He tensed when she pushed open the car door and slammed it shut behind her. Standing still, his shoulders rigid, he waited for her to cross to him. His fury did not stop him from admiring the graceful sway of her hips. She had on a full-length black jacketbut had left it open. Her hair was still in the tidy bun, but she had pulled a black knitted cap over it.
"I hope I did not keep you waiting."
"I was early."
"Shall we sit?"
"I don't want to sit. I want you to..."
He broke off when a couple jogged by. Taking her arm, he steered them towards the bank of Brandywine maple trees, nearly across from the Lilly pond.
"Kindly take your hand off me."
Her cool tone with the disdain clearly evident had him digging in his fingers, and he was cruelly satisfied when she winced.
"She's my daughter."
"She's mine." Pulling her arm away, she walked towards the pond. "We had a one-night stand and when I tried to contact you..."
She let out a gasp when he clamped a hand on her arm and hauled her around to face him.
"When did you discover you were pregnant?"
"That's none of your business."
"Try again." His face was hard and harsh with anger, his lips thinning.
"When I was two months."
"And you didn't think to contact me."
"You were gone." She hissed, looking around to make sure they were not overheard. She had thought of ways to avoid making the meeting but resigned herself to the fact that he would make good on his threat and come after her. "I read in a magazine that you had left for Europe."
He shook her. "My parents, the rest of my family were still here."
"I was ashamed." She blazed at him. "I had never done anything like that before, obviously." She swallowed the bile in her throat. "And from your behavior afterwards, you clearly wanted nothing to do with me. It was just another notch on your very overcrowded belt. I let my family down, let myself down."
"I was planning on getting rid of it." She felt when he started and had the perverse pleasure of seeing the blank look on his face. Tears burned the back of her eyes. "I was scared. I had a career plan, and it was ruined all because... please let go of my arm, you're hurting me."
He released her instantly and felt the shame and guilt coursing through him. He had set out to seduce an innocent young girl and accomplished it. And had left her without a backward glance. But that still did not excuse the fact that she had kept something like this from him.
"I had a right to know."
She shrugged and bunched her fisted hands into the pockets of her jacket. "You did not deserve anything." Angling her chin, she glared at him. "You had your fun and left. I was the one who had to make the decision of whether or not to keep the baby and I did. I went through hell to bring her into this world, nine monthsof acute morning, afternoon and night sickness. Where the hell were you?"
"If you'd called..."
"You would have what?" Dragging her hands from her pockets, she spread them. "Jump on a plane, leave the current woman you were involved with and be right there by my side?"
Guilt warred with anger and had his eyes darkening. "Now, we will never know, will we?" He asked tightly. "I was robbed of that because you were pissed I did not call you back." He stalked her until her back hit the trunk of the tree. "You took that away from me. You could have gone to my parents..."
"And say what?" She cried, fear burning a path through her body. He looked angry enough to do bodily damage. "What would you have me say? 'Mr. & Mrs. Tyrell, I had the bad judgement of having sex with your son on our very first meeting and now I'm knocked up. Help.'"
"Yes!" he slammed a hand on the tree above her head. "They would have dragged my ass back to the states to face my responsibility. You had no right..."
"I did not want to force anything on you." She lifted her chin, her voice quiet and dignified. "Zoe is my daughter." She slapped a hand to her chest. "Mine. I almost died giving birth to her and she's completely mine. You're not cut out to be a father anyway. You hop from one woman's bed to the next without thought for their feelings. You're certainly not the kind of man I want around my daughter."
White hot anger and shame had him turning away. Pacing to the pond, he forced the rage to settle before facing her again. Her words had taken chunks out of him, the pain of it leaving him feeling weak. The fact that she had described who he had been in the past perfectly did not make it any easier.
