Doris O'Connor by Too Hot to Handle

you – then you know—”
    ****
    Alex cradled Kitty on his lap, shocked at the
shimmer of tears in her eyes. What had he said? He used his thumb
to gently wipe away the single tear falling down her
cheek.
    “ I take it he was a
jerk?”
    Kitty shook her head, the tears falling in
earnest now, and he had to strain to hear her barely whispered
words. He was going to kill the bastard who had hurt her like
this.
    “ He doesn’t know about Noah. It was
a one night stand you see.”
    “ But you said—” Alex’s heart
hammered in his chest and he tilted her head up to make her look at
him. Does she mean? But he isn’t old enough.
    “ I only ever had the one one night
stand, Alex. How old do you think Noah is?”
     
     

Chapter Eleven
     
    Kitty held her breath, watching the emotions
playing over Alex’s face. He moved her off his lap and stood up,
putting some distance between them. He poured himself another glass
of brandy and stood for a long time with his back to her, just
staring into space. When he finally turned around his face was an
unreadable mask, his blue eyes cold as ice and his voice carefully
controlled.
    “ What are you trying to tell me,
Kitty? Are you saying he’s mine?”
    Oh hell, this wasn’t going well. Kitty took a
deep breath and wrapped her arms around herself. She didn’t trust
her voice at all, so she just nodded.
    Alex swore loudly in Italian, his eyes even
more frosty when they focused on her again.
    “ I know I had too much to drink
that night, but I do know I used protection every time, so
how can he be?”
    Kitty gasped at that veiled accusation. What the hell? This wasn’t the Alex she’d come to know. In
his place was a frosty stranger, accusing her of God only knew
what.
    “ They aren’t one hundred percent
reliable. You know that, Alex. What the hell are you accusing me of
here?”
    Alex swore again, running one trembling hand
through his hair, before he shook his head and downed another glass
of brandy.
    “ What do expect me to think, Kitty?
Why the hell did you not tell me before now? And I don’t mean when
we met again. You had my goddamn number, Kitty. You say he’s mine,
yet you didn’t think I might want to know about him before now? You
have robbed me of what? Three years of his life for fuck’s sake!
How could you!”
    “ I did ring you, Alex. I left a
message when I found out I was pregnant. When you didn’t get back
to me I tried to phone, but all I kept getting was your voice mail.
You ignored me. What was I supposed to have done? It was difficult
enough to ring you once. I wasn’t going to keep on trying, so get
off your high horse, will you?”
    Alex took a step towards her then, his fists
balled at his side, his face murderous.
    “ Don’t lie to me, Kitty. Don’t you
think a man would respond to a message informing him that he is
about to become a father! I never got any message and certainly no
phone call.”
    “ Well, that’s exactly what you did,
Alex!”
    Damn the man, what was wrong with him? She was
not staying for this. So much for every man would be honored to
call Noah his son. She should have known this was all too good to
be true. She ruthlessly fought back the tears stinging her eyes.
Thank heavens she’d gotten dressed after her shower.
    Alex made no move to stop her when she grabbed
her bag and her jacket. He just stood there watching her, his face
grim.
    She had the door handle in her hand when she
spun round, all the disappointment she felt dripping from her
voice.
    “ I wonder, would you be so quick to
dismiss him if he didn’t have Down’s?”
    And she slammed the door on Alex’s furious
growl. The sound of something smashing against the inside of the
door made her jump, and she ran up the path she could hardly see
through the tears clouding her vision.
    ****
    Alex looked at the shattered remains of the
brandy bottle he had just thrown at the door Kitty had slammed so
forcefully, and he shook his head. Damn her, how little she