Free Betrayed by Trust by Frankie Robertson

do my best to make our life together a happy one. I’ll love your child as if it were my own.” His words tumbled out a little too fast even though he’d rehearsed what he planned to say. Why was he so nervous? It wasn’t as if she was going to refuse. “Even though we’ve already agreed on this, you still have choices. Will you marry me?”
    “That should have been my line,” she said, a bemused frown wrinkling her brow. “ You have a choice.”
    He shrugged. He wasn’t sure he did. “You want to know why I’m doing this, don’t you?”
    She nodded. “Yeah.”
    “I’m doing it for your mom.” Dan had a hard time keeping a straight face even though he was dead serious.
    “My mom?”
    “When we visit your folks to tell them we’re getting married, your mom will want to know all the details: how long we’ve been dating, how I asked you, all that. And now you’ll have an answer for her. An answer that will be more than just a cover story.”
    “A cover story would have been good enough,” she grumbled.
    Was that disappointment he heard in her voice? Dan shook his head at his wishful thinking. “Nope. Not if your mom is anything like mine was. She could sniff out a lie from a hundred yards.”
    “But what about everything else? We can’t exactly tell them I came home from screwing another guy and then you got down on one knee.”
    Dan winced at her bald phrasing. “Well, no, I wouldn’t put it quite that way. But the important stuff will be true.”
    “The important stuff?”
    “That we met at work and started seeing each other six weeks ago. We weren’t dating exclusively so you went out on a date with another guy. That’s when I knew I didn’t want to let you get away. I asked you to marry me before you knew you were pregnant.”
    “I’m pretty sure it took,” Marianne objected. “It was … I feel … different.”
    “But you don’t know , so that’s what we’ll tell your folks.”
    “I thought we’d wait to tell them I’m expecting until after the wedding.”
    He snorted softly. “You think they won’t suspect? Why else would we be in a rush? I just hope your father gives his consent before he figures it out; he’ll be less likely to shoot me.”
    Marianne straightened. “His consent! I don’t need his permission. I’m an adult, not chattel! No, we’ll elope and then it will be a fait accompli.”
    Dan held her gaze as he slowly shook his head. “We’re not going to elope. Your parents need this. You’re all they have left. This is something a mother dreams about for her daughter, and she’s not going to get to plan a big shindig for you. This wedding is going to be rushed, but your dad will at least get to give you away.”
    “Give me away!” I felt like I’d stepped back into the 1950s.
    “You’re his little girl. I’ll ask for his blessing. It’s a formality, but it will make them happy.”
    She stared at him, tight-lipped and annoyed.
    He enjoyed a little flare of victory when she slumped and blew out a deep breath.
    “Oh, hell. You’re right. It would break my parents’ hearts if we eloped. I just wish we could dodge all the fuss.”
    “ That’s why I’m doing this. All that fuss will make your mom happy. And you, too, if you let yourself enjoy it.”
    Marianne narrowed her eyes at him, though a smile curled one corner of her mouth.
    Dan laughed. “So is that a ‘yes’?”

CHAPTER TEN

MARIANNE
    I wasn’t ready to let him win just yet. “What about you? Won’t your mom hate me? No mother thinks any woman is good enough for her son, especially not one that lets herself get knocked up.”
    Dan shrugged. “My folks are gone. It’s just my older sister and me.”
    “I’m sorry.” I felt like I should have known about his family already. We’d spent a good chunk of the last six weeks together, studying Conrad and learning about each other so we could pass as brother and sister, but I hadn’t learned something so basic as whether his parents