Whose Baby Is This?. Patricia Thayer

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СКАЧАТЬ Love and kids. Something Matt had avoided over the years. His relationships had always been guarded, avoiding anything permanent. Besides, his demanding career made it nearly impossible for him to have a personal life. At thirty-eight, he wished things could be different. A picture of a perky redhead holding a baby flashed in his head. He blinked away the fantasy.

      Matt tried to smile but couldn’t quite make it, and Nick spotted something amiss right away.

      “What’s wrong, friend?”

      Matt shrugged. “Just a rough day. A new patient, a little boy who has a rough road ahead.”

      Nick’s gaze locked with his. “If anyone can pull it off, you can. You gave Danny a normal life.”

      Nick’s eight-year-old son had had a heart transplant six years ago and had been under Matt’s care.

      “A lot of factors entered into Danny’s recovery and continued good health, including having parents who love him.” Matt thought about the baby girl who had been in his office. A child who needed him to be a father. It was too bad that…

      Nick’s words interrupted his thoughts. “Hey, pal. You sure there isn’t anything else on your mind?”

      Matt sighed. “This morning I was told I was a father.”

      Chapter Two

      That evening Tara leaned over the portable baby crib in the corner of the small motel room. Erin had been fed, changed and dressed in her pajamas, and she was finally asleep.

      Tara placed a kiss on the baby’s rosy cheek, then went to the double bed and sat down. If Erin would sleep a few hours, she could get some rest, too. But Tara doubted she could sleep. Not after what had happened this afternoon. Not after Matthew Landers had denied ever knowing Bri.

      Tara rubbed her temples. The headache she’d woken up with still plagued her. She checked her watch. It was getting late, and the good doctor hadn’t called. So he didn’t care about his own child.

      She went into the small kitchenette and located the bottle of aspirin, poured a glass of water and swallowed two tablets.

      Tara had had firsthand experience with waiting for a father. Her father hadn’t hung around, not for long, anyway. Having a wife and two daughters had been too much for Sean McNeal. He was busy chasing the next big deal. Nothing was going to keep him from what he wanted, not even the responsibility of a family. Sean was going to be rich, he’d told everyone. Even his small daughters had gotten caught up in his crazy dreams until they found out the man was nothing but a fake.

      By the time Tara turned fourteen, her dad had disappeared from their lives for good. For months her mother cried, leaving Tara wishing she could help. When her mother had to take on another job to keep the family together, her eldest daughter had been put in charge of watching eight-year-old Briana.

      Regret filled Tara. Maybe if she’d done a better job, her baby sister would be alive today. But Bri had always been headstrong. From an early age, she’d had a wild streak. Unlike Tara, she ran after life, and after men, looking for the love their father had denied them.

      “I should have been there for you,” Tara whispered, believing that Briana left Phoenix because she felt smothered. “I should have gone to visit you. We were family.”

      Tara had been busy with college and her job, but she could have found time. If only Briana had wanted to see her. Tears stung her eyes. At least in the end, she’d been with Bri. And now that Matt Landers had denied paternity she was going to be Erin’s family.

      She walked to the crib and gazed at the beautiful baby. She already looked like Briana. The shape of her face and her large eyes were Bri’s, although their color was dark brown, like her father’s. The wisps of hair that covered her small head were blond. Again like her father. A father who wasn’t going to be around.

      “I wanted so much for you, sweetie,” she whispered, emotion lacing her voice. “But it looks like it’s just you and me, Erin Marie. I promise I won’t let you down.” She took hold of Erin’s tiny finger just like she had so many times with Bri. “I double pinky swear. We’ll be a family.”

      There was a soft knock on the door. Wiping away any traces of tears, Tara checked the peephole. Her pulse started to race when she saw Matt Landers. He’d come. She said a quick little prayer and opened the door.

      “Can we talk?” he asked.

      Tara swallowed. “That depends on what you have to say.”

      “I believe it’s obvious what we have to talk about. The baby. We need to come to a decision that will be the best for all of us.”

      “You mean that will be best for you,” she murmured.

      After a few seconds, Tara stepped aside and Matt walked into the small room. He glanced around the standard chain motel surroundings. The double bed with the colorful bedspread. The desk with the menu and coupons from the local restaurant. Then he turned his attention to the baby crib in the corner, and a protective feeling tugged at him.

      “Do my accommodations meet with your approval?”

      Matt turned to Tara. Faded jeans covered her long, slender legs and accented her narrow waist. A short white T-shirt draped her delicate shoulders and nicely rounded breasts. Her short rust-colored hair was pulled behind her ears. He raised his gaze to her weary green eyes.

      “I’m not concerned with your accommodations, Ms. McNeal, just your accusations.”

      His lawyer, Ed Podesta, had told him he’d handle everything and advised his client to stay away from Tara McNeal and the baby. Even though Matt knew he couldn’t possibly be Erin’s father, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. Her sweet face, her pink cheeks and rosebud mouth. He tended children daily. Many were infants. But he’d never been called a father before. That made little Erin different.

      The baby was the innocent one in all this. But was Tara McNeal innocent? “I’m here because there’s a child involved. She’s the one we have to worry about. Needless to say, you caught me off guard when you came to the office today.”

      He watched Tara cross her arms.

      “I don’t want to be the enemy here,” Matt continued. “There are some steps we need to take.”

      “Just what steps are those, Dr. Landers?”

      “A blood test.”

      Early the next day, Tara carried Erin across the medical laboratory parking lot. Matthew Landers was there waiting for her.

      The man looked far too good first thing in the morning. He wore a snowy white shirt with dove-gray pleated slacks and expensive black loafers. His hair was perfect, not a strand out of place. Tara found she wanted to mess it up. She quickly pushed away the crazy thought.

      He pulled off his dark glasses and squinted into the summer sun. “Good morning, Ms. McNeal,” he said.

      Tara absently brushed her hair behind her ears, wishing she’d taken time to apply a little makeup. No easy task when she had a baby to care for. “Morning, doctor,” she answered.

      “Okay, СКАЧАТЬ