“And the daughter who was a perfect age to have been his?”Heath asked.
“I got the first email from him a couple of weeks later.It seems I resemblehismother, except for the red hair.”
“You’ve been struggling with this by yourself all this time?”Lia wiped her eyes.
“If you’d seen how heartbroken Mom was when I asked her about him, you’d understand.”Quinn pulled the phone from her pocket and woke it.“He sent another email just before this meeting.I didn’t have the stomach to look at more than the beginning.He keeps ranting about how my mother was wrong to keep me from him.I get an email every few days, each one putting more pressure on me to meet him.”
All this time, Heath had thought she’d come from a smaller but happy family like the one he and Lia had.This guy sounded like a selfish twit.
“Do youwantto meet him?”he asked.
“No.I could just block him, but…” Her words trailed off, her eyes glistening.
“But you might have a whole other family you never knew about,” Lia suggested.
“That’s it exactly.I found out I have two younger half-brothers.What if they’re not horrible?”
“Do you mind if I look?”Lia asked gently, pointing to the phone.
Quinn handed it to her.Heath felt an unexpected wish to pull Quinn into his arms and comfort her.Protect her.He didn’t have a good feeling about this birth father.The guy didn’t look good on paper.
Lia made a choking sound, and he turned to her.She stared at him, eyes wide, and handed him the phone.
Heath took it, wondering what could have freaked out his sister so badly.The email was the most mannered rant he’d ever seen.He stated that Quinn had a responsibility to take her position in the family.Position in the family?What did that mean?
Frowning, he skipped to the bottom.The email was signed by Wolfgang Evrard de Faesch, king of Glenloria.
Quinn watchedbleakly as understanding crossed Heath’s face.
“Your dad’s aking?”Heath finally asked.
“No, mydadowns a furniture company.”Quinn forced herself to keep an edge from her voice.She would push this point with anyone who questioned it until they got it right.“Any male can donate genetic material.It takes a real man to be adad.”
“Of course.My bad.And I completely agree.”Heath looked properly chagrined, and Quinn relaxed a little.He said, “He talks about you taking your position in the family.”
“Can he force you to be a princess?”Lia asked and then giggled.“That must be the strangest question I’ve asked anyone in my life.It’s going to take some getting used to.But can he?Force you, I mean?”
“I’d like to see him try,” Quinn growled, though she’d worried about that since she’d received the first email.
“That’s my girl!”Heath smacked his desk with the palm of his hand.“You show that loser he can’t treat you and your mother like that.”
Unexpected burning forced Quinn to blink her eyes several times, and she had to press a finger against her trembling lips.Until Heath’s loud declaration, she hadn’t accepted how much pressure she’d brought on herself by keeping it all inside.For the first time since she’d received the initial email, she didn’t feel alone.
“What’s this about a loser?”Coop Montgomery asked, stepping into the office suite.
“Oh, hey, sweetheart,” Lia cried, jumping to her feet to give her husband a hug.“We haven’t even gotten started with our meeting yet.”
Quinn had once heard Coop jokingly describe himself as a Hagrid clone.Coop wasn’t nearly that large, but at over six-and-a-half-feet tall and with a muscular build, he definitely took up a lot of the free space in Heath’s office.And just like the fictional half giant, Coop had a kind and gentle nature.
There was no way he wouldn’t find out now that Lia knew.Quinn could tell she was already losing control of the situation, and she didn’t know how to pull it back.
While Lia and Coop talked about whatever he’d come to see her about, Quinn glanced across the desk at Heath and found him watching her.He leaned forward.
“And he’s been trying to contact you for two months?”Heath asked, his voice low.
“I want him to leave me alone.Please don’t treat me differently.”The second greatest worry Quinn had struggled with since her bio dad had made contact was people finding out and going all weird about it.
“We won’t.It’ll just take a little getting used to.”
