Baby Be Mine (Spinsters & Casanovas Series Book 1) (33 page)

Hunter gritted his teeth. What was Max on
about? He was trying to stop Clarice from confessing to Anton she
was pregnant with his baby. He was merely trying to save her and
his cousin from utter humiliation. Plus, he wanted to sleep with
her so he could get a good night’s sleep again.

“Why did you lead me out? I was distracting
Clarice.”

“And you did your job perfectly well, big
bro. So let’s finish here,” Max said.

“Why?” Hunter asked again.

“Because the waiter was about to approach
us. I can’t have Clarice finding out it’s me who’s helping you.
I’ll be dead meat before I even get through my growth spurt.”

“But they’re still in there together,”
Hunter argued, wanting to go in there again, but Max kept pulling
him back.

“No, look, Clarice is leaving,” Fern said.
And then all three hurriedly scrambled to hide in the large bush
again.

Through the parted foliage, Hunter watched
Clarice walked out of the restaurant first. She got into a red car
and then drove off. He was so relieved his mission today was
accomplished. As he was about to exit the bushes, he jumped back in
again because he saw Anton coming out of the restaurant.

Anton scanned the bushes for a full minute,
as if he were a botanist. After another few seconds passed and no
more sound or movement came, he turned in the direction of his car
and walked briskly away, leaving Hunter, Fern, and Max to sweat in
nervousness over almost getting caught red-handed.

CHAPTER 28

“So did you tell the guy he’s the father
yet?” Hunter pretended to act innocent and asked Clarice if she’d
made her confession to Anton.

Clarice couldn’t look Hunter straight in the
face. Not again. Why had she agreed to meet up with him for lunch
when she was supposed to be talking to Anton about her future? And
why did she have to make all kinds of excuses just to postpone that
moment of confession?

The truth was she didn’t really want Anton
to interfere with her life. She just wanted to raise her baby
alone. But now, even Hunter had urged her to tell Anton. How was
she supposed to tell the man sitting in front of her that the man
who had impregnated her was his very own cousin? Would he be happy?
Would he jump for joy? Or would he look sulky like Max did when she
told him her news?

She was a little saddened when Max didn’t
show his usual happy behavior. Maybe he was really scared she might
not show him her usual love. She had to ring him to tell him that
so he wouldn’t misunderstand.

“Not yet?” Clarice said, scanning the array
of fruit on her platter. Not again. Why was everyone forcing her to
eat fruits? First Max and now Hunter. Did everyone want to turn her
into an herbivore or something?

“Good,” Hunter said, smiling. Then he
watched Clarice with concern as she just forked around her
fruits.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Don’t you want to
eat the fruit I ordered for you?”

“Of course not,” Clarice said sharply. “Why
did you order me a fruit platter? I don’t like fruit all that much,
not enough to eat it all the time.”

“Well, at least eat that apple there,”
Hunter suggested. “I’ll cut it up for you.”

“I don’t like apples,” Clarice said,
annoyed. “I’ve eaten enough apples to last me until the next life.”
Clarice pushed the plate away from her as her gag reflex acted up.
She closed her eyes and covered her mouth.

Hunter jerked out of his chair so fast it
made a loud screeching sound. He ran to Clarice, and in the next
second, he had her in his arms.

“Hey, are you okay? You should rest. You
should have rejected my offer to come out to lunch today.”

“It’s only morning sickness.” She laughed,
the jingle of her voice doing crazy things to his heartbeat
again.

“Stop laughing, Avocado. You’re sick, for
Christ sake. Here, sit down.” Hunter led her to the seat beside
him.

“Why did you ask me out anyway, Hunter?”
Clarice asked, feeling a sense of empowerment all of a sudden.

Well, after that episode of pretending to be
Max’s blind grandpa, Hunter was so agitated he had to call Clarice
to meet up for lunch, just to ask whether she’d confessed to his
cousin yet. Thank God she hadn’t.

When Clarice didn’t hear Hunter reply, she
leaned in closer to him and asked again. “I said why did you ask me
out? Shouldn’t you be somewhere else, trying to chase up some woman
or something?” Dear heavens, this had to be her fluctuating
hormones again. Otherwise, she wouldn’t behave like this. “Just
because you’re the first one to know I’m pregnant, you’re not under
any obligation to look after me, you know.”

As if her behavior wasn’t strange and
embarrassing enough, Clarice turned to Hunter then and leaned
forward until her nose almost touched his. Then she spoke softly,
which to Hunter’s ears sounded so seductive it made his heart drum
so wildly it almost leapt out of his chest. “I am pregnant with
another man’s child, you know. You shouldn’t be staying too close
to me. People might suspect you’re my… you know, tick-tock,
tick-tock.” Then she laughed like a silly schoolgirl and moved back
to her seat. Heavens, she really was crazy today.

Hunter could only blink randomly at
Clarice’s strange behavior. He knew exactly what she meant, but
damn his past life. Right now, Clarice was more important.

Shit, did he just admit the avocado was the
most important thing in his life right now? Yes, he guessed he did.
And it felt like a heavy weight had just been lifted off his
shoulders. As to the reason he thought of Clarice as his most
important, he knew it was a responsibility a father of a child has
when looking after its mother, but he was sure that wasn’t the only
reason. For now, though, he was willing to stay by her side.

Hunter turned his gaze to look at the woman
sitting beside him again. Why did she agree so suddenly to see him
again? She looked tired, really, really tired, like a little kid
fighting a nap.

He released a deep sigh and went to pay for
their meals, knowing full well that Clarice would not be eating any
more of the fruit he ordered for her. Maybe he should do some more
research on what kinds of food were best suited for pregnant women.
Clarice needed to eat healthy for their baby to grow up strong.

After Hunter paid for their meals, he helped
Clarice into the car.

Once inside, Clarice held a faraway look on
her face. She stared into the far distance, her eyes not seeing
anything.

“Maybe I should tell him,” she said to
Hunter quietly when he got into the driver’s seat.

Hunter shook when he heard this.
God,
please no, not yet.
He hadn’t decided yet what was wrong with
him. He wanted to spend a little more time with her first. In fact,
he needed to confess to her that he was the father to their baby,
not his cousin, before she she told Anton.

“When?” was all Hunter could say. “When
would you tell him?”

“At the pre-conference ball next week.”

No! No! It was only a few days away. That
wasn’t enough time to compose himself. He needed to confess to her
now. Right now. Otherwise, he would never be with Clarice. He could
feel his heart pounding and his ears ringing.

“Clarice, I have a confession too,” Hunter
croaked, his throat dry, and then he turned to face her. “I am the
man—”

But he couldn’t finish his sentence as he
saw Clarice’s sleeping form. She was so beautiful, this avocado.
She looked so peaceful.

Hunter couldn’t help himself as his body
leaned itself forward of its own accord and his lips brushed
themselves gently across her supple cheek.

“Clarice,” he whispered softly into her ear,
his heart swelling with an emotion he didn’t know existed. “It’s
me. I’m the father of your baby. Not my cousin.”

But she didn’t hear him. She was too
exhausted to register what he’d said.

Once again, Hunter had to wait. And this
time, he would make sure she would stay awake and hear him say
those words, loud and clear.

CHAPTER 29

Hunter almost forgot to breathe. Clarice was
really his goddess. He had to pinch himself in the arm just to make
sure he wasn’t dreaming.

His goddess was so beautiful in that
one-shoulder white silk dress, draped to the left, like a Grecian
goddess. He found it hard to breathe. All his anger, the previous
feeling of madness that was there before she arrived, had
completely vanished as soon as he laid his eyes on her.

Then he remembered why he was feeling so
angry with her in the first place. It was because he’d been
standing outside for a damn half hour, shivering in the cold,
almost freezing to death.

That’s right. Winton had decided to pick her
up per Anton’s instruction. Hunter himself had ventured all the way
to Clarice’s dental practice just to wait on her, only to find out
later that she’d taken off half the day to prepare herself for the
pre-conference ball. And Winton was the one who took her for her
full body makeover. That damn shit.

That was over four hours ago. And he’d been
waiting for almost half an hour now. The ball had already started,
but still Clarice hadn’t shown up.

He was standing at the entrance of their
hotel, waiting impatiently for her arrival, swearing once or twice
as he watched the time tick by. He’d even sworn he was going to
strangle Winton when he did show up.

And finally, Winton did show, driving
through the throng of people milling around near the entrance of
Silverton Hotel. At that time, Hunter couldn’t suppress his anger
and annoyance so he stalked to Winton’s car, opened the passenger
door, and dragged Clarice to the side, planning to give her a good
scolding before unleashing his wrath towards Winton. Except… when
he did see her, he was struck speechless and almost forgot to
breathe.

“What took you so long?” he yelled at
Clarice, gripping her hand so tight, forcing himself to break out
of his stupid reverie.

“Excuse me?” Clarice asked in astonishment.
“Has the devil decided to possess you today? I just got here. I
want a drink. Now let my hand go.” Then she flung away his hand and
walked elegantly, like a swan, into the reception area. Hunter saw
red as he stared at her retreating back.

“Ah, Master Hunter.” Winton came trotting to
him.

“Don’t Master Hunter me!” Hunter shouted,
turning his wrath towards Winton now. “Where the hell did you take
her?”

“Ah, to the petrol station,” Winton replied,
aghast at Hunter’s devilish behavior.

“Why did you take her there?” Hunter shouted
to the poor man. “You were supposed to come straight here after her
makeover, which should have been over half an hour ago.”

“My car was about to run out of petrol,”
Winton replied. “I needed to fill it up.”

“Why didn’t you fill up yesterday if you
knew it was running low?”

“Because the petrol was on sale today so I
thought I’d take advantage—”

“You’re fired,” Hunter said, halting Winton
midsentence, turning swiftly to follow Clarice’s footsteps.

“Whaaaaat?” Winton shrieked, running after
Hunter. “Master Hunter,” he pleaded. “You can’t do this to your
number one employee.”

Hunter didn’t listen to Winton’s moaning as
he raced after Clarice. He needed to find her. His mission tonight
was to stop her confessing to Anton. Come hell or high water, he
would.

Once he got inside, though, his eyes
searched frantically for that white silk Grecian goddess. Except
when he did find her, she was already in conversation with
Anton.

He let out an angry growl.

Bloody hell. He fisted his hands tightly. No
way, there was no way he would let her confess tonight.

So Hunter made his way to her, but with
every single step, someone was always standing in his way, an
obstacle he had to somehow bypass to get to Clarice. And it wasn’t
just any normal people; it had to be the old crows from Queenstown.
God, he just hoped she hadn’t said anything yet about their
baby.

“Ah, young Hunter?” one old man said. “How’s
life here?”

“When’re you going to go back down south?”
another asked. “I have lots of sheep. You can come have a look at
them. My wooly one is named Molly; she’s always in need of a
handsome young man like you to look after her. She can make you a
good investment.”

South Island! Sheep! Investment! What’s
so important about sheep anyway?
He’d seen so many sheep since
he was born it made his head spin, and he was definitely not a
farmer. What was more important right now was to get to Clarice so
she wouldn’t make a fool of herself. But obviously, Hunter couldn’t
say any of those things. Instead, he just smiled and gave his
greetings to the old crows who intercepted his path.

“Ah, no,” Hunter replied just out of
politeness, though his eyes weren’t on them.

“What’s that?” one of the old crows asked.
“Did you say go? When, when would you go?”

Obviously, this old bat was also hard of
hearing.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I see one of my
friends over there.” He feigned an excuse, no longer wanting to
talk to them. “I should go say hello.” And then before the old
croons could get in another word, he made his escape, hastening his
steps to Clarice. He’d almost reached her side when the host
suddenly announced for everyone to take their seats at the dining
table, which in turn made everyone stand and block his way yet
again.

Damn!
He tried to fight his way
through the congestion around the many dining tables so he could
sit next to Clarice, but she somehow got swallowed in the crowd,
disappearing from his sight. When he finally saw her again, she was
already sitting next to Anton, smiling. And there were no spare
seats left at their table. Could this be the worst day of his
life?