from inside. She pulled the air deep into her lungs and blew it out as relief loosened the muscles of her neck and shoulders. Like a major storm that dropped down from the sky without warning, Jace had again breezed in and out, this time leaving no damage behind. But more storms would come. Jace wouldn’t let this go. She knew in her gut he hadn’t been convinced. He would think about it. Remember their time together. And he would be back.
* * *
As Jace drove through the small town square headed north toward the ranch, he couldn’t get Kelly and her baby out of his mind. His heart had dropped to his knees when he first saw the infant in her arms. The last thing he’d expected was for Kelly to have a child. Then the idea had hit him hard. Was he the father? He’d always been so careful. He didn’t want to have any kids. He knew all too well what the title of dad meant in his family.
To this day, he could still vividly remember the smell of burned grease and scorched onions that had filled every corner of the shoddy apartment above the fast-food joint where he and his parents lived when he was around ten or eleven. It was during that time that something had happened. Something had changed. He never knew what. His mother had refused to discuss any of it. But his father had begun drinking and the arguments between them had grown worse. Louder. More intense. Then the abuse had started, his dad taking his fist to the first one he saw when he walked through the door. To try to protect his mom, Jace had endured a lot of it. His mother had been the strong one, taking her son away from the horrific situation. A couple of times after the divorce, his father had found them and it got bad before the cops arrived. Even after all these years, Jace still hadn’t completely let go of his hatred of the man. And he would always admire his mom’s strength of will.
Finally, in the predawn hours of a Sunday morning, two police officers had stood outside their door. They’d explained that her ex, George Compton, had been killed in an alley behind a bar. Jace’s only thought had been that some stranger got to the bastard before he could.
Jace could still feel the sinking sensation he’d experienced when reality hit that night. In that moment, with those two cops standing at the door, he’d had an epiphany. He was George Compton’s son.
He’d never put it into perspective before. His primary focus had always been survival. He and his father shared the same face and deep jaw. They had the same green eyes. Same color hair. If they were so much alike on the outside, it had to be true for the inside. When Jace had realized that, the earth seemed to tilt and spin.
Before he turned sixteen, he’d been in and out of juvie a half dozen times for altercations with guys in the neighborhood and at school who had somehow found out about his dad and wanted to see if the son was as worthless. He’d had so many suspensions he never did figure out how they’d let him stay in school. His junior year, he’d tried out for football on a dare. He put himself up against classmates who had been active in the sport since fifth grade and wanted to see Jace Compton go down. They were merciless on the new kid, which suited Jace just fine. He’d poured out all his aggression on the field. It was his saving grace. And, as it turned out, football was something he was good at. After three games, he’d earned the respect of a lot of his teammates. His grades came up, and just before graduation he was offered a college scholarship. His love of the sport carried him almost four years. Then amazingly he’d been picked up by the pros. No one knew that every tackle he made, he was taking down George Compton. Every catch and subsequent dash for the goalpost was a screw you to his old man.
After a freak injury ended his football career, Jace began to work with young athletes. He enjoyed teaching them about his favorite sport anytime he got the chance. But any hope that he’d someday have kids and a family of his own had been stomped into the ground a long time ago, beaten out of him by his father’s fists.
Still, the idea of Kelly bearing his son was immediately, unbelievably gratifying. His body surged to readiness. Protective instincts rallied to the surface, taking him to a place he’d never been before.
He took a deep breath, pulling the humid night air into his lungs. If the child was his, why hadn’t Kelly called? He knew instinctively she wouldn’t have kept something so important from him. It wasn’t her way. And surely she would want help with the baby, child support...something. Most women would beat a path to their attorney as soon as a pregnancy was confirmed. There had been two women who had actually schemed to make Jace think they were pregnant just to get rings on their fingers or obtain a few million dollars in their bank accounts.
But Kelly wasn’t like other women. He would be wise to keep that in mind. It wasn’t only her beauty that drew him to her. She was feisty and independent to a fault. She was intelligent and decisively stubborn. Her convictions and beliefs ran deep, and her sense of right and wrong went to the core.
What phone number had he given her before he left? He couldn’t remember. The security he had to maintain made it damn near impossible to reach him by phone unless one knew the phrase or identifying password. It changed every few weeks. Had he provided his private cell number? His gut tightened. If she’d tried to call when she realized she was expecting and couldn’t get through his security, she would be...furious. Suddenly all the little pieces fell into place with the force and impact of a nuclear implosion.
Dammit to hell.
He slammed on the brakes, bringing the truck to a screeching stop. Jerking it into reverse, he backed into a side street, turned around and headed back to Kelly’s house. No wonder she’d wanted to get away from him and been so angry. Not only had he lied to her, but he’d gotten her pregnant and left the country. Then the first time he saw her in over a year he’d called her a crook.
Jace wanted to punch something other than a punching bag. Bret better be glad he was a thousand miles away. Jace had zero doubt his manager had lied to keep Jace from coming back to her. That he’d ever bought into that crap about Kelly having a criminal record caused a giant ball of rage to churn in his gut. His instincts had told him not to believe Bret at the time. Why the hell hadn’t he listened to them? Bret probably saw her as a threat to his future income. If Jace quit the films, his manager’s gravy-train run would be over.
But while it was easy enough to blame his manager, ultimately, in this, there was no one to blame but himself.
His mind returned to Kelly. A thousand questions hit him with pinpoint accuracy and he couldn’t answer even one of them. Did he have a child? A son? Despite using precautionary measures, it was more than possible. When he’d held Kelly in his arms, the passion was intense beyond anything he’d ever experienced. He’d never wanted to let her go. His desire for her was insatiable. Their nights together had turned into days, and then back into nights. It began as hot sexual need. But by the time he had to leave, that white-hot passion had expanded into the blending of two souls. Even now, just thinking about her, those blue-green eyes crazy with need for him, the scent of her shampoo, the feel of her silky skin and the soft cries as her desire crested at the pinnacle of their lovemaking, had parts of him hard and throbbing. Kelly had a way of making him crazy. Apparently some things didn’t change.
* * *
Kelly sighed with relief knowing she’d skirted one confrontation, but was equally aware there would be more to come. Jace wouldn’t give up and just go away. She knew him that well. He went at everything he did with dogged determination. Whether it was training a filly at the ranch where he’d stayed a year ago or hiding his identity from the world. From her. While it had been a shock to learn his real name and profession, it didn’t come as a surprise how easily he’d duped her. Jace Compton was proficient at anything he set out to do. It was small wonder he was highly acclaimed as an actor. And according to Matt, Jace had received the same admiration when he played pro football. It was all or nothing. Defeat wasn’t a word in his vocabulary.
But
