-law bolted from her vehicle, and Ethan didn’t have to guess if she’d witnessed that kiss. She had. No doubts about that. She looked enraged, and she stormed toward them.
“How can you do this to Isabel?” Vernice shouted.
Ethan sighed. Because not once during that kiss had he thought of his late wife. Part of him considered that progress. But that progress certainly wouldn’t please Vernice.
“You’re betraying Isabel’s memory and the vows you made to her,” Vernice continued, and she shifted her venomous attention to Livvy. “And you call yourself her friend. Some friend. You bedded her husband the first chance you got.”
The anger coiled through him. Normally, he kept his mouth shut around Vernice and gave her lots of leeway because she’d lost a child. But there was no amount of leeway for her to go after Livvy like this.