Welcome to Mills & Boon. Jennifer Rae

in my face. I’m not giving him the chance to do it to her.”

      “He hurt you. I get it.” My stepfather’s rheumy eyes met mine in the bright, unrelenting California sunshine. “But take advice from an old man who loves you. Grab your chance at love when you can. Because right now, you think there will be endless chances.” His throat caught. “There won’t. You used to know that, until he turned you hard and cynical. When I think of the sweet kid you were, I’d like to punch Edward St. Cyr in the jaw.” His bushy gray eyebrows lowered ferociously. “If I ever meet him—”

      The hinge of the garden gate squeaked. I looked up. “Jason—”

      But it wasn’t Jason. Looking across the dappled sunlight of the garden, my heart was suddenly in my throat.

      Edward stood across the green grass, in front of the bright pink flowers. Sunlight illuminated his dark hair, and luminous, deep blue eyes.

      “Is it true?” He lowered his gaze to my pregnant belly. “You’re pregnant?”

      My breath caught.

      Edward took a step toward me, and another. His eyes devoured me, as if he’d been dreaming of me for months and could hardly believe I wasn’t a dream now.

      “Is it mine?” he said quietly. “Or Jason Black’s?”

      I trembled, my hands shaking.

      “Yours,” Howard said helpfully.

      I turned on him in outrage. “Howard!”

      “Oh, c’mon.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s not as if you were going to lie. At least not for long,” he amended, looking at me more closely.

      “You’re meddling,” I accused.

      “I’m saving you some trouble. You can thank me later. Excuse me.” My stepfather walked toward the garden gate. He stopped in front of Edward. “About time you showed up.” He rubbed his jowly chin thoughtfully. “I actually owe you a punch in the jaw—”

      “Howard!” I cried.

      “Later,” he said hastily, glancing back at me, and he let himself out the gate. Leaving us alone.

      Edward and I stared at each other across the soft green grass. He had a five-o’clock shadow on the hard edge of his jawline, and shadows beneath his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in days. And he’d never looked so beautiful to me. Never, ever.

      Except I didn’t care about him anymore. I didn’t. And I wouldn’t. I took a deep breath. “What are you doing here?”

      “I’m here...” Edward seemed uncharacteristically uncertain. His gaze lowered to my belly, the shape of which was clearly visible beneath my cotton maxi dress. “I saw a picture of you online. The article said Jason Black was your boyfriend but...”

      “I’m due in September.”

      He did the math quickly in his head, then his lips twisted downward. “So I’m the father.”

      I looked down at the grass, the color of emeralds, lush and spikey. “Sorry. Yes.”

      He shook his head. “How is it possible? We were so careful—”

      “Not careful enough, apparently.”

      “You knew you were pregnant when you left London, didn’t you?” His voice was deceptively quiet. “You knew, and you didn’t tell me.”

      “I did you a favor.”

      “A favor?”

      “You didn’t want a child. You were very clear.” My teeth chattered with emotion. I wrapped my arms around my body, which was suddenly shivering in the bright July sunlight. “You didn’t want a child, and you didn’t want me.”

      He came closer to me. “So you took your revenge?”

      I shook my head fiercely. “I wanted to tell you about the baby. I tried! But the moment I told you I loved you, you ran out of the house in terror!”

      He gritted his teeth. “Don’t you dare try to—”

      “You said you wanted a clean break!” In spite of my best efforts to stay calm, my voice was shrill. “You said you never wanted to see me again! I tried to tell you, but you ran out of the house rather than listen to me! Don’t you remember?”

      Edward sucked in his breath. Then he came closer in the dappled sunlight, until he stood inches away from me. “Is that why you turned to Jason—because I wouldn’t listen?” He moved closer. “Or was he the one you really wanted all along?”

      “I wanted you.” My voice was flat. “I told you. I was in love with you. I loved you as I’ll never love anyone again.”

      He blinked.

      “Loved.”

      “Past tense.” I shook my head. “Loving you nearly killed me. You rejected me. Abandoned me,” I whispered. “I couldn’t bear for you to reject her, too.”

      He exhaled, as if he were breathing toxic fumes. Then his eyes flew open. “Her?”

      I nodded. “I’m having a little girl.”

      His face filled with wonder and he reached towards me. “We’re having a girl....”

      I jerked back before he could touch me. “We’re not. I am. I can support us now.” My eyes hardened. “We don’t need you.”

      Pain flashed across his handsome face, then the lines of his cheekbones and dark jawline tightened. “You’re not even giving me a chance.”

      “I tried that already.”

      He gritted his teeth. “I didn’t know you were pregnant.”

      “You told me straight out you never wanted a child. Never. Never ever.”

      “People can change.”

      “What are you trying to say, Edward?” I clenched my hands at my sides. “Are you saying now I don’t need you, now I don’t even want you, you suddenly want to be part of our lives?” I tossed my head. “Forget it!”

      His expression hardened. “Because you now have what you really wanted all along—an acting career, and Jason Black?”

      “Leave him out of this!”

      He set his jaw. “Has he asked you to marry him?”

      I looked away.

      “He has, hasn’t he?” Edward’s voice hit me like a blow. “So you could forgive him for sleeping with your stepsister? But not me for letting you go?”

      “Look,” I said acidly, glaring at him. “I don’t know what kind of spiritual breakdown you’re going through—seems a little early for a midlife crisis, isn’t it? But keep us out of it.”

      “She’s my daughter.”

      “Just biologically.”

      “Just?” he said incredulously.

      “You can’t be responsible for a houseplant. You said so yourself!”

      “I could change.”

      “Don’t.”

      My single cold word hung in the air between us. He took a deep breath, looking down at me.

      “What happened to you, Diana?” he said softly.

      I lifted my head. “Don’t you know? Can’t you tell? The naive woman you knew died in London.”

      “Oh my God...” he whispered, reaching towards me. Wild-eyed, I backed away. He straightened, setting down his hands at his sides. “All right, Diana,” he said quietly. “All right.”

      Blinking fast, willing myself not