LOVING ELLIE Read Online Free Page A

hadn’t been getting.  Throw in being exhausted as well as chilled to the bone and it was no wonder her body had shut down the way it had.  
    She stirred slightly, but didn’t awaken.
    Jarrett’s death had clearly left her both emotionally and physically spent.  He knew that feeling all too well.  But she was young and would be able to move on with her life once she got past the grieving.  Or so they say.  Not that he’d ever been able to move on himself after Anna’s death.  But that was different.  Jarrett’s death hadn’t been Ellie’s fault.
    Lucas straightened to stand beside the sofa, looking down at the woman his brother had chosen to spend the rest of his life with.  Ellie Sanders was pretty in a real natural way.  No makeup needed.  He’d give her that much.  But there had to be more to this woman than beauty, something special that had drawn Jarrett to her.  If his brother hadn’t loved Ellie, he wouldn’t have given her their mother’s ring along with the promise of marriage.
    Lucas bent to ease a throw pillow under her head.  She was clearly in need of rest, so he wouldn’t wake her.  What he would do, however, was go out and collect some wood for the fire and then get the place warmed up before Ellie ended up with pneumonia.  He owed his brother that much.
    Turning, he reached down to drag the throw up over her sleeping form and froze.  His heart slammed against his chest with the force of a wrecking ball as his gaze locked on the tale tell bump beneath the oversized flannel shirt she wore.  One that had been hidden earlier by the throw she’d had held clutched protectively in front of herself. 
    “Lord, no,” he groaned.
    No wonder she’d fainted.  Ellie Sanders wasn’t only tired and chilled to the bone.  She was pregnant.  His gaze swept over her again.  Very pregnant.  
    His heart slammed hard against his chest.  He stood, unable to move, staring down at her as his gut clenched, as memories assailed him.  The broken trust.  The helplessness.  The loss.     
    Muttering a curse, Lucas yanked off his hat and raked an uneasy hand back through his hair.  What was he supposed to do now?  When he’d come back to Eagle Ridge to handle his brother’s affairs this wasn’t the sort of ‘affair’ he’d had in mind.
    The air in the room grew thick, almost suffocating, as he stood in stunned silence, staring blankly at the unexpected discovery before him. 
    The antique grandfather clock across the room ticked the seconds away with agonizing slowness.  Tearing his gaze from Ellie Sanders’ rounded abdomen, he walked over and scooped up the coat he’d dropped onto the floor when she had fallen.  Then he walked out of the room.
    He shoved his arms into the sleeves of the bulky sheepskin jacket as he crossed the entryway to the front door.  Driven by demons from his past, he yanked on his boots and then whipped open the door. 
    The second he stepped out onto the porch a blast of wintry air hit him square in the face, clearing the shock from his mind.   
    Pregnant.
    He pulled the door shut behind him and then sagged back against it, closing his eyes with a heavy sigh.  Discovering Ellie pregnant and knowing she had pushed herself to the point of collapsing stirred up emotions he thought he’d buried along with his wife years before.
    Ellie Sanders wasn’t his responsibility.
    Then whose responsibility is she? his conscience demanded.  She was carrying Jarrett’s baby and his brother wasn’t there to see to their welfare any longer.  And Ellie’s current physical condition made him wonder how she was going to be able to take care of both herself and a child.  Didn’t she know the risk she was taking with her unborn child, pushing herself the way she had been? 
    He crossed the porch in desperate need of some fresh air and some time alone to think.  And Ellie needed wood for the fire. 
    Lowering his head against the icy bite of the wind, he started