A Father At Last Read Free Page A

saw the start of a cheeky Ben‐of-old grin.

    “You’re breaking out in a sweat.” His hand on her cheek shifted slightly and he rested a fingertip against the pulse in her neck. “And your heartbeat is fast. I thought a bloke could take that as a sign that a girl wanted him to kiss her.”

    “Or that she’s scared because she’s trapped in a lift between floors.” It wasn’t true, she knew. She should have been scared, but with his solid presence beside her in the old timber and steel cage, she felt safe.

    So maybe he was right—in which case she needed to take charge of the situation.
    She dragged in a deep breath, and shoved hard with the hand that was still on his chest.
    “I’ve got to get going.” If she sounded rude, so much the better. “Get this lift moving please.”

    He raised an eyebrow. “Where to, madam?” he asked, swinging around to the control panel.

    Unexpected disappointment shot through her, but she knew it was better this way.

    A Father at Last

    “Sixth floor, please.”

    She saw the hesitation, his hand stalled in front of the button as he read the label beside it.

    “The sixth floor is children’s wear.”

    His voice held a quality she couldn’t identify, and she didn’t know what to say.

    Silence hung in the lift like impending thunder.

    He swung to face her again, his expression unreadable. “Are you married?”

    She saw his eyes home in on her left hand.

    “Or living with someone?”

    “No, I’m not married, and no, I don’t have a live‐in partner.” For an insane moment she thought she saw relief in his eyes.

    “But you have a child.”

    She reached up a hand to fiddle with her hair. Denying Dylan’s existence seemed a terrible betrayal of her precious boy. But right now it would be better to tell a lie. Far simpler and cleaner. And then she realised his words had been a statement, not a question.

    “I heard you, outside the court, on your phone.”

    His words confirmed her dawning comprehension. She swallowed hard and nodded.

    “Yes, I have a child, a boy.”
    Read the eyes. They tell you everything. They’d taught the students that in law school, and Kelly’s time in court had helped hone the skill. Right now, Ben Carter’s eyes were giving her chapter and verse, although his face was a rigid mask.

    “How old is he?” His voice was low and harsh.

    “He turns six on Saturday.” She saw Ben, always top of the class in maths at school, do the calculation in three seconds flat and she wished she hadn’t been so specific.

    “Is he mine?”

    There was an intensity in those golden eyes that almost made her flinch.

    She shook her head and stepped back fractionally. “Not yours, Ben.” She saw the regret in his eyes, sharp and surprising, followed almost instantly by an emotion she couldn’t identify.

    “Who’s his father?”

    “None of your damn business.” Kelly sounded strong, sassy even, but inside she was weak. She had to get out of here, fast. She stepped forward, reached her arm past him and pushed the button for floor six. She wanted to hold him, kiss him, tell him the truth, erase Julie Mac
    the regret from his eyes forever. But she couldn’t—not now, not ever.

    “And if I was his father, would you have told me?”

    His voice, little more than a raw whisper, was close to her ear, and his warm breath brushed her neck.

    She heard the creak of the pulleys above her, and the lift began to move. Her throat tightened. “You’re not listening. He’s not yours.” Fear crept through her belly. “And no, I wouldn’t have told you even if he was. Don’t you remember what it was like for me when it all went wrong for my father and he went to prison?”

    She hated the way she sounded close to tears. “Do you think I’d want a child of my own to go through that?”

    He said nothing and she couldn’t bear to look at him. Instead, she watched the indicator lights above the door as the lift progressed slowly upwards.

    He