Regency Christmas Pact 02 - A Gentlemen's Pact Read Online Free PDF Page A

stammered.
    “Allow me.”
    Rowan reached his arm around Olivia’s back to help her to her feet. A jolt of desire shot through her at his touch, followed swiftly by a stab of pain in her foot as she tried to put weight on it.
    She sucked in a breath and then leaned into Rowan, unable to support herself in the mud on only one foot. Blast.
    “Mama, are you all right?” Marcus grabbed her hand.
    “I’m fine, darling, I just—” She winced when she tried again to test her ankle.
    “I wouldn’t call that fine, Mrs. Edwards.” Rowan was looking down at her, his face so close it would take very little effort to plant a kiss on his lips. “You might have a sprain.”
    “Oh, no!” Olivia couldn’t fathom the thought of having stay off her foot for any amount of time. How would she work? How could she take care of Marcus? “I just need to walk on it a bit, I’m sure. I’ll be—”
    She bellowed in pain after attempting, yet again, to put her foot down. Tears sprang to her eyes. This was not how she’d imagined this day going.
    “Mama, can we still go on the sleigh ride?”
    Olivia looked up at Rowan, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at Marcus as if the child were an apparition. What did he see there? Olivia’s heart raced. She had to separate them. What if he recognized his own features in Marcus’s face? They did have the same eyes, didn’t they? And that jaw…
    “Oh, dear.” Olivia clutched her stomach, prompting Rowan to turn his attention back to her. She did feel as if she might toss up her accounts, but not because of the excruciating pain in her foot. Her fear of Rowan and Marcus finding out they were father and son was the culprit of her weak stomach.
    “I’m afraid your mother won’t be able to go,” Rowan said to Marcus. “She needs to see a doctor.”
    Olivia looked at her son’s sweet face. His bottom lip began to quiver just slightly, but he tipped his chin up, clearly trying to hide his disappointment.
    “I’m so sorry, darling,” Olivia said, her voice cracking with emotion. She hated to see him so very sad.
    “But that doesn’t mean you can’t still go, young man,” Rowan continued.
    Olivia swung her gaze to meet Rowan’s. “Bu-but—”
    “I’ll look after him. You needn’t worry.”
    He had no idea what her worries were.
    “Oh, please, Mama! May I?”
    How could she say no now? She would look like the worst sort of monster to keep him from going. And what explanation would she give? She couldn’t exactly come out and say, “I don’t want the two of you to discover you’re father and son.” That would sort of defeat the entire purpose, wouldn’t it?
    “You’re certain you don’t mind?” she asked Rowan.
    Rowan shook his head slightly and in one swift movement lifted Olivia into his arms. “Not at all. Now, let’s get you inside first.”

Rowan could hardly believe what he was looking at. Good Lord, was he hallucinating? It couldn’t possibly—he couldn’t be! But then, why the devil did that child look just like the portrait of Rowan as a small boy?
    No. She would have told him. Olivia would have tracked him down, brought him up to scratch. Wouldn’t she have?
    A cold feeling washed over Rowan that had nothing to do with the temperature outside. It was a deep foreboding that settled in his bones and made his gut churn with uneasiness. Had she kept the truth from him and let another man raise his son? Rowan had never considered himself a family man, and indeed, hadn’t he recently made a pact to remain a bachelor for as long as he lived so as to avoid the wrath of a woman scorned? For surely Rowan wouldn’t be able to stay faithful to one woman for the rest of his life, and he didn’t fancy the same fate Arrington had faced. But the thought of another man raising his progeny…
    “Rowan, what’s happened?”
    His cousin approached, clearly frantic with worry. Probably that her sleigh party might be ruined, but perhaps Rowan was being