style="font-size:15px;"> She looked him square in the eye. “You thought it.”
He looked away first this time. “Yes, I did.”
Last night she’d had time to consider his response. Yes, he’d been rude and boorish but she put herself in his shoes and understood the skepticism. Then she’d spent too much time wondering at the change in him. The man she remembered had been friendly and fun, though at times he’d stood away from the others, looking lonely. But he’d been impeccably groomed with not a hair out of place, and he’d lit up when Crystal walked into a room…
“Look, Miss Spencer…Avery.” He, too, dropped the formality and it did something funny to her insides, hearing him say her name like that.
He sighed. “Why did you come? What did you expect me to say?” He paused. “How did you really see all this playing out?”
“Which question do you want me to answer first?”
“Whatever explains it best,” he replied.
She waited for a couple of ladies to pass by. They paused and smiled down at Nell—she really was an angel—before carrying on their way.
“I meant what I said about you having a right to know,” she began, fighting to keep her voice even. “And Nell has a right to know about you, too. But I also meant what I said about not wanting anything from you. I didn’t come here looking for money or…material support. Crystal gave me guardianship of Nell and we have a good home together. It’s not big but it’s comfortable and cozy. I love her as my own. I want to watch her grow up and when she’s old enough I want to be able to tell her the truth about her parents.”
“You mean like how she has a dad who couldn’t be bothered with her?”
Avery’s gaze snapped to him in surprise. Damn him, she still couldn’t read his expression. Was he saying he believed Nell was his now? Or merely speaking in generalities? She took her time coming up with a response. After all, she didn’t want to antagonize him. She was walking a precarious line.
“That would rather be up to you,” she said softly. “But perhaps more accurate would be a dad who cared enough to see she was brought up in a home where she was wanted and loved.”
“You want me to give up my rights.”
She could feel his eyes on her, penetrating like they were boring a hole right into her skull. “Do I want to legally adopt her? Of course. This isn’t about denying you anything, Callum. It’s about a secure future for Nell.” She made herself face him. “Just yesterday you were certain you didn’t have any rights. Have you changed your mind?”
His eyes were dark and rich, like the deepest espresso she used in her mocha fudge recipe. They were the kind of eyes that a woman could get lost in if she let herself. The kind that held dark secrets. A man like Callum Shepard was a broody, wounded warrior that a lot of women would see as a personal challenge. The kind that would make a woman want to be the one to break down the walls and get to the man underneath.
Assuming, of course, they didn’t get their hearts broken first. Avery certainly couldn’t afford a challenge like that. That sort of thinking almost always ended in disaster. She’d seen way too many relationships fail because one of the people involved felt they could “fix” the other. She liked to think she was smarter than that.
“Her hair,” he said softly, but the built-in roughness to his voice made it sound deep and husky and sent delicious tingles along the back of her neck.
“What about it?”
“It’s dark and curly. Like mine.”
Her lips dropped open. “Seriously? That’s what convinced you? I’m a liar but the hair doesn’t lie?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “You’re insulted. Not as much fun to be on the other side of judgment, Miss Spencer?”
Nell began to fuss, brilliant timing as it saved her from answering. Avery made herself busy by unclipping the T-strap securing the baby and then lifted her out, put her on her knee and held her snugly while her free hand straightened the frilly dress, smoothing it over white bottoms that covered her diaper in a profusion of ruffles. Content to be cuddled, Nell shoved her fist in her mouth and gnawed on it happily.
“I’m going to suggest something and I don’t want you to get offended again.” Callum leaned back, resting against the bench.
“I can’t promise that,” she responded. “But let’s hear it anyway.”
“I’d like a paternity test.”
The words made it sound all so real, which was ridiculous because Avery knew she wouldn’t have come all this way if it weren’t real to begin with. Last night she’d been angry but strangely relieved that he’d wanted nothing to do with Nell. How terrible did that make her? She was well aware that the feelings of relief were based on what was best for her and not best for Nell. She would have given anything to have known her father as she was growing up. How could she be relieved that Nell wouldn’t have that, either? It was beyond selfish.
A paternity test would prove that Nell was his. Then how far would he push things? Would he demand custody? Parental rights, certainly…
“You still don’t believe me,” she answered shakily.
He sat up and leaned toward her a little. “Look, it’s not personal. It wouldn’t matter who was sitting here right now, I would still have my doubts. I would still want concrete proof. I don’t take anyone at their word, okay? Words change. Proof? That doesn’t change.”
“And when you have that proof? What then?”
“I don’t know. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
He could have the power to take Nell away. Avery had been well aware of it before she’d even set out on this trip. It was why she’d put it off for so long. She just hadn’t been able to make herself do it, to plant the seeds of her own destruction. Because losing Nell would destroy her.
Nell was the only family Avery had left. Years ago she’d still had her mother, but Laura had moved to Vancouver and rarely ever contacted the two girls, she was so involved in her own life. They’d been abandoned not only by one parent, but by both. With Crystal gone, there was no one. Except Nell—Avery’s reason for getting up in the morning—and usually several times during the night, too. Especially lately. “She’s all I’ve got,” she whispered.
Maybe she shouldn’t have come. Maybe she should have just let it lie. Just her luck she had an overactive conscience.
“Relax,” he said. “You saw my place. Do I look like the kind of guy prepared for full-time fatherhood? What would I do with a baby and a farm to run?”
He leaned forward, close enough that she could see the fine lines in the corners of his eyes, and how his dark brown irises had tiny flecks of gold close to the pupil.
“I have no intention of taking her away from you,” he said with surprising gentleness. “If that’s what’s worrying you.”
Tears pricked the back of her eyes and she blinked them away. “But you still want proof,”
