Daddy's Double Due Date. Belinda Barnes

be workable.” But she doubted it.

      The waitress placed a huge platter containing a thick steak and fries in front of Hunter, then refilled his glass of tea and glanced at Ashley. “Do you want more milk?”

      “No, thank you,” Ashley said, watching the waitress as she moved to the next table.

      Hunter cut into the meat and took a bite. “Aren’t you eating?”

      “No.” She stared at the pink liquid pooling on his plate and shivered. “Hunter, I don’t think that cow’s dead.”

      “It’s a little rare, but I’ve had worse.”

      “A little rare? It looks like it could crawl off your plate.” It sure was making her stomach crawl. When he cut another bite, she shuddered, wondering how he would feel about her getting sick on his loafers now that she had already dumped her milk in his lap.

      “You’re looking a little green. Are you okay?”

      She made the mistake of looking at his meal again. Bile rose in her throat. Catching the end of the table, Ashley grabbed her purse and stood. A mild cramp caught her unaware. She remained still, placing her hand over her stomach.

      Hunter dropped his fork and was instantly at her side, slipping his arm around her waist. “Is something wrong?”

      Ashley inhaled slowly, then shook her head. “Just a twinge. It’s okay now.” She withdrew from his grasp and returned to her seat. “Hunter, sit down. People are staring.”

      He continued to stand there, frowning at her. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

      “Hospital? Goodness no. It was just a little cramp. Pregnant women have all kinds of little aches and pains that mean nothing.” At least that’s what her neighbor had told her when she’d gone over there the night before. After Hunter had left, Ashley had started feeling weird, so she’d sought out Martha, who was a nurse and had three kids. Martha had assured her that unless there were other symptoms, a twinge or two was nothing to be concerned about. So far, there had been nothing, except nausea which Martha had assured her was normal.

      Finally he returned to his seat. “You’re sure?”

      “Yeah. My stomach’s just rebelling from having to watch you eat that near-raw meat. You know, that really is disgusting.”

      He gave her a look filled with doubt. Finally he retrieved his fork. “A growing boy can’t survive on a glass of milk…and neither can a pregnant woman. Do you always skip lunch? If it’s money—”

      “It has nothing to do with money. I usually eat, but didn’t feel like it today.” She pulled two dollars from her purse and dropped them on the table as she slid from the booth, catching her jacket. “This has been a real experience, Hunter, but some of us have to work for a living.”

      “I’ll get it.” He lifted the money and shoved it back in her purse. “Listen, Ashley, if you don’t get to feeling better, I’d like you to see a doctor. I also want your promise to call me if you have any problems, any at all.”

      “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s nothing wrong with me, except a queasy stomach.”

      He lowered his fork to the edge of his plate. “If you won’t give me your word to call if you need me, then I suppose I can check on you every few hours.”

      She knew he would, too. Blast him. “Oh, all right.”

      His lips lifted in a smile that stole her breath. “Good girl.”

      Ashley glanced at her watch and groaned. “I’ve got to go. I’m already late.”

      “Here.” He tugged his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out a business card, then scribbled two numbers on the reverse side. “This is my office number. The ones I added on the back are my home and cell numbers.”

      “Thanks. I’m really sorry about your suit.” Ashley accepted the card and stuck it in her pocket as she hurried from the restaurant, intending to trash it the first chance she got. He was being overcautious. She never should have had lunch with him, not that he’d given her much choice. Still, she shouldn’t have had such a good time. Drat him. It was all his fault. No way would she ever call him, no matter the reason.

      She hurried down the sidewalk, uncomfortable with the thought that Hunter worried about her welfare. It also pleased her, and darned if she knew why. He was everything she disliked in a man. She supposed nagging someone to death came naturally since he was a prosecutor, but he was driving her nuts. And darn it all, she was starting to enjoy it.

      Had he really expected her to jump at his new offer? If so, he was a poor judge of character. Or maybe she was different than the females he knew. She found herself wondering about the kind of women he dated and whether he had a special someone in his life. Maybe his significant other would be jealous and put a stop to any notion he had of claiming this baby. If Ashley were Hunter’s woman, she wouldn’t like the idea of him fathering a child with another. Not that they—she and Hunter—had created this baby in the traditional way. Funny that she had no trouble at all envisioning him tangled in black satin sheets…naked.

      She hurried inside the office, intending to throw his business card away at her first opportunity. She dug it from her pocket, then paused.

      She tightened her hand around the paper, crumpling it, but couldn’t bring herself to drop it in the trash. More than once she’d discovered her boss going through her waste-basket in search of a discarded document draft. It wouldn’t do for him to stumble across Hunter Morgan’s business card with his home and cell numbers scrawled on the back. No telling what Mr. Williams would think. She shoved the card in her purse, promising to get rid of it when she got home.

      Her inability to discard the numbers had nothing to do with Hunter telling her she was a looker. Nothing at all.

      At four o’clock that afternoon, Hunter had given up on getting any work done. The arraignment had gone without a hitch and he’d gone to the high school to meet with the counselor and troubled teen Greg Johnson. Things had gone from bad to worse when Greg had walked out before giving them a chance to really talk. Several times Hunter had felt the urge to call Ashley after he’d returned to the office, had even picked up the phone a time or two, only to hang up at the last minute.

      Now he sat in his pickup outside her apartment, waiting for her to get home so he could make sure she was all right. He’d thought to swing by her office, but decided she would have a fit and what little progress he’d made with her would be lost. He knew his being there was stupid, but since lunch, he’d had a niggling feeling something wasn’t right, that Ashley needed him. He’d always been one to play his hunches and would do so now.