The Princess and the Player

He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the baby. His baby. It was real. This was his child, and until five minutes ago he’d had no idea she existed. He’d missed his daughter’s birth, along with a ton of other milestones, which he mourned all at once. Chelsea could never rectify that crime.

“Why now, Chelsea? You should have bloody well shown up long before today with this news.”

“I thought she was Hugh’s.” Chelsea shrugged nonchalantly as if they were discussing a pair of pants she’d found in her closet after they’d broken up. “He’s the guy I left you for. I must have miscalculated my conception date, but I didn’t realize it until recently when her eyes changed color. And I knew I couldn’t keep this from you.”

There was so much wrong with all of that, he hardly knew where to start. “What happened when her eyes changed color, Chelsea? Did you see dollar signs that Hugh couldn’t match?”

“No.” She frowned, pulling her full lips into a pout. “I thought it was right that you know about Maisey.”

Maisey. His daughter’s name was Maisey. And he’d had no say in it. Not that it was a horrible name, but if Chelsea had told him when she got pregnant, he might have been able to participate in the selection process. He’d have liked to name his daughter after his mum. Yet another thing this woman had stolen from him.

“If you thought about me at all, I’m sure it had more to do with things like child support.”

He had to get over it and figure this out. Chelsea was his daughter’s mother. Period. Like it or not, they were going to have some type of relationship for the next eighteen years, at least. Maybe longer.

Before she could deny her selfishness again, he eyed her. “What did Hugh think about your little error in calculation? Bet he wasn’t so thrilled.”

Chelsea looked away quickly but not before he saw the flash of guilt in her expression.

“He left you,” James concluded grimly. “And you’re skint.”

She sighed. “Hugh refused to keep taking care of a kid that wasn’t his and he might have been slightly ticked to find out that I fudged the details a little about the last time you and I slept together. So yeah, I’m low on money.”

God, did the string of dumb decisions this woman had made ever end? This was his daughter’s life Chelsea was playing around with, but she seemed to be treating it all like a big game.

The baby made a noise that sounded like a cross between a sob and a sigh and she captivated his attention instantly.

“What was that? Is she okay?” he whispered.

“She’s a baby,” Chelsea snapped impatiently. “That’s what they do. Make noise. And cry. And poop.”

This conversation had passed surreal ten minutes ago.

“What do you want from me?” he demanded.

Well, hell. It hardly mattered what she wanted. If this little breathing bundle of hair and pink outfit was his daughter, there was a lot more to consider than what the woman who’d given birth to her hoped to achieve. He had rights. He had options. And he would exercise both.

“I want you to be her father,” Chelsea said simply.

“Done. We need to discuss child support and custody arrangements.”

Reality blasted him like a freight train whistle. What was his life going to look like from now on? Did he need to reconsider Liverpool so he could be close to Chelsea in England? How would Bella feel about spending weekends with his infant daughter from now on?

He scrubbed at his face. Bella. God, this was going to be exactly what her father had predicted—a disaster. She deserved so much more than to be saddled with a boyfriend who had a kid. And what kind of new problems might this cause for her? An illegitimate child surely wasn’t going to make her father suddenly approve of James.

“Nothing to discuss.” Chelsea shook her head. “I don’t want either one. I want you to take her. Forever. I’m signing over all my rights to you.”

“You...what?”

Arms crossed mutinously like the immature woman she was, Chelsea scowled. “I’m done being a mum. I hate it. This is your fault, so you take her.”

She said it as if they were discussing a stray dog. And she was making his choice easy. He didn’t want such a selfish mum raising his daughter anyway. Sickened that he could have ever been intimate with this woman, he nodded grimly. “Seems like the best idea all the way around, then.”

Single dad. The voice in his head wouldn’t stop screaming that phrase, over and over, and the place in his heart that belonged to Bella ached at this new reality. Just as he’d accepted that he not only could do a long-term, roots-into-the-ground relationship, he wanted to. But not like this, with such a huge complication as a surprise baby.