lovers had usually been suave and elegant, perfectly groomed and beautifully dressed. They’d oozed a smooth charm and sophisticated sex appeal which girls of Sarah’s upbringing seemed to find irresistibly attractive.
Dominic Hunter hardly fitted that description.
He marched into the room, a menacingly macho male with his big, broad-shouldered body and close-cropped haircut. The sleeves of his blue shirt were rolled up as though ready for battle, his tie was missing, and the top button around his muscular neck undone. His scowl was such that his dark straight brows momentarily met above his nose.
Frankly, he looked more like a construction site foreman about to bawl out his labourers rather than a successful stockbroker who should have been able to handle even this sticky situation with some aplomb.
Grinding to a halt next to the pram, he glowered, first down at Bonnie and then up at Tina again. ‘I hear you’re claiming this is my daughter!’ he snarled.
Tina refused to be intimidated by this macho bully. She wondered what on earth Sarah had seen in the man. She could only speculate that he came up better in bed than out of it.
‘That’s right,’ she said.
He gave her a look which would have sent poor Sarah running for cover. Tina began to understand why her friend hadn’t approached Bonnie’s biological father for help and support a second time. When this man finished with a woman, he would expect her to stay finished.
But she wasn’t Sarah, was she?
Tina almost smiled as she thought of what Mr Hunter was up against this time. Brother, was he in for a surprise or two of his own!
‘Wait here,’ he growled.
‘I’m certainly not going anywhere,’ she said in a calm voice, and received another of those blistering looks.
Tina didn’t even blink, holding his killer gaze without the slightest waver.
He stared hard at her for several more seconds, then whirled and left the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Tina sat there, whistling and swinging her left foot. It was to be hoped Mr Macho was out there getting a grip on himself and finding some manners. Or at least some common sense. Because she wasn’t about to go away, not this side of Armageddon!
The minutes ticked steadily away.
Five…
Ten…
Her blood pressure began to rise a little, but she’d been mentally ready for this. She hadn’t expected the man to come to the party willingly, not when he’d already denied paternity, given Sarah money for a termination and sent her on her way.
Frankly, Tina had expected nothing from him, and he was living up to her low opinion of men of his ilk. Obviously she had a fight on her hands to get the financial support she needed to raise Sarah’s daughter in the manner Bonnie deserved.
But she enjoyed a good fight, didn’t she? She was always at her best when her back was against the wall.
The sound of the door finally opening had her swivelling in her chair with an aggressive glint in her eye. How dared he keep her waiting this long?
The sight of two burly security guards entering startled her, then sent her blood pressure sky-high. So that was how he was going to play it, was it?
Gritting her teeth, she stood up and gave the approaching guards a haughty look of disdain. ‘I gather Mr Hunter won’t be returning?’
‘That’s right, ma’am,’ the bigger and older of the two informed her. ‘He said to tell you that next time he’d be calling the police.’
‘Really? Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we? No, that’s not necessary!’ she snapped when the guard who’d spoken forcibly took her by the elbow. ‘I’ll go quietly.’
Despite her protests, the two guards still escorted her till she was outside the building.
She stood there on the pavement for several moments, glaring up at the top floors, struggling to get her temper under control. She imagined the bastard peering back down at her from his lofty position, smug and smirking with triumph.
‘You’ll get yours, Dominic Hunter,’ she threatened under her breath. ‘I’m going to take you to the cleaners!’
Scooping in several deep breaths, Tina forcibly slowed her pounding heart and found some much-needed composure. Her brain finally began ticking over, and she started wondering why Bonnie’s father was so sure of his ground that he would dare have her thrown out. It was a stupid move to bluff about paternity in this day and age.
No matter what else he might be, Dominic Hunter was not stupid.
It suddenly dawned on Tina that he probably believed Sarah had had that termination he’d paid for, which meant he might not have realised Bonnie was the baby Sarah had come to see him about, despite her being the right age. He possibly thought Bonnie was another baby entirely, and she, Tina, was the mother. When he’d stared so hard at her it could have been because he was trying to recall if he’d ever slept with her or not. Since he hadn’t, naturally he’d assumed she was trying to pull off some kind of false paternity suit.
That had to be it!
Tina could have kicked herself. She should have said straight up that she wasn’t the biological mother.
‘Your new mummy’s an idiot,’ she told the now wide-awake infant as she wheeled the pram towards the taxi rank on the corner. ‘But don’t worry, I have a contingency plan. Since I’ve temporarily blotted my copybook with your father, we’ll go see your grandmother and gain entry that way. Yes, I know you’re getting hungry and wet. I’ll feed and change you in the taxi. I’ve brought everything with me. Bottles. Nappies. Spare clothes. Aren’t you impressed?’
Several passersby glanced over their shoulders at the tall, striking brunette wheeling the brand-new navy pram along the pavement, oblivious of everything but the baby to whom she was talking fifteen to the dozen.
‘Just wait till your nanna sees how beautiful you are. And how good. She won’t be able to resist you. I couldn’t, could I? And look at me? A hard-nosed piece if ever there was one. Or so your real mummy used to say. And she was probably right. But she wasn’t right about my not being able to love anything or anybody. No, my darling, she was quite wrong about that…’
CHAPTER THREE
THE nerve of the woman! The darned nerve!
Dominic fumed as he glared down at the pavement below and watched her pushing the pram down the street. What on earth did she think she was playing at? How did she think she was going to get away with such an outrageous claim? Even if he was one of the unlucky few whose condom had failed, did she honestly imagine that he wouldn’t remember sleeping with someone like her?
She wasn’t the sort of female he would forget in a hurry. For one thing, she was exactly his type. Dominic had always been attracted to tall, slim brunettes with interesting faces and dark, glittering eyes who made it obvious from their first meeting that men were not their favourite
