Damn Tom Webber and his generosity. Damn his friends. Damn his lies, his choices, the choices he'd left her. Damn him for taking her youth, her innocence, and making her a whore without her even knowing what he was doing. But most of all, damn him for making it so easy to fall into a life she'd never wanted. For making it almost impossible, and completely stupid, for her to walk away.
Minutes later, Kyle's knock on the door reverberated through her small house. Jamie wasn't sure what he'd see as she opened her door to him. She'd been unable to meet her reflection in the mirror before she'd left the bedroom, couldn't stand to see the woman who would've been staring back at her.
The money. She just had to remember that last hateful wad of bills. They'd changed her life forever.
mmm
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TARA TAYLOR QUINN
as hell at himself. "I was grading papers and lost track of the time."
"Good papers?"
Kyle shrugged. "Thought-provoking," he said, remembering that last one. It had had him so engrossed he'd never even heard the alarm on his watch go off to tell him it was time to get showered. "Not that I agree with all of them."
"And do your students lose points for daring to have alternative opinions?"
"Nope." Kyle grinned at her. "Alternative opinions are always graciously accepted."
"Always?"
"As long as they have a valid argument to back them up."
"Nice car," she said, admiring his metallic-blue Ford Thunderbird.
"Thanks." Odd, as forcefully as she affected him, there were so many things she didn't know. Like the fact that he had a passion for Thunderbirds. Owned three of them. From three different decades. He'd brought the brand-new one tonight. For her. Had wanted her to travel in luxury as well as style.
"Where's your daughter?"
She shot him a startled glance, almost as though she'd forgotten he knew about the child, and then seemed to relax a bit.
"Actually, she's spending the night next door," she said, climbing into the T-Bird.
Kyle looked at the two-story next to Jamie's smaller house. ' 'Friends of yours?''
She waited until he'd rounded the car and gotten
HER SECRET, HIS CHILD
in. "Good friends," she said then. "They have a daughter Ashley's age."
"Ashley," he said, trying out the name. Liked it. "That's your daughter's name?"
A little jolt again, barely perceptible except that Kyle was in tune to every breath she took. "Yes," she said. "Ashley Mariah."
"It's a nice name."
He wanted to ask about the child's father. To know if he was the reason Jamie had erected such walls around herself.
And he would. When he was more certain she'd answer him.
"So what's your aversion to compliments?" He'd chosen the restaurant carefully. One of his favorite places, Gulliver's not only served superb steak but offered warmth and intimacy. Each table was set off in its own alcove, and every alcove gave the appearance of being its own private den—complete with bookshelves built into the walls.
"I don't have an aversion to compliments." She was smiling, but the smile didn't reach her eyes, and her eyes didn't quite meet his.
"Sure you do." Kyle grinned at her across their table for two.