The Damaged Heroes Collection [Box Set #1: The Damaged Heroes Collection] (BookStrand Publishing Mainstream)

by James, Sandy

  She nodded like a damned bobble-head. “Positive. I told you, it’s impossible.” You really blew it this time, Kathleen!

  “You know, it’s nice not worrying that you’d try to get pregnant to get your hands on my money.”

  Katie walked to the chair and dropped her purse. “Gee, thanks. I think.”

  “Don’t take it wrong. I just mean I can trust you.”

  She wanted to cry. Or throw up. Or both.

  He gave her a concerned frown. “You look a little green again. Maybe you’re getting an ulcer. Go to bed.”

  “I’m fine.” She tried to squash the horrible feeling that she had betrayed him.

  “Quit arguing.” Seth gently pushed her to sit down on the bed and kissed her forehead.

  Katie sighed. He really did care about her. What would he think of her if he knew that she might be carrying his child? Would he hate her? Would he think the baby was part of a plot to snare a portion of his inheritance?

  He’ll hate me. I know he will.

  Kneeling down on the ground beside her, Seth pulled a velvet box out of his pocket. “I got you something. It’s not much, but it’ll have to do. For now. One day, I’ll drape you in diamonds.” Seth flipped the box open to reveal a small silver necklace with a shamrock-shaped pendant. Engraved on the face of the shamrock were the intertwined letters “K” and “S.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “It’s beautiful,” Katie whispered, letting her fingertips brush the shamrock.

  Taking the necklace out of the box, he reached up to fasten the chain around her neck. She could feel the cool of the metal against her skin, and she tried without success to keep the tears from pooling in her eyes. “Thank you, Seth.”

  “You’re welcome. Now slip those pants off,” he teased as he pulled her shoes from her feet.

  “Seth...”

  “I know, I know. ‘Seth, we can’t.’ Get your mind out of the gutter. You need to get some sleep.”

  Katie shed her jeans. She pulled both arms into her t-shirt, took off her bra, and shoved both arms back into the sleeves without showing an inch of skin.

  “You’ve got some unusual talents there, Lady.” He smiled at her and patted the pillow.

  “You’re staying?” Katie asked, her need blatantly evident in her voice. Did she sound as pathetic as she felt?

  Seth nodded. “Don’t I always?” He turned off the light and kicked off his shoes. Stripping down to his boxers and t-shirt, he slid into the bed beside her.

  As they lay in the dark with Seth’s strong body pressed against her back and his legs molded to hers, Katie’s mind twisted and turned like the winds of a winter storm. A baby. There might really be a baby.

  She was going to have Seth’s child.

  It was nothing short of a miracle. But would he see it that way? Or would he see it as—what was the word he used?—an anchor? Katie guessed that he would feel trapped. How could he feel otherwise? She was torn between utter joy over the prospect of being a mother and mind-numbing despair over what Seth would think of her once he knew her condition.

  He could never know.

  “Tell me about your family. Except for your dad, I don’t know anything about them,” Katie whispered in the dark.

  “Not much to know.”

  “Tell me about your mom.”

  Katie could feel his body stiffen for a moment, then he relaxed again. “She got shot trying to protect me from a lowlife who was robbing a convenience store we stopped at. I was only four. I can’t even remember her face very well.”

  “If you don’t want to talk about it—”

  “No, it’s all right. I have impressions... feelings... that seem like memories. I think about her whenever I smell vanilla. Pops said she always made me chocolate chip cookies. Maybe that’s why.”

  Katie’s heart ached for the little boy left behind by his mother’s tragic death. It was too close to her own story for her not to empathize. “What was she like?”

  “Pops told me she was the strongest woman he’d ever met. He always said she was the glue that held him together. He told me I’d be lucky to find a woman half as wonderful as my mom.” She could feel him rubbing his nose in her hair. “I got her looks. The hair, the eyes. They’re hers. I think that hurt my father. To see her in me. I didn’t see him much after that. Spent most my time with nannies.”

  “He must have been devastated when she died,” Katie said as she stroked his arm.

  “It was rough. He worked all the time. Probably a way to dull the pain.”

  “Tell me about your friends.”

  He seemed to ponder the term for a moment.

  “Seth?” Katie asked as she turned her head to glance over her shoulder.

  “I didn’t really have friends. I had people who mooched off me. Friends are people like Brian and Chris. Even Sam. They’re there when you need them.” He pulled her a little closer. “Go to sleep, Katie.”

  A few minutes passed before she whispered to him again. “What are you going to do when the season is over?”

  “That depends on you.”

  “On me?”

  “It depends on if you give me my money or not.”

  Chapter 26

  Katie tried to throw herself into mundane chores to forget the problems weighing on her mind.

  The test will be negative. The doctor had said “impossible” when describing her chances at ever being a mother. There was no way she could be pregnant. Her vomiting had to be the flu.

  By the time Samantha arrived, Katie had sent Seth on a run for supplies, hoping the distance of the store and the length of the list would keep him well occupied. Sam’s truck pulled up at the scheduled noon meeting time. Katie watched her friend jump out of the vehicle, clutching a small white pharmacy sack.

  “Moment of truth.” Katie swallowed hard and then nibbled on her lower lip.

  “Oh, come on. It’s not life or death.”

  “Easy for you to say. What do I have to do?”

  Sam opened the box and handed Katie a white plastic stick. “Just pee on the small end of this and set it on the sink. We’ll check it in ten minutes.”

  “You know, Sam, it’s not likely that I’m—”

  “Oh, for the love of... Will you please just go and pee on the stupid stick?” Sam pointed toward the office.

  Katie obeyed and then sat on her bed, staring at the clock. Sam sat down beside her to join the vigil—the longest ten minutes of Katie’s life. Seconds became minutes, minutes became hours. If only her time with Seth passed in the same leisurely way.

  “It’s time. Do you wanna look or should I?” Sam asked.

  Shaking her head, Katie stood up on trembling legs. “I’ll look.” She took several steps toward the bathroom before turning back. “Sam, if it’s positive, you can’t tell anyone.”

  “But you’ll have to tell Seth if—”

  “No, I don’t. Sam, you promised, remember?” Katie said in a calm, steady voice that couldn’t possibly be her own. She’d never been so frightened in her whole life.

  “Just go check the damn stick.”

  Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a ragged sigh, Katie went to the sink and picked up the prophetic piece of plastic. A big blue plus had formed in the result window.

  “What kind of test did you buy?” Katie called, her voice breaking as her heart skipped a rough cadence. “One of those generic ones? This is obviously wrong.”

  “Who the hell cares what kind it is?” Sam shouted back. “What’s it say?”

  Maybe it’s a crappy test. Maybe I need another one. Maybe... I’m actually pregnant.

  For a moment, she didn’t know whether to be ecstatic or suicidal. Her hands shook. She swallowed the bile rising in her throat.

  “I’m going to have a baby,” she whispered.

  She could give Seth something no one else ever had, something that didn’t require a famous name or an obscenely large fortune.

  And he had given her a g
ift she thought could never be.

  This baby was their own little miracle. What had that fortune cookie said? Where there is love, expect the impossible.

  “Well?” Sam asked as she walked to the bathroom door and leaned against the frame. Holding up the stick, Katie showed her friend the result. “Katie, that’s wonderful!” She gave her a quick hug. Then Samantha morphed back into her more typical straightforward nature that smacked a little of I-told-you-so. “So you’re pregnant. What are you gonna do about it?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t know.” Katie could almost see Seth’s reaction in her mind’s eye. He’d never believe she hadn’t done this on purpose.

  Sam could obviously see the fear in Katie’s eyes because she tried to offer some consolation and support. “You know, I think it’s great. Our kids can grow up together. They’ll be the best of friends. We’ll turn them both into track rats.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Katie said without a single ounce of conviction. How could something so wonderful cause such apprehension? After abandoning hope of every having a child of her own, she wanted to revel in the news, to shout it out loud. But the notion of Seth’s scorn was almost more than she could bear.

  “I hate to leave you, but Brian is gonna be done soon. Are you gonna be okay?” Sam asked.

  Katie nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. Please keep your promise, okay? I’ll tell him, just not now. Please?”

  Sam pulled her friend into another hug. “I promise, but you’ve gotta make me a promise too. I want you to see a doctor to get checked out. And get some prenatal vitamins. Okay?” She patted Katie’s back.

  “I will. You can give me your doctor’s name and number.”

  Turning Katie loose, Sam nodded and started to walk out of the office before she suddenly turned around with wide eyes. “You better go get the box and that stick and let me take them with me. Otherwise—”

  “Oh, my God! He’d find them!” Katie ran to the bathroom to retrieve the evidence. When she returned, she shoved the sack at Sam. “Thanks.”

  “No problem, Honey. I’ll save the stick for the baby book. Call me if you need anything.”

  “I will.”

  “You’re gonna have a baby, Katie.”

  “A baby.” I’m going to have a baby.

  * * * *

  Rachel promised herself that she would only give Seth one more opportunity to come around. As she sat alone in the Cyber Café, she stared at the screen of her computer and smiled. The Tattler had upped their bounty to twenty-thousand dollars. She licked her lips in anticipation.

  Although she’d hoped to either land Seth Remington or try to get pregnant by him to force eighteen years of guaranteed support, the stubborn guy just wasn’t cooperating.

  And I’m almost out of tricks.

  She had trotted out all of her previously successful seduction techniques, the ones that allowed her to wrap many a man around her little finger. Seth seemed immune to any of her advances. She might have figured the man was gay if it hadn’t been for the way he acted around Katie. She had seen stallions more subtle around a mare in heat. The guy obviously needed to be kept away from Katie if Rachel wanted any chance at success.

  Katie Murphy—the bane of Rachel’s existence.

  Rachel let the irritating memories bubble to the surface. She’d been forced to share everything with Katie from the time she’d been an adolescent. Jacob always insisted that Katie live with them every summer, but it was Rachel who had to share her room. Not that Katie was there often. She usually followed Jacob from county fair to county fair or spent most of her time at the Schaeffer farm in the barn with the horses.

  But that was entirely beside the point. Katie’s mere presence had been a burden. The redhead had pulled Jacob Schaeffer’s attention away from his only child. He’d all but adopted Katie from the moment he met her. Whenever Rachel asked to learn to train, Jacob had always pushed her aside with comments about her habit of sleeping late or her desire to spend time with her friends rather than logging hours in a barn. He always told her to be more like Katie. Like perfect Katie.

  Is it my fault I’m a night owl? It wasn’t fair that he always found time to teach Katie about training. In fact, he lived for it. Rachel had quickly tired of being told that she was never as good as Katie at anything. The memories made Rachel’s jaw clench. Then she relaxed as a new set of recollections flooded her mind.

  When she turned fifteen, Rachel finally found something that she was much better at than Katie. Men. Since it had been Katie’s goal to take away the father that Rachel loved, Rachel made it her business to take away any man that Katie loved.

  In high school, if a guy showed Katie any kind of attention, Rachel worked her charms on him, and few high school boys could resist her attention. But that only lasted a couple of years before Katie got her G.E.D. and left school to train.

  Katie’s one serious relationship had been with Mike Knight when he was still driving mainly in Indiana. Even though it took some time and creativity, Rachel had brought that love affair to an abrupt halt. Katie could really pick ‘em. The White Knight was handsome, and he seemed to have real affection for Katie. He had resisted for almost a month before he finally gave in to what Rachel had to offer. It had been a stroke of genius to plan an encounter with Mike so that Katie would just happen to stumble across the couple in his truck in the throes of passion. The look on Katie’s face had been worth all the effort.

  Sweet victory! Rachel still savored her triumph.

  Of course, she never bothered to sleep with the man again. He had way too little to offer a woman. In more ways than one.

  When Seth Remington first arrived, Rachel wanted him the minute she saw him. Those dark good looks made him the type of man who she usually targeted for a lover. It only made him all the more desirable to realize that Katie wanted him too. But then the rich lawyer suddenly appeared, and it had taken a while to sort out which hunk Katie really liked. Not that Rachel would have been disappointed with either of them. Or both of them. She let a wicked smile form on her lips.

  The suspension for fighting didn’t help. It kept her away from the track just when she was sorting through the messy details. The whole assault incident had been humiliating as well as costly, and all simply because Rachel had arranged a one-night stand with the woman’s driver boyfriend. The guy sure as hell hadn’t been worth the black eye or the cracked tooth she’d received in the ensuing fight.

  Thank heavens Chris had inadvertently handed her such a fantastic and possibly lucrative new option.

  Now she wanted to land the Remington fortune by landing Seth. This should’ve been easy. But Katie obviously had her hooks deep in this one. At least The Tattler remained Rachel’s ace in the hole.

  Then an interesting idea dawned on her. Perhaps if she got Katie out of the picture, then Seth would turn to a new woman in his time of need. Rebound sex was always the best—one of the reasons she never felt any guilt over breaking up a relationship or two. Or ten.

  Rachel decided that the time had arrived to change her focus. With the past she shared with Katie, Rachel knew exactly what to do, how to hurt her rival the most. With an evil smile, she flipped the switch to turn off the computer.

  Rachel grabbed her empty cup, pitched it in the trash, and left The Cyber Café. She had work to do.

  * * * *

  The night of the second leg of the sires stakes seemed ominous. Dark clouds gathered in the west and cast a shadow over racing activities. Although rain had yet to fall, thunder rumbled in the distance. The wind whipped the dust into small clouds that swirled around the horsemen’s feet. Drivers scurried about looking for their rain gear in case they had to change in the middle of the racing program. Grooms scoured the paddock, locating mud fenders for the race bikes.

  A storm was coming.

  Katie felt nauseous again. She wondered why everyone called it “morning sickness” when it only seemed to hit her in the late afternoon and early evening. Seth was so wr
apped up in driving that he wasn’t around to notice the time she sprinted for the paddock ladies’ room, and she was grateful for that small stroke of luck.

  She would have to tell him about the positive test soon. He had a right to know he was going to be a father. Katie just didn’t know how to break the news to him without it appearing like she’d cleverly set a trap meant to ensnare a piece of his fortune.

  Ignoring the situation was easy enough. She just went on autopilot and did her work. When Katie wasn’t reminded of the pregnancy by feeling queasy or throwing up, it was a simple thing to wallow in denial.

  He would hate her when he found out. She couldn’t bear the idea of Seth looking at her with condemnation in his eyes. This blessing from God, this baby, wouldn’t make him as happy as it had made her. Katie spent the whole evening so worried that she was constantly wringing her hands and on the verge of tears.

  Seth reached the stall with the jog cart, leaned it up against the wall, and stepped into the stall. Running his hands over Gold’s harness, he seemed to be checking her work. Already emotionally overwrought, Katie couldn’t help but take offense. “I checked the harness, Seth. I taught you everything you know, remember?”

  “I know,” he replied as he patted Gold, “but it never hurts to check it again.”

  “Kiss my...” Katie swallowed the next word and glared at him.

  “Did you say something, Honey?” he asked with a wry smile.

  “You’re getting too big for your damned britches, you know that?” She fit the head number under the bridle.

  Seth chuckled. “That’s why you love me. You know how drivers are.” His wink and the implication of his words shut her up.

  Katie assumed he’d had a slip of the tongue. How could he possibly know she loved him?

  Leading Gold out of his stall, Katie helped Seth hook up the jog cart. She guided the horse to the entrance chute. “Can you smell it? It’s going to storm,” she said as she hooked the last strap. “Did you find the mud fenders?”

  Seth nodded. “I dropped them by the race bike over by the door.” He steered his colt onto the track while Katie disappeared to find the race bike and fenders and bring them to Gold’s stall.