Her mother had called the bank a total of seven times. With uncanny luck, Jamie had managed to avoid speaking to her. However, she was pragmatic enough to realize she’d need to soon. But first she had to talk to Rich so they could decide how much to explain. That hadn’t been possible with Rich tied up in meetings all afternoon.

She’d arrived home, eager to see her husband. Her phone had rung three separate times and she’d let the caller leave messages. Not surprisingly, all three were from her determined mother. Jamie hated having to avoid her, but it was necessary until she’d had the chance to talk to Rich. Now the matter had been taken out of her hands.

“Perhaps we should all sit down,” Rich suggested, gesturing toward the couch.

“I …don’t know if I can,” Doris Warren muttered. She immediately collapsed onto the sofa. “I can’t remember when I’ve ever spent a more distressing day. How could you do such a thing to me?” she asked, glaring at Jamie. “I’m beside myself. My only daughter’s having a baby! My only child…” She paused. “You’re sure of this?”

“Yes, Mom, I’m pregnant.”

“Who’s the father?” It was more than obvious that she suspected Rich, as once again, her narrowed gaze traveled to him.

“I am,” Rich announced proudly. He smiled over at Jamie and reached for her hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

Jamie was in the recliner, and Rich sat on the arm, his hand continuing to hold hers.

“There’s no need for concern, Mrs. Warren,” he began.

“No need for concern!” Jamie’s mother shot back. “I can tell you right now, I most certainly am concerned. This is my daughter you’ve been fooling around with, and I insist—no, I demand you do the honorable thing.”

“Mother!” Jamie had never seen her mother more agitated. “Rich isn’t a criminal. In case you’ve forgotten, it takes two to make a baby.”

“I did seduce you,” Rich delighted in reminding her.

Jamie frowned back at him. “You did not.”

“See,” Doris cried, “he admits it!”

“What would you like me to do now, Mrs. Warren?” Rich asked, seeming genuinely contrite.

If Jamie didn’t know better, she’d think he was enjoying this.

“I insist you marry Jamie, of course.”

“But are you sure you want me for a son-in-law?”

“I— Yes!”

“Rich!” Jamie was growing angry at this silly game of his.

Rich’s fingers tightened around hers. Although he did a valiant job of trying to disguise a smile, he failed miserably. His lips quivered and his eyes fairly sparkled. “I believe we should tell her, darling.”

Darling! Jamie couldn’t remember Rich using that term even once. She looked up at him, astonished by his nerve.

“Tell me what?” Doris asked.

“It’s complicated.” Jamie decided to lead into her marriage slowly, giving her mother time to adjust to one shock before hitting her with another.

“Life is always complicated,” Doris countered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Rich and I have been friends for years.”

“The very best of friends,” Rich added.

“That much is evident.” Jamie’s mother raised her chin a notch, as though she needed a great deal of restraint to remain civil.

“Not evident yet,” Rich said, “but it will be soon.”

“What are you doing?” Jamie muttered under her breath.

“Explaining,” Rich answered. Then, turning to his mother-in-law, he smiled serenely down at Jamie and said, “There’s no need to worry, Mrs. Warren. Jamie and I are already married.”

“What?” Doris sprang to her feet. “Jamie, is this true?”

“Yes,” she admitted reluctantly. “But I’d hoped to break the news to you a little more gently.” She frowned at Rich, not bothering to hide her irritation.

Her mother sat back down and pressed her hand over her heart. “The two of you are married…. When?”

“Several weeks ago,” Rich said.

“You didn’t say anything—not even to your own mother.” This was directed at Jamie.

“There’s a perfectly logical explanation….”

“I can already guess.” Doris’s hand flew out, her index finger pointed accusingly at Rich. “The two of you had to get married.”

“That’s ridiculous! No one has to marry in this day and age.” Jamie felt as if she were in a tug-of-war, caught between her mother’s shock and her husband’s amusement. She wondered if he’d behave the same way when it came to informing his own family.

“You’re right about one thing,” Rich remarked. “Jamie and I did marry for the sake of the child.”

“Will you stop!” Jamie vaulted to her feet.

“Darling…” Rich stared up at her blankly, as though he couldn’t understand what had caused her outburst.

“Don’t darling me!” she snapped at him, her anger getting the best of her. How Rich could find humor in this situation was beyond her. He made her pregnancy sound like…like a joke.

“Jamie, tell me what’s going on here.” Now it was Doris Warren’s turn.

“Rich and I are married,” Jamie explained, facing her mother. “I never would’ve agreed to the wedding if Rich hadn’t insisted on it.”

“I should hope he insisted.”

“You don’t understand, and frankly, Mother, I doubt I can explain now. Suffice it to say, I’m married and pregnant, and you needn’t worry about me. I couldn’t be happier.” Telling her poor confused mother everything at once was sure to complicate things even more than they already were. Someday soon, Jamie would answer all her questions, but not now. Not when Rich was acting as though this had all been contrived for his amusement.

“You’re happy?” Doris’s bewildered gaze locked with Jamie’s.

“Blissfully.” It was Rich who answered for them. Jamie needed all the fortitude she could muster not to contradict him.

“Then… I’m happy, too.” Doris stood, but seemed surprised to find herself on her feet. She glanced around the room as if she wasn’t sure where she was. Taking the cue, Rich walked to the door and held it open.

“Shall I call you ‘Mother’?”

“Ah…” Doris Warren stared up at him for an awkward moment. “If you wish.”

“Goodbye then, Mother Warren. Jamie and I will be in contact with you soon.”

As though in a stupor, Jamie’s mother walked out the door. Rich closed it after her. The lock had barely slipped into place when Jamie turned on him.

“What do you think you were doing?” she demanded.

“Reassuring your mother.” Rich walked past her and sat nonchalantly in the recliner. His actions only fuelled her anger.

“You confused her.” And Jamie, as well. Just when she was beginning to believe there was a chance of something wonderful between them, he’d lapsed into these childish antics. The man obviously didn’t recognize a crisis when he saw one. “What’s wrong with you?” she cried, continuing to pace.

“Wrong?” His eyes went wide with a look of pure innocence.

“You made everything sound like a joke.”

“The pregnancy isn’t a tragedy. I couldn’t be happier about it. Besides, the sooner we explained everything to your mother, the sooner she’d leave and the sooner we could get back to what we were doing and—”

“You were like this in high school, too.” Jamie’s anger wasn’t going to be appeased that easily. Nor would she allow him to lead her into the bedroom and silence her concerns with his kisses. There was too much at stake.

“You’re going to drag high school into this?”

“Life isn’t one big laugh, you know.”

“I never said it was.”

“No,” she argued, “you just act that way. We’re dealing with my mother here and she has—”

“I’m not the one who told her you were pregnant.”

“Oh, no,” she cried, throwing her hands in the air. “You had to tell Bill Hastings instead.”

“That was better than blurting it out to relatives.”

“Mom would know soon enough anyway.” Jamie noticed the laughter was gone from Rich’s eyes and he was beginning to frown.

“If you expect me to apologize for my part in this marriage then you’ll have a long wait. You’ve obviously got regrets, but—”

“I didn’t say that.”

Rich glared at her. “As I recall, you made a point of saying that I insisted we get married.”

“You did!”

Rich ignored her outburst and continued without pausing. “You also insinuated you didn’t want the marriage.”

“I didn’t.” Jamie’s original idea hadn’t included any of this.

From the first, her instincts had told her that marriage, even a marriage of convenience, wasn’t to be taken lightly. Rich had never shared her concerns and, in fact, had carelessly brushed them aside.

“The only reason I went along with this scheme of yours,” she reminded him, “was because you insisted.”

Anger flashed from his blue eyes. “If you’re so overwhelmed with regrets, you might’ve said something sooner.”

“I did!” She didn’t want to rehash old arguments, but they’d need to clear up the past before they could deal with the future. “I tried to explain my feelings before we were married, but you refused to listen to me. You never do.”

“I never listen to you?” he challenged.

“Okay, to be fair, you listen, then you ignore my worries and tell me how foolish they are. The wedding’s a prime example of that.”

“Then why did you agree to it?”

“Because… I want the baby.”

“Then you should be pleased,” Rich said as he marched toward the front door. “You’ve got your baby—it’s just me you don’t want.” With that parting shot, he was gone.

He shut the door with enough force to rattle the pictures on the wall. Jamie’s first instinct was to run after him and tell him she didn’t mean any of it. True, she hadn’t been keen on marrying him, but not for the reasons he believed. She loved him, but she couldn’t let him know. She needed to remind herself repeatedly that their marriage wasn’t a love match. Rich had never intended it to be. She was the one who had problems remembering that this was a marriage of convenience.

She was the one who couldn’t keep her heart out of it.

* * *

Rich hadn’t meant to argue with Jamie. Fighting was the last thing on his mind when he went to her apartment. From the minute she’d left his office that morning, all he could think about was making love to her again. He longed to hold her in his arms and tell her how thrilled he was about the pregnancy. But nothing had worked out the way he’d planned. Instead, they’d gotten into a shouting match during which she’d repeatedly reminded him that she hadn’t wanted to marry him in the first place.