Her Bad Boy Billionaire Lover (Billionai)

chapter Eight



The thing to do was act cool even though her hands were shaking. If Jake had shown up an hour earlier, he would have been standing right there at the foot of the walkway staring at his daughter. Megan whispered a quick prayer of thanks for good friends and birthday parties.

Head high, she stepped out onto the rickety porch. He had a black eye, she noted. Her only regret was that she wasn't the one who'd given it to him. "What are you doing here?"

"What the hell do you think I'm doing here?"

"I'm not in the mood for riddles, Jake. Just tell me what you want then leave."

"What if I don't, Megan?" He stepped closer. "What'll you do, run away?"

"I have this thing about liars," she said smoothly. "I can't help myself. I just automatically run in the opposite direction."

"Not this time," he said.

In a blink of an eye he was standing on the step in front of her and she was in his arms.

"Jake, I--"

His kiss was angry. So was her response. A ferocious mating of will and desire that left her breathless and enraged.

He broke the kiss but not the hold he had on her arms.

Her eyes widened but she didn't give an inch. "We're going to talk," he said.

"The hell we are." She wanted to storm off but he held her tight.

"You know I own Tropicale, don't you?"

"Remind me to send Val some flowers. If it hadn't been for her, I'd still think you were a lowly piano player."

"I was going to tell you that night."

"Right," she said, with a bitter laugh. "After you got what you wanted between the sheets."

"There's more to it than that."

"Sure there is." Her voice broke but she recovered quickly. "If you don't leave in the next thirty seconds, I'll call the police."

"Not if I don't let you."

"You don't scare me."

"No?" His eyes glittered with dark fire. "Then you're not paying attention. We're going to talk if I have to tie you up and lock you in a room."

"Big talk from a man who gets his kicks slumming with the masses. Now I know how you got the black eye."

"Who's slumming?" he asked, ignoring the comment about his eye. "This isn't exactly the Ritz-Carlton you're visiting."

She took a deep breath. "I'm not visiting."

"Your partner's place?"

She shook her head.

He looked skeptical. "I get it," he said. "This is where you do your cooking."

"Wrong again." She glanced at her watch. "Ten seconds, Jake, and then I'm calling the police. You're not welcome here."

"You're not planning to stay here all night, are you?"

She lifted her chin. "So what if I am?"

"This is a lousy neighborhood. It probably gets lousier after dark."

"This is a terrific neighborhood," she shot back. "Too bad it isn't fancy enough for your nouveau riche tastes."



#



An alternate universe, that's what it was. The real Megan McLean wouldn't say something like that.

"Since when did you become a populist?" Jake remembered the girl who thought anything south of Palm Beach was swampland fit only for gators and rednecks. He released his hold on her. "You must be counting the minutes until you can run home."

"Go away," she said, poking her finger into his chest. The look in her eyes was fierce. "Why don't you go back to Australia and chase kangaroos?"

"Come with me to Australia," he said, ignoring the way her hands were clenched into fists. "Let me show you where I grew up."

"I don't give a damn where you grew up." She shoved him in the general direction of the street. "I just want you to leave."

"Sign the contract with Tropicale and I'll leave."

"I'd rather be dead."

"Don't push me," he growled. "Now let's go back to your place and straighten this whole thing out."

"This is my place."

"You can do better than that."

"Damn you. I am telling the truth." The fire in her eyes was softened by unshed tears.

"You live here?"

"I live here."

"What about the house in Palm Beach?" Her father's pink palace where the beautiful princess lived in splendor.

"There is no house in Palm Beach."

"You sold it?"

"The bank and two mortgage companies relieved me of that particular burden."

"You're telling me your father's insurance didn't cover it?"

She looked as if she'd rather walk across a bed of hot coals than answer his questions. "There was no insurance, Jake." She met his eyes. "No insurance. No stocks. No bonds. Nothing."

"With all his money?" Jake tried to fathom her expression. "Look, I was no fan of your father's, but he wasn't that old. He probably didn't think--"

"You don't get it, do you?" she asked, her voice rising. "My father didn't just die, Jake. He killed himself. He walked straight out into the ocean and he never came back." She looked away for a moment. "And he didn't give a damn if I died right along with him." Darrin McLean had gambled away his assets on slow horses and fast women, and when it all became too much he took the easy--and permanent--way out.

His gut burned with rage. "That son of a bitch threw you to the wolves."

She didn't deny it. She didn't do anything at all, except meet his gaze head on. For the first time he understood the shadow of vulnerability he'd seen in her eyes. It hadn't been his imagination. It had been real. All too real.

"I don't want you living like this," he said. "I can help you to--"

"I don't need your charity and I don't particularly want your company." Her voice shook with anger. "Now if you'll excuse me, I was on my way out."

"We're not finished."

"Oh yes, we are."

"I f*cked up," he said. "I admit it. I should've told you right up front that I owned the company."

"Get out of my way," she said. "I don't want to see your face ever again."

"Grow up, Meggie." His temper flared. "If you'd stop running and start listening, we might be able to work this out."

"Work what out? There's nothing to work out." She shoved him again, harder this time. "You mean nothing to me, Jake. All you are is a mistake I'd rather forget."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her body up against his.

"Jake, if you--"

"Shut up." His mouth slanted across hers hungrily. Her lips parted in surprise. He took full advantage of her moment of weakness as his hands cupped the heavy fullness of her breasts.

"I despise you," she said, breaking the kiss. "Only a bastard would take advantage of the situation."

"Only a fool would let it pass."

"Go ahead," she said, taunting him. "Show me what a big man you are. There's nothing I can do to stop you."

"You're right," he said. "If I wanted to take you right here in your front yard, there's not one damn thing you could do to stop me. But that's not what I want and you know it."

"I pity you," she said, pulling away from his grasp. "You don't have any idea about what's important in life."

"And you do?" He laughed. "I saw you on the cruise, Megan. You were desperate to land the franchise." He gestured toward the house. "Now I know why. You're counting the days until you're back in Palm Beach where you belong."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"The hell I don't."

"I'm not--" She stopped. "Forget it. This conversation is pointless." What on earth was she going to do? Ingrid was in labor. She had to get back there and watch the kids even if it meant she risked having Jake discover Jenny's existence. She started for her car. "Follow me," she said over her shoulder, "and I swear I'll have you arrested."

She climbed into the car and started the engine. Her hands shook so badly she could barely hold the steering wheel. Take a deep breath, she ordered herself. Jake was as tenacious as a bulldog. He'd be tough to lose but she would do anything she had to, short of driving into oncoming traffic.

Gunning the engine, she roared out of the driveway and zoomed down the street with Jake in hot pursuit. For a while it seemed she'd have to drive all the way to Key West with him right behind her as she attempted to lose him in traffic. If she had to she would drive off a bridge. No way on earth was she going to lead him to Jenny.

Sweat broke out along her hairline and trickled down the back of her neck. Ingrid...she had to get there for Ingrid. Not even hard labor would convince Ingrid to leave those kids alone. Megan entertained horrifying visions of her partner giving birth in the middle of the birthday party with a score of horrified six year olds in attendance.

She finally ditched him forty minutes later. A quick right, a sharp left, then a ridiculous race through a parking lot and she was free. Badly shaken, she pulled off to the side of the road and burst into tears of relief.

This can't be happening, she thought as she started once again for Ingrid's house and her daughter's birthday party. Jake wasn't supposed to show up on her doorstep, demanding apologies and explanations, drawing responses from her that she'd sell her soul to the devil not to feel.

She wanted to grab Jenny and run. California, maybe. Or Seattle. Some little town in the middle of Montana where Jake could never find them. He was too wild, too unpredictable. He knew nothing about being part of a family and he cared even less.

She'd spent much of her life looking for a hero, but there were no heroes any longer. Maybe there never had been. A long time ago she had believed her father would move mountains to keep her safe from harm. Discovering the truth made her question everything she'd believed as a child. Everything she'd considered important as a young woman.

That wasn't going to happen to Jenny. Not as long as there was breath in her body. If it meant they had to pull up stakes and move to another house, then so be it. Jake's attention span had never been very good. He had other things to think about besides tormenting his ex-wife and sooner or later she would fade back into memory.

Ingrid wouldn't mind if she and Jenny stayed with them for a night or two, just long enough for Megan to decide what to do next. Megan could take care of the house for Miguel and Stace while Ingrid was in the hospital.

With a little luck, Jake would climb back on board his boat and sail out of her life forever.

She drove the rest of the way to Ingrid's house with one eye on the road and one eye on the rearview mirror, but there was no sign of Jake. Thank God. She was able to plaster a fairly normal smile on her face as she pulled into the driveway. The horse trailer from Rent-A-Pony was parked in front of the house. She wished she'd seen Jenny's face when Sparkles arrived but she consoled herself that there would be other birthdays. The wonderful sound of children's laughter floated toward her from the back yard and, despite everything, she smiled as Jenny's sweet voice rose above the others.

This was what it was all about. The pain and heartache. The loneliness and the hard work. It had nothing to do with five-bedroom houses and fancy cars...or a man who would break her heart in two. Her daughter's happiness meant the world to her and she'd been crazy to believe she needed anything else--or anyone--to make her life complete.

"Ingrid!" she called out. "Did you call Miguel? I--"

"Oh, thank God you're here!" A young girl Megan recognized as one of Ingrid's neighbors popped up at her side. She had the camcorder clutched in her hands. "You wouldn't believe what happened." Her face wrinkled comically. "It was really gross. Mrs. Chavez's water broke right there on the patio. I was really scared the baby was just gonna pop right out near the barbecue pit."

"Ingrid left for the hospital?"

The girl nodded vigorously. "Mr. Chavez cleaned up the gunk and they went off to the hospital. My mom and me said we'd watch the kids until you got back."

Megan looked over to the laughing knot of little girls who were waiting for the chance to ride Sparkles, the Happy Birthday Pony. Jenny was right in the thick of things. "They don't look any the worse for the wear." She looked back at the teenager. "How did you handle their questions?"

"There weren't any," said the girl with a shrug. "Sparkles showed up and ponies are a lot more interesting than babies."

Megan counted her blessings. She was all in favor of telling kids the truth about the facts of life, but six seemed a little young to explain the wonders of the placental sac. She took the camcorder from the girl.

"Thanks for your help," she said. "I can take over from here."

"I don't mind," said the girl. "I was kind of hoping to get a ride on Sparkles myself." She gave Megan a sheepish look. "If you don't mind, that is."

Megan laughed. "Don't let me stop you. If Sparkles doesn't have any objections then it's okay with me."

With a whoop of excitement the young girl practically galloped across the yard to wait her turn.

Megan looked at the camcorder with dismay. It didn't look all that difficult to use. She'd tried her hand at it last Christmas when Ingrid and Miguel wanted a family record of opening presents beneath the tree.

"First the lens cap comes off," she muttered. "Then you check the light meter."

"Tape," said a familiar voice behind her. "Make sure you have enough tape."

God, no. Please not now...not here.

"Great driving, Meggie," he said in that infuriatingly sexy Aussie voice of his. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to get away from me."

"I was trying to get away from you."

He gestured toward the kids waiting for their turn to ride Sparkles. "Since when did you go into the babysitting business?"

She felt lightheaded with fear. "This is my partner's house."

"She has one hell of a big family."

"It's a birthday party, you fool," she snapped, spinning around to glare up at him.

"So where is your partner? I'd like to meet the money behind your operation before you sign on the dotted line."

"I'm not signing on the dotted line. You can take your contract and--"

"That temper of yours always did get you into trouble, Meggie. How does your partner like it when you run away at the first sign of rough weather? That's not going to get you back to Palm Beach."

She didn't look at him. She didn't acknowledge his words. Turning on her heel she headed for the patio telephone.

"If you're calling for pizza, make mine pepperoni," he drawled, following close behind.

"I'm calling the police," she said through gritted teeth. "This is harassment and I won't stand for it."

"The Miami police force has enough to worry about. Don't waste their time."

"The hell I won't." She grabbed for the phone but he got there first. "So help me, Jake, I'll--"

"I'm leaving in a few days," he said without preamble. "It's now or never. Come with me, Meggie. We'll work it out while we see the world. We have another ship ready to sail out of Bermuda. Then I'm flying to Hawaii and--"

"I don't give a damn about your itinerary." She glared up at him, praying her fear didn't show. Praying that Jenny would remain occupied with the pony. Praying that this was all a bad dream and she would wake up in her own bed, with Jenny safe and sound in the next room. "I'll give you ten seconds to get out of here."

He handed her the phone. "You might as well call the police then, Meggie, because I'm not going anywhere until we talk this out."

To her horror, tears welled in her eyes. "Go away," she said, her voice breaking. "I don't need you or anyone else."

He grabbed her by the arms and shook her. "You might be able to get someone else to believe that, but not me. What are you hiding, Meggie? What the hell's going on?"

And then it happened. The worst of her fears was realized. From across the yard Jenny let out a shriek and barreled full speed across the grass toward them.

"You let my mommy alone!" she yelled, heading straight for Jake. "Don't touch my mommy!"



#



She was a tiny bundle of fury and Jake jumped back as she tackled him around the knees.

"What the hell--?" He looked at Megan, whose face had gone pale. "Who is she?"

"Go away!" the child shrieked. "You can't touch my mommy."

He bent down and detached the little demon from his legs. "I'm not touching anyone's mommy." The kid must have been out in the sun too long.

She looked up at him with fierce golden eyes and a stab of something damn close to fear shot through his chest. "I saw you! You pushed her and I hate you!" With that the pint-sized pugilist hauled off and punched him in the thigh.

"Jenny." Megan placed a hand atop the child's head. "Everything is fine. Apologize to Mr. Lockwood for hitting him."

The kid looked as if she'd like to bite him in the leg. The feeling was mutual.

"No," she said, her lower lip protruding. "You can't make me. It's my birthday."

That tone of voice...the way her little jaw was set in granite. Recognition was hovering just beyond reach. He hoped it stayed there.

"Forget it, Megan," he said. "She didn't draw blood."

Megan nodded. A small muscle in her cheek worked furiously.

No, he thought. I don't want to know this.

The little girl looked up at him. "You talk funny."

He looked down at her. "So do you."

"I do not. I talk normal."

"So do I."

"Uh-unh." She shook her head and her silky hair brushed against her cheeks. "You talk like Croco--" She stopped.

"Crocodile Dundee," said Megan, her voice a whisper. "It's her favorite movie."

"What's your name?" he asked.

"I can't talk to strangers."

"He's not a stranger, Jenny," said Megan, voice trembling. "He's an...an old friend of mine."

"I'm Jenny," the kid said. "Who are you?"

"Jake." He squatted down in front of her as an odd sense of recognition swept over him. "You have good ears, Jenny. Crocodile Dundee is from Australia. So am I."

"I have a stuffed kangaroo in my room," Jenny said, looking at him with a mixture of dislike and curiosity. "I keep pennies in her pouch."

"How does the kangaroo feel about that?"

Jenny sighed broadly. "The kangaroo isn't real."

Megan placed her hand on the child's shoulder. "The pony won't be here much longer, Jenny. Why don't you go and have one last ride before Sparkles leaves."

The little girl was gone in a flash leaving Jake alone with a woman he thought he knew.

"Her birthday?"

Megan nodded.

Six years...six long years. He'd been a fool to believe life could stand still. "She's yours, isn't she?"

The expression on her face was one of sadness and wonder. "Yes."

The question burned his gut, tore its way up through his chest, ripped at his throat. He already knew the answer. Some other man had lain between her legs, joined his body with hers, and made that little girl with the red hair and fierce temper. Some other man had heard the sounds she made when she came, seen the look of passion in her eyes, the look that he'd remembered through six long years of emptiness without her. The existence of a child paled beside the reality of another man.

For one terrible moment he wanted to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze until she collapsed limp in his arms, the memory of other men erased forever from her mind. But it wouldn't be enough. He wouldn't be able to erase the truth from his heart.



#



Megan saw it in his face. His jaw was set in granite. His mouth was tight with barely controlled anger. The look in his eyes was one of betrayal and regret.

He doesn't know, she thought in amazement. He'd looked at Jenny and he hadn't realized the truth. A towering anger rose inside her chest, an anger that matched his.

"You don't see it, do you?" she asked. "My God, Jake, are you blind?" She pointed toward Jenny who was jumping up and down as she waited her turn on the pony. "Look at her. Take a good long look at her and tell me what you see."

He looked toward the child with the red hair and golden eyes. That sense of recognition he'd experienced a few minutes ago returned, stronger this time. The child was laughing about something, her eyes crinkling at the outer corners.

The same way his eyes crinkled when he--

A dark, fierce emotion rose up from the deepest part of his soul, blocking out the sun. He turned toward Megan. "She's mine."

She nodded.

He went to grab her by the arm but the memory of that fierce little girl stopped him in his tracks. "When the hell were you going to tell me, Megan? When she turned twenty-one?"

"Never," she snapped. "If I had my way, you'd never have known about her."

"You don't think I had the right to know I was a father?"

"You weren't around, Jake. I couldn't tell you."

He didn't want logic. "What does she know about me?"

"Nothing."

"She thinks I'm dead?"

"Jenny knows we're divorced. There are a lot of single parent families out there these days, Jake, in case you haven't noticed. We've done just fine on our own and we'll continue to do just fine."

He grabbed her arm and dragged her behind a huge rhododendron bush. "Not this time, Megan. You're not calling the shots again." She'd walked out on him twice. He wasn't going to let it happen a third time.

"Take your hands off me," she said. "You have no say in this, Jake. None."

"The hell I don't." He wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled but he wasn't sure he could stop.

"You're hurting me."

"You're lucky I don't kill you."

Her face contorted as she fought tears. He used to be a sucker for women in tears but now he didn't know how he felt about anything. A scrap of conversation came back to him and he reached out and grabbed it. "You said you tried to call me after your father died." He gestured toward Jenny who was giggling as a young woman led the pony around the yard. "Is that why?"

Megan nodded.

"Why didn't you keep trying?"

Her eyes flashed fire. "Detectives cost money, Jake. I was too busy worrying about keeping a roof over my daughter's head to spend it chasing a dream."

That look of vulnerability he'd noticed on the Sea Goddess...the soft uncertainty in her eyes. He hadn't imagined any of it. She'd walked through the fire and been made stronger by it and he found his rage battling with profound respect for all she had accomplished.

"You could have had an abortion," he said, pushing for answers. "You didn't have to give birth to her."

"Yes, I did," she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "I loved her from the first second I knew about her."

He was at a loss to understand the primal emotions she talked about. That fierce maternal bond that began long before the child was born. All he felt was a bewildering sense of shock.

"You were dead broke. How the hell did you think you were going to take care of her?"

"I didn't think," Megan said. "I just felt." She'd hocked her jewelry first thing and lived off the proceeds while the bones of her father's life were picked clean by creditors. "I don't think I would have survived if it hadn't been for the baby. Knowing there was a reason to get up each morning got me through the worst of it."

"What about your medical bills?"

Her eyes flashed with fire but she answered his question. "I worked as a receptionist in a health club. Fortunately they catered to mothers-to-be and I was a walking advertisement." The health benefits had picked up the obstetrician's bill and the hospital stay.

"And after she was born?"

"I found a way. The first moment I saw her I knew I'd do anything for her." She looked at him. "But you just don't get any of this, do you?"

He thought of his own life. The arid expanse of his childhood. His wandering teens. The years ruled by ambition at the expense of love. "No," he said. "Not one bloody bit of it."

"Then go. You're not looking to be a father, Jake, and I don't want you to be one."

"You've made enough decisions for me. It's my turn now."

His words hit her like a slap in the face.

"Look at her," she said, unable to mask the emotion in her voice. "She doesn't need any confusion. She doesn't need anything but me."

He started to speak when Megan turned suddenly and made for the knot of children at a dead run.

"What the hell--?" He hadn't heard or seen anything out of the ordinary but she'd reacted as if she'd heard a warning siren go off.

By the time he joined them the crisis was past. Megan held a little blond girl in her arms while Jenny glowered at the two of them. It wasn't hard to fill in the blanks.

"Apologize this minute, Jennifer." Megan's tone brooked no nonsense.

Jenny's stubborn little chin grew more stubborn before his eyes. "No."

"Into the house, young lady." Megan pointed toward the back door. "Go up to the guest room and think about what you've done. When you're ready to apologize you can come back down."

He watched as his daughter stormed across the lawn, muttering dark threats under her breath. She had his temper and Megan's stubbornness and the combination was as explosive as a hand grenade.

Against his better judgment he fell into step with her. "So what did you do back there?"

"Stace is a big crybaby," Jenny said. "I wanted to ride the pony and she wouldn't let me."

"Maybe it was her turn."

"It wasn't her turn. It was my turn." She looked up at him, her small face a portrait of righteous fury. "It's my birthday and I get to do what I want."

"Birthdays don't give you the right to hurt people."

"I don't like you," she said. "You're not nice to children."

"Neither are you," Jake said.

Her brows drew together in a frown that was so purely Megan that his heart seemed to slam against his ribcage in recognition. "But that's okay. I am a children."

"Being a grown up doesn't mean you can be cruel to other grownups." At least not in a more perfect world than the one in which they lived.

She considered him thoughtfully, her big golden eyes, so like his, serious. "Do you have a kangaroo?"

Where did that question come from? It took him a moment to shift gears. "If you apologize to your friend I'll tell you about the kangaroo who lived in my backyard."

"No," she said. "Stace is dumb." A sly look crossed her face. "You're dumb, too."

With that she ran into the house and slammed the door behind her. That's my daughter, he thought, and I don't even like her.

And what was worse, the feeling was mutual.



#



Sparkles the pony left not long after Jenny was banished to the house to think about her transgressions. Her absence put a bit of a damper on the party but Megan called on every trick in the book to keep the kids occupied and happy.

Miguel called once to say that, to everyone's surprise, Ingrid's labor looked to be a long one. "Don't worry," Megan said. "Everything's fine here. Just give Ingrid my love."

"Why is it taking so long?" Stace asked, her blue eyes wide. "Mommy said the baby comes down the slide from her tummy. It only takes me a second to slide down a slide."

"Well, it's not quite a slide, honey." Megan was acutely aware of Jake's presence. "The mommy and the baby have to work very hard to make it happen. That's why they call it labor."

A little girl named Patrice piped up. "My daddy said mommy called him a stinking son of a--"

"Why don't we have play a game of statues?" Megan broke in, and not a minute too soon.

They stared at her as if she were speaking in tongues.

"What's that?" asked Stace.

"We never heard of that game," said another child.

Jake, who'd been watching the whole thing with unnerving intensity, stepped forward. "I know a story."

The children turned en masse to look at Jake and Megan was once again reminded how flirtatious little girls could be. If she didn't know better she'd swear she heard the sound of Cupid's arrow piercing a dozen tiny hearts.

"That's very nice of you," she said formally, "but I'm sure you have to leave."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"I'm not going anywhere, Meggie."

The little girls listened with rapt attention.

Megan lowered her voice. "Don't do this to me, Jake."

He turned toward the girls. "I'm not good at telling fairy tales," he said, offering a dazzling smile, "but I can tell you all about Australia."

Jenny must have been watching from an upstairs window because a few minutes later Megan noticed her daughter standing near one of Ingrid's favorite orange trees. Jake was telling a funny story about shearing an unwilling sheep. All of the little girls were laughing.

All of them except Jenny.



#



Apparently the secret to talking with children was to concentrate on kangaroos and Crocodile Dundee. Jake told his joey-in-the-yard story five times and still the little girls clamored for more.

He glanced toward Jennifer who sat by herself under an orange tree, playing with one of those platinum blond dolls with centerfold bodies. She was going out of her way to make it obvious that she had no interest in kangaroos or sheep-shearing, although she did glance up when he described a real life Crocodile Dundee he'd met in Tasmania. There was a brittleness in the way she held herself, the obvious posture of a child desperate to join her friends but unwilling to compromise her pride.

There was no doubt that Jennifer was his daughter and Megan's. It was there in the set of her jaw, the line of her shoulders, the eyes that were as familiar to him as his own in the mirror each morning. He already knew the girl had Megan's stubborn streak and his own quicksilver temper. She loved her mother and didn't trust him one bit and he was glad of it. The last thing he wanted was a little girl looking up at him with trusting eyes, as if he were the hero in one of her picture books.

He'd never wanted to be anyone's hero. Or anyone's father, for that matter. A child was better off with no father other than one who was all wrong for the job. He knew that better than most people. His old man's take on fatherhood had been a combination of physical intimidation, booze, and disinterest. A boy could pick up and hit the road as soon as he was tough enough to hold his own. His sister had been stuck in that godforsaken shack, growing older and lonelier with every passing year spent caring for their father.

He shook his head, trying to banish the memories. His daughter was looking at him, her small features set in lines of pure stubbornness. But it was her eyes that drew him in. His eyes. His temper. His insecurities.

If push came to shove, he wasn't convinced he'd ever be able to make the right decision where she was concerned and he had the feeling she knew that as well as he did.

Don't look at me like that, he thought, meeting her eyes. I don't want to change your life. There was nothing he could offer her that could surpass the love Megan gave so freely. And he knew why there could be no room in Megan's life for him.



#



"Okay, everyone," Megan said as she placed the birthday cake down on the picnic table in the center of the yard. "Gather around while Jenny blows out the candles."

Jenny, cheeks pink with excitement, climbed up on one of the benches and leaned over. "Do I get to make a wish?"

Megan gave her a hug. "As many as you want."

Jenny took a deep breath then blew out all of the candles on the very first try.

"Now my wishes come true, don't they?" she asked Megan as she leaped down from the bench.

The words caught in Megan's throat. Jake stood a few feet behind Jenny, watching the proceedings. The expression in his eyes was unreadable but his intentions were clear. No matter how unwelcome she made him feel, he wasn't about to leave until he was good and ready.

Go away, Megan thought fiercely as she dished out ice cream and cake to the little girls. You don't belong here. He didn't have the right to stand there as if he were part of their lives, making her feel things she didn't want to feel. Couldn't he see what he was doing, the chance he was taking? The last thing she wanted was for Jenny to see him as her knight in shining armor.

By the time the little girls had been served and were seated around the folding tables set out on the lawn, Megan was ready to strangle him.

"Help yourself to some cake," she said dryly.

"Don't mind if I do." He cut himself a huge slice and placed it on a paper plate. "How about you?"

"I lost my appetite."

"This moral outrage of yours is getting old, Megan. I'm the one who just found out he has a kid."

"There's no point going over this again," Megan said, aware of Jenny's curious glance. "You know now." She paused for effect. "Same as I know about Tropicale."

"There's a big difference between hiding a kid and hiding a company."

"I didn't hide Jenny."

"The hell you didn't."

The last of her self-control snapped. "What exactly do you want from all of this, Jake? If you're even thinking of playing daddy at this late date, so help me I'll--"

"I don't want to be her father," he said bluntly.

She hated herself for the disappointment his words evoked. "Then we're in agreement," she said, forcing her voice to remain even. "You don't want to be part of Jenny's life and I don't want you to be."

"You have it all figured out, don't you? Blow my life out of the water and leave me behind, wondering what in hell happened."

"I didn't want you to know about her. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"None of this was supposed to happen." He'd wanted to get her out of his system. See her one more time and put the past to rest. He hadn't expected to want her the way he did. He hadn't expected that sleeping with her again would make his desire for her grow stronger. Yeah, he knew all about things that weren't supposed to happen.

"Just go," she said, a quaver in her voice. "Go wherever it is you were going to go and forget we even exist. We've been doing fine up until now without you."

"You're living in a rundown bungalow in a lousy neighborhood. Your clothes are out of style and you're driving a car that's older than our kid. You're drowning, Megan, and I'm the only one who can help you."

"We don't need your help."

"Give me a day with her and you won't see me again." He'd care for Jenny's financial needs and leave the emotional ones to Megan.

"Over my dead body."

"I'm her father," he said, the words sounding as strange as they felt. "One day out of six years isn't a lot to ask for."

"No."

"I can force the issue."

"You wouldn't dare."

"You know damn well there's nothing I wouldn't do."

"Are you threatening me?"

"I don't make threats, Meggie. I get what I want without them."

"She's mine," Megan said, her voice fierce, "and there's nothing you can do to change that."

"One day," he repeated. "Tomorrow. And you can be with her."

"We have plans for tomorrow," Megan said. "I'm taking Stace and Jenny to the mall for a puppet show. Maybe the day after tomorrow."

"I'm leaving tomorrow night."

Her relief was palpable. "Then the next time you're in town."

"That won't be for at least a year. I'm sailing out of Lahaina next month."

"Australia?" she whispered.

He nodded. His dream was finally within reach. He'd expected it to feel a hell of a lot better than it did.

An odd expression flickered across her face but vanished before he could put a name to it. "Jenny has her heart set on the puppet show," Megan said. "She wouldn't understand."

He thought of his own childhood where disappointment had been the air he breathed. "Then I'll go to the bloody puppet show with you."

"You'll hate it."

"You're probably right."

"She doesn't like you very much."

"I know," he said grimly. "I don't like her very much either."

All in all, they were off to a bloody awful start.