Her Secret, His Child: A Little Secret by Tara Quinn (rosie project .txt) 📕

going to happen, had prepared herself all along. She'd always realized there was no chance of a future for the two of them. So why was the pain so intense? Why now, when only Ashley mattered, was she suddenly losing her ability to cope?

"We need to figure out what we're going to say." Kyle's tone left no room for argument. "We're going to start out as we must go on—united."

Jamie's eyes flew to his, her foolish heart taking hope for the brief second before reality intruded.

"For the child's sake," he added, obviously reading the question in her eyes.

Jamie nodded. Of course. She hadn't really thought he'd meant anything else.

"She's to know complete security," he said, pacing slowly as he spoke. "Never are we going to speak ill of each other in her presence."

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

He stopped, glanced at Jamie, his eyes full of the steadfastness of his purpose.

She nodded. Though he might not be aware of it, he had the power to destroy her. But she acquiesced to his demands because she agreed with them.

Turning, hands in the pockets of his jeans, he continued pacing. "She's never to feel guilty for loving both of us."

He stopped then, shoulders hunched as he gazed into the dying embers of a fire long forgotten. Without will of her own, Jamie went to him, sliding her hand gently across the back of his neck, into his hair.

"She'll love you with all her heart, Kyle."

He said nothing, but the tension in his neck told her what she'd already known. He was worried Ashley wouldn't like him. Wouldn't want him.

She owed it to him to make certain that his advent into their daughter's life was everything he hoped it would be.

"She's still so young, her emotions so close to the surface." Jamie heard herself introducing their child to him and almost cried. "She wants her father so badly," she forced herself to continue. "She'll love you instantly, just because you're her dad."

It was all too evident that he didn't completely believe her, but she could sense she'd relieved him at least a little.

He pulled away from her and resumed his wearing down of her carpet. And her composure. ' 'We have to tell her I didn't know about her."

Which placed the blame squarely on her shoulders. Jamie hated this, hated what was happening

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

between them, but she knew that his request was not only fair, it was necessary. Anything else would leave Ashley feeling he'd deserted her.

"We can't tell her the truth." Jamie was thinking out loud. She'd accepted all his demands thus far, and would continue to do so as long as she could. She owed him that. Maybe owed Ashley, too. But she wouldn't tell her daughter about the money—or the conclusions Jamie had drawn.

"She's only four." Kyle stopped pacing, faced Jamie. "We'll simply tell her we had a misunderstanding before we knew she was coming. That you didn't know where to find me."

Her gaze captive, Jamie held on to her composure with help from the strength she saw in his eyes. "Okay." She licked suddenly dry lips.

"We'll also tell her that I've been looking for you ever since."

That made him out to be a knight in shining armor. But it was also true.

"The problem is she'll think we're going to be a couple. She'll have us married and living together by tomorrow night."

"She'll think what we tell her to think," Kyle said, and then, for the first time that evening, he grinned. The grin was weak, definitely un-Kyle-like, but it was there.

"Until she's five or six, anyway," he added.

"We'll need to be very clear about our own relationship." Jamie was fighting for her daughter's emotional health now. "It would be cruel to raise false hopes."

TARA TAYLOR QUINN

Kyle's eyes softened, speaking to her in the way she'd grown to need.

'"Are we clear about our relationship?" he asked.

Too confused to consider anything but co-parenting, Jamie nodded.

"When did that happen?"

Desperate, Jamie reminded him, "I robbed you of the first four years of your daughter's life."

He acknowledged the truth of her words with a nod.

"You hate me for that." The connection he kept talking about, the one that drew them inexplicably together, was as strong as ever.

"I admit I'm pretty angry with you."

"You'll never be able to forgive me." She didn't know which of the two of them she was warning.

"Never's a long time."

She was finding it harder and harder to breathe. "I think we need to stick to just being parents." She put the distance of the entire room between them. "At least for the next couple of years."

He followed her. "I can't agree to that."

Swinging around, she found him closer than she'd thought. But she refused to back away. Or to back down. "What's the point, Kyle? There's too much history between us. And if we hurt each other again, as we seem to keep doing, Ashley's going to be hurt, too."

Hands still in his pockets, he didn't back down, either. ' 'It's precisely because of the history between us that I can't accept a platonic relationship forever."

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

Her heart lurched, her nerves fluttering with excitement. He still wanted her. She hadn't completely killed his affection.

"Our daughter is evidence of the bond between us. Whatever it is that binds us was so powerful it created Ashley. And then kept me looking for you for five long years. I can't turn my back on that, Jamie."

"I can't handle a physical relationship right now." She'd made that very clear to him the first time he'd called her after the explosive kiss they'd shared. The only kiss they'd shared this time around.

Tears burned the backs of her eyelids. She wanted to hope, to try to believe what he was telling her. But she had another secret. One she could never share. One that would always come between them…that wouldn't allow her to be a decent wife to a decent man.

And Kyle was the most decent man she'd ever met.

"Promise me that, aside from Ashley,