Her Secret, His Child

It occurred to Kyle that this could simply be a

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

poorly executed seduction scene. His blood thrumming through his veins, his eyes met Jamie's—and he saw the fear. This was no seduction scene. Jamie knew full well she had no reason to be afraid on that score.

"Mommy?"

Kyle wasn't sure who reacted first as they heard the voice accompanied by little footsteps pattering down the hall. Jamie's eyes filled with horror at the same time Kyle turned in anticipation.

"I'm not asleep, Mommy," the child called just before she came tumbling into the room.

Rushing for the door, blocking his view of the child, Jamie cried sharply, "Ashley! No! Go!"

Kyle was shocked at her tone. So, it seemed, was Ashley. She stood frozen in the doorway and burst into tears.

"Oh, baby, I'm sorry," Jamie said, instantly contrite. "Mommy didn't mean to yell at you." She bent, pulled Ashley into her arms—and that was when Kyle got his first look at the child he'd been so eager to meet.

Something wasn't right. He stood there in a fog, staring at the little girl. She looked just like her mother, only in miniature. Her wavy auburn hair was Jamie's, though the way hers fell over Jamie's arms, he figured it must hang all the way down to her waist. Her eyes were like her mother's, too. Big and gray. Kyle had to think, had to figure out what was wrong.

"She doesn't look two." That was it.

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

Ashley pulled her thumb from her mouth, all trace of tears gone. "I'm not. I'm four."

Four? But he'd thought… He glanced at the picture on the end table. Considered the conclusion he'

d drawn. Jamie had done nothing to dispel his assumption that the picture was recent. Why would she want him to think…

Jamie's back was stiff, her head held at an unnatural angle as though awaiting a blow. She didn't turn around.

"You're four?" Kyle asked, because the child was looking at him, not because he hadn't understood her the first time.

' 'Yes—but I'm a little more than four because my birthday came by a while ago."

If he hadn't been so numb, he'd have smiled at that. He was sure he would have. Now all he could manage was a nod.

"Do you have a birthday month?" she asked him, apparently not at all daunted to have a strange man in her mother's living room. "Mommy says everyone has a birthday month."

"I do," Kyle said. Though at the moment, he couldn't recall what it was.

"Mine's 'vember."

"November?" he asked.

Still crouching, holding the child, Jamie hadn't moved.

Ashley nodded, slid her thumb back in her mouth and stared at him. Apparently she'd said all she was going to say.

But it had been enough. Kyle was sure it had. He

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

wasn't completely sure why. Couldn't even begin to contemplate the significance of the last minutes.

''Let's get you back to bed, okay, punkin?" He barely heard the hoarse words through the roaring in his ears.

And did absolutely nothing when Jamie took the child from the room. He just let her go. Though a part of him knew he shouldn't have. That he needed that little girl right there with him. But the other part, the part that was strangling the air from his lungs, the thoughts from his brain, had too much control of him. Holding him senseless. In shock.