The Texas Billionaire's Baby by Karen Rose Smith Page B

unless I changed it. I could do that by going to college. I could not only change who I was, but who Angie could become. Oh, Logan, I wanted to stay. But there were so many pressures that pushed me to leave. Once I was in college, I still had regrets, but I—”
    The look on her face forewarned him that hewouldn’t like what was coming. For a moment, just a moment, he glimpsed that something soul-shaking had happened to her.
    “So when I called, why didn’t you talk to me? Did you really have a test?”
    She looked down at her hands folded across the pillow. Her dark lashes were so feminine on her cheeks, but he sensed her calm exterior was hiding a wealth of turmoil underneath.
    “I had a test that day, but…I couldn’t call you back.”
    More than anything, he wanted to reach out and take her hand. He wanted to reach out and touch her face. When they touched, all heaven broke loose and he could use a little of that now. But this wasn’t about him and his feelings. It was about her . He’d never put himself into her shoes because he hadn’t wanted to, because her reasons for leaving weren’t as important as the reasons she should have stayed.
    “Tell me what happened.”
    It was a request more than a command, but the intensity behind it made her hold the pillow tighter.
    “You’ll never look at me the same again if I tell you,” she said, so reasonably he almost believed her. But then he saw she wasn’t being reasonable at all. She was afraid…afraid of his reaction.
    “What happened?” he asked again, gently so she’d know she had nothing to fear.
    He saw the pulse at her neck was beating fast.
    She took a deep breath, held it, then let it out. “I was date-raped.”
    She uttered the words very softly, but they slammed into him like a body blow. Their impact took his breath away. If they did that to him , he could only imaginewhat they did to her. Should he gather her into his arms? Let her explain? Tell her she didn’t have to say anything else?
    He was at a total loss. He felt frozen.
    She must have seen how absolutely he’d been affected by what she’d told him because she said, “You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know why I didn’t come back, why I didn’t call, why I felt even more insecure about the differences between us.”
    “My God, Gina, insecure? You were raped! Insecurity has to be the least of it. Who in the hell did this? Did you press charges?”
    Agitated now, she tossed down the pillow and walked over to the bay window looking out into the front yard. “I didn’t bring this up to rehash it. I got counseling. It’s over.”
    He couldn’t stay away from her now. Crossing to her, he gently laid his hands on her shoulders. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay, but please turn around and look at me.”
    She did then, and he could tell it took an effort for her to keep her chin lifted. He could feel the tension in her body, see the lines on her brow, and abruptly he realized what facing him like this cost her. Without a second thought, he wrapped his arms around her and brought her into his chest. They stood that way for what seemed to be a very long time.
    Seconds passed. Minutes passed. He didn’t know how many.
    When Logan finally leaned back to look at her, he thought he might see tears in her eyes, but he didn’t. That surprised him.
    “You say you’re over it, but can you really be over something like that?”
    A long sigh escaped her lips. “For the most part. I still have some trust issues with men, trust issues in general, really. I didn’t tell anyone what happened. It would have been a ‘he said, she said’ situation. He didn’t even go to the college I attended. He was a friend of one of the frat guys and just happened to be at the party that night. I was lonely and had drunk punch that was spiked. I don’t know how much liquor was in it. But that was no excuse. I never should have gone with him to that room. I thought we