Free Passionate Bid by Tierney O’Malley Page A

mess, Joanie.”
    He made it back to Sam”s room in a hurry. He looked around to see any signs that another man fathered Sam. Butterfly and animal paintings decorated the pink walls. Saint Claire”s framed picture sat on her bedside table. There were stacks of books on the headboard, but no picture of a man he could pin as Sam”s papa.
    God damn it. Lowering Sam on the bed, he stared at the sleeping little girl.
    “Sam, honey. I just want to see your necklace.”

Chapter Six
    Joanie read the two notes over and over. The handwriting was definitely her father”s—bold strokes and inconsistent with his upper and lowercase letters.
    What had her father done? Why? He hated Julian for leaving her. Dad called him a coward and said he didn”t deserve her and Sam at all. So why lead him here to see Sam?
    Going back to the nights when she and her dad had sat in the kitchen talking about Julian swirled in her mind. For the past six months, her dad talked about contacting Julian, to let him know about his responsibility, which really surprised her. Her dad had said the bastard should help pay Sam”s bills. He insisted Julian was the only one who could help give Sam a better life, education, and health insurance. Sam”s last trip to the hospital forced them to borrow money from the bank.
    She refused. It was enough that he was saddled with a woman he didn”t love or care for. Forcing him to face another responsibility would be too much. Julian walked away from her and Sam. She wanted it to stay that way. She loved him, loved him since she was sixteen, but Julian reciprocated with antipathy that doubled when he was forced to marry her. And she told all of this to Dad.
    Frustrations, financial instability and Sam”s health, she thought, had forced her dad to bring up Julian”s name in their discussion. But she never suspected that he was serious.
    Oh my god! Could it be that her dad went against her wish of keeping Julian uninformed about his daughter because he was thinking about Sam? Did her dad die that night worrying about her and Sam”s future? Did she cause his death?
    Joanie wiped the tears off her face with the heel of her hands. There was no other explanation for his dad”s action. Her dad had written the notes to Julian despite his dislike for him. He did it for his granddaughter.
    “She”s mine?”
    Joanie whirled around and found herself facing Julian. He was holding Sam”s necklace and he looked about ready to throttle her. “What?”
    “Sam, she”s my daughter.”
    “No.”
    “No? Then explain why she”s wearing a necklace with my wedding ring for a pendant.”
    More tears rolled down her cheeks. Her whole body shook from controlling her anger. If Sam wasn”t in the house, she”d scream at him. “The ring is not yours.”
    “Is that right? Joanie, I stared at this ring for hours after we got married. I know this ring. Our initials are engraved inside. This ring is mine.”
    “No! Not anymore. When you removed and left the ring the night of our wedding, you relinquished your right to it. It now belongs to Sam.” God she wanted to stomp her foot. “I gave it to her because it proved that you indeed existed. You know, you were right when you said she shouldn”t wear it. The ring would only hurt her. I”m so stupid not to think about that. You want it. Take it.
    Pawn it, sell it, throw it, melt it, or give it to a homeless person you see. Do whatever you want with it. Sam will ask me tomorrow about the necklace, and I”ll tell her she lost it in the woods.”
    Julian pocketed the necklace. “Where”s yours?”
    She straightened her body to ease the pain in her shoulders. Crap, it felt like she”d been carrying a sack of flour for hours. “Why?” What did he care about what happened to her ring?
    “It”s a simple question. Where is your ring? Sold it?”
    “Somewhere.” She waved her hand the way a queen would when dismissing her subject. It was the truth. Well, partly. The ring had been