Free The Secretary's Secret by Michelle Douglas Page B

good memories for her.
    Alex frowned. ‘She doesn’t live there now, though, does she?’
    Her eyes narrowed. ‘No, Alex, she doesn’t. I’d have sent you to sit on her veranda to wait till she’d returned home from wherever it was she’d been, so it could be her rather than you sitting here talking to me right now.’
    ‘I didn’t mean…’
    ‘She moved into a retirement village in Forster five years ago when my mother relocated to Brisbane. She delights in all the activity the village offers. She has a very full social life.’ Before he could ask, she added, ‘Forster is across the bridge.’ Forster and Tuncurry were twin townships separated from each other by the channel of water that fed into Wallis Lake.
    Did he really mean to abandon his child? As the question speared into her, an ache stretched behind her eyes, pounding in time to her pulse.
    ‘You look tired again. I should let you get more rest.’
    He went to take her mug but she kept hold of it, forcing him to look at her. His fingers felt cool against hers. Unbidden, images of what he’d done with those fingers rose up through her. She snatched her hand away. She didn’t know how he managed to keep hold of the mug or prevent its dregs from spilling over her quilt. All she knew was that she couldn’t think when he touched her.
    ‘What the—’
    Whatever he saw in her face had him biting back the rest of his words. His jaw had clenched so hard she suspected he wouldn’t be able to utter them now anyway.
    ‘I want to ask you something.’ She was appalled at her uneven breathiness. She’d wanted to sound cool, calm and in control. Unflappable.
    Where Alex was concerned, though, she was highly flappable. And flammable!
    His choked out, ‘Ask what?’ didn’t help either. She knew precisely how flammable he could be.
    He didn’t meet her eyes. The pulse at the base of his jaw jumped and jerked.
    She stared down at her hands to find her fingers mechanically pleating the quilt.
    Alex reached out and trapped them beneath his hand, stilling them. ‘Kit, just tell me what’s on your mind.’
    He sat back down and just like that some of the tension eased out of her. She pulled in one long, hard breath. ‘You said you weren’t leaving Tuncurry until we’d sorted out a few things. I want to know what those things are.’
    ‘There’ll be time enough for that once you’ve received the all-clear from the doctor tomorrow.’
    She could almost see him replay the doctor’s words through his mind. No stress, no worry.
    She folded her arms. ‘Look, I’m going to worry about this until we sort it out. Either you let me stew about it all night or we can talk now.’
    For a moment she thought he was going to refuse, get up and walk away. ‘Can we keep this calm?’ he finally asked instead.
    ‘We’re adults, aren’t we?’ she countered.
    He surveyed her for a long moment. It took a concerted effort not to fidget under those dark inscrutable eyes. ‘Okay, Kit.’ He nodded. ‘Once the child is born I want a paternity test carried out. If the child is mine then I’ll arrange for child support payments.’
    She kept her voice perfectly polite. ‘No.’
    He leant forward. ‘What do you mean, no? I have every right to demand a paternity test.’
    ‘Really?’ Even though she’d steeled herself for this, she was still surprised at how much his distrust hurt. ‘Just for argument’s sake, let’s say that we do get the test done and you discover that the baby is yours, and, believe me, Alex, that is what you’ll find out. But once you have incontrovertible proof, what is it going to change? Are you going to want visitation rights? Are you going to be a real father to this baby?’
    He turned ashen. ‘No, but I’ll at least make sure that financially you and the baby are taken care of.’
    ‘You can take your blood money and sod off, Alex!’ She abandoned all pretence at politeness. ‘I can look after this baby on my own—financially and