Raina took several long pulls from the straw. Cool water rushed down her throat and she instantly felt better. “Thank you. That feels so nice.” She looked around again. “I have to talk to Nick.”

When Ridley didn’t answer right away, Raina leaned back against the pillows. “We had a fight earlier. I need to see him.”

“He thought it would be best if he stayed away for a while. The doctor said you need to stay calm. You were really upset before.”

Raina stared at the ceiling, blinking back tears. Just thinking about her conversation with Nick made her feel borderline hysterical all over again.

He’d spent so much time romancing her, convincing her that he loved her. Why? He had to have known that she would still help him even without all that.

He could have just asked her to help his foundation in exchange for fathering her baby. In the beginning she’d been open to just about any type of arrangement except a love match. She’d known all along how they usually ended and she’d wanted no part of it.

She’d wanted to avoid feeling the way she did right now.

“Did he leave?”

Ridley looked at her. It was impossible to miss the pity in her voice when she said “I think he went home.” When she didn’t say anything else, Raina suddenly understood what she wasn’t saying.

“He’s not coming back, is he?”

When her sister shook her head, sadly, Raina turned her face against her pillow and let her tears fall freely.

*   *   *   *   *

OVER THE NEXT two weeks, Ridley came over every day to make sure that Raina was eating, taking her medication, and drinking enough water. Sam willingly submitted to her authority and before long he was ignoring everything Raina asked him to do in favor of Ridley’s instructions.

He’d even eaten meals with her, watching her like a hawk to make sure she kept down the bland broth and toast. He’d made the mistake of sitting in Nick’s usual seat one day only to have to move when she’d started crying over her food.

It was unbelievable how empty the house seemed without Nick there. Even his side of the closet was depressing to look at without all his junk and clutter.

The empty space next to all her stuff just made her sad.

In the beginning, Ridley had asked her each day if she wanted to see Nick. Just the thought of him brought tears to her eyes, so eventually Ridley had stopped asking.

It was too exhausting to think about her husband. She wished she could go back to the days before she’d talked to Steven. Or if she had just not asked Nick any more questions that day in the hospital. It was cowardly, but she would rather have lived her whole life in blissful ignorance than have to face the facts that Nick had married her for monetary reasons.

But she’d slowly started to adjust to being alone again. It was easier if she didn’t actively think about Nick and focused on the other things in her life. Which was kind of hard to do when Sam wouldn’t bring her the laptop or her cell phone.

“I just want to check emails,” she complained.

The doctor hadn’t even given her this many restrictions but Ridley had decided that using a computer was “working” and asked Sam to confiscate Raina’s electronics.

The traitor hadn’t even hesitated.

“If you don’t stop complaining, I’m going to tell your sister on you.” Sam didn’t bother to hide his amusement as she glared at him. This was probably going to be really funny one day in the future. In the distant, distant future when she was no longer heartbroken. Like in about a million years.

“This isn’t funny. What am I supposed to do?”

“Rest. Drink all that water,” he said, pointing at the water bottle resting on the table next to her, “and read your magazines. That’s all.”

“You guys aren’t the boss of me,” Raina muttered.

“And if you aren’t good,” Sam continued, “then Ridley has instructed me to call your mother-in-law to come over here and babysit you.”

Julia wouldn’t hesitate to come over, either. She’d called Raina every day to find out if she needed anything and had delicately avoided any mention of Nick. Which was particularly annoying because Raina really wanted to know where he was.

Jackson and Ridley had come over, together and separately, to keep her company. Elliott had called on the phone to ask if she needed anything. Bennett had even dropped by and brought her some movies and TV shows on DVD to watch. They’d been talking at a family dinner one night and discovered they both enjoyed British comedies. She was surprised he’d remembered that.

She’d been surprised all around to be treated so nicely by Nick’s family. Even though she was carrying an Alexander baby, she was still the outsider. She had been expecting them to all take Nick’s side. But no one had even mentioned Nick.

Raina picked up the water bottle and sucked down a few gulps. “I’m being good, see?” She picked up the first magazine on the stack he’d brought her. There was a smiling blue-eyed baby on the cover holding a bright red ball.

“Better. Read a magazine and then take a nap. That’s an order.” He tucked the throw blanket around her and then left her alone.

Later that night, Sam brought her a TV tray. He plopped down on the couch next to her and watched her take a small spoonful of broth.

“I have bad news,” Sam said once her mouth was full. “I’ve been going through your backlog of emails. The network isn’t going to buy any more episodes of the show unless they’re able to get behind-the-scenes footage with you and Nick.”