Who's The Father Of Jenny's Baby?

The questions were daunting. Almost as daunting as the painful expression Luke had leveled at her during their last meeting. Never in a hundred million years would Jenny forget the hurt reflected in her husband’s black, staring gaze as Doc had ushered both of the brothers from her room.

She hadn’t seen either of the Prentice men since then, at her own request. But that request was no longer being honored. She was being forced to face herself, her life and her past behavior. It didn’t matter that she remembered none of these things. There were still deeds that someone needed to be held accountable for.

For the thousandth time in the past four days, her baby came into her thoughts. Her stomach felt flat and firm as she slid her hand across it. Who had fathered the delicate life growing inside her? The question prompted the vivid image of Luke, and his tormented gaze.

His agonized expression had been clear evidence that he’d never even suspected that his wife and his brother might have slept together, let alone the fact that Chad would claim to be her baby’s father. Her eyelids closed as she ran headfirst into a solid wall of guilt. What kind of woman would do such a thing? What kind of woman could do such a thing?

Don’t think about it, she silently ordered herself.

If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that Luke wouldn’t be the one who came to pick her up. It would be a wonder if the man ever spoke to her again.

“Jenny.”

She recognized the sound of Luke’s voice, its rich resonance causing her eyes to fly open with surprise as she turned to face him.

Well, he was here, she thought. Surprise number one.

Then she noticed something else. He didn’t look angry. Or hurt. In fact, Jenny didn’t think anyone would ever be able to tell that, just four short days ago, he’d been totally humiliated by her. Surprise number two.

Surprise number three came when he actually smiled at her. It was small, as smiles went, but at the same time it was staggering. Way down deep inside, she felt a spark strike to life.

When she noticed that he was staring at her feet, she asked, “What is it?”

His dark eyes found hers. “Doc said that bump you took on the head might have taken away the old Jenny for good. But she’s not far off.”

Jenny was surprised by the hope that spurted up inside her. But there was an undeniable dread there, too. Unable to stop herself, she softly asked, “What makes you say that?”

“Your bare feet.”

His smile widened into an all-out grin, and the spark grew hotter, licking and dancing deep within her.

“I never could get you to wear shoes,” he explained further. “Especially in summer.”

Identifying the pure, unadulterated physical attraction for what it was, Jenny was stunned silent. How could this be happening? Why would she feel such a strong pull to Luke when she was supposed to be having an affair with his brother?

The implications made her face flame, made her avert her eyes from his.

Did the old Jenny Prentice have such loose morals that she could sleep with two men? Her insides churned with disgust. What kind of woman was she? she wondered yet again.

“Come on, Jenny,” Luke said.

The tightness in his voice told her he’d noticed her embarrassment. She cast him a furtive glance. Sure enough, his smile had disappeared, and his eyes were cool chips of shiny coal.

“Put your shoes on.” He moved to the bed and picked up the small bag that contained her meager personal belongings. Turning his back on her, he said, “Let’s go home.”

She had no choice but to follow him.

Chapter Two

Home. The word should conjure up feelings of security and warmth, happiness and laughter. Togetherness. Sharing. Family. But Jenny felt none of these things. Dread sat in her stomach, heavy as a concrete block, as she contemplated going to a place she didn’t remember, living with a man who was a stranger to her.

When she exited the hospital, sunshine warmed her cheeks and she paused long enough to close her eyes for an instant and lift her face skyward. She’d only had a scant moment to enjoy the warm, sunny day before Luke urged her forward, settling his palm on the small of her back.

It was an innocent movement, she was sure. One he’d probably made hundreds of times as her husband, but the jolt that ricocheted up her spine at his touch made her eyes go wide and her knees turn weak.

“We’ve got a thirty-minute drive ahead of us,” he told her, directing her further into the parking lot.

She was relieved that she was able to keep putting one foot in front of the other in a normal stride. The heat of his hand against her back seemed hotter than the summer sun, scalding her, yet she didn’t find it uncomfortable. To the contrary, she found his touch strangely pleasing in a purely physical sense. Before she even realized it, warm tendrils curled down deep in her belly. The low curve of her back seemed like such an unlikely spot for an erogenous zone to be located.

She quickened her pace, hoping to get a step or two ahead of him, and the feel of his hand against her. The last thing she wanted was to let this stranger, no matter how good-looking he might be, see her react to him in such a blatantly physical manner. He might be her husband, but she didn’t know this man.

With just a few quick steps, she was able to put some space between them.

“Whoa,” he called out.

She stopped and turned to face him.

“You walked right past our Bronco.”

Her cheeks were warm and rosy, a leftover reaction to his touch, she knew. His brow wrinkled with a frown as he noticed, and that mortified her.

“It’s okay,” he assured her. “How could you know?”

She let the tiny, self-conscious smile tug at one comer of her mouth. However, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt because she allowed him to believe her embarrassment was caused by having missed the car and not by the fact that her insides had nearly been melted by the mere touch of his hand. She was just relieved that her response had been, for the most part, internal, and all that had surfaced to draw his attention had been a little heated color on her face.

Luke held open the passenger door of the big, four-wheel-drive vehicle, and Jenny had to use the running board to step up into the cab. He went around to the other side and slid behind the wheel.

“It’s so strange,” she said, latching the seat belt securely around her waist. “I remember I need to wear a seat belt...but I haven’t the slightest idea what town I’m in.” She straightened. “I know that that’s a rosebush, and that’s a pine tree, but I can’t remember the name of that mountain range.” She pointed toward the horizon.

Turning the key in the ignition, Luke looked her way. “Doc didn’t offer to fill you in on that kind of stuff?”

She looked contrite. “Oh, he offered,” she said softly. “He made himself available every morning for any questions I might have.” Her gaze wandered out the window and her tone dropped to a whisper as she went on. “I was too afraid to ask.”

The Bronco sat motionless, the engine idling smoothly.

After a silent moment, Luke softly commented, “That sure doesn’t sound like the Jenny I know.”

Frustration reared up inside her. First Doc Porter had chastised her, telling her she hadn’t been the kind of person to hide from the truth. And now Luke was rebuking her, too. Something in her snapped.

“Don’t you understand?” she cried, her eyes welling with tears of defeat and confusion. “The woman you know isn’t in here.” She tapped her index finger twice against her temple. “I don’t remember her. I don’t know her. I’m not sure I even want to—”

“Jenny, stop.” He reached out toward her, his strong fingers gently encircling her wrist.

“Don’t,” she whispered pleadingly, and pulled her arm from his grasp. His touch did things to her. Made her feel a hunger that was both confusing and exciting.

Why was that? The question slipped into her consciousness before she could stop it. Why did she react so strongly to him when—

Jenny shoved the thought aside. She wasn’t ready. There were simply too many other, more fundamental, questions that needed answers. Questions like—who was Jenny Prentice? And is that woman ever coming back? And what was everyone going to do if she didn’t? Who was this man sitting next to her? What kind of marriage had they shared?

That thought brought another startling question. What was he going to expect of her as his wife?

I can’t have sex with a total stranger. A flash of panic swept through her.

The idea of sex brought another question rolling into her mind. Who had fathered the baby she carried?

At the thought of the child growing inside her, she settled her hands, one overtop the other, low on her belly. To Jenny, that last question was the most important of all.

Suddenly, honest emotion flooded from her. “I don’t understand why you’re even here,” she told him. “You should have sent someone after me. After what I’ve done to you. To our marriage.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember what we had together. I don’t have one single memory of our life. But it’s got to hurt you to think I might have slept with your brother.”

She clamped her lips shut. It hadn’t been her intention to reveal so much of the self-doubt she was feeling. Not in such an in-your-face manner, anyway. She had no idea how he might react to such candor.

Her chest seized with guilt as she saw his dark gaze cloud over with pain.

“Look,” he said, “first of all, I want you to know that I don’t believe you and Chad had an affair. I’m the father of the baby you’re carrying. I said it four days ago when you first woke up from your fall, and I’m saying it now.”

Yes, he was making the declaration. Jenny heard it plain and clear. But there was doubt in his onyx eyes—doubt she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t noticed.

“But why would Chad—”

He silenced her with an uplifted hand and a slow shake of his head. “There’s plenty of time to work it all out,” he told her. “You’re still battered and bruised. You need to take time to heal.” He put the Bronco into reverse and pulled slowly from the parking spot. “We’ll find answers to the complicated questions later. For now, let’s stick with the simple things.”

“Simple things?” she asked, wondering if there really was anything simple in this frighteningly complicated situation.

“Yeah.” He nodded, driving to the parking-lot exit and then onto the road. “You can’t get much more simple than where we are. So that’s where we’ll start. We’re in Olem, Pennsylvania. On North Street, to be exact. And that mountain range you were asking about? Those are the Pocono Mountains.” He reached toward the windshield, pointing to the northwest. “See that one? The one with the jagged top? That’s Prentice Mountain. It’s where we’re heading. That’s where we live.”

For nearly half an hour, Luke drove the curving back roads, taking every opportunity to point out to her all the interesting spots and the people on the outskirts of the town.

Olem was a small community in the summer, he’d told her. However, the ski season brought home the winter residents who loved the sport, and the already booming tourist industry was growing even more with each passing year.

He pointed out two other resorts along the road weaving toward Prentice Mountain. Jenny noticed that Luke didn’t seem threatened by the neighboring businesses, despite the fact that these other resorts must compete for his customers. The way he talked about the other owners, people who should have been his competition, as if they were his friends, made her feel light, almost buoyant. And for the first time all morning, she felt a small smile playing on her lips. Jenny didn’t understand what she was feeling, or why she was feeling it. That really didn’t matter, she decided, relaxing in her seat to enjoy the rest of this mini tour.

Jenny found herself enjoying the rich rhythm of Luke’s voice. His tone sounded mellow and serene, so very different from the angry one she remembered hearing four days earlier in the emergency room.

That was it, she realized. The fact that the harshness had disappeared from his voice had lulled her into this wonderful state of light and easy calm. Luke seemed like a completely different person now than he had four days ago.

She felt the desire to ponder this a little further, but Luke pulled off the road in front of a small farmhouse.

“Bud and Mary live here,” Luke told her. “You and I both are addicted to the fresh tomatoes Bud sells. I thought I’d buy us a few. For dinner.”

He opened his door, and instinctively, Jenny reached to open hers.

“Sit still,” he told her. “The stand’s right over there.” He pointed. “I’ll only be a minute.”

Luke went to the produce stand and Jenny heard the friendly murmur of his voice as he greeted the farmer. As if she’d heard the Bronco arrive, a woman came out of the house, wiping her hands on her apron.

“Hi, Jenny,” the woman called out across the yard to her, waving. “Glad to see you’re okay.”

Jenny’s body flushed with a wave of anxiety. She was supposed to know this lady. Tentatively, Jenny raised her hand in greeting and tried to smile.

The woman walked across the yard to the produce stand, joining Luke and Bud in conversation. Jenny frowned. It was so obvious from the pitying glances the woman kept tossing toward the Bronco that the three of them were talking about her, and that made her feel self-conscious. Like an outsider.

Didn’t they realize that they were the strangers? Not her.

She closed her eyes and sighed shakily. Who was she kidding? she silently asked herself. She was the one who had changed.

Luke pulled open the door and slipped in beside her, startling her.

“Mary’s going to bake us a lemon meringue pie,” he said, tucking a brown paper bag filled with ripe, red tomatoes in the space between the front seats. “It’s your favorite,” he went on.

She darted a quick, covert look at the couple as Luke pulled away. “What did you say to them?” she blurted, unable to hide the defensiveness she felt. “They were looking at me like I have some kind of, of terminal disease.”

“That’s silly, Jenny,” he said, gently. “Of course, they weren’t—”

“I’m not being silly!”

His jaw tensed with what she took to be irritation. Well, he’d just have to suffer through it, dam it. A little annoyance was nothing compared to the sheer torment she ran headlong into around every corner she turned.

“Look,” he said, keeping his eyes on the road ahead, “Bud and Mary are our neighbors. Our friends. They’re your friends, Jenny. They care about you. I had to tell them something.”

“So what did you say?” she rushed to asked. Not giving him an instant to respond, she went on. “‘Poor, poor Jenny. She bumped her head and poof—’” she snapped her fingers in the air “‘—life as she remembers it just disappeared.’”

She felt herself losing control. Heard the high-pitched quality of her voice as her tongue rushed ahead of logical thought. But like a fast and dangerous avalanche, her emotions seemed to take hold of her and send her, bumping and scraping, over a steep and all-consuming cliff of pure panic.

“I didn’t say anything like that,” he told her. “But, Jenny, I had to tell them about the amnesia. I had to.”

“They think I’m a freak,” she cried. “‘Take pity on the poor little idiot.’”

Jenny knew what she was saying was nonsensical. She could hear the ridiculousness of what was bubbling up from inside her. Still she was totally helpless to stop it.

“It’s not like that at all.”

He was keeping his tone gentle in an effort to calm her. But the fact that what he was really feeling was exasperation only inflamed her agitation.

“Mary had to know,” Luke went on. “Especially since I’ve asked her to come help out in the afternoons. She’ll do the cooking and cleaning until you’re feeling better.”

“I don’t want Mary to come.” Jenny’s eyes grew wider, and wilder. “I don’t want any help. I’ll be just fine on my own.”

“Jenny,” he murmured.

“I can do my own cooking,” she said, not even hearing him. “I can do my own cleaning. I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me. I’m not helpless. And I won’t stand for being treated as if I am.”

Through the frenzied haze of her ranting, she was vaguely aware that the Bronco had turned off the main road, that the engine had been switched off. Swiftly, Luke unlatched first his seat belt, and then hers. Then he pulled her against his chest.

She didn’t fight him. She couldn’t have, even if she’d wanted to. The circle of his arms felt too much like the safe haven she desperately needed to feel grounded and sheltered. Those were the things she’d been missing since she’d awoken in this living nightmare.

“I don’t want any help,” she said against his chest, but the insistence and creeping hysteria that had been evident in her voice just moments before was all but gone.

“Shhh.” He held her tightly. “It’s all right. You’re okay.”

His heart beat against her ear, steady and strong. She inhaled deeply, slowly. He must think she’d gone mad. Crazed out of her head.

“I’m scared.” She whispered the explanation, feeling drained and exhausted.

“I know,” he told her.

Her body trembled all over, and she sat there for quite a while, pressed against the warm, solid mass of him. Even though it was the middle of summer, a bright and sunny day, she desperately needed the heat that radiated from him. It seeped into her bones, thawing the chill of fear inside her.

He didn’t smooth his hands over her face or hair. He didn’t croon soft words. He simply held her, offering her his strength.

She was actually relieved that he remained silent, and finally, she became aware of the chirping of the birds in the trees, the sound of cars passing them every now and then. And when she felt strong enough, and calm enough, she gently pushed herself away from him.

The embarrassment she felt was almost too much to bear as she looked at this stranger who was her husband. But she forced herself not to avert her eyes from his.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.

His dark gaze was so intense it almost felt like a physical touch on her face.

“It’s okay.”

There was deep emotion in his answer, but Jenny was unable to decipher exactly what he was feeling. He was probably embarrassed for her after that god-awful tantrum she’d just thrown. And she couldn’t blame him.

“I have to insist on Mary coming to the house,” he told her, quietly, firmly. “I have work to do on the resort. We’re cutting trees for four new ski slopes that have to be ready before the first snowfall. Chad and I have to oversee the work crews. I’ll be worried if you’re alone at the house all day. You understand that, don’t you?”

She hated that he was explaining the situation to her as if she were a child. But after the way she’d just acted, how else would she expect him to treat her?

Jenny nodded silently.

“Good.” He inhaled, studying her face. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she assured him. But not quite reassured herself, she repeated, “Better.”

He rubbed his fingers over his chin and then rested his hand on the steering wheel. “You think you feel up to taking another step forward?”

An anxious shiver coursed across her skin. “Another step?”

He shifted in his seat and looked out the windshield. “Yes,” he said. “We’re home.”

She let her gaze follow his, and there at the base of the paved road onto which Luke had turned was a big wooden sign that read Prentice Mountain Ski Resort.

Jenny steeled herself. Gripped the edge of the soft, cushioned seat with the effort of it. She wanted to be strong. Wanted to face all the questions that were waiting for her. Wanted to confront the frightening answers hiding up there on that mountain. But for the life of her, she couldn’t help but feel that Luke had just asked her to buckle herself in for another wildly careening roller-coaster ride.

The asphalt road carried them up the mountain for a couple of miles, the densely broad-leafed trees that lined it casting shadows in the late morning sun. Then the woods seemed to fall away and the ski resort stood before her.

She read the signs that directed skiers to the large parking lot to the left, and then Jenny marveled at the huge building sitting a little further up the mountain.

“Does any of this look familiar?”

Luke’s soft question drew her gaze. She silently shook her head.

“The original lodge, the portion constructed from rough logs,” he said, “was built by my dad and my grandfather. Dad and I added the stone addition about ten years ago.”

“Your father and grandfather,” she said. “Will I meet them? Are they here?”

“No,” he told her. “My grandfather died when I was just a kid. My dad passed on three years ago.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Her attention was drawn to the beautiful lodge. “I’d like to go inside.”

But Luke turned onto a small, narrow lane marked Private Drive.

“Let’s go to the house first,” he said.

She gazed at the resort until it was out of sight, straining her mind for some glimmer of recollection, but failed. Absently, she asked, “So we don’t live in the lodge?”

Luke tossed her a smile, and a tiny lightning bolt of thrill shot straight through the anxiety she was feeling over actually facing her homecoming.

“No, we don’t,” he said. “The business takes a great deal of attention, especially during the height of the ski season. But a person’s got to have a place to get away. Even if it is just a quarter mile up the mountain.” His smile widened. “Like my dad always said, it’s the Prentice way of doing things.”

“I see.”

“I guess I should warn you,” he said. “It’s the Prentice family home. Chad lives there, too.”

She’d be living in a house with both Prentice brothers. She tried to take in the thought without allowing the idea to overwhelm her.

Jenny didn’t say a word. She was too afraid to speak. Afraid that if she opened her mouth she might burst into another fit of pure panic.

“It’s a big house,” he assured her. “You’ll have plenty of privacy.”

She didn’t care if the house was a massive medieval castle, it still wouldn’t be big enough to contain this tangled mess of a situation.

They drove in silence for the few moments it took to reach the house. And Jenny needed every single second to come to terms with the fact that she’d be seeing both of the Prentice men. Every single day.

In the span of what seemed like a short breath or two, the Bronco was parked and Luke was opening the passenger door for her. He clutched her small carryall in one hand and settled the other, in that most familiar manner, on the small of her back.

She hadn’t taken three full steps before those dark and sultry swirls began churning deep in her belly. Yet at the same time, the idea of crossing the threshold of this strange house, with all the questions hiding inside, had her heart pounding a furious beat.

She needed to be free of his touch! She needed to find some excuse not to go up those porch steps! Trepidation jumbled her thoughts beyond recognition.

Jenny stopped dead. “I can’t,” she whispered. “I’m not ready.”

Thankfully, Luke’s hand swung to his side and she was free. The heated tendrils subsided somewhat, but she still couldn’t seem to get her leaden feet to move one inch closer to the front door.

She knew there was pleading in her eyes as she looked up into his face. She wanted him to understand. She wanted him to realize how afraid she was.

“I know this isn’t easy for you,” he said. “But waiting isn’t going to make it any easier.”

Jenny blinked. She darted a quick glance at the ground, and then back up to his eyes. He was right. Excuses and postponing weren’t going to make her homecoming any easier.

Filling her lungs with a huge, steeling breath, she turned toward the house.