Her Baby's Hero. Karen Sandler

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СКАЧАТЬ did she know, other than his connection with Kerrigan Technology? He’d offered so little of himself during their time at Berkeley. Even that night in his arms, when they’d been as physically close as a man and woman could be, he’d kept his deepest secrets secured behind an emotional wall.

      “I’m pregnant, Sara. He’s the father. I have no choice but to let him be involved.”

      “Are you going to marry him?”

      “What?” The thought twisted her stomach. “Good God, no.”

      “Because if you barely know him—”

      “Marriage is absolutely not an option.”

      Sara released a long sigh. “You keep me informed. If he takes one wrong step—”

      “You’ll be the first to know.” Ashley said her goodbyes and hung up the phone. She couldn’t deal with Sara’s mothering right then, not when she needed to work out for herself what to do next.

      Sara had protected her for years, first from their abusive father, and later while they lived on their own, a seventeen-year-old and a twelve-year-old fighting to eke out a life for themselves. It was a hard habit for her sister to break and even harder for Sara to accept that Ashley could take care of herself.

      The phone still in her hand, she nearly dropped it when it rang again. The caller ID displayed “Kerrigan Technology” on the screen. Her heart rate picked up its pace, but she squelched her reaction as she pressed the answer button. “Hello.”

      “Do you know how to store a number on your phone?”

      The brusque, off-the-wall question was pure Jason. “I can figure it out.”

      “Save my number. I want to know you can get hold of me if you need me.”

      But she didn’t need him, didn’t even want him there. It was very well to tell Sara that Jason deserved to be part of his baby’s life, quite another to accept him into hers. The dance they’d engaged in at the university, the steps a mix of respect, mutual interest and occasional awkwardness, had never quite matured into actual friendship. Their night of intimacy had destroyed even that possibility.

      “I’ll save it. Thanks.” She couldn’t hold back the most obvious question. “What are we doing, Jason? What comes next?”

      “How about dinner?”

      “I have work to do. As I’m sure you do.”

      “Afterward—”

      “I go to bed early.”

      He let out an exasperated sigh. “Then let me take you to breakfast. There’s some kind of coffee shop across the street from here.”

      “Nina’s Café. But I can’t do breakfast. I’m still getting my classroom set up.”

      “I’ll come with you. We’ll talk.”

      The last thing she wanted was him in her classroom, entangled even further in her life. He didn’t belong there. But what choice did she have?

      Tiredness swept over her and she realized she simply didn’t have the energy to resist him. “Pick me up at nine.”

      “I’ll bring breakfast.” A beep sounded in the background. “I’ve got a message coming in I’ve been waiting for.”

      “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

      “I have to take it.”

      “Okay.”

      Still he hung on; she could hear him breathing into the phone. “We’ll work it out, Ashley.” Finally he disconnected.

      She stared at the phone, stunned. He’d actually sounded halfway human. Of course, Jason’s idea of working things out would doubtless involve him demanding and her acquiescing.

      Setting aside the cell, she returned to the sofa to lie down. Exhaustion had been one constant during her pregnancy, made even worse by the extra burden on her body. As she lifted her feet onto the sofa arm and tucked pillows under her head, she considered how she would deliver the rest of the news to Jason. What if that was the tipping point that sent him running? Would that be better than having to grapple with the discomfort his presence stirred up inside her?

      She’d prepared herself to do this on her own. How would she fit Jason into the picture? Her father had shown her the ugliness of men, the horror they could inflict on women. Jason would never raise a hand to her, but he was so reserved, so cold, she couldn’t imagine him letting her get very close. And what kind of father would such an aloof man be to his children?

      He’d been anything but icy that night. She still wasn’t sure how it had happened. If not for the life growing inside her, she could almost believe the fire and passion six months ago had been a dream.

      She couldn’t think about it now. The exhaustion had seeped even deeper, driving thought from her mind. The faintest rustling in her belly a comfort, she surrendered to sleep.

      Jason stabbed the disconnect button on his cell and resisted the urge to slam the device on his desk. He’d expected the conversation with his stepmother, Maureen, to be difficult; he hadn’t anticipated such a nasty confrontation.

      Usually, he just ignored his stepmother’s diatribes. But when she started in on Ashley, it was all he could do to keep his temper in check, to keep from roaring out at the injustice as he had as a child. All those years of careful self-control nearly went out the window. So he’d held his tongue as Maureen played every card in her deck of accusation and condemnation, calling him an idiot for falling prey to Ashley six months ago, and his decision to accept her child as complete insanity. She accused Ashley of using the baby as a ploy to force him to marry her so she could get her hands on the Kerrigan money. His repeated assurance that marriage most definitely wasn’t in the cards barely appeased his stepmother.

      She’d insisted he demand a DNA test the moment the baby was born. Ranted that by acknowledging the child without any empirical proof was further confirmation of his father’s error in placing Kerrigan Technology into his son’s hands. He would drive the company into the ground, destroy his father’s life’s work.

      His father had nearly done that on his own with a few bad decisions not long before the heart attack that killed him. His acquisitions of a struggling digital media company and a moribund Internet-based data storage firm had nearly broken the company’s back.

      He ran his fingers lightly over the keyboard of his laptop. A half-dozen high-priority e-mails awaited his immediate response. A security report required his input, as did a stack of résumés from applicants for a VP of marketing position. He had plenty to occupy himself with tonight.

      But with Ashley so close, he couldn’t seem to think straight. It made no sense, when he’d barely given her a second thought since he’d left Berkeley.

      That wasn’t entirely honest. Sometimes, during strategy sessions with Kerrigan’s Marketing Department or the interminable discussions with his father’s estate lawyer, she’d drift into the periphery of his consciousness. Sometimes it would just be her face in his mind’s eye, sometimes that one incredible night of pleasure would unroll like a movie, obliterating СКАЧАТЬ