Sutherland’s Pride by Kathryn Brocato Page A

breast.
    “Let’s go up on deck and look at the boats, okay? I hear one going by in the water. If we get there quickly, we can see it.”
    She struggled to her feet, cuddling Johnny, and walked toward the companionway, conscious of Flynn behind her.
    By the time she reached the deck, Johnny had forgotten his fear in the excitement of racing to the foredeck in time to watch a fishing yacht head out of port toward the open Gulf. They took up a position along the rail and waved at the three fishermen occupying the flying bridge of the passing yacht.
    “Pride, I’m sorry.” Flynn stood beside her, watching her steadily. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Or Johnny.”
    “I wasn’t thinking,” she admitted, turning back to watch the passing yacht. “I’m sorry he hit you.”
    Flynn came closer. When she made no movement away, he took her hand and held it.
    “It served me right,” he said. “Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”
    “Ask again after we’re off this boat and on your sailboat.”
    He lifted her hand to his lips. “What about you? Will you ever forgive me?”
    Pride looked away. “Of course, Flynn. You don’t even have to ask.”
    “Great.” He smiled whimsically. “I still want to marry you, you know. No matter what it is you intend to tell me tonight.”

Chapter Six
    Pride swallowed hard and turned her gaze toward a slowly passing yacht. By the time ‘tonight’ arrived, she would probably be searching for a way of putting off the moment of revelation a little longer.
    What an idiot she was. So much for being mad because Flynn didn’t realize Johnny was his son. Now, she feared Flynn would be furious when he learned the truth. So furious, he would rescind his offer of marriage and sue her for custody of Johnny.
    “Time will tell,” she made herself say in light tones.
    He smiled with wry humor. “Unless, of course, you intend to tell me that you had the baby, and he’s alive and well and living with his father.”
    “As a matter of interest, why would that kill your desire to marry me?” she asked, genuinely curious.
    “Because then I’d have to kill the guy so I could have both you and the baby,” he said, astonishing her. “I made a big mistake when I let you walk out of my life three years ago.”
    Pride stood absolutely still, staring blindly at the water before her. Did Flynn mean that he wanted a son so much he would be willing to accept her baby even if he believed some other man had fathered the child?
    Nothing made sense anymore.
    She felt certain of only one thing, however. Until Flynn knew and accepted that Johnny was his son, she could not even think about marrying him.
    The man was diabolical. He was deliberately messing with her mind.
    “This is some boat, isn’t it?” Gloria approached, still carrying Sylvia. “It’s amazing how well they used the space.”
    Pride relaxed slightly. “It’s an art.”
    “Eric Boudreaux, get away from that rail,” Gloria called. “If you want to go sailing, you have to obey the rules. The rules say, stay back from the rails.”
    Excited chatter from Gloria’s three children ebbed and flowed as they raced from one side of the deck to the other. Pride noted the lack of comment from Johnny and looked down.
    “Johnny,” she shrieked.
    Johnny, who had climbed through the rails to peer down at the water, tumbled headfirst off the deck at her cry and splashed down into the water some five feet below.
    Pride, panicked, flung a leg over the rail.
    “I’ll get him,” Flynn said, blocking her.
    Pride, shaking with fright, hung over the rail and searched for Johnny’s blond head beneath the surface of the oil-slicked, dark water. The little boy surfaced, coughing and flailing at the water with his hands.
    Flynn leaped over the rail, hung by his hands for a moment until he spotted Johnny surfacing, then dropped lightly into the water beside the child. He lifted Johnny high above the surface and glided easily through the water to the