Claiming His Secret Heir

“Here you go.” Damon returned with a snowy white quilt for her, and he draped it around her so that it covered all of her from the neck down.

“Thank you.” She caught at his hand where he’d tucked the quilt closer to her chin. “Lucas is already sleeping if you want to stay with me a little while longer.”

She needed him, ached to have his arms around her to help bear a burden she still couldn’t wrap her brain around. She could not hurt this man any more than she already had.

“I don’t want to keep you from your rest.” He leaned closer to her, stroking a thumb over the back of her hand. “I know you must be exhausted.”

“I’ll never sleep with so much on my mind.” She snaked a hand out from the blanket and gripped his arm, drawing him toward her on the sofa. “Please.”

They could find comfort in a physical connection, at least. She would not deny them that.

“I know you don’t want to think the worst of him.” He dropped onto the cushion beside her. He’d taken off the vest and flannel he’d worn for sledding, leaving just his gray tee between her hands and his warm chest as she nestled closer to lay her head on his shoulder.

“He’s my father. My only living parent.” She bit her lip as soon as she said it, knowing he didn’t have a relationship at all with his remaining parent. “Didn’t it hurt sometimes when you first made the decision to cut your father out of your life, even knowing he hadn’t treated your mother fairly?”

She stared into the flames in the hearth, which provided the only light in the room now that the sun had fully set for the evening. She felt the steady thrum of Damon’s heart beneath her ear. He slid his arm around her, stroking her hair where it lay on her back.

“I was twelve. It wasn’t a decision so much as a fact of life. Dad wasn’t coming back and Mom was sick of his pretending he would ever leave his wife to be a part of our family. She made the decision, not me.”

“But what about later? After your mother passed and you could have contacted your father again?” she prodded, honestly needing any guidance she could get to figure out how to excise a parent from her life. “I mean, how can you go from loving someone to deciding not to love them anymore?”

Her eyes stung when she spoke the words aloud. Because that was where things stood for her now. She’d have to find a way to un-love someone who didn’t have her best interests at heart. But after a lifetime of looking up to her dad, that wasn’t going to come easily.

“By the time my mother died, it wasn’t hard to hate my father. We blamed him for not being there to help her through the chemo.” His voice was rough and he cleared his throat. “For forcing her to move halfway across the globe far from her family. Hell, we blamed him for everything.”

“But it was your mother’s idea to move far away, right? He never knew she had cancer.” She tried to remember the bits that he’d shared with her long ago about his family. He wasn’t a man who willingly shared much personal information.

Damon McNeill might be a tech genius and an ambitious businessman she admired, but he kept his emotions in check and his past closely guarded.

“My brothers and I didn’t see it that way. My father was a serial cheater with a whole other family. It was Liam’s fault that Mom felt like she had no options. I believe she secretly hoped that a drastic move might shake up her lover and force him to realize he loved her.” His shoulder lifted a fraction beneath her cheek. A subtle shrug. “When it didn’t work, she lost some of her joy. Her will to live. The cancer found a victim without much fight left.”

Caroline kissed his chest, rubbing her cheek against him there. “I’m so sorry you lost her at such a young age.” She lifted her head, straightening so she could see him. “No wonder you didn’t want to see your father afterward. I don’t really want to see mine, either. Although I guess a part of me still wants to just ask him why?”

The fire popped and crackled in the hearth, the flames leaping higher as a windy gust blew over the chimney, making a whooshing sound. The shifting of logs stirred the scent of wood smoke.

“Maybe one day you’ll be able to. But until we can be sure you’re not in danger around him—and that you’re not putting Lucas in danger—you’ll have to settle for whatever answers the police can shake loose from this investigation.” Damon’s response was careful. Considered.

And she could read between the lines enough to know he didn’t ever want her to have anything to do with Stephan Degraff again. But what about her brothers who were still in his legal care? She couldn’t simply write them off. Or worse, leave them in the custody of a man who might not have their best interests at heart.