Free The Boss's Baby Affair by Tessa Radley Page B

already suspected. There was no DNA report—and Jilly’s doctor had never heard of Candace. Although he did remind Nick that Jilly had used a gynecologist and midwife for the birth, and they might know more.
    Nick didn’t need to call them. He already knew the truth. And he took great pleasure in returning to the sitting area and confronting Candace with it. “The doctor knows nothing about a test.”
    â€œThere was a DNA test done.” She lifted her chin. “But if you want, we can redo the tests…it doesn’t take long to get a result.” Nick narrowed his gaze as she said, glancing down at the oversize bargain watch on her slender wrist, “Too late today, but no reason why we can’t have it done on Monday.”
    Over his dead body were they having DNA tests done on Monday—or any other day.
    There was no way that Nick was going to allow Candace to expose the real lie he’d been living. He was not Jennie’s father; his wife had taken a lover.
    Nick was not about to let this woman—a woman who turned his body in knots—make him the laughingstock of the city.
    At the same moment as he said, “That won’t be necessary,” Alison—who’d come back into the room without his noticing—chimed in, “A DNA test is the perfect solution. It will answer all our questions, won’t it, Nick?”
    The impulse to throttle his sister, which Nick hadn’t felt since adolescence, rose. “I can handle this, Alison.”
    She threw her hands into the air. “Of course you can. And you expect me to butt out, right?”
    Nick gave her a sharp frown. He didn’t have time for one of his sister’s diatribes about what she considered his fear of intimacy. “I said not now, Alison.”
    â€œDon’t get impatient with me.” She picked her bag up and stalked toward the archway leading to the lobby. “I’m off. If you want my opinion—which you clearly don’t—I think you should have that DNA test done. It’s the only way you’re going to know whether Candace is telling the truth or not.”
    Nick spared a glare for the woman who’d caused all the trouble. To his great annoyance, Jennie had snuggled up against Candace and was resting her cheek against the black T-shirt she wore. The pair looked like a modern take on Madonna and Child. Nick gnashed his teeth. “Of course Candace isn’t telling the truth—and I’ve got Jennie’s birth certificate listing me and Jilly as her parents to prove it.” But Alison had already left.
    â€œDNA doesn’t lie.” Candace spoke into the silence that simmered after his sister’s departure. “A birth certificate can be tampered with.”
    Annoyance rose within Nick. “Are you accusing me of tampering with the system?”
    Candace muttered something about money talking, and Nick could feel his anger growing. She was boxing him into a corner, forcing him into a place where he was going to have to agree to the test to expose her as a fraud.
    Yet watching her, her head bent over the baby’s, caused his anger to dissipate. Only the raw throb of betrayal remained. He wanted her…hell, he’d been growing to like her. The combination had been so seductively powerful, so consuming, he’d been ready to open himself to her…more than he ever had to any other woman.
    A sense of emptiness filled him. Why had she done it? Candace didn’t appear unstable. In fact, she seemed heart-wrenchingly attached to Jennie. Nick abandoned his musing. What did it matter what her motivation was?
    The test would prove her a liar. Conclusively. And then he would sever all ties with no looking back.
    Â 
    The house was still when the darkness of midnight was broken by the silver streak of light pouring through the crack of the opening door.
    Nick moved restlessly.
    She came to him, floating soundlessly across the