His Little Secret. Maureen Child

she said, ignoring the taunt, “you don’t have to. Just because they’re your family doesn’t mean you have to be here.”

      Nodding slowly, he fixed his gaze on hers and she could have sworn she felt the temperature in the room drop a few degrees. “Where should I be?”

      She threw her hands up, already forgetting about that calm, cool middle ground she was going to build. Panic wasn’t a good breeding ground for calm and cool. “I don’t know. Bali? Australia? The top of a mountain, or the bottom of the sea?”

      “You’re wrong. I should be right here.”

      “No, I’m not wrong.” A short, sharp laugh escaped her. “Right now, you’re doing what you think you should, Colt. Not what you want to do. And when this rush of responsibility has faded, you’ll take off again. It’s what you do. It’s who you are.”

      Riley chose that moment to crawl to her father and pull herself up by grabbing tiny fistfuls of his jeans. She staggered a little and swayed more than a few times, but Colt sat perfectly still, watching his daughter grow and develop right before his eyes. Her black hair curled around her ears, her blue eyes shone with happiness and her chubby hands slapped at his legs in triumph as she finally found her feet.

      He covered one tiny hand with his and stroked his thumb over Riley’s smooth skin. Penny’s foolish, gullible heart gave a ping of tenderness at what she was seeing and just for a second or two, she caught a glimpse of what might have been.

      Finally, Colt looked at her again. “I’m here. Whether you like it or not, and you’re just going to have to deal with my presence.”

      Not for long, she promised herself, determined not to be touched by the gentle way he treated the twins. Not to be swayed by the warmth in his eyes. She’d been fooled once by Colton King. She’d believed that he had felt the same way she had—swept away by a powerful and unexpected swell of love. And she’d been crushed. Devastated.

      In fact, the only thing that had held her together after signing his divorce papers was finding out she was pregnant.

      Knowing that she would have a child—then two—helped her to refocus her life. To concentrate the love she’d thought she’d lost onto two children who had become the very center of her life.

      She wouldn’t allow Colt to hurt her again. Or worse, to hurt the twins with his callous disinterest in real, honest feelings.

      “I’m here. Deal with it,” Colt told her, his voice steely with determination. “Besides, you’re just out of the hospital and you need help, whether you want to admit it or not.”

      She wanted to argue, but the pain in her abdomen made that impossible. Looking up at Colt, Penny had to admit, at least to herself, that she wasn’t going to win this one. And if she kept arguing, she’d only end up looking like an idiot. She was in no shape to take care of herself, let alone the twins. Colt was right. She did need help.

      She just didn’t want to need him.

      Still, he was here and maybe... She nearly smiled as something occurred to her. Maybe if Colt was here, in the middle of what was Penny’s normal chaotic life, if he could experience firsthand just how much work two babies could be, he would leave that much sooner.

      Right now, she knew he was running on anger and regret that he was only now finding out about the twins. But sooner or later, his natural inclination to take off would kick in. He might not be able to admit it to himself, but Penny knew that even now, that itch was gnawing at him. If she let him stay, let him take care of the twins, it might be enough to push him away that much faster. And though it pained her to think of him leaving again, she knew it was for the best that it happened fast.

      “Okay,” she said.

      “Okay what?” He looked at her, suspicion gleaming in his eyes.

      “Okay, you’re right. I do need help and you are the twins’ father.”

      “Uh-huh.” If anything, his eyes narrowed even further.

      She gave him a smile that cost her some of her pride. “Don’t look so surprised. You convinced me, that’s all.”

      “Is that right?”

      Penny sighed. “Colt, you wanted me to agree with you and I have.”

      “That’s what worries me,” he admitted quietly, his suspicious gaze still locked on her.

      Reid crawled at top speed across the floor to join his sister. Grabbing hold of Colt’s jeans, he pulled himself up, and laughed in delight as he and Riley took turns slapping their palms against Colt’s thigh. For a minute or two, he simply watched them, a smile curving his mouth, and when he looked over at Penny again, that smile was still reflected in his eyes.

      She felt a way-too-familiar jolt of something that she knew was dangerous. Attraction mingled with old feelings of love that were already being rekindled. But she didn’t want that fire again. Didn’t want to get burned by her own emotions being tossed at the feet of a man who had already made it clear that he didn’t want them.

      But she knew there was no way to stop what she felt for Colt. The only remedy would be to get him to leave as soon as possible. Then she could lose herself in her kids and her work and pretend that there wasn’t a large, gaping wound in her heart.

      * * *

      The next morning, after a hideously sleepless night, thanks to red-hot dreams of Colt, Penny stood in the bathroom studying her reflection in the mirror. Right away, she really wished she had simply draped a towel over the mirror instead.

      Her hair was wild, her face looked pale and she really wanted a shower but didn’t think she’d be able to manage it on her own. And frankly, the thought of asking Colt for help with that problem was too much to consider. Just thinking about being wet and slippery with Colt’s hands moving over her soap-slicked body made her want to whimper with need. Which was just enough to make her push aside the fantasy and deal with reality.

      He’d stormed into her life and was so busy laying claim to everything around her that Penny felt as though she had to make a stand.

      Frowning, she let her gaze drop. All right, yes, her nightgown wasn’t the most attractive piece of clothing she’d ever owned, but it was hers. Just as this house, these kids, were hers. And as for the nightgown being a man repellent, maybe she should have it tattooed onto her skin. But that would only take care of keeping Colt away from her. She couldn’t think of a thing to keep her from wanting him. Except, of course, that large dose of reality. Too bad that whenever she was around Colt she tended to do more feeling than thinking.

      Shaking her head at the sad, sad woman in the mirror, Penny brushed her hair, washed her face and then got dressed. A long-sleeved green T-shirt over some comfy old jeans and she thought she was ready to face Colt.

      Naturally, she couldn’t have been more wrong.

      “What are you doing?” She walked into the kitchen, a little steadier on her feet, thank heaven, than she had been the day before. But what she found in the kitchen had her swaying. In indignation. Colt sat at her small round table, her laptop open in front of him and stacks of unpaid bills laid out around him.

      Humiliation was a living, breathing thing inside her. With this latest invasion of her privacy, she felt as if he’d stripped her bare and she was so furious about it, she was practically vibrating.

      Colt barely glanced up from her computer. “I’m paying your bills.”

      “You can’t do that,” she managed to say through gritted teeth.

      “Sure I can. All you need is money and I’ve got plenty.”

      Another verbal slap—another reminder of just how different their lives were—and she felt it right down to her bones. He was a King. He had more money than she could ever dream of and here he was, tossing it in her face. Just to make sure she knew where she stood in this particular battle.

      He