Revealed: His Secret Child by Sandra Hyatt Page B

unprepared. A weak moment. It wouldn’t happen again. She couldn’t let it.
    True to his word he was back in an hour. He carried one suitcase and one bulging garment bag, holding the Italian tailor-made suits that always looked so good on him.
    She opened the front door ready to set the ground rules.
    â€œI’ll need a key.” He got in the first words.
    He set his bags down and Gillian picked her keys out of the bowl on the nearby table and worked her key off the key ring. “Here. Now you can walk in and out of my home, my life, at will.” She hadn’t meant to let her bitterness, her fear show.
    She turned but he stilled her with a hand on her arm, his grip firm, his blue gaze intense. “You’re right about the walking in part. But not the walking out.”
    â€œYou walked away from me before.”
    â€œYes, but I’m not here for you, I’m here for Ethan.”
    Which she knew. And still the words felt like a blow. Putting her in her place. She’d do well to always remember that. She didn’t matter to him.
    â€œI don’t walk away from my responsibilities.”
    â€œHe’s not just a responsibility. He’s a little boy.”
    â€œHe’s my little boy.”
    â€œOur,” she corrected him. If there were things she neededto remember there were also things she couldn’t let him forget.
    He dropped his hand from her arm.
    â€œAnd before you know it,” she said, “before you’ve had time to decide whether this is truly what you want, he’ll love you with all his heart. You’ll hurt him, scar him if you leave.” Like he’d hurt her. “He’ll grow up blaming himself, thinking there’s something wrong with him.”
    His eyes narrowed on her and a sudden yawning silence stretched. Finally, he spoke. “What aren’t you telling me?”
    â€œNothing.” Too astute, too perceptive he always was. Always cutting to the unseen heart of the matter.
    â€œWho walked away from you?”
    Gillian swallowed. Was she that transparent?
    â€œWe never talked about your parents.”
    â€œJust like we never talked about yours.”
    â€œBut you’ve met mine now. You told Mom you didn’t know your father.” His voice was gentle, coaxing.
    Hide it or get it out in the open? Hiding it only gave it power it didn’t deserve. “My mother is wonderful. My father, on the other hand, couldn’t decide whether he really wanted to be in our life. He came and went for months at a time, till finally when I was four he went and never came back.” She was a grown woman but she could still feel her younger self’s pain and confusion and blame. The feeling of inadequacy was something she’d had to battle hard. She would do anything to make sure Ethan never felt that.
    Max regarded her awhile longer. A sympathy she didn’t want softened his gaze. “I’m sorry.” He touched his fingertips to her jaw. “And for what it’s worth, it was his loss.” The hand dropped away and the sympathy left his eyes. “But unlike your father, I have decided. I want in. And I’m not going, not today, not tomorrow, not until Ethan himself leaves home. I’m doing the right thing here.”
    It was everything she wanted to hear but didn’t dare trust. “I know. Aren’t you honorable. What if you find a way to decide that leaving is the honorable thing to do?”
    He shook his head. “I’m not leaving. What’s it going to take for you to believe that?”
    â€œWeeks’ and weeks’ worth of disrupted sleep because he’s sick or teething. You not reacting when milk gets spilled in the keyboard of the laptop you left open and out. You having to cancel social engagements because you can’t find a sitter, having to give up Saturday golf because it takes up too much of your weekend. And all with no end in sight. Trading in