Their Secret Baby Read Free Page A

like Amelie, then there was a wild volcano underneath, just waiting to break through the layer of ice that covered the surface.
    ‘So, Ms Caitlin Richardson—it’s look but don’t touch, is it? Well, we shall see.’
    As he spoke her name aloud he saw again in his mind the image of her face, of those golden eyes when she had looked at him downstairs. He thought back over the conversation they’d had—calm and businesslike on the surface but whirling with undercurrents and studded with rocks underneath. The things that had been said without a word being spoken.
    Had she guessed anything? The atmosphere had been tense, taut enough to stretch the nerves. He’d been a fool to blunder in with his impulsive invitation. Moving too quickly, too thoughtlessly.
    He’d better be careful because that impulse had made her wary. With her head up like that and the big tawny eyes wide in something close to alarm, she’d looked as nervous as a young roe deer scenting intruders into her territory. If he didn’t take care she’d suspect something.
    ‘Softly, softly…’ he murmured to himself.
    But even as he resolved on caution, the memory of the moment that he had heard the baby’s cry seared into his mind, making his hand clench tight on the keys until the hard metal dug into the skin of his palm. Recalling how she had left the desk and gone into the back room, he found that suddenly he couldn’t see, couldn’t think for the red mist of anger that hazed his eyes.
    That was his child, his daughter. But he knew nothing about her. He didn’t even know her name, goddammit! If he hadn’t met up with a mutual friend of his and Amelie’s, who had told him the whole story, he would never even have known that the baby existed. His wife had been adamant that children were not for her; that if she got pregnant she would have an immediate abortion.
    But somehow Amelie had changed her mind. The baby he’d thought he’d never have was real. And she —this Caitlin Richardson, with her cool smile and her cool voice and her ‘touch me not’ image—was keeping the child from him. She hadn’t even let him know. Wouldn’t have told him about it if he’d asked.
    ‘Oh, yes, Ms Caitlin Richardson,’ he muttered savagely, thudding his clenched fist hard against the edge of the wooden window frame, ‘you do right to be wary where I’m concerned. And if you’re wise, you’ll keep on being wary—much good may it do you! Because I’m going to get my daughter from you whatever it takes. That baby is going to be mine—by fair means or foul.’
    And right now, with hot fury blurring his thought processes, quite frankly he felt that foul was much the preferable option.
    In fact, remembering those burning, molten tawny eyes and the lure of the promises they offered, in total contrast to the frosty control of her ice-maiden act, he thought it was possible that it might be the most enjoyable approach as well.

CHAPTER TWO

    T HREE days could change so very much, Caitlin reflected as she settled the baby in the office behind the reception desk and prepared for work.
    Three days ago, life had seemed settled and controlled. OK, so it was not what she’d wanted, what she dreamed of, but after the chaos and misery of the past months it had at last seemed back on some sort of regular track so that she had an idea of where she was going.
    But that was before Matthew Delaney had appeared to complicate things.
    Oh, be honest! a critical little voice inside her head carped. It’s not Matthew Delaney that’s complicating things! It’s your reaction to him.
    ‘Sleep tight, Fleur, darling.’ She used the crooned words to distract herself from her uncomfortable and unwanted thoughts. ‘I’ll just be right here.’
    She didn’t want to think about the way that Matthew Delaney suddenly seemed to have become so totally present in her life. She didn’t seem to be able to get away from him. If she turned around, he was there, in the hall, in the