Her Secret, His Love-Child

‘Then why?’

‘You didn’t think I might have needed a friend right about then?’ When he stared at her blankly, she gritted her teeth. ‘I was twenty-two, Alex. Pregnant and alone. The man I loved had just accused me of trying to foist another man’s child on to him. What did you think I was going to do—carry on as if everything was normal?’

His mouth curled. ‘You’re not going to try that old chestnut, are you?’

She blinked at him. ‘What old chestnut?’

He waved a hand. ‘Love. You just said that you love me. This is the first I’ve heard of it.’

Her heart resounded in her chest with the same boom as rolling thunder. ‘I said loved, Alex. Past tense. And I didn’t tell you how I felt because it was clear you didn’t love me. Or want my love.’ She laughed harshly, mocking her feelings and the dream that one day he would love her in return. ‘Don’t worry. I realise now that it was all an illusion. The man I thought I loved didn’t really exist. He was obviously just a figment of my imagination, because he would never have treated me the way you have.’

‘And how have I treated you?’ Alex demanded in a cool voice.

She wrung her hands together again. She’d been determined to keep calm during this meeting but her anxiety and distress were getting the better of her. ‘For one, he would never have accused me of aborting our child without telling him!’

‘I’m sorry,’ Alex said stiffly. ‘It sounded like the most logical explanation.’

‘Well, it wasn’t. I needed to be with someone who genuinely cared about me. Someone who would give me emotional support instead of blaming me for the situation, like you did.’

He frowned. ‘So you went to stay with a friend?’

She nodded. ‘Just for a couple of weeks. Until I found somewhere else to live.’ She gave him the kind of look that could curdle milk. ‘I had no intention of staying in an apartment being paid for by you. So much for your claim that I’m a gold-digger!’

His remark had been totally uncalled for. She hadn’t been happy about him renting an apartment for her in the first place. It was only when Alex had explained that its location meant they could see more of each other that she’d given in.

Alex stared at her through narrowed eyes. ‘What friend?’

She angled her chin upwards. ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, do you?’

His mouth hardened. ‘Just tell me one thing.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘Was it a man?’

‘No, it wasn’t a man. What makes you ask that?’

He shrugged. ‘It makes sense.’

Katrina frowned. ‘It might make sense to you, but it doesn’t to me.’

His piercing blue eyes bored into hers. ‘I would have thought it made perfect sense for you to stay with the father of your child for the duration of your pregnancy.’

She gasped and pressed a hand to her chest, where her heart was frantically beating. ‘What did you say?’

Alex threw a cold glance at the cot. ‘Whoever fathered that child, it wasn’t me,’ he said in a voice that rasped like sandpaper down her spine.

Katrina’s stomach churned, her heart kicked, and it was all she could do to remain standing upright.

She was so angry and hurt that she wanted nothing more than to spin on her heel, stalk out the door and never see Alex again.

If it wasn’t for Samantha, she would have done exactly that. But her daughter’s needs had to come first—and she needed both of her parents.

‘She is yours,’ she finally gritted out.

‘No. She’s not. I always made sure we were protected.’

‘Not always.’

‘OK. So I forgot—once,’ Alex dismissed.

She sucked in a lungful of much-needed air and glared at him. ‘That’s all it takes. Besides, all forms of contraception have a failure rate, including condoms. And, since I didn’t sleep with anybody else, it’s physically impossible for anyone else to be the father.’

Alex frowned. Katrina could tell by the way he was looking at her that the cogs of his mind were grinding as he assessed what she’d just said. Finally, face hardening, he said, ‘I don’t believe you. The child is not mine. And I will expect you to sign something attesting to that fact.’

Katrina folded her arms defiantly. ‘I’m not signing anything.’

‘Oh yes, you are. The document will list a number of conditions: one, you will never approach me regarding the child again. Two, you will never ask me for money. And three, you will never publicly try to claim I am the father of your child.’

Katrina was so stunned all she could do was stare and keep on staring.

‘When the document is ready, you will sign it,’ Alex continued in the same harsh voice.

Katrina surged to her feet, limbs shaking, hands clenched into fists. She’d never felt so insulted in her life—unless she counted his earlier accusation about secretly aborting their child!

Angry—furious, more like it—Katrina stared him in the eye and resisted the urge to smack him across his handsome face.

‘That is not going to happen.’

Without saying another word, she scooped up the carry cot and stormed out of the boardroom.

CHAPTER TWO

ALEX frowned as he watched Katrina march out of the room. ‘Katrina! Come back in here.’

Alex narrowed his eyes as he waited, in no doubt that she’d reappear at any moment. He’d always found her…Well, the truth was he’d always found her rather biddable. She’d always fallen in with his plans, even when he’d known she wasn’t entirely happy with them. She’d always said yes, even if it had meant changing her schedule to fit in with his.

Put simply, like every other woman who’d shared his bed, she had never once said no to him.

Any minute now, she would reappear. He would reiterate his intentions. She would leave…and it would all be over.

The thought should have pleased him. But somehow it didn’t.

The thought of never seeing Katrina again, never tasting her again, left him feeling oddly unsettled, although he couldn’t imagine why.

Forcing the thought aside, Alex scowled.

Realising that Katrina should have reappeared by now, he sprang towards the door.