Roarke's Kingdom

The old man took a step back. “Sorry, but I’m in a devil of a rush. I only stopped in to use the—”

Jennifer grabbed his arm and pulled him through the room and out the door. She was trembling from head to foot. Now that the moment was here her rage threatened to overcame her.

“How could you?” she hissed.

He paled. “How could I what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

But he did. She could see it in his face.

“Don’t pretend, damn you! I know the truth, Doctor. I’ve seen my daughter.”

Ronald’s jaw grew slack. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she said, staring into his face, “I know what you did. You sold my baby. Sold her, as if she were a—an object, not a child!”

“She was adopted,” he said quickly. “It was all legal.”

“Since when is selling babies legal?”

“Jennifer, you mustn’t make such swift judgments.”

“You lied about everything, Doctor. You told me you’d met the parents. But you never did.”

“No. In adoption cases like this—”

“Did you ever even ask any questions? About who these people were?”

The old man seemed to shrink.

“I dealt with their attorney. He assured me they would be devoted to the baby. The money was a gesture of their commitment.”

“The money was for you,” Jennifer hissed, “because what you did was against the law. How could you have done it?”

His defenses crumpled in the face of her anger.

He leaned back against the building and the sad, sorry story tumbled from his lips.

It was the first time he’d ever done anything like it, he said. He was old, his practice was failing. His wife had become ill.

Maybe it was true.

Maybe it wasn’t.

Jennifer didn’t give a damn.

What the doctor had done had destroyed her life and if she hadn’t kept quiet, it might have destroyed Roarke’s and Susanna’s lives too.

“The lawyer swore the baby was going to a wonderful home,” the old man said. “All I had to do was—was make certain the birth certificate had the proper names on it.” He paused, then ran his tongue along his lips. “It wasn’t—it wasn’t so terrible. You couldn’t keep your child, and she was going to have a happy life.”

“And you believed that? You told yourself everything would be fine if you just took the money and ran?”

Hi mouth opened, then clamped shut. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he whispered.

“You mean, you didn’t care if you hurt anyone.”

Ronald was silent. Then he raised his head. “What—what are you going to do?”

Jennifer stared at him.