The Baby Bonus. Metsy Hingle

he could live with. And as much as Regan wouldn’t like it, he had no intention of settling for anything less than the course he’d decided upon already.

      Her head snapped up. “I’m going to have this baby.”

      “Do you honestly believe I would suggest you not have it?” He bit back the sharp jab that she might think such a thing of him. “Regardless of how this pregnancy came about, I want this baby.”

      “The only question is how we’re going to deal with custody.”

      Her eyes slapped to his, narrowed. “This is my baby, Cole. Mine. I’d already planned on being a single mother. I have no intention of shuttling my child back and forth between me and its father. That’s not what I want for my baby.”

      “Our baby,” he corrected her again. “And I agree. I don’t want our child shuttled back and forth between us either.”

      Hesitating, she curled her fingers into her skirt. “Does that mean you…that you would be willing to relinquish your rights and let me raise the baby?”

      Her words hit him like blows. Gritting his teeth, Cole worked to keep his emotions in check. After all, it wasn’t the first time he hadn’t been found good enough, he reminded himself. In her eyes for a child to have no father would probably be preferable than to have him as one. But like it or not, it was his baby she was carrying, and he had no intention of walking away from his responsibilities. He forced his lips into a smile. “Sorry to disappoint you, princess, but that’s not what I had in mind.”