Her Secret, His Child

Stepping back, Jamie allowed him inside. Only because she was still afraid Karen might peer out-

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

side and see him standing on her doorstep. And because she was freezing.

"What do you want?" she asked through teeth that were practically chattering, though from cold or nerves she wasn't sure.

"You said you had papers for me to sign."

"I said I'd bring them to your office."

"I thought I'd save you a trip." His words were easy enough; the challenge in his warm brown eyes was not.

"That wasn't necessary." She felt ridiculous all trussed up in several outfits, with stocking feet that looked big enough to belong to a bear.

Hands in his jeans pockets, he asked, ' 'You conserving electricity?"

He was wearing a corduroy jacket much like the one he'd had on in his office that day but no overcoat. He must be as cold as she was.

"My furnace is on the fritz." Damn her chattering teeth.

"You're going to catch pneumonia if you stand around shivering much longer," he said, grinning at her. ' 'I know a motel that's only a couple of miles from here…"

His comment was so outrageously out of line, the laughter in his eyes so blatant, Jamie couldn't help but smile right back at him. ' 'I have a perfectly good fire going in the next room," she told him. "I didn't want to leave in case the repair guy has a chance to get here any earlier than tomorrow afternoon."

Kyle rocked back and forth on his feet, his jeans fitting his lean legs to perfection, as he watched her.

HER SECRET. HIS CHILD

' 'What?'' she asked, exasperated at the half grin lifting the corners of his mouth. What was it about this man that made him so different from any other man she'd ever known? She'd certainly known enough of them.

"I'm just wondering how long it's going to take you to work up the courage to invite me to that fire."

"I'm not intending to invite you at all." Jamie couldn't remember if Ashley had left any toys lying around the living room. "I-I'll just get the forms for you," she stammered. "Wait right here."

Hurrying back to her office, Jamie stopped only long enough to close Ashley's bedroom door. She was probably being irrational, but she didn't want him touching Ashley's life in any way. Not even by knowing of her existence.

He was adding a log to the fire when she returned to the living room. His thick leather driving gloves lay on top of the mantel.

"I heard the fire hiss and checked to make sure a log hadn't fallen. Could've been dangerous," he said, brushing his hands together as he stepped back from the fire.

Her favorite picture of Ashley—the one where her two-year-old chubby cheeks were surrounded by a halo of riotous curls—was on the mantel. The little girl was wearing her most impish grin.

"Must be a relative," Kyle said, following her gaze. "She looks like you."

Her throat was so tight she couldn't have spoken if she'd had to save her life. Jamie nodded.

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

"Looks too young to be a sister," he observed. "She your niece?"

She'd had sex with this man. Which made it almost impossible to understand why she still found him so damned attractive.

He seemed not to notice her silence as his gaze moved slowly around the room. Jamie's accompanied it. And landed on the pile of children's books under the coffee table at exactly the same time. Her eyes reached the baby doll tucked so carefully into the rocker before his. But only just.

It didn't take him long to put two and two together, college professor that he was.

"She's yours."