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  Hayley struggled to hold the tears back. ‘Will he be home this evening?’

  ‘I’ll make sure he is,’ he said. ‘I’ll make myself scarce so you can talk to him in private.’

  ‘You don’t have to do that; it’s your home as well.’

  ‘Not for much longer. I’m going back to Mum’s now that creep has moved out since she told him she wants a divorce. But in the meantime I’m going to spend more and more time at Raymond’s place. He and I have some stuff planned with some homeless kids. I’m helping him with a community project. I love it. It’s so amazing seeing the change in young kids’ lives.’

  Tears sprang from her eyes. ‘Daniel, I’m so proud of you,’ she said. ‘You really are one special guy.’

  He grinned at her as he got to his feet. ‘So you think my skin’s OK, then, do you?’

  She stepped up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. ‘Everything about you is perfect, Daniel.’

  Hayley took a deep breath as she stood in front of the intercom panel outside Jasper’s house. She decided against pressing it and used the code instead. She still had a key to his house and approached the front door with it shaking slightly in her hand.

  She opened the door and listened for sounds of movement but all was silent. She stepped inside, her ears still straining, but there was no indication anyone was at home.

  Disappointment surged through her. She had been building herself up to this for the whole afternoon. It didn’t seem fair that no one was here to receive her.

  She sat on one of the sofas, her spirits sagging as she wondered if Daniel had got it wrong. Jasper might be out with a new lover, or even worse bring someone back with him.

  She jerked upright when she heard the roar of his car nosing its way into the garage. She waited with bated breath for the sound of his footsteps, her legs wobbling as she got to her feet as he came into the room.

  His eyes widened in shock when he saw her, his face visibly draining of colour. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.

  ‘I wanted to see you.’

  ‘What about?’

  She tried not to be put off by his curt and too rapid response. ‘I thought you might like an update on your child’s progress,’ she said.

  His gaze flicked to her swollen abdomen before returning to hers. ‘You seem pretty sure it is mine, but I’d like confirmation first.’

  ‘That can easily be arranged.’

  ‘So you’ll agree to it?’ he asked.

  ‘I have no reason not to.’

  Her response had obviously not been the one he’d been expecting. She could see the flicker of uncertainty in his dark eyes. ‘What’s happened to Lederman?’ he asked.

  ‘Last thing I heard he was sailing off into the sunset with a buxom blonde with a fortune in stocks and shares,’ she said.

  ‘So he’s left you in the lurch.’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘You have.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘I’m having your baby.’

  ‘You expect me to believe that?’

  ‘Yes as a matter of fact I do.’

  ‘Why are you here?’ he asked.

  ‘Because Daniel told me you loved me.’

  ‘And you believed him?’

  ‘He’s a nice kid,’ she said. ‘He doesn’t have any reason to lie.’

  ‘But you do.’

  ‘I have never lied to you, Jasper. I told you I loved you and I meant it. I’m having your baby even if you don’t want to acknowledge it as yours.’

  He looked at her, his eyes growing darker by the second, the glisten of moisture unmistakable. ‘Is it really my baby?’ he asked, his voice cracking over the words.

  Hayley started to cry as she stumbled towards him. ‘Of course it is, you big, dumb, gorgeous, arrogant fool. How could you possibly think I would ever look at anyone but you?’

  He buried his head into the fragrance of her springy hair, pulling her tightly into his body. ‘I never realised until I saw that pregnancy test how much I wanted it to be mine. I had told myself for years I wouldn’t put my hand up again to claim someone else’s child, having seen the damage it does when secrets come out when and where they shouldn’t.’

  ‘It must have been so hard for you,’ she said. ‘There was so much pressure on you. Everyone blamed you, including me.’

  ‘I was OK about supporting Daniel even though I always knew I wasn’t his father,’ he said. ‘Miriam came to me and asked for my advice. I offered to do what I could to support her. I hadn’t factored in my father’s reaction. He demanded that I marry her, but she and I both knew that wasn’t an option. I couldn’t stand by and watch everything my brother had longed for taken away because of one mistake. I decided it would be the best thing all round if I accepted the blame. And to tell you the truth I have never once regretted it until Martin Beckforth came on the scene and started throwing his weight around. Then I wondered if I had done the right thing after all, but Daniel assures me he’s thrilled with how things have turned out. Miriam’s finally getting a divorce, which is a huge relief to him.’

  ‘Daniel is as much your son as he is Raymond’s,’ she said, looking up at him. ‘You have been the most amazing father to him, as you will be to our child.’

  ‘So you’re willing to take a risk on me?’ he asked. ‘To stay married to me and bring up our baby together?’

  She smiled up at him rapturously. ‘As far as I’m concerned there’s no risk involved, darling.’ She placed his hand on her belly where his child was already tentatively starting to stretch its limbs. ‘I’m not going to stop loving you, not after all this time.’

  ‘I love you too,’ Jasper said, his voice so deep and raw it hurt his throat. ‘I’m not sure when I started loving you. It’s sort of crept up on me. The last three months have proven that if nothing else.’

  ‘Why didn’t you contact me?’

  ‘I picked up the phone so many times but my pride got in the way. I kept telling myself you were going back to Lederman and I was better off without you. Daniel made me realise how dumb I was being. He said I was a fool to let someone like you slip through my fingers.’

  ‘So we’re really not getting divorced?’ she asked as she pressed closer to his hardening warmth.

  ‘What do you think, baby girl?’ he said with a slow, sexy smile. ‘Do you fancy being married to me for longer?’

  ‘What sort of time frame were you thinking of this time around?’

  He brought his mouth within a breath of her smiling one. ‘How about for ever?’

  Hayley gazed dreamily at the sensual curve of his mouth. ‘Starting from when?’ she asked in a breathy whisper.

  ‘Starting from now,’ he said, and captured her sigh of joy with the heat of his kiss.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-0672-8

  WILLINGLY BEDDED, FORCIBLY WEDDED

  First North American Publication 2007.

  Copyright © 2007 by Melanie Milburne.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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