Shotgun Groom. Kristin Morgan
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even consider doing it now—under any circumstances.”
Suddenly Beth’s eyes filled with tears, and she realized in that moment that deep down inside she had been hoping all along that Jack wouldn’t offer any resistance to her plan. That he would simply say yes right away and that would be the end of it. As it was, she didn’t know if she had the stamina to continue trying to talk him into something as serious as fathering her child when he obviously didn’t want any part of it.
She turned from him and plucked a tissue from a box on a nearby table, but she didn’t have to use it after all. Miraculously she regained her composure.
By now, Jack had come up behind her and had placed his hands on her shoulders. “Beth, let me make sure I’m getting this straight before I say any more. You want me—I mean us to have sex together for the sole purpose of getting you pregnant, right?”
Recognizing her last chance in convincing him to her way of thinking, Beth whirled to face him. “Oh, Jack, yes, that’s exactly what I mean. And as soon as I get pregnant, I promise, we’ll get a divorce and then everything can go back to normal. I’ll have my baby, and you’ll have your freedom again.”
Jack frowned. “Look, Beth, even if I were to agree to this crazy idea of yours—which I haven’t done yet, you understand—then why go ahead with a sham marriage and an inevitable divorce? Why not keep it simple? Why not just crawl in the sack together and get the job done? Other couples do it that way?”
Beth gaped at him as if he should have already known the answer. Obviously he didn’t know her as well as she thought. She drew in a deep breath and said, “Just because others do it that way doesn’t make it right for me. Look, I’m not passing judgment on anyone else, but I can’t just have an illegitimate child. It’s not me.”
“No, I guess you’re right,” he agreed. “But don’t you see? It’s not me, either. I happen to like being a bachelor. I don’t want the responsibility of a wife and kid.”
Beth felt a sudden pressure building within her. “I know that,” she said quickly, “but that’s what makes my plan so fantastic. I’ll be the parent of this child, not you. You’ll be...well, you’ll be to him what you’ve always been to me. You’ll be his best friend.”
Folding his arms across his chest, Jack grew quiet and increasingly thoughtful over the following moments. Beth knew he was contemplating her words, and she wondered frantically what the outcome would be. Taking a deep breath, she held it and waited.
It was strange what occurred between two people when a little pressure was put on a long-standing relationship that had ages ago been taken for granted by both parties, she thought during Jack’s silence. Scary, in fact. She had a lot to gain by what she was asking of Jack, but she also had a lot to lose, too, if she wasn’t careful.
But she would be, she told herself. If he agreed to father her child, she would be very, very careful. Of that much she was certain.
“Look,” she said, swallowing the umpteenth lump in her throat, “if you don’t feel you can do this, I’ll understand. Truly I will.”
Giving a low, frustrated whistle, Jack ran his fingers through his hair. His gut was now boiling with an acid that was eating him alive. Beth was the one woman in the whole world who could turn him inside out like this.
He didn’t particularly want the job of fathering a child for her, but then he didn’t want anyone else to have it, either. Suddenly he couldn’t stand the thought of her going to bed with some guy, just so she could get herself pregnant. Uh-uh. No way. He couldn’t let something like that happen. Not to his Beth.
His real problem was, he’d never learned to refuse her anything. For better or for worse, he generally gave Beth what she wanted at some point. Why? Because it made him happy. But until today, she’d never before asked anything quite like this of him. Without question, this request was in a league all its own.
Drawing in a deep breath, Jack shook his head.
Of course, if he were going to be completely honest with himself, he was going to have to admit that the idea of sleeping with Beth wasn’t all that foreign to him. She might be his best friend, but that didn’t stop him from seeing her as a very attractive woman. He was, after all, a healthy male. Fortunately, though, he had always been able to keep his fantasies under control. Beth trusted him to be her best friend. He never, ever planned to betray that trust. Not for any reason.
Parenthood had always been her gig, not his. In fact, he didn’t want the responsibility of being anyone’s father. Not even to please Beth. So it was safe to say that if he did decide to go along with her idea—which he doubted he would—that she was right in thinking the child would be hers, not his. Of course, if he were to agree to her plan, he would always be there to lend a supporting hand when it came time for Beth to make all those tough parental decisions. He was her best friend, after all. She would need someone to lean on from time to time. And if she or the kid ever needed anything—anything at all—all they would have to do was ask.
Tossing Beth an anxious glance, he said, “Have you even thought of what will happen to us if I should decide to help you?”
Beth’s heart began to pound. “What do you mean?”
“Us. You and me. We’ve been close friends a long time. How is that relationship going to be affected?”
She frowned. “Why should it be affected at all?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. It just seems to me that it would be.”
Beth gave him a smug look. “Well, it won’t. The way I have it planned, we won’t be married long enough for it to affect anything. I figure I’ll be pregnant in two months, tops.”
“Oh, really,” he replied incredulously.
She could feel the adrenaline flowing through her veins as she sensed the rhythm of the moment changing in her favor. It made her feel flushed...excited. “I’m in good health. You’re in good health. I feel quite certain that you’ll have me pregnant in no time at all.”
Stepping back in astonishment, Jack gave her a starded, though cocky grin. “Is that a fact?”
Beth beamed with renewed confidence. “That’s right. Two months tops. I ought to be pregnant by then.”
And what makes you so sure?”
She shrugged. “Just a feeling I have.”
Jack searched her eyes for a long moment. “You’ve got this all figured out, haven’t you?”
Every detail,” she said proudly. ”I knew it was imperative to our existing relationship that we set up the ground rules from day one.”
Jack shook his head. “You and your damned rules, Beth. One of these days, those same rules are going to backfire on you.”
She sucked in a hopeful breath. “Does that mean that you’re thinking of helping me, Jack?”
He gave her a skeptical glance. “Do you really believe that this is the only way for you to get what you want?”
“Yes,” she said, keeping a firm hold on the tidal wave of emotion suddenly raging through her body.
Using the tips of his fingers to rub his temples Jack rocked back on his heels for what seemed like an endless moment. Finally, after releasing a heavy sigh, he said, “What the hell...I’m fighting a losing battle anyway. Besides, if it’s what you need me to do... if you’re sure it’s what will make you happy in the long run, then what’s a couple of months out of my life? You’d do the same for me.”
“Oh, Jack,” Beth said, biting back the flood of sudden tears. “Are you sure about this?”
“No...yes.”
She gazed at him, her heart evident in her eyes.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said at last, and in spite of a growing