Protecting Tricia Read Online Free Page B

they have a child?”
    She knew they did, remembered in vivid detail the day Jenny
had told her Clint was going to be a father. Ironic news, since he’d informed
her less than a year earlier, in no uncertain terms, that he had no intention
of ever getting married or having children.
    “Yeah, she’s in Texas with her mom.” Jenny paused for a
moment when the baby fussed in the background. “I need to go. We’ll be out this
weekend. If things get unbearable and you need to talk, call me. I’m at my
parents’ house. Do you remember the phone number?”
    “Yes.” While growing up, she’d dialed the number hundreds of
times. “But I can’t call you there. They don’t know I’m back, do they?”
    “Geez, you’re right. Well, call Neil. He’ll call me, and
I’ll call you.”
    Tricia smiled at Jenny’s ‘tag-team’ plan. “All right. So
what excuse did you give your parents for your arrival?”
    “I told them Neil and I had a fight, and I wanted to stay
with them for a few days while we work things out. My mother, of course, is
distraught at the thought that our marriage is in trouble.”
    Tricia knew Jenny’s mom would be questioning her endlessly
about the situation. She also knew that since the day they married Jenny and
Neil had never spent a night apart. But now, because of her…
    “I’m sorry. I never should have put you in this situation.
It was st—”
    “Hush,” Jenny ordered. “It’s not your fault.”
    The conversation halted as AJ progressed from fussing to
full-blown wails.
    “Go take care of your son,” Tricia said over the baby’s
cries. “Be careful, and thanks for everything.”
    “Anytime, honey. We’ll be in touch.”
    After hanging up the phone, Tricia rubbed a hand over her
forehead, massaging the pain that threatened to grow into a pounding headache.
Hoping to find some aspirin in a medicine cabinet, she went in search of a
bathroom.
    As she wandered down the hallway, the first door she came to
was open. She peeked inside to find a bedroom. Like the other rooms in the
house, it was neat, clean, and sparsely furnished.
    The next door, a little further down the hall, was also
open. The walls were…purple. An unusual color to paint a room, but with the
all-white furniture, the color scheme worked very well. The twin-sized bed,
piled high with stuffed animals, and the toy chest setting in the corner, made
it obvious the room belonged to a child. Clint’s daughter, no doubt. This room,
like the others, was neat and clean.
    The door directly across the hall from the purple room was
closed. When Tricia opened it, her brows lifted at the sudden contrast. Stacks
of papers surrounded the computer in the corner of the room. The bed was a
rumpled mess, and clothes littered the floor and hung off the dresser. The
nightstand contained an opened bag of chips and several empty beer bottles. And
to her surprise, a picture, the first one she’d seen.
    She walked over and picked it up to find herself staring at
an adorable little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes—Clint’s eyes. The
child’s shoulder-length hair tumbled in a mass of curls to frame her face. Her
skin was pure perfection. A wide, sincere smile covered her face, and Tricia
wondered what she’d been doing at the moment the picture had been snapped.
    “My daughter, Heather.”
    At the unexpected interruption, Tricia’s heart skipped a
beat. She whipped around to see Clint leaning against the doorframe with his
arms crossed in front of his chest.
    The panic eased its grip on her body, to be replaced by
awkwardness. She felt like a little kid who had been caught with her hand in
the cookie jar. She shouldn’t be in his room poking around in his personal
things.
    “I’m… I’m…” she stammered. Drawing her brows together in
determination, she swallowed the rest of the sentence. Why should she apologize
to him for anything? After the way he’d behaved, he should be apologizing to
her. “She’s