The Ladies' Man. Susan Mallery

he said, closing the front door behind her. “You want something to drink?”

      “I’m fine.”

      She set the paperwork on the coffee table, then sank on the sofa. Now what?

      Apparently Carter didn’t know, either. He paced the length of the room, paused in front of her, started to speak, shook his head and started pacing again. She reminded herself that she’d had several days to attempt to get used to the news and she still wasn’t dealing with it. The poor man would need some time.

      “I didn’t plan this,” she said by way of a peace offering. “I want you to know that. What happened between us was totally unexpected.”

      He looked at her and smiled. “I know. I was there.”

      Somehow, she found herself getting lost in his brown eyes. She felt a pull between them. Something strong and powerful that made her want to stand up and step into his arms. Once there he would draw her close and…

      Whoa! That’s what had gotten her in trouble in the first place, she thought.

      She cleared her throat. “My point is, I don’t want you to be concerned. I can take care of myself.” She wasn’t sure how yet and thinking about being a single mother made her hyperventilate, but that wasn’t his problem. “I have no intention of trapping you. You can take as long as you’d like to look over the papers.”

      His expression hardened. “Let’s get this clear right now. I’m not signing away my kid.”

      He couldn’t mean that. “Do you want to be a father?”

      “I didn’t plan on it this week, no. But we’re talking about my child.” He gave a strangled laugh. “Who am I kidding? My daughter. And you can’t have her.”

      He stopped and put his hands on his hips. From her seated position, he looked very powerful and masculine and just a little intimidating.

      “You can’t mean that,” she murmured, as caught off guard by his presence as by his words. “I never thought you’d be interested. You don’t know me.”

      “Knowledge isn’t required. We did it, it happened, now we’ll deal with it.”

      What he said sounded perfectly logical, but this was not the conversation she thought they’d be having.

      But before she could say that, the front door burst open and three women entered. One was in her fifties, the others were about Carter’s age. Rachel stood and stared at them.

      Carter groaned. “Mama, this is not a good time.”

      “You’re one to talk about timing,” the older woman said, pushing past him to stand in front of Rachel. “A man who gets a woman pregnant without meaning to should talk about timing. Apparently he’s very good at it.”

      Mama? As in…his mother?

      She was about five foot two, with short blond hair and Carter’s eyes. Tiny, but Rachel could feel the energy pouring off her. The other two women were taller and pretty, but they were a little intimidating, too.

      “H-how did you know?” she asked, not sure she wanted the answer.

      Carter slumped into one of the club chairs opposite the sofa. “Jenny called her. Rachel, this is my mother, Nina Brockett, and two of my sisters, Liz and Merry. You don’t need to know who is who because they won’t be staying. Mama, this is Rachel.”

      “Of course we’re staying,” his mother told him, then turned to Rachel. “You should sit.”

      “Why would the bartender call you?” Rachel asked, wondering if this would ever make sense.

      “Jenny’s a friend of the family,” Nina told her.

      “We stay in touch with most of Carter’s old girlfriends,” one of his sisters offered. “There have been lots, but you’re the first one to get pregnant.”

      Jenny from the bar was his ex-girlfriend?

      “She’s married,” Carter said, as if he could read her mind. “I doubt you can make your escape now. You might as well sit.”

      “Of course she should sit,” Nina said, moving next to Rachel, taking her hand and urging her back on the sofa. “She needs to rest. She’s going to have a baby.”

      “The baby is maybe four cells big,” Carter told her. “I doubt it’s going to tire her out.”

      Rachel looked at him. “You went out with Jenny?” she asked, feeling herself blush. “She pretended not to know who you were. She made me describe…”

      She suddenly became aware of the other three women in the room and sank onto the sofa.

      “It doesn’t matter,” she whispered.

      “That Jenny has a real sense of humor,” Carter muttered.

      One of the sisters smiled. “She’s great. Carter was an usher in her wedding and she was a bridesmaid in mine.”

      This was way too much information, Rachel thought frantically, glancing at the door and wondering if she could make a run for it. This wasn’t happening. She hadn’t just met Carter’s mother, two sisters and his ex-girlfriend.

      Nina patted her hand. “You’ll be fine. This is shocking now, but that’s because Carter didn’t tell you about us. Why my only son wouldn’t mention his family to the mother of his child, I don’t know. But I’m only the mother. No one tells me anything.”

      “Save me,” Carter muttered as he rubbed his temples. “Mama, you’re not helping.”

      “Of course I’m helping,” his mother insisted. “I want to help. It’s what I do best. So, what were the two of you talking about when we got here?”

      Rachel glanced at the envelope on the table. Suddenly Carter’s unwillingness to walk away from his unborn child made a little more sense.

      “That’s private,” Carter told her.

      “You might as well tell us,” one of his sisters said. “We’ll find out anyway.”

      “No, you won’t,” Carter told her. He looked at Rachel. “If you want to make a run for it, I’ll cover your back.”

      “She’s not running,” Nina said and it was only then Rachel realized the older woman still had a firm grip on her hand.

      Rachel tugged it free. “Carter and I have some things we need to work out,” she said weakly.

      “Of course you do.” Nina smiled at her. “You’re a nice girl, I can tell. You didn’t mean to get pregnant. But it happens. So we’ll deal with it.”

      We? No, no. There was no we. “Technically, I’m the one who’s pregnant,” she began.

      Carter’s gaze narrowed. “And I’m the father.”

      “I’m not denying that,” Rachel said, bristling. “I’m the one who came to you.”

      “I would have been happy to do things the other way,” he reminded her. “You didn’t call.”

      The sisters looked at each other. “Really? You went out with Carter and didn’t call the next day?” one of them asked.

      “Ah…”

      “The women always call,” the other sister said. “Some of them won’t stop calling.”

      “Ah…”

      “It gets embarrassing,” the first one continued. “I want to take them aside and tell them to have a little pride.”

      “It’s not their fault,” Nina said with a proud smile. “It’s my son.”

      Rachel raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

      Carter groaned. “Ignore