Revealed: His Secret Child Read Online Free Page B

he did and now he knows. And at least now he doesn’t have to call me Pweston.” And for just a second a wry smile lifted a corner of his lips and amusement passed between them. Then vanished. “I had a right to know, too, before he came looking for me wanting to know why he’d grown up without his father.”
    â€œYou didn’t want children.”
    â€œI didn’t want to do jury service last year, either, but I did, and I coped and I think I did a good job.”
    â€œEthan deserves better than a father who’s only there because he has to be.”
    â€œIt’s better than no father at all.”
    â€œIs it? I didn’t think so.” She’d had a reluctant, resentful, part-time father for her early years. It had taken her many more years to realize that his attitude and actions and eventual desertion were not a reflection of her worth. Even so, his rejection of her had shaped who she was.
    â€œClearly. But family is important. Having a mother and a father, that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
    â€œOnly if that mother and father both want to be there. Only if neither of them is resenting the child for its very existence.”
    His gaze was cold on her face till finally, after a silence that stretched and hardened like a wall between them, he spoke.
    â€œI had a right to know, and you denied me that right. You denied me two years and ten months of my child’s life?”
    Gillian said nothing. She’d made the best decision she could with the facts she had at the time. And the fact was that Max had wanted nothing permanent in his life. Not a relationship and certainly not a child. For all the grueling and lonely time over those years, they had also been the best, most satisfyingtimes of her life. She’d seen her son grow from a baby, his personality developing. It had been a privilege and a delight and she’d denied Max that opportunity. High-flying, career-driven, workaholic Max Preston who wouldn’t have time in his life for a child. Who’d said he didn’t want children. Ever.
    High-flying, career-driven, workaholic Max Preston who’d just spent half an hour on her family-room floor playing trains. She wanted to weep. “If you’d called just once, just once, after we broke up…”
    He shook his head. “Don’t you dare try to blame me.”
    â€œI’m not. I’m just…” She didn’t know what she was. Confused? Anxious?
    Max surged from his chair, strode back to the window.
    â€œThis changes everything.” He turned back to her. “Pack your bags.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œI mean pack your bags. My son will know me. He’ll grow up with his father as part of a family. I’m seeing to that today.”
    Gillian gripped the table as though that could anchor her. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
    â€œI’m saying,” he said quietly, “that we’re getting married.”

Three
    M arried?
    Surely she had misheard him.
    She’d never been good at reading his face but there was no mistaking the implacable seriousness of his voice.
    And it terrified her.
    But now was not the time to give in to, or even show, her fear. She thought frantically. This Max was not the man she’d thought she knew. “Maybe I owe you something.” Gillian spoke calmly, surprising herself with her composure. Deliberately, she released her grip on the table and rested her hands in her lap.
    Where they clenched into fists as she struggled to find her center in a world that was spinning, threatening to spiral out of control.
    â€œDamn right you do.”
    â€œAnd yes, maybe we need to work something out but—”
    â€œThere are no maybes and buts, and there’s no we. I’ve already worked it out.”
    She remembered that about him, how decisively he acted. She used to like that confidence, that absolute certainty,