Page 71 of Promised to the Cowboy

She looks at me, and her hand slides instinctively to the curve of her stomach. “I know because I’ve refused him too. I walked away from his money. I took my mother’s name. I cut him off.”

Each sentence drops into the silence.

Then Kitty gets to her feet. Tom reaches for her hand automatically. She squeezes his fingers once before letting go and walking across the room to stand in front of Evie.

Then, she wraps her arms around her and simply holds her.

“I’m so sorry,” Kitty whispers. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like growing up with someone like that. And I don't think for one second you’re responsible for the things he’s done.”

Evie goes completely still. Then the tears she’s been fighting spill over. “I don’t know how to make this right.”

Kitty pulls back to look at her, smiling through her own tears. “You don’t have to. You just have to stop apologizing for somebody else’s choices.”

She brushes a tear from Evie’s cheek and says softly, “Besides, you already belong to us.”

She pulls Evie into another hug before returning to Tom’s side.

“Does Alexander know you’re pregnant?” Daniel asks Evie. His expression is calm. Steady. The expression of a man who’s spent a lifetime making decisions when everyone else is still catching their breath.

Evie shakes her head. “No.”

“When did you last speak to him?”

“Nine days ago.” She looks at me. “He called me at the Honey Pot the day I came here.”

Daniel’s expression doesn’t change. “Tell me.”

“He called after months of silence.” She lets out a slow breath. “Wanted me at another charity fundraiser. Offered me fifty thousand dollars to show up.”

Ethan curses under his breath.

“I said no.” She shrugs. “Then I blocked his number.”

“Good.” Daniel nods. “Did he know where you were?”

“No.”

“Did you tell him anything that could help him find you?”

She pauses to think. “No. Nothing.”

Daniel glances at Ethan. “He won’t need the phone.”

Ethan nods. “If Voss wants to find someone, he’ll pay someone else to do it.”

“Which means we assume he’s already trying,” Henry says, speaking for the first time, his gray eyes turning toward the window, toward the ranch beyond it. The anger in his voice has nothing to do with Evie. It’s for the man threatening everything we’ve built.

“You still have the same number?” Daniel asks Evie.

She nods. “I never changed it.”

Daniel and Ethan exchange a look.

“Evie,” Daniel says carefully, “if he decides to look for you, that number is a thread.”

She goes very still as the full import of his words settles in.

“I blocked his number after he called.” She lets out a slow breath. “I thought that was enough. Then I caught myself thinking maybe one day I’d unblock him.” She looks at me. “Hope dies hard. Stupid, huh?”