The Wedding Wager. Sara Orwig

it didn’t occur to you to let the father of your baby know about his son’s existence?”

      “Don’t, Jared! Don’t accuse me—”

      He grasped her shoulders again, fighting the urge to shake her. “I’m the father, and in this day and age I have rights. Yes, I accuse you. You know damned well you should’ve let me know we were having a baby.”

      “I never once when I was pregnant thought I should let you know,” she said, the words tumbling out in a rage.

      “When I first spoke to you last Saturday, you went white as a sheet and looked as if you might faint.” His voice was low, and he leaned closer with anger white hot. “You were filled with guilt for keeping silent. Admit it, Megan! Admit that you know you should’ve told me about Ethan.”

      Her eyes were wide and green with anger as she shook her head, adding to his fury. “No. You gave that right up when you walked out without a word. You cut all ties with me in the cruelest possible way.”

      When he flinched because what she accused him of was true, he still couldn’t bring himself to reveal to her that it was her father, because it would sound weak, as if he were making excuses. “Maybe I deserved for you to keep me out of your life, but when Ethan was born, you know you should have informed me. If you’d told me you were expecting a baby, I would’ve come back here.”

      “Oh, please, Jared! Don’t stretch credulity to that point! You know you wouldn’t have. You would have run all the more, if I’d called you and said you were about to become a father. Or you would’ve asked if I was sure it was your child.”

      “That’s not true,” he said in a voice that was low and vehement. “I damn well would’ve come back.”

      “You’ll never, ever convince me of that. It’s a moot point now,” she said, glaring at him and he noticed she was breathing as rapidly as he was.

      “Even so, I can’t believe that in all these years you haven’t told me. I can’t understand why my own parents didn’t tell me, but they moved from here two years later.”

      “I didn’t see your parents. I didn’t come home to live for a year and a half. People here met Mike at the reception, so they accepted the story that he was the father. Your parents moved shortly after I returned.”

      “I still say you should have told me. You know you should have. When you moved back here, you could have faced dealing with letting me know. We’d put enough time between us—”

      “Enough time between us that I no longer hurt from what you did?” she flung the words at him as he clamped his jaw closed while he clenched his fists.

      “Even so—”

      “All right,” she said, her voice suddenly sounding restrained. “When Ethan was one, I should’ve informed you. But I always thought I would when he got a little older, or if you came home and we crossed paths. Or if you tried to contact me, which of course, you didn’t until you wanted something I have. Whenever a year rolled by, I put off telling you again.” His anger was mirrored in the depths of her eyes. “What was I to do? Pick up the phone and call the man who walked out on me and say, ‘Oh, by the way, we had a baby’? You left without a word—that means you wanted to sever all ties with me. Why on earth would I call you?” she cried. “Can’t you get it?”

      “I deserved to know, Megan, simply because I’m his father,” Jared said. “I guess you don’t know a parent’s rights, but I do have rights. Where was Ethan born?”

      “In Chicago, where we had gone to college. It’s a large city and far from here.”

      Jared’s pain over the past intensified. “You were alone in Chicago? Did you have any friends?”

      “I’m sure you care!” she exclaimed bitterly. “Jared, this is all past.”

      “I want to know what happened. Answer my damn questions.”

      “If you must know, my aunt came to stay with me the last two weeks. My dad never came. After Ethan was six months old, he told me to come back home.”

      “Well, I got some damned revenge there. Ethan looks like me. What a blow that must have been.”

      “It was to all of us. I prayed he wouldn’t look like you—and that you’d never know,” she said, the coldness and anger clear in her voice.

      “Damn it, Megan!”

      “Damn it is right! I prayed my baby wouldn’t resemble you in any way and that you’d never know as long as you lived. How can you act like you care now?”

      “It’s a shock to discover I have a child. I have questions. And frankly, Megan, I want to know my son.”

      She looked as if he’d hit her. And then he could see her pull herself together in that manner she had. She stood taller, a coolness coming to her features.

      “Was it difficult for you when you came back home? With one look at Ethan, I’d think anyone would’ve known who his father was.”

      “How much gossip there was, I don’t know,” she admitted. “In the course of months, other scandalous things happened around this area, so interest shifted. It didn’t matter after we moved to Santa Fe and it never has again, I’m sure you and I were a major source of gossip until I married Mike. You couldn’t tell who Ethan’s dad was by looking, until after the boy got a full head of hair. While he was a baby, people thought that he was Mike’s child. Dad was smart enough to find a guy who bore a physical resemblance to you—black hair, dark brown eyes, tall. It was inevitable that Ethan would have black hair. No one would give that a thought.”

      “I’ll bet my folks never laid eyes on him. One look at him, hair or no hair, and my mom would’ve known.”

      “As a matter of fact, they didn’t.”

      “Damn it, even if I did walk without telling you good-bye, you should’ve let me know about our baby. I know now, though,” he said coldly. “We’re going to have to work something out,” he said.

      She walked away to stand by the floor-to-ceiling glass door before she turned back to face him. “You keep your distance. You forfeited all rights to Ethan when you walked out on me. You’re not coming into our lives now, Jared. Forget that one. I don’t see that you have any rights in the matter.”

      “I damn well do. You’re not going to pack and go and take him away from me.”

      “I’m going home. You know what happened after you left me, and this is getting us nowhere.”

      “How the hell can you walk out of here and try and say good-bye? Understand me, Megan, I intend to get to know my son,” he declared, his temper rising. He clenched his fists and inhaled deeply.

      He stood with his hands on his hips and they glared at each other, the clash fierce between them. In spite of all his fury, he wanted her. She was as beautiful and enticing as she was infuriating. Long strands of her black hair had come loose from the clip and fell around her face. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes wide, and she was enticing in spite of the struggle between them. He desired her and he wished she would cooperate with him—both impossibilities.

      “All right, we’ll go back to the ranch and discuss it,” he said. “You come to my place or I’ll go to yours. The sun is shining, no rain is predicted and the river has lowered enough that the bridge is definitely above water.”

      “I see no point in arguing further,” she said.

      “Megan, I will get to know Ethan. That’s a fact, not a wish,” he stated, trying to control his temper, pushed to his limit. “We can discuss what we’re going to do in the future. Your ranch or mine will be more comfortable for both of us and this may take a while.”

      She clamped her lips closed for a moment. “I know you’ve had a shock. The drive to the ranch will give you some time to adjust to your new status