Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
His accusations kept ringing in her head.
“Eloise, we need to talk,” he said.
“No, we don’t. I don’t need to talk to you.”
He reached out as if to grab her and she didn’t know where her lightning reflexes had come from, but she was able to avoid his touch. “Don’t touch me!”
“I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Trust me, Beau, you’ve hurt me plenty already.”
She was pretty sure he visibly flinched from her accusation, but she wasn’t interested in helping him, or having anything else to do with him.
Returning to the food, Dorothy came into the kitchen, as did Rose.
Seeing her friend, she forced a smile to her lips.
No one else spoke as Eloise put the food away. When someone attempted to help her, she growled at them to leave it alone. She had a set routine and if they started to mess with it, she wouldn’t know where everything was.
Dorothy took the previous week’s dishes and bags out to the truck. Rose hadn’t left and as she turned to look at Beau and Rose, she waited.
“Is this where you fire me?” Eloise asked. “Actually, you know what? I quit.”
“Eloise, don’t,” Rose said.
“You don’t need to quit,” Beau said.
She ignored Beau and looked at Rose. “I’m sorry. I thought I would be able to do this, and … I can’t. If you want me to continue cooking for you then I will, but I need you to come and collect on Sunday. I will have everything ready for you.”
“Damn it, Eloise, you and I need to talk.”
“No! I don’t need to talk to you. I don’t need to do anything with you. This isn’t your baby, remember?” She put a hand on her stomach. “You washed your hands of that, right, and trust me, I am not going to force you to do something you clearly don’t want to do.” She turned back to Rose. “If you want to talk, you know where to find me. Let me know what you decide.”
She rushed out of the ranch house, and couldn’t help but notice that the pack were standing close to the house, but not coming toward her. They stared at her and she quickly bowed her head and rushed toward the truck.
Dorothy was looking in the rearview mirror. “That’s strange.”
“What is?”
“Well, you know how I love to fuck wolves, well, some of them like to go into detail about how it is with a pregnant female, and apparently the pack knows when there’s a pregnant female. They are always close, and they are always ready to protect her. It looks like that pack wants to protect you, Eloise.”
“They’re there for Beau, not for me.”
“Okay, well, when were you going to tell me that you had fallen for Mister Rough and Mature?”
“Actually, Beau is known for being nasty, and trust me, I got to see that nasty side of him yesterday.”
She pulled out of the house and began to travel back to where their mother had opened the launderette and the haberdashery.
“Yeah, he does seem like a bit of an asshole.”
Eloise couldn’t help but laugh.
“How are you feeling?” Dorothy asked. “I know that couldn’t have been easy for you.”
“I’m fine. I will be fine.”
“Do you think you’re going to be okay with just fine?”
She took a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m going to have to be okay with it.”
Eloise didn’t know how she was going to be able to handle a pregnancy, on top of the pain of losing the man she loved.
She didn’t want to admit she loved Beau, but the truth was, she had fallen for him at the bar when she first met him. It was why she couldn’t stop thinking about him, nor did she want to stop thinking about him.
Why had her life gotten so freaking hard?
****
The pack was not happy.
They had felt the call to protect Eloise. Rose had felt it as well.
Eloise was pregnant with his child.
He poured himself a large whiskey and tossed the whole thing back quickly. The burn did nothing to soothe his soul. All the accusations he’d thrown at her came rushing back.
“You’re drinking,” Rose said, coming into the kitchen.
“I’m thinking, and I would appreciate it if I could do it in private.”
“Don’t mind me, but I thought you’d like to know that Eloise’s mom is in the driveway,” Rose said.
Beau hadn’t met Wendy. He knew of her, and he got to his feet, moving through the house and stepping out the front door.
Wendy was standing by her truck. She’d pulled her jacket around herself, and he saw both girls within the woman. Wendy was beautiful, even though she was not smiling at him. It had started to snow a couple of hours ago. At first, it hadn’t set, but now it was starting to set.
“Mrs. Richards,” he said.
Wendy looked at him and then glanced toward Rose. “Is she your mate?”