Free Front Page Affair by Mira Lyn Kelly Page A

described… It was possible. She wanted to get married. Swore up and down the baby was mine. Only, I knew it wasn’t. Hell, I suspected.” He let out a heavy sigh, ducked and scooped up a handful of sand. Let the grains sift through his fingers. “Maybe I just wished.”
    Eyes to the darkening waters of Lake Michigan, he straightened. “Whatever the case, I wouldn’t marry her. Not until I had a blood test to confirm her claim. She kept pushing. Didn’t want her child born a bastard. Didn’t want the risk of a prebirth DNA sample.” He shook his head, his jaw set off to one side.
    Payton waited, her heart in her throat. Her mind blanked beyond anything but the words coming painfully from Nate’s mouth.
    â€œIn the end, she was born healthy. Not mine. Not that I’d had much doubt at that point.”
    â€œNate, I’m so sorry. That must have been terrible to wait through.”
    He cast her a quick smile. “Yeah, well. It’s been a tough six months. And honestly, the last thing I need is to have the press getting things stirred up again.”
    She could only imagine what it had been like for him. Of course he didn’t want the gory details rehashed for public consumption.
    But what she couldn’t understand was how a woman who’d actually dated Nate would ever think she’d get away with a ploy like that. “What happened to them?”
    â€œThey live in a small town outside of Stuttgart. They’re both doing well.”
    â€œYou keep track of them?”
    â€œAnnegret needed help.” His tone didn’t convey pity, pain or any other depth of feeling. It was matter-of-fact as he stared out over the turbulent waters. “I don’t like what happened. Honestly, I don’t like her. But she didn’t know how to take care of herself. Her father cut her off. The baby’s father was married. And I’d been a part of the picture recently enough…” He let out a heavy sigh. “She was desperate and thought she’d found a solution through me.”
    Perhaps not so ruthless after all…and maybe that was what he didn’t want broadcast around the globe.
    â€œI found her a small house. I cover her bills. But the arrangement is she can’t talk. If she tries to profit from this in any way, the funding is off. So there’s a reason I don’t want the press getting a hold of her.”
    She could see that quite clearly. He’d financed the woman who tried to trap him into marriage with a false paternity claim. It was a risky precedent to set. So why had he done it?
    Slanting a glance his way, she asked, “Did you love her?”
    Nate’s head snapped around, the strangest expression of shock on his face. “No. No, I didn’t.”
    â€œBut you set her up?”
    He waved her off. “She was without resources.”
    â€œSo are a lot of women. Do you have a charitable foundation in place to help them all?” Though, now that she thought about it, he’d tried to do the very same thing with her that afternoon. Was it some kind of white-knight syndrome or was Nate simply the kind of man who couldn’t sit idly by when he was capable of making a difference?
    â€œThere was a part of me that wouldn’t let myself hate her. I knew on some level it was possible the child was mine. And ifit turned out to be true, that baby couldn’t be born to a father who loathed her. Do you see what I’m saying?”
    Payton didn’t trust herself to speak. Didn’t trust herself to touch him for fear she wouldn’t be able to stop. He’d developed an attachment to a child he hadn’t believed was his. Forced himself to care—maybe even to love—on the chance it was.
    Pushing beyond her own heartbreak, she reached for his hand. “When you found out?”
    His head tilted back, eyes fixing on the sky. “I care about Bella. But I can’t drop in