The Texas Billionaire's Baby Read Online Free PDF Page B

this to your car for you.”
    Being with Logan was a combination of bittersweet and exciting. She knew he’d be relieved if he went his way and she went hers, yet she didn’t want to leave his company. Just like so many years ago.
    At her car, she used the remote to unlock the doors and pop the trunk. They went around to the back and he dropped her purchases inside. There was a duffel bag there.
    “Do you belong to a gym?” he asked as if he was curious about her life now.
    “No, but I walk whenever I can. In Lubbock at lunchtime, sometimes I do a couple of laps around the center. In Sagebrush, I like to take the trail around the lake.”
    “You always did like the outdoors.” He slammed the lid of her trunk.
    “I still do. I hiked a lot in New England. Here, I’d like to take up riding again. Francesca and I have gone on a couple of trail rides at her ranch. I’ve ridden at Tessa’s, too. I’d forgotten how wonderful it feels to be on horseback.”
    Logan walked to her car door and stood very close, so close she could reach up and touch his jawline, so close she could see that the lines around his eyes and his mouth weren’t superficial. They’d been carved from pain. All she wanted to do was ease them away.
    “You asked me about forgiving you…” His voice was low and husky.
    She held her breath and waited.
    “I can’t give you an answer, Gina, and I don’t know if time will help or not. That night after we split up, my father had a stroke.”
    That night. A rush of dread made her cold all over. “What happened?”
    He looked away from her as if warring with himself over the answer. “We argued about you.”
    Her chest felt tight. “Why?”
    “I went riding after you left, trying to figure out what to do. When I got back to the barn, Dad confronted me. He said I was better off without you. But I didn’t believe that. I was going to talk to your parents…convince them they were interfering and they shouldn’t be…convince you that we could make something work long-distance. Dad grabbed my arm. I tore away. And then—suddenly he couldn’t speak and he collapsed.”
    Gina was stunned. A tiny shard of guilt pierced her heart at the realization that she hadn’t been there for Logan.
    “I called the paramedics and he was rushed to the hospital. We managed to keep all of it quiet. Dadabhorred publicity and the hospital and medical personnel were cooperative. His recovery took about three months. He was fortunate he regained his speech and most of his mobility. But the whole process was—” Logan halted as if he didn’t want to admit how much his father’s collapse and recovery had affected him.
    “I’m so sorry,” she managed to say, feeling so much sympathy for him that tears welled in her eyes. “Three months,” she murmured. “That’s around when you called—”
    “I was hoping we could just talk. I was hoping—” He shook his head. “But you didn’t have time to talk. You had to run off to take a test.”
    “You never called again,” she said softly, remembering how numb she’d been for such a long time after the rape. She had had a test that day. But more important, she’d been too raw to talk to anyone. Should she tell Logan that? Could he possibly understand?
    No. This wasn’t about her. The distance between them was all about her letting down Logan in so many ways. If she had fought for the love she’d felt for him, then maybe more than one tragedy could have been avoided.
    “Logan, I don’t know what to say.”
    “You don’t have to say anything.”
    She heard a car door slam…children laughing near the store’s exit.
    So much had happened to both of them. She’d lost her sense of safety, her trust in her judgment, her trust in men. Logan had gone on to marry and lost a wife he’d obviously loved. He now had a son his wife had died to save. How much more he must love her for that. How much he must cherish Daniel as the gift his wife had given him.
    The