Free The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda by Michelle Celmer Page A

don’t already know. Tell me about…your father.”
    He shrugged. “There isn’t much to tell.”
    â€œWere you close?”
    â€œThere were times, when my mom was still alive, that he would occasionally notice me. But then she died, and he checked out.”
    That was the saddest thing she’d ever heard. If they were all the other had, they should have stuck together. They could have leaned on each other. The way she and her parents supported each other when Becca died. She supposed that sort of tragedy could either pull a family together, or rip them apart.
    â€œYou must have been very lonely.”
    He shrugged again, “Celia was there for me.”
    He said it so casually, but she had the feeling that losing his mother had scarred him deeper than he would ever admit. How could it not?
    â€œHow did your mother die?”
    â€œCancer.”
    Which must have made learning about Becca’s cancer all the more devastating. And scary. “How old were you?”
    â€œYoung enough to believe it was my fault.”
    She sucked in a quiet breath. That was probably the most honest thing he had ever said to her. Her heart ached for him. For the frightened little boy he must have been.
    He looked over at her. “Everyone has bad things happen to them, Katy. You get through it, you move on.”
    Was he forgetting that she had lost someone dear to her, too?
    â€œHave you?” she asked. “Moved on, I mean.” She knew the instant the words were out, as the shutters on his emotions snapped closed again, that she had pushed too far. So much for getting to know one another.
    He looked at his watch and frowned. “It’s getting late.”
    He got up and grabbed his shoes from the floor.
    â€œYou don’t have to go,” she said. “We can talk about something else.”
    His expression said he’d had just about all the conversation he could stand for one night. Maybe a dozen nights. Maybe he was only in here to keep tabs on her. To be sure that she followed the doctor’s instructions. “You need your rest and I have an early meeting tomorrow. I probably won’t see you in the morning, but Celia will get you whatever you need.”
    Like the turtles she and Willy used to catch in the grass by the riverbank when she was a kid, he’d sensed danger and retreated back into his shell. God forbid he let himself open up to her, let himself feel something. Would it really be so terrible?
    He hesitated in the doorway, like he might change his mind, but instead he said, “Have a safe trip back to Peckins,” then he was gone.
    Adam had actually started acting like a human being today, which she couldn’t deny intrigued her. And now thatshe’d had a preview of the man hiding behind the icy exterior, she wanted to dig deeper. She wanted to know who he was.
    But when had this ever been about getting to know Adam better? And why would she bother? When it was over, and the baby was born, they would just go back to being strangers. Seeing each other occasionally when he brought the baby around.
    She laid a hand gently across her belly, wondering what was going on inside, if the procedure had worked and the embryo was attaching to her womb. Her tiny little niece or nephew, she thought with a smile. Even knowing that there was only an average 10 percent success rate, she had a good feeling about their chances.
    She switched off the light and lay in the dark, thinking about everything that had happened since she left Peckins that morning. The ease of the procedure, and the way Adam had stayed with her all day. She thought that they had shared something special, that they were becoming friends, but it was clear he didn’t want that. And for some stupid reason the idea made her inexplicably sad.
    Â 
    It had only been seven days since the procedure, and would be three more days before she would even know if she was pregnant, and Katy had