Navy Baby

That was all fine and wonderful. She’d cared for her family, and he didn’t doubt she possessed more than one admirable trait, but Riley wasn’t convinced marriage would be the best solution to the problem. Not only weren’t they acquainted, Hannah’s life couldn’t have been less like his own had they sat down and drawn up a composite of opposite family types.

“Wanting to protect those she loves, not wanting to shame her family, Hannah’s apparently opted to move away.”

“Where?” Riley demanded, instantly alarmed. He had the feeling he was going to end up following this woman halfway across the country before this was over.

“I’m hoping her leaving the area won’t be necessary,” Chaplain Stewart said pointedly.

“What the chaplain is saying,” Lieutenant Commander Kyle stressed, “is that if you married the young lady it would solve several problems. But I want it understood, that decision is yours.”

Riley stiffened. No one was going to force him into marrying against his will. He’d rot in jail before he’d be pressured into wedding a woman he didn’t want. At his silence, Riley’s CO leafed through his file, which was spread open across the top of his desk. Riley would be up for Senior Chief within the next couple of years, and the promotion was important to him. Damn important.

“Think about what Chaplain Stewart has said,” Lieutenant Commander Kyle urged. “The Navy can’t and won’t force you to marry the woman.”

“That’s true enough,” the chaplain added. “But from everything I’ve seen and heard, I believe it’s the only decent thing you can do.”

Both men were looking at him as if he’d enticed Hannah Raymond into his bed. They weren’t likely to believe she’d been the one who’d seduced him!

Riley had brooded over the meeting with Lieutenant Commander Kyle and Chaplain Stewart all night. Hannah was pregnant with his child and the chaplain was breathing down his back like monster dragons exhaling fire. Although his CO hadn’t said it, Riley had the impression his promotion might well hang in the balance. Everyone else seemed to know what he should do about it. Everyone, that is, except him.

Now that he saw Hannah again, Riley was even more uncertain. He remembered her as being a lovely creature, but not nearly so delicate and ethereal. She was thin—thinner than when he’d met her that July night—and so pale he wondered about her health.

Riley feared the pregnancy had already taken its toll on her, and he couldn’t help being concerned about her well-being. The urge to protect and care for her was strong, but Riley pushed it aside in favor of the anger that had been building within him for the past several months.

He had damn good reason for being furious with her.

“Are you convinced the child is yours?” Chaplain Stewart directed the question to Riley.

The room went still, as though everyone were on tenterhooks anticipating his reply. “The baby’s mine,” he answered firmly.

Hannah’s soft gray gaze slid to his as if she longed to thank him for telling the truth. He wanted to leap to his feet and remind her that she’d been the one to run out on him. It hadn’t happened the other way around. If anyone’s integrity was to be questioned, then it should be hers.

“Are you prepared to marry my daughter?” demanded the thin, graying man Riley could only assume was Hannah’s father.

“Dad?” Hannah gasped, pleading with her father. “Don’t do this, please.” Her voice was soft and honest, and Riley doubted that many men could refuse her.

Reverend Raymond looked at Riley as if he fully expected him to sprout horns and drag out a pitchfork. If that were the case, it was ironic that the minister was demanding that Riley marry his daughter.

“As your father, I insist this young man do right by you.”

“Chaplain Stewart,” Hannah said, coming to her feet, ignoring her father. “Could Riley and I talk for a few minutes…alone?” The last word was added pointedly.

The two older men seemed to reach a tacit agreement. “All right, Hannah” the Navy chaplain agreed, coming to his feet. “Perhaps that would be for the best. Come on, George. I’ll pour us a cup of coffee and we’ll leave these two to sort out their problems in their own way. I have faith young Murdock means well.”

Riley waited until the door had closed before he leaped to his feet. He glared across the room at Hannah, not knowing what to do first—shake her until her teeth rattled or gently take her in his arms and demand to know why she was so deathly pale. Before he had the opportunity to speak, she did.

“I’m terribly sorry about all this,” she murmured. “I had no idea my father had contacted you.”

“Why’d you leave?” he bit out the question between clenched teeth, still undecided about how he was going to deal with her.

She frowned as if she didn’t understand his question. Her brow creased until she understood, and then it creased even more. “I suppose I owe you an apology for that, as well.”

“You’re damn right you do.”

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“Obviously,” he retorted, trapped in his anger. “No one in their right mind would do this to themselves. The question is, what the hell are we going to do about it now?”

“Oh, don’t worry. It isn’t necessary for you to marry me. I don’t know what ever made Dad suggest that.”

She seemed so damn smug about it, and that riled him all the more.

“Apparently your father feels differently. He seems to think my marrying you would salvage your honor.”

She nodded. Her hair was tied at her nape, giving Riley a clear view of the delicate lines of her face. As pale as she was, she resembled a porcelain doll, fragile and easily breakable. She looked dangerously close to that point right then.

“My father is an old-fashioned man with traditional values. Marriage is what he would expect.”

“What do you expect?” His tone was less harsh, his concern for her outweighing his irritation.

Hannah placed her hand on her smooth stomach as though she longed to protect the child. Riley’s gaze dropped there, and he waited a moment, trying to analyze his own feelings. A child grew there. His child. Try as he might, he felt nothing except regret mingled with a healthy dose of concern.

“I…I’m not sure what I want from you,” Hannah answered. “As I tried to tell you before, I feel terrible about dragging you into this mess.”

“It takes two. You didn’t create that child on your own.”

Her smile was shy. “Yes, I know. It’s just that I never meant to involve you…afterward.”

That didn’t set any better with Riley than the implied threat from his commanding officer. “So you intended to run off and have my child without telling me?”

“I…didn’t have a clue as to how to find you,” she argued.

“Your father didn’t seem to have much of a problem.”

She looked away as though she wanted to avoid an argument. “I didn’t know if you wanted me to contact you.”

She sure the hell had a low opinion of him. It rankled Riley that Miss High-and-Mighty would make those kinds of assumptions about him.

“Next time don’t assume anything,” he barked. “Ask!”

“I apologize—”

“That’s another thing. Quit apologizing.” He held both hands to his head, hoping the applied pressure to his scalp would help him think.

“Are you always this difficult to talk to?” she asked. He was pleased to hear a little mettle in her voice. It told him he hadn’t been wrong about her. This woman had plenty of spirit. It also assured him her health wasn’t as bad as he suspected.

“I am when I’ve been backed into a corner,” Riley stormed.

She stood and reached for her coat. “Then let me assure you I’m not the one forcing you into a marriage you obviously don’t want.”