“Let’s just forget it,” she muttered. “We both acted out of character that night.”
“Oh, I’d say you acted right in character. You knew exactly what you were doing.”
She swiveled away before he could see the hurt in her eyes. If he knew her he’d realize she’d never seduce a man just to father a child. Forcing a man to be a father never worked.
With shaking hands she put the coffeepot on, then took a ragged breath and turned to face the one person who could unravel her perfectly constructed life once again.
He stood with his lower back against the sink, his arms crossed against a well-muscled chest. “So, Lana, you lied to me, didn’t you? You told me afterward that you were on contraceptives. You told me there was nothing to worry about.” His eyes seared her. “But there was, wasn’t there?”
She hesitated, then, “Yes.”
“Did you think I would tell you to get rid of it?”
She hesitated again, but only briefly. “The thought did cross my mind.”
“No bloody way!”
An odd feeling turned inside her chest at his emphatic reply. She’d thought about that scenario of course, but had come to the conclusion Matt would want his child. Playboy or not, he had strong family ethics, and if he’d known he was about to be a father, nothing would have stopped him from being involved in the baby’s life.
And now he knew.
God help her.
“You should have told me as soon as you realized you were pregnant.”
Her throat turned dry. “I couldn’t, Matt.”
“Why?”
She hadn’t wanted to risk him taking her child away from her. If he’d thought his son or daughter was better off with the Valentes, he would have had no hesitation in instigating a custody battle.
And he’d have won, too.
She’d seen it time and again at the boarding school her uncle Dan had paid for her to attend. Some of the rich thought they were above reproach. That money and privilege gave them the right to do what they liked. Usually, they got their way.
He could still win.
She swallowed hard. She couldn’t tell him the truth. If he knew her fears…if he knew she’d do anything to keep her daughter…he’d take advantage of her biggest vulnerability.
Her love for her child.
“I realized you wouldn’t want to be a father.” That was true. “You’re far too busy being a playboy. The two things don’t mix.”
“I’m a father now, and you don’t see me running.”
“We both know you feel obligated and nothing more.”
“Don’t presume to know what I’m feeling.” A pulse beat in his cheekbone. “Why put my name on the birth certificate if you didn’t want the truth known?”
That had been her one weakness.
“I had to,” she admitted. “In case anything ever happened to me. I needed her to know.”
He gave her a look sharper than a knife. “Were you ever going to tell me, Lana? And what about our daughter? When were you going to tell her?”
She inclined her head. “When she was older. It would have been up to her to decide whether she wanted to make contact with you.”
“And in the meantime you would have poisoned her against me. And I would have missed out on her growing up.” His eyes stabbed her with his disgust. “So you’re a cheat and a liar as well as a thief?”
“No, I…” She shook her head to clear it. “What did you say?”
Then she got it.
“Matt, I know you may think my keeping Megan from you is stealing but—”
“I meant the money you stole from the House of Valente.”
Her fine brows drew together. “Money?”
“Don’t play dumb, lady. Remember that little sum of fifty thousand dollars? I found the paperwork after you left. You covered your tracks well, but not well enough to fool me.”
She rocked back in shock. “I didn’t steal any money.”
“You’re lying again.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not.”
“Don’t play games. You’re caught out. There’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise.”
A threat of hysteria rose in her throat. “I didn’t steal any money. I wouldn’t. I’m an accountant, for heaven’s sake. I’d lose my job and my livelihood.”
“Which is part of why I didn’t report the theft. For some reason I felt I owed you that. Lord knows why,” he said with total self-possession. “If my father hadn’t had his heart attack, I might have changed my mind.”
“You should have reported it. At least then I could have proven you wrong.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Look, if you think I stole money, what did I do with it, then?”
He glanced around the kitchen, with its shiny new appliances. “The deposit for this apartment must have been expensive.”
She blinked in surprise. He didn’t know that her uncle Dan had bought this apartment for her? How could he not know? She was sure he would have checked out her background and found out all sorts of things about her family.
Or perhaps that was still in the works.
If it was, then no doubt Matt would discover how wrong he was about this stolen money.
If it wasn’t, no way would she tell him anything. Her uncle Dan had been very kind to her and she loved him dearly, and she wouldn’t repay him by having the Valentes delve into his private life. She knew that her uncle was bisexual, with him married to Aimee but having a g*y lover, Julien. It wasn’t common knowledge, and she’d only found out about Julien on their last visit to Australia—the same time Dan had discovered she was pregnant.
She couldn’t—wouldn’t—open Dan’s personal life up for gossip. Not even to prove to Matt that she wasn’t the person he thought she was.
“What? No answer?” he mocked.
She lifted her chin. “You’re wrong about me.”
“I don’t think so.” His eyes hardened further. “Now it’s payback time.”
“Payback?” The fine hairs on her arms rose in warning.
“We’re getting married. For a year, so that my daughter will be known as a Valente.”
Her mind stumbled in shock. She’d never expected him to offer marriage. She didn’t come from a moneyed background, nor was she of good stock. Marriage to Matt Valente just hadn’t been an option.