The Price of Passion Read online

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  The Price of Passion

  By Stephanie Morris

  Copyright © December 2011, Stephanie Morris

  Cover art by For The Muses Design © December 2011

  ISBN: 978-1-936668-40-3

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

  Sugar and Spice Press

  North Carolina, USA

  www.sugarnspicepress.com

  Dedication

  To Zina, Cheryl, Tamara, Nathalie, Julia and Ivy. Thank you all for your support and the wonderful feedback that you provide in the readers group. This one is for you!

  Chapter One

  “Are you having my baby?”

  Sierra Walker’s head snapped up and she met the fiery heat in Kaden Stasso’s gaze. She dropped the satin material she’d been stitching as the door banged shut behind him and six-foot-two-inches of pure masculine virility overwhelmed her.

  Kaden stormed across the clothing shop’s wooden floor, the sound of his boots deafening, the scowl etched between his dark brows appearing permanent.

  “I believe I asked you a question,” he said, slamming his hat down on the counter.

  She looked down, her thoughts racing through her head. How in the world was she going to deal with this? It definitely wasn’t how she expected her day to go when she slid out of bed this morning.

  Swallowing deeply, Sierra realized she had no choice but to face the truth. After fighting to get out of her relationship with Tim, she’d sworn never to be bullied by a man again.

  She held her head up bravely. “Yes,” she said. “I’m pregnant.”

  He leaned closer. Even though she didn’t want to show any weakness, she took a small step backwards, away from the counter.

  “Who is the baby’s father?” he asked, his tone sharp.

  Drawing in a deep, calming breath, she met his heated, brown-eyed gaze and softly admitted, “I haven’t been with anyone...other than you.”

  Kaden’s words in his native language made her wince. She didn’t understand Salish, but what he said couldn’t have been good.

  “When were you going to let me know?” he questioned, returning to English, his tone harsh. “When you were showing? When a birth announcement was run in the local paper this Christmas and I added up the months? When I spotted you in town with my child? When someone saw the similarities between me and my child? Never? When, Sierra?”

  “I...” She stumbled over several different responses, finally settling for the truth. “I didn’t plan to ask you for help. I am more than qualified to raise a child alone. I make enough money to support us both. I thought I would spare you the responsibility.”

  Instead of his anger dissipating, it grew. “You thought you would spare me the responsibility?”

  “I’m the one carrying this baby,” she stated snappishly, trying to get him to see her reasoning was logical. “I’ll take accountability for the baby.”

  “Oh, you will, will you?” The scowl on his face deepened and the groove that seemed permanently scrawled into his forehead expanded.

  “I didn’t think my pregnancy would matter to you.”

  “You didn’t think it would matter that I’m going to be a father?”

  He’d spoken so softly she had to strain to hear him, sending a wave of astonishment crashing over her. After licking her lips, she said, “The night—”

  “The night we made love? The night you fell apart in my arms, crying out my name?” he interrupted callously. “The night you told me it was impossible for you to get pregnant?”

  She wrapped her arms around herself. “I thought I was unable to conceive.”

  “So how the hell does a woman who can’t conceive get pregnant?”

  “I have no idea.” She shook her head, not bothering to tell him how shocked she’d been and could barely believe the outcome of events herself. “I’m as shocked as you are.”

  “I’ll just bet you are.” His gaze traveled down her body and paused at her midsection.

  Kaden had done that before, she remembered, before he’d tugged down on her zipper, brushing his fingers across the agonizingly sensitized skin.

  With a slow and gentle touch that melted away anxiety left from her prior relationship, Kaden had undressed her. In spite of the reasons she’d had not to trust any man, her body had responded quickly.

  Heat raced up her cheeks and she cursed her fair-colored skin. She didn’t want to recall anything about the level of vulnerability he’d exposed in her—not now, not ever again. “Please, Kaden, you have to listen to me. I struggled for years to get pregnant. I even went to the doctor, and he ran some tests.”

  Kaden remained silent in that stoic way of his. She tried not to focus on his bronze skin. The ponytail resting at the base of his neck. Or about how feral and passionate he looked when his hair flowed freely. His Native American ancestry was prominent in him; she couldn’t help but wonder if their child would take more after him or her own African American ancestry. Maybe a perfect combination of both.

  Mentally shaking her head, she tried to refocus on the issue at hand. This was important. Kaden’s expression hadn’t changed, nor had he uttered a word.

  After a few more seconds of silence, she exhaled softly. “You don’t believe me.”

  “Not in the least.”

  “Sure, you can’t believe I tricked you?”

  “What reason would I have to think otherwise? Because you snuck out after spending one night with me? Because you were dishonest about your ability to get pregnant even when I asked you if we should use birth control? Because up until now, you’ve hidden the fact that you were pregnant with my offspring? Why is the world would I think you tried to deceive me, Sierra?”

  “You don’t understand,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I thought it would be better for you this way, since you clearly don’t want to be a father.”

  “What in the hell made you jump to that conclusion?”

  “The way you tossed your family out of your life.”

  A menacing tick thumped in his jaw. “What did you just say?”

  Unfortunately, she realized her mistake too late. Desperately, she wanted to retract her absent-minded words.

  “I believe I asked you a question.”

  Having stuck her foot in her mouth thus far, she didn’t have much of a choice not to continue, even though everything inside her screamed for her not to. “It’s not a secret.”

  “Then tell me.”

  She should have never brought up his past.

  “Tell me, Sierra,” he demanded.

  “I heard—” She squirmed, rubbing her arms, hoping to lighten the tension. Instead, it expanded and amplified. “I heard that you kicked Leah and Jacob out of the house, leaving them homeless, when Leah and you had a little argument. I figured since you threw out one child, that my having your baby wouldn’t matter to you.”

  In his passionate brown eyes, she watched the ardor of fury turn into the chilliness of vehemence. His hands curled into fists, and she took another cautious step backwards. She should have kept her mouth shut, shouldn’t have said anything to him about it. Now the damage had been done.

&n
bsp; The night she’d slept with him, she’d quickly understood that he was twice the man Tim was, three times as dangerous. That was why she’d avoided Kaden in the first place, leaving while he showered.

  “You don’t have the slightest clue about my marriage to Leah, don’t know a think about my feelings for Jacob. You don’t have any damn idea about any of it. But let me tell you one thing, Sierra Walker, this right here, right now is about us—you, me, our baby—and the years that we’ll be together.”

  Her knees threatened to give out.

  A strong need for self-defense swamped her. When she got away from Tim, she promised herself she’d never let a man control her again.

  But this man—this dominant and ominous man—bewildered her. “I can see you’re distressed—”

  “No. Distressed was when you disappeared on me the morning after we made love, without the thoughtfulness of an explanation. This”—he pounded a fist on the counter —“is rage.”

  Without warning, he made his way around the counter, trapping her against the wall, hands on each side of her head, his body only inches from her much, much smaller one.

  She inhaled, taking a lungful of air that crackled with the energy of his incredible fury. When he spoke, he washed over her face.

  “I had the right to know you were pregnant before I found out in the local pharmacy. I have the right to be in on all the decisions that affect my child and its future.” His tone became dangerous. “From this moment on, I claim my rights.”

  A wave of defensiveness clawed at her. This was her baby they were talking about. Her baby—the child she’d wanted her entire life, the miracle she believed she’d never have.

  “You are wrong, Sierra, about everything. So far off base you couldn’t even begin to imagine how far off you are.”

  “Be rational, Kaden.” Taking a deep breath, she struggled to make him see things from her perspective. “You already have your ranch, your own life, and there’s no reason for you to change anything. I don’t need you around. I don’t want you around.”

  “You think I’m concerned about what you want, Sierra?” Deliberately, he articulated. “I’m concerned about doing what’s right, that’s it.”

  Somehow, he leaned even closer to her, stealing the air she needed to breathe. In his eyes, sparks of brown burned, a major contrast to the passion she’d seen in their depths the night they’d first made love.

  “If you wanted to have your way without any difficulties, you should have chosen a man who wouldn’t care less if you gave birth to his child without telling him, a man that family doesn’t matter to. But you didn’t. You slept with me.”

  She trembled, but didn’t know if it was from uneasiness or reminiscence of their unexpected night of pleasure. How could she have fallen victim to her own mind-boggling desire for him? How could she have thought that his child wouldn’t matter to him? How could she fail to remember everything she’d discovered about this man?

  She stared at him. He was beautiful inside and out. His jet black hair was brushed back away from his forehead, falling past his neck but secured back with a leather tie. High cheekbones and an aquiline nose wider at the top than the bottom spoke of his Native American heritage. A muscle clenched in his jaw, drawing her attention back to the present. She had to fix this or she wouldn’t have a moment’s peace.

  “Okay, Kaden,” she murmured, pushing her fingers through her hair, then lowering her hand. “I had no plans to trick you, but I can understand how you could see it that way, and I’m sorry.”

  “Apology not accepted.”

  She struggled to find an inner harmony she didn’t feel. “We’re both adults. I’m certain we can work out an agreement.”

  “You’re damn right we will.”

  His rock solid, denim-covered thighs were pressed against hers; his masculine strength threatened to overwhelm her, like it had when she’d lost herself in the past and found her feminine strength again. With a sigh of agitation, she asked, “What do you want from me?”

  “Marriage”

  Not a chance.

  Her shoulders drooped, and he curled his hands around them. At his touch, heat sizzled through her, spiraling in the depths of her stomach. She battled against the urge to give into this again. She barely made it out of a horrendous marriage, and she couldn’t give herself ever again to a man who had so much influence over her.

  “We created a baby. We’ll provide out child with a family the legitimate way.”

  “I’m not going to marry you!” She looked him in the eye with every bit of insolence she felt, in spite of the fear racing through her. Wedding vows meant a life sentence, a ring exchange for your freedom.

  Sierra pushed against his hands, battling to get away, but his hold only tightened. “I’m willing to work this out. We can set up visitation rights for you. Our baby will know you as the father.”

  “Marriage or nothing,” he enunciated. “Within the next few weeks. By my calculations, we don’t have much time before you start showing. Our child already being the speculation of the pharmacy you purchased your pregnancy test at, I refuse to have he or she the gossip of the town, along with his mother.”

  * * * *

  Like Kaden himself, like his own mother had been.

  To him, this issue was not debatable.

  Sierra carried his baby. She would be his wife. And his child would share his name.

  They’d be together on holidays, like a real family was. Kaden would be there on Christmas morning.

  Maybe because he had so few good memories of his own Christmases, the thought made him very happy.

  Yes, he’d be present for every event of his daughter’s or son’s life—the birth, school events, doctor’s appointments, everything. Just as it should be.

  Leah had robbed him of parenthood once; he refused to let it happen again.

  There was no room for negotiation.

  The fact that Sierra was every bit as manipulative as Leah didn’t matter right now. No child of his would be a bastard, wear the label and be talked about. Not if Kaden had anything to say about it.

  “We don’t even know each other,” she complained.

  “It’ll happen.”

  Reaching up, she grasped his wrists and tried to shove him away. In her eyes, he saw fear. A softer part of him wanted to ease up, tell her that everything would be okay, that he wasn’t the monster she thought him to be. He’d fought against her discomfort concerning men, of him, on their night. And he’d won. But he wasn’t about to do it again.

  She was no different than any other woman.

  A few months ago, she’d made her bed and invited him to lie in it. He planned to do just that.

  “You don’t even approve of me,” she protested.

  “Who cares?”

  Her eyes drifted closed and her breaths came in uneven, small bursts. “I care.”

  “We had a night together where we got along,” he said, recalling her sensual reaction to his touch and the slide of satin as he’d removed her clothing from her body.

  He’d cupped her breasts in his hands, relished in their fullness and their response as her nipples beaded, begging for his caress. Even now, his body reacted just to the memory of her low moans. “We approved of each other just fine then.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  Oh, but he wanted to. He’d been good enough for her that night, even if that wasn’t the case now.

  “You have to see that this is a ridiculous idea.”

  “You have to see that it isn’t.” His hold tightened once more on her shoulders. “What sort of mother would intentionally subject her child to being a bastard?”

  “A bastard?” she parroted, disbelievingly. “This is the twenty-first century, Kaden.”

  “Not in this town.” Even when he’d been young, when several single women had been having children, he’d been teased.

  “You’re being archaic.”

  “You’re naïve,” he retorted. “We’re in
a small town and people will gossip. You’ve heard about my past with Leah. I heard about your pregnancy at the pharmacy. Think about it.” Kaden spent his entire childhood battling the label of not being wanted, getting into more trouble than he knew what to do with.

  His mother had been called down to the principal’s office as many times as Kaden had. By the time he’d finished school, he’d been suspended at least two dozen times. He wouldn’t have been looked down on or taunted if he’d had a father.

  “It’s more complex than that. I can’t get married again.”

  “Why is that?”

  Her hazel eyes clouded. She opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again. She had secrets, he saw, and he wanted every one of them discovered.

  “It’s just not possible.”

  “Not good enough—not good enough for me, not good enough for the child we made.”

  He didn’t like the idea of being tied down again anymore than Sierra did. He’d promised himself he’d never let another woman finagle him, but he was prepared to forfeit his sanity for his own flesh and blood. Sierra had no choice but to do the same.

  He threaded his fingers into her hair, then said, “This isn’t about you and me anymore.”

  Her hazel eyes were wide, revealing, alluring. It had been her eyes that first fascinated him, making him want to know her better. They’d sparkled when she laughed, then later, they’d darkened with a passion that matched his.

  “I’ve already sworn not to shut you out. Isn’t that good enough?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Every child deserves a father, no matter how you feel about the man you’re pregnant by.”

  She sighed. “You’re out of your mind.”

  “Possibly.” Despite the statements Leah had launched at him, breaking his heart, he had loved baby Jacob with his entire being, which was still in shambles from losing her. The loss of one baby who meant everything to him strengthened his determination not to lose another, especially one that was truly part of him. “But I’m willing to let you choose the date.”