She placed a smile on her lips that he knew was forced. “That time is fine with me, but I doubt Mom and Dad will come either way.”

“Then they will miss a good party,” Jason replied. He then turned to Megan. “The first weekend in August is fine.”

Later, on the ride back to their place, Jason finally found out what was troubling Bella. “I rode over to my ranch today, Jason. Why didn’t you tell me work hadn’t begun on the house yet?”

“There was no reason to tell you. You knew I was taking care of things, didn’t you?”

“Yes. But I assumed work had gotten started already.”

“I saw no reason to begin work on the place yet, given we’re having a lot of rainy days around here now. It’s not a good time to start any type of construction. Besides, it’s not like you’re going to move into the house or anything.”

“You don’t know that.”

He had pulled into the yard and brought the truck to a stop and turned the ignition off. He glanced over at her. “I don’t? I thought I did.”

He tilted his hat back from his eyes and stared over at her. “Why would you need to move back into the house?”

Instead of holding his gaze she glanced out the window and looked ahead at his house, which he now considered as their house. “Our marriage is only supposed to last a year and I’m going to need somewhere to live when it ends.”

Her words were like a kick in the gut. She was already planning for the time when she would be leaving him? Why? He thought things were going great between them. “What’s going on, Bella?”

“Nothing is going on. I just need to be realistic and remember that although we enjoy being bed partners, the reason we married stemmed from your proposal, which I accepted knowing full well the terms. And they are terms we must not forget.”

Jason simply looked at her as he swore under his breath. She thought the only thing between them was the fact they were bed partners? “Thanks for reminding me, Bella.” He then got out of the truck.

That was the first night they slept in the same bed but didn’t make love and Bella lay there hurting inside and wasn’t sure what she could do about it. She was trying to protect her heart, especially after the results of the pregnancy test she’d taken a few days ago.