Free The Playboy and the Single Mum (Vintage Love Book 2) by Alexia Adams Page B

been working rationally.
    “No. Max’s father doesn’t know he has a son. And I have to keep it that way.”
    Maybe my mother never told my father about me. Maybe the guy trying to contact me really does just want to meet me once before he dies. But his situation was different. He was beyond the need for a father. Why was Lexy keeping her son from his?
    “Who is Max’s father?”
    She looked away. “No one important. He’s an American, from Texas, so when we go there it’s essential that Max be kept away from the media.”
    “What aren’t you telling me, Lexy?”
    Her hands twisted in her lap. “Max’s father is my ex-husband. He left me before I knew I was pregnant. But if he finds out I had his son … well, let’s just say he’s not the type of man who would share custody.”
    “How did you hide your pregnancy during your divorce proceedings?”
    “That was all done through lawyers. I just signed where I was told. I didn’t want a cent from Wesley. I just wanted to put the whole thing behind me.”
    “But you have a constant reminder of your marriage in your son.”
    “Max was the only good thing to come out of that relationship. I gave up everything for him. And I love him so much. It’s only right I should get to keep him.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “At my nineteen-week scan, the doctors discovered that there was something wrong with Max’s heart. They weren’t even sure if he was going to survive the birth. I quit university and concentrated on keeping my baby alive, going on bedrest for the whole last half of my pregnancy. I used all the money my father had set aside for me for school.”
    “But Max is okay?” Lexy was a strong woman to cope with that alone. No wonder she was adamant about keeping her son.
    “At thirty-two weeks’ gestation his heart rate dropped suddenly, so they performed an emergency C-section. He was in the neonatal intensive care unit for six months.” Her voice broke and again he experienced prickles of pain in his chest. He should get the F1 doctor to check him out before he hit the track next week.
    “That must have been really hard. Did your mother help?”
    “No. It was just me and Max. One night they let me hold him, as they didn’t think he was going to make it through to the morning. I was at rock bottom, holding my dying baby. I promised him, and I promised myself, that I was going to do everything in the world to keep him safe and be the best damned mother a child ever had. I kept saying over and over to the top of his head. ‘Live for me, Max, and I’ll live for you.’ He kept up his end of the bargain so I have to do the same.”
    “Does he still have heart problems?”
    “Actually, the next day he got a heart transplant. Someone else’s tragedy saved us. Max suffers from asthma, but the doctors are hopeful that he’ll grow out of it. He’s my miracle baby. He gave me something to live for when I had nothing.”
    Lexy went back to chewing on her finger.
    Daniel resumed his contemplation of the rapidly passing countryside beneath them. Would I be different if my mother had loved me so fiercely? What if I was really the playboy everyone imagines and I discovered I had a child somewhere? If I discover who Lexy’s ex-husband is, should I tell him he has a child? This was precisely the kind of mental distraction he did not need in his life right now. He could almost feel the championship slipping from his grasp.
    With the short flight over, they were soon in a taxi trudging their way through London’s traffic. Eventually they arrived at a small terraced house, the outside clean but in need of a paint job. They were barely on the path before the door flew open and a little boy with a dark mop of hair and bright blue eyes launched himself at Lexy.
    “Mummy, Mummy!” he screamed excitedly.
    She picked him up and hugged him so tightly the boy squirmed to draw a breath. On seeing Daniel, Max tucked his face into Lexy’s neck for protection. At the