“It’s more than that, Luc, but this isn’t a good time to discuss it. However I do want to thank you for the funeral spray. Everyone in the family said the flowers were the most beautiful pink roses they’d ever seen.
“And the model cars. Your gift delighted my father, which was an amazing feat since it’s almost impossible to please him.”
“I’m glad.” His hands kneaded her upper arms through the material of her top, heating her skin. “Now tell me why you’re really here. The last word from your lips was adieu.”
“I know.” She averted her eyes.
Rachel was uncertain what to do. When she’d come here, she’d been on a mission.
But he’d just buried his wife earlier in the day. Tonight was not the time for him to find out he’d made Rachel pregnant.
Heavens—what was she saying? There was no good time for earth-shaking news like this.
He said her name again in a way that broke down her defenses, his breathing sounding ragged. “When you try to avoid me, you remind me of the demure maiden in a certain Italian painting hanging in the Uffizi I’ve admired.
“You both have flawless skin, but the touch of sadness in her is more pronounced in you. I realize losing your grandfather was traumatic.”
“It’s true I’m going to miss him…” her voice wobbled “…but he lived a long, full life and was eager to be with Grandmother, so in that sense it was easier to let him go.”
His eyes played over her. It was hard to believe that instead of an ocean separating them, she was in touching distance of him. But she couldn’t do this.
“Don’t put me off any longer, Rachel. You came for a specific reason.”
Floundering for an opening, she said, “Why don’t we wait until tomorrow when we’ve both had some sleep?”
His eyes narrowed. “There’ll be no sleep for me tonight, and I dare say not for you either. What’s eating you alive?”
Her head flew back. She didn’t know how to begin.
This was so much harder than she’d imagined it would be. Remarkable as he was, finding out he was going to be a father would throw his painful world into upheaval of a different kind.
She moistened her lips nervously. “I never meant to come back to Alsace.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know.”
His barely leashed impatience caused her to take a step backward, but he didn’t let her go altogether. His sensual mouth had thinned even more.
“I wish I could have saved us this moment, Luc, but some things in life have to be said in person. This is one of those times.”
At those words, he relinquished his hold on her. His hands went to his hips in an undeniably male stance. He was waiting…
A nervous shiver raced through her body.
“All right, Rachel.” He’d reached the end of his tolerance. “What’s put the haunted shadows in those blue eyes? Just say it—”
She drew in a sharp breath. “I’m pregnant.”
There was instant stillness before Luc’s eyes blazed with a strange light.
“Say that again?”
She realized he needed time for his mind to wrap around what she’d just told him. How well Rachel understood. It had taken her over a month to believe it herself.
“I realize it seems way too soon for me to know something this vital, Luc, but my period was late.”
She bowed her head. “I haven’t been late since my college days. At first I thought it was my worry over grandfather that had thrown my
body off kilter.