Her Secret, His Child

As Jamie had known he'd be, Kyle was a wonderful daddy, warm and loving, yet firm. Ashley adored him.

When she let herself, Ashley's mother adored him, too.

Spring break came the third week in March. Kyle had really pushed for a family vacation, four days in the mountains, and though she knew the forced intimacy would be dangerous, Jamie had finally let him talk her into it. He was so excited about the idea, so anxious to get away someplace where no one knew anything about them, she hadn't had the heart to turn him down.

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

But as they drove up into the mountains north of Denver, to the resort where Kyle had made reservations, Jamie couldn't help wondering if this break was going to become a breakup, too.

Kyle had told her that morning when he'd picked them up that he'd reserved a one-bedroom suite for the three of them. She'd been on edge ever since. Was he telling her that he was done waiting? That her hands-off policy was no longer in effect?

Not even for Kyle could she take pretending any further than they'd already taken it. She wasn't his wife. With her past, she wasn't ever going to be. And she wasn't going to sleep with him as if she were.

"You cold?" he asked, adjusting the T-Bird's thermostat.

"I'm fine." Jamie shook her head. The cold she was feeling came from inside—nothing a thermostat was going to help.

Kyle glanced in his rearview mirror, grinning at Ashley hunched over the padded safety bar of her new booster seat. "She always sleep like that in the car?"

After a quick peek, Jamie smiled, too. ' 'Any time we drive more than twenty minutes."

' 'Is she a grouch when you wake her up?''

Watching her daughter, Jamie shrugged. "Sometimes. Not usually."

"Must be rough when you have to go into Denver."

Denver wasn't a trip Jamie made often. She liked the suburbs. "Actually, it was a blessing when she

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

was little," she told him, eager to share—as had become habit whenever they were together now— everything he'd missed in the first four years of Ashley's life. "She was colicky for a while and when nothing I tried seemed to calm her down, I'd take her out for a drive. That always did the trick."

"Where'd you go?"

"Anywhere, nowhere, around in circles."

"That's what I'd call dedication."

"You telling me you wouldn't have done the same?"

"No." He glanced into the back seat again. "I'd have done it."

Jamie smiled at him. "I thought so."

"You said she was colicky. Did you breast-feed her?" He looked over at her and Jamie heated up instantly. She'd never forget how enamored he'd been of her breasts that long-ago night, the loving attention he'd given them.

"I did."

"For how long?"

"Almost eighteen months."

Kyle whistled. "That's a long time." He peered back at Ashley, as if there'd be some visible consequence of having nursed so long.

"Actually, my pediatrician said that the longer she breast-fed, the healthier she'd be," Jamie reported. ' 'He said it was best, emotionally and physically, for Ashley to wean herself. And that she'd do it when she was ready."

' 'Did she?'' He looked over intently, soaking up, as always, every tidbit she gave him.