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

in detail, all the steps necessary to obtain the type of custody in question. And that wasn't all. He knew the differences between the various types of child-custody agreements in the state of Colorado and what was necessary to obtain each of them.

Suddenly Jamie's blood ran cold. He'd sought legal custody advisement without telling her. Seeking the information, in itself, was understandable. But he had extensive information. And he'd never said a word.

Because he'd had something to hide?

She missed much of what he was saying after that, too overcome with horror to concentrate. Had he merely been biding his time, letting Ashley get to know him, to trust him, before he sued for custody? Like a fool, she'd given him every bit of ammunition he'd need to take the child away from her.

"Yes, I had sex for money, Kyle. I was working the night I met you…''

"That waiting period is…" He rambled on and Jamie had no idea what he was talking about.

"/ have this little room…"

She wanted to curl up and die. Right there, underneath the lawn chair where the air was cool and fresh.

Had this whole "heading beyond friendship" thing simply been a clever ploy to get Ashley? Thinking back, Jamie realized she should have seen it all along. "She's a two-bit whore…" He'd hated his mother for what she was. How could he tolerate his daughter being raised by the same type of

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woman? Sure, his mother had been working when Kyle was growing up, and Jamie hadn't turned a trick since Ashley was conceived. But they'd both been women who sold their bodies—and for Kyle that was enough.

He had such strong, uncompromising morals because of the way he'd been forced to live growing up, and that was how he'd see things. He'd probably always intended to take Ashley away from her—at least, from the moment she'd been fool enough to confess her sins.

She had no idea how long he'd been silent when she noticed he was no longer speaking.

"You're very well versed," she said, trying to keep the tremors out of her voice. To think.

"This is important to me."

She was sure it was. "True or false, Kyle. Did you, in your research, find out how to go about taking Ashley away from me?"

She knew the answer before she even asked. He wouldn't have the information if he hadn't sought it.

His sudden silence was almost worse than an attempted denial.

"I knew it," she said, the bitterness rising up to choke her. It was never going to end. Hell was just the place she'd been born to live.

"Stop," Kyle said, reaching for her hand.

Jamie snatched it away from him and pulled both hands up to her breasts. "No, you stop, Kyle." She had to grit her teeth to force the words out. "Get out of my house now."

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She might not be able to stop him in the long run, but for now, she could ban him from her life. From Ashley's.

"Jamie…"

"I said get out." She was going to be yelling in a minute.

He stood but didn't go anywhere. "You want me gone, fine, but listen to me first."

Only because she was so desperate to have him as far away from her as possible, she nodded her assent, allowing him two seconds to speak his piece and leave.

"I called my lawyer the morning after we talked—''

"About my past, you mean," she interrupted, bitterness controlling every nerve in her body.

"If I intended to take her away from you, honey, wouldn't I have done so then? Or tried to?"

"Don't call me 'honey.'"

"Jamie." He knelt in front of her. "I love you."

She didn't want to look at him but couldn't stop herself. She hadn't heard those words before. Except from Ashley.

"I will never deliberately do anything to hurt you."

She believed he meant that, but given her past, and his, she didn't figure the promise was worth much.

"You're a better mother than any I've ever seen or met or read about in my entire life."

She watched him carefully, sure he was humoring

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her, making a joke. He'd never appeared more serious.

"Ashley needs you far more than she needs me," he continued, meeting her eyes.

He waited, as if expecting her to speak. She didn't have any words.

"I'm a scholar, Jamie, I thirst for knowledge of any kind. When I research something, I want to know every detail there is to know. Including the different procedures for custody."

She couldn't quite buy that. She knew he wouldn't lie to her, but it was just that—

"What if something happened to you, honey? I had to know what I'd be up against to make sure Ashley wasn't taken in as a ward of the state, that I'd know what papers to file, where to file them, and to be able to get it done before the state even figured out Ashley existed."

Jamie continued watching him carefully, but she started to breathe easier. The explanation sounded a little weak. And yet, with Kyle, it was a little plausible, too. Was she an idiot to believe him? Was she giving him the means and the opportunity to destroy her life while she waited at home, blissfully unaware?

She didn't think so. Kyle was a decent, honest man.

"Okay?" he asked, still kneeling in front of her.

She couldn't look into his brown eyes, soak up the compassion there, do anything but nod.

"She wouldn't have been a ward of the state anyway," she heard herself telling him. "Dennis and

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Karen are her legal guardians if anything happens to me."

Kyle nodded, as if he'd expected as much. "I do love you, you know," he said, so serious.

"I love you, too," she whispered back. Because it was the truth. And she'd never said it out loud before. Except to Ashley.

Leaning slowly forward, giving her every chance to reject him, Kyle touched his lips to hers. Jamie didn't even try to escape. Didn't want to escape. His touch was comforting, not sexual—but only until Jamie leaned into him, deepening the