When Allyson woke up there was no one beside her. For a second she didn’t understand where she was, and she panicked. She sat up suddenly, wobbling on the hammock, but managed to slip out safely onto the soft sand.

Anxiety was making her heart hammer wildly. Dane. Where was Dane? Where was she?

She blinked, the sunlight distorting her vision. Then her surroundings came into focus. Outside. They had fallen asleep together out here. Under the stars.

But her husband was nowhere to be seen. Her bag was still on the sand. Maybe he had gone inside to eat breakfast. She reached into her bag, searching for her phone so she could figure out what time it was.

No phone. Frowning, she grabbed her bag and walked across the beach. Had Dane taken her phone?

Oh crap. The snowstorm. What if something had happened to her family overnight and they had tried to reach her?

Her chest tightened as she raced by the swimming pool and into the villa. “Dane!”

She searched downstairs first, calling out to him. When she realized he wasn’t downstairs, she rushed up to their bedroom.

Allyson flung open the door and inhaled sharply. “What are you doing?”

Dane turned to face her, his blue eyes like ice. “Packing.”

“Are we going back to New York?” she asked. “Has the snowstorm passed?”

“We aren’t doing anything,” he responded. “I’m getting out of here.”

He meant it. Her husband was already dressed in one of his perfectly tailored Italian suits. Ordinarily she would have thought he looked handsome all cleaned up like this, but there was something emanating from him. Something between icy indifference and white-hot rage.

Not only was he immaculately dressed, he was also packing one of his suitcases.

“What’s happened?” Her voice sounded shrill to her. Shrill and desperate.

“You don’t know?” he asked with a snarl. “I find that hard to believe.”

She reached a shaking hand out to him, but he ignored it. Turned his back on her and returned to his packing. “What’s wrong, Dane? You sound...different. Not like yourself.”

“And you haven’t sounded like yourself for weeks,” he said. “I guess now you know how it feels.”

“Please. Speak to me.” She squeezed her eyes shut, doing everything in her power to fight back the tears. Allyson had no idea what was wrong, but she had never seen him like this. There were times when they had argued. Disagreed. Even broken up. But this was different. His anger was so palpable, but it was like he was trying so hard not to let her see it. Trying and failing, because she could see it. She could sense it.

“There’s nothing left to say.” He shut the suitcase. “You got all the money you wanted. Now you and Phillip can go spend it.”

“Phillip?” She blinked in confusion. “Who the hell is Phillip?”

“Phillip Beckford?” Dane turned back to face her. The ice in his eyes had turned into flame. Her husband wasn’t simply angry. He was hurting. There was so much pain and disappointment in his eyes. “I trusted you, Allyson. The only person I trusted more than myself was you. And you played me.”

She pulled her hand away from him and placed it over her stomach. Her insides were churning. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Everything was supposed to be perfect. Now her hopes had been dashed. All her plans ruined. “Please don’t jump to any rash conclusions.”

“What other conclusion could I possibly come to?” He glared at her. “You’ve been distracted for weeks. At first, I thought it was work, but work isn’t why you’ve been running off to call strange men. Work isn’t why you disappeared for two hours yesterday without explanation. It isn’t why you’d rather be anywhere else but here with me. Admit it. You used me for my money, and now that you have it you think you can flaunt your relationship with this guy.”

Tears stung her eyes. “How could you believe that? You really think I’m capable of such a thing?”

He stared at her, an expression of pure pain on his face. “Truthfully? I still can’t believe it. The Allyson I know could never do something like this. But you’re the one who told me you had a secret. It can’t be a good secret if it’s been making you act this way.”

“You’re going to leave me?” A painful lump formed in her throat.

“I thought it would be better if I left the villa,” he said. “It’s better for the both of us if we get out of each other’s way. At least until we figure out how to end this.”

“You want a divorce?”

“No,” he said passionately. “I want you. But you don’t want me. I can’t force you to love me—”

“I love you with all my heart and soul,” she blurted out. “I haven’t shown it very well lately, but I love you, Dane. I can’t live without you.”

He took a step towards her. “You love me?”

“More than anything.”

“So, you’re not having an affair?” he asked.

She shook her head and quickly brushed her tears away. “No. I could never do that. Never ever.”

“If you’re not cheating then I’ll stay,” he said. “As long as you love me, I’ll stay.”

“You don’t care that I’m keeping a secret from you?” she asked.

“Of course, I care,” he replied. “But you’re entitled to your secrets. I’ll just have to figure out how to live with it.”

“No,” she said firmly. She had put him through so much pain. This uncertainty wasn’t fair to him. “You don’t. You deserve the truth, Dane.”

He took another step towards her. They were standing so close she could feel the heat of his body.

“What is the truth, Allyson?” he asked.

She placed a hand on top of the hand that was already on her stomach. Her entire body shivered. “I’m pregnant.”

Silence.

The pained expression on his handsome face seemed to melt away right before her eyes. It was like someone had flicked a switch and his entire demeanor changed. The blazing heat in his gaze turned into momentary surprise. And then, tenderness.

“You’re pregnant?” His voice broke with emotion.

His eyes. The look in his eyes. They were so blue. And they were shining. She had never seen them look at her that way. There were tears in his eyes. Actual tears.

“Yes, and—”

The rest of her sentence never came out. Dane pulled her into his arms and hugged her so tightly she didn’t know where her body ended and his began. Then she was spinning and spinning. Her husband had lifted her up and had started spinning her around.

“You’re pregnant!” His strong arms were still holding her in a tight embrace.

For a second she felt nothing but euphoria. And then, as realization hit her, unease settled.

“Dane, wait.”

He stopped spinning her and she squirmed out of his grasp.

He cupped her face between his large hands. “What is it? Have I hurt you? You shouldn’t be standing up like this. Let’s get you into bed.”

She held up her hand. “Dane, I’m pregnant not sick.”

“What’s wrong?” He stared deeply into her eyes, probing down into the depths of her soul.

“I’m not completely sure that I’m pregnant,” she said softly. “That’s why I’ve been so distracted.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I’m pregnant,” she said. “I took a pregnancy test weeks ago and it was positive. But I needed to be completely sure, so I went to the doctor to take a blood test. I was supposed to have gotten the results yesterday, but the snowstorm made that impossible.”

“That’s why you wanted to get back to New York so badly yesterday,” he said.

She nodded. “I missed my appointment because of the snowstorm. That’s why I took off without an explanation yesterday. I went into town to find a pharmacy. Then I came back here and took, like, five pregnancy tests. They were all positive. Five pregnancy tests can’t be wrong, can they?”

“I don’t see how they could be.” Dane released her face, then took her hand and led her to the bed. He motioned for her to sit and she sank down onto the soft mattress beside him.

“So, who is Phillip Beckford?” Dane asked.

“Dr. Phillip Beckford. My doctor,” she said. “He called?”

Her husband nodded. “Yes. He said you’ve been calling him a lot and he wanted you to call him back.”

“I’ve been calling him because I know he has my test results,” she said. “I want to know for sure, but he refuses to tell me over the phone. He can only tell me in person, and until I get back to New York I can’t know for sure. I’ve probably been driving him crazy with all my calls and texts.” She sighed in frustration. “I just wish he would tell me so that I can finally know for sure.”

He held her hand and squeezed it gently. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why keep it a secret?”

“Because I wanted it to be a surprise,” she said. “It was supposed to have been your Christmas present, but not knowing for sure has made things so much more complicated.”

“Allyson, this is the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten,” he said.

“And that’s what scares me.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I wanted to know for sure, so I didn’t give you any false hope. I’ve already fallen in love with this baby. I want this baby so badly that I don’t know what I’ll do if it turns out I’m not pregnant. Or if it turns out that I was pregnant but ended up losing it since it’s in the early stages, and I’ve still been waiting for the test results. I’m afraid of getting my heart broken. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you until I got my results back from the doctor. I didn’t want you to be heartbroken if something bad happened.”

His hand skimmed up her arm, caressing it as if he was touching her skin for the first time. Then he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he kissed it again. And again. “I love you, Allyson,” he said. “I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.”

When he looked up at her once more, his eyes were shining with tears again. He cleared his throat. “You are the bravest person I’ve ever met. You’ve been carrying all this turmoil inside for so long all by yourself. Unless...” He paused, as if realization had just dawned on him. “Cameron knows, doesn’t he?”

She shook her head. “No. He set up the appointment for me, so he knows I have some medical issue. But he has no idea what the issue is. I suspect he thinks I’m seriously ill, which is why he’s been so worried about me. I was afraid you’d be angry that he knew something before you did. Even if he didn’t know the whole story, I was scared that I was betraying you.”

“That’s why he’s been looking at you like that,” he said. “I thought it was because he had a crush on you or something. Allyson, it wasn’t a betrayal. You were just trying to do what you thought was right.”

Her eyes widened. “You really think Cameron has a crush? On me? I’m pretty sure everyone at Prescott knows that Cameron has a thing for Nadia Nakamura, not me.”

He laughed. “So, Cameron has a crush on our star snowboarder. That’s why he was so enthusiastic about the winter sports show. I thought it was because he had a crush on you, when the whole time he wanted to get closer to Nadia.”

“Nadia has a thing for him, too,” she said. “She’s been trying to work up the courage to give him her number.”

“But why are you still so focused on getting home for Christmas Day?” Dane asked. “You’ve already missed your appointment. Without your appointment, you couldn’t have given me the news as a Christmas gift.”

Allyson sighed. All the weeks of building tension were weighing on her shoulders. “I wanted to prove that I could be a good mom. If I could handle having a job, being a wife, and being a good hostess this Christmas, then that meant I had what it took to be a mother. I really wanted to prove that I could do it all on my own. Prove that I could be there for my family. If we’re going to be adding to our family, I need to be ready. And it looks like I’m not. I can’t even pull off a Christmas dinner.”

Pain shot through her heart. The thought of failing their unborn child frightened her.

“You’re scared.”

There wasn’t accusation in her husband’s tone. If anything, he sounded sympathetic. Like he understood what she had been feeling all these weeks.

For weeks there had been sleepless nights while she obsessed over potential motherhood. What if she wasn’t a good mom? What if she screwed up? Nothing scared her more than being a bad parent. And worst of all, she had no clue how to parent a child who stood to inherit so much wealth.

“I am scared,” she admitted finally. “Scared that I’m going to be a terrible mother.”

“I can’t imagine you being anything other than a wonderful mother. Besides, you won’t be raising our child alone,” he said gently. “You’ve been running yourself ragged all these weeks because you’ve been trying to be there for your family. Why don’t you try letting your family be there for you for a change?”

She paused. Tried to gather her thoughts. “I guess I got so wrapped up in my own fears that I didn’t think about anyone else. Not to mention, all this high society stuff comes so easy for you, Dane. I’m still learning. I don’t want to embarrass our child in front of all the wealthy people you grew up with.”

“You’ve been going through all this alone.” Remorse flashed in his eyes. “This must have been so difficult for you, and this whole time I’ve made accusations and haven’t trusted you. I’ve treated you badly. I don’t have the right to ask you for forgiveness, but—”

“There’s nothing to forgive,” she assured him. “This has been a trying time for both of us. But all I could think about was myself; I put you through all this. I made you second-guess yourself.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I just want you to know that we’re in this together.”

She gazed at him, trying to see how he was really feeling. “Aren’t you scared? About being a parent, I mean.”

“I’m scared out of my mind.” Suddenly he released her hand and stared at her. His entire body went rigid. “Oh shit. I think it just hit me. I’m going to be a father.”