Her Secret, His Child

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

She might not be able to stop him in the long run, but for now, she could ban him from her life. From Ashley's.

"Jamie…"

"I said get out." She was going to be yelling in a minute.

He stood but didn't go anywhere. "You want me gone, fine, but listen to me first."

Only because she was so desperate to have him as far away from her as possible, she nodded her assent, allowing him two seconds to speak his piece and leave.

"I called my lawyer the morning after we talked—''

"About my past, you mean," she interrupted, bitterness controlling every nerve in her body.

"If I intended to take her away from you, honey, wouldn't I have done so then? Or tried to?"

"Don't call me 'honey.'"

"Jamie." He knelt in front of her. "I love you."

She didn't want to look at him but couldn't stop herself. She hadn't heard those words before. Except from Ashley.

"I will never deliberately do anything to hurt you."

She believed he meant that, but given her past, and his, she didn't figure the promise was worth much.

"You're a better mother than any I've ever seen or met or read about in my entire life."

She watched him carefully, sure he was humoring

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

her, making a joke. He'd never appeared more serious.

"Ashley needs you far more than she needs me," he continued, meeting her eyes.

He waited, as if expecting her to speak. She didn't have any words.

"I'm a scholar, Jamie, I thirst for knowledge of any kind. When I research something, I want to know every detail there is to know. Including the different procedures for custody."

She couldn't quite buy that. She knew he wouldn't lie to her, but it was just that—

"What if something happened to you, honey? I had to know what I'd be up against to make sure Ashley wasn't taken in as a ward of the state, that I'd know what papers to file, where to file them, and to be able to get it done before the state even figured out Ashley existed."

Jamie continued watching him carefully, but she started to breathe easier. The explanation sounded a little weak. And yet, with Kyle, it was a little plausible, too. Was she an idiot to believe him? Was she giving him the means and the opportunity to destroy her life while she waited at home, blissfully unaware?

She didn't think so. Kyle was a decent, honest man.

"Okay?" he asked, still kneeling in front of her.

She couldn't look into his brown eyes, soak up the compassion there, do anything but nod.

"She wouldn't have been a ward of the state anyway," she heard herself telling him. "Dennis and

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

Karen are her legal guardians if anything happens to me."