Her Secret, His Child

Kyle sat forward. He didn't like the sound of this at all. Did she still not trust that he was in this for the long haul? Hadn't she figured out there was nothing she could do or say that was going to scare him off?

Meeting her gaze, reading the serious conviction in her eyes, he nodded.

' 'The night we met, at that party in Las Vegas, I

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

was working." She was like a robot, throwing out words that had no meaning to her.

Unfortunately, they had no meaning to him, either. "Okay."

"The man we met at the dinner Saturday night, Nelson Monroe—he was one of my clients."

Forearms braced on his knees, Kyle nodded. Was that it? She thought he'd disapprove of her clients? Of the fact that she did business at parties? Half the business transactions in the world took place at social gatherings. This was making no sense.

Jamie seemed at a loss for words suddenly, staring at him as though something was supposed to be clear to him now.

' 'Is he still your client?'' he asked, more because he was baffled than because he cared if she did the man's taxes.

"No!"

"Okay."

"He wasn't the only one."

"Male clients, you mean?" He was really trying hard here.

Her lower lip started to tremble, but she continued to look him straight in the eye. "Yes."

"Okay." He hadn't figured all her clients were women. Neither could he figure out why they were having this conversation.

"I didn't do their taxes, Kyle."

That surprised him. "You baby-sat for them?" he asked.

"No." She wrapped her arms around herself as if warding off a chill.

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

"Did secretarial work?"

"No."

What in hell was going on here? "House-sat? Cleaned?" Was that it? She'd cleaned houses before she'd gotten her degree?

"No."

"Are you going to tell me where we're going with this, or you want me to keep guessing?" he asked. He'd do whatever he could to help her out, just as soon as he understood what they were talking about.

"You're so sweet, you know that?" She was smiling at him. But there was a sheen of tears in her eyes.

"And this is a bad thing?"

"No."

She shook her head, but the tears didn't fall. They just hung there, scaring him.

"It's a wonderful thing. It just makes this so much harder."