wasn’t expecting you,” he said.
She frowned, her mouth a moue of disappointment at his lukewarm reception. “I know, but we’re here now, right? We can still make the most of what’s left of the night.”
Dani lifted her left hand and tucked her hair behind one ear. The movement caused her diamond to flash, reminding him of the decision he’d reached in the car on the way over here. She started to smile invitingly, but when she realized he still wasn’t responding in kind, her expression grew serious.
“What is it, Donovan? Is everything okay?”
He sighed. No, everything most certainly was not.
“We need to talk,” he said.
“That doesn’t sound promising. Can it wait? Maybe things will look better in the morning and...” she arched one brow and gave him a look full of sensual promise “...perhaps I can distract you in the meantime.”
Any other day, any other week, he’d have taken her up on the offer. Not after tonight, though, and not after the decision he’d made.
“I’m sorry, Dani—” he started.
“It’s her, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“The woman with the baby last month. Is it yours?”
Van wiped his face with one hand. This was going to be harder than he thought.
Dani continued. “Of course it is. She’s a beautiful child and looks a lot like you. But it doesn’t have to be a problem. Everyone can be bought for the right price, Van. Even past lovers. Pay her mother to leave you alone. If you take care of that little problem, we can carry on as we’d always intended.”
“It’s not as simple as that,” Van said.
He explained, in the barest terms possible, about his arrangement with Sienna and about Kayla’s decision to have her sister’s children—his children.
“I don’t see the issue. There’s no need for you to be involved in their lives. She came to you for money—give it to her. Make the problem go away, Donovan.”
There was a steely tone to her voice that showed a side of her he’d always known lingered beneath her smooth surface. Dani Matthews did not like to be thwarted. Normally, neither did he. But something had changed in the course of tonight. Instincts he hadn’t known he possessed had pushed up through his barriers. Protective instincts, fatherly instincts.
His mother and father had abandoned him in the pursuit of their next alcoholic buzz. His adoptive parents had been of the “spare the rod and spoil the child” variety, never showing love, never admitting pride in any of his achievements and never, ever, giving encouragement. He wouldn’t be like any of them. He had a chance to make things right for his children. To give them the stability and the opportunities his upbringing had never given him.
“No,” he said firmly. “I’m sorry, Dani, but our engagement is off. I’m going to be a father.”
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