Heir to a Dark Inheritance - By Maisey Yates Page 0,2
That’s the sort of thing a man like you might say to get a woman into bed.”
“If I told her that, it was true,” he said.
She blinked. “If? You don’t remember?”
He shrugged. “Not specifically.”
And then her brain caught up with the rest of his claim. “And you were on a mission of some kind?”
“How old is the child?”
Jada blinked. “You don’t know?”
“I know nothing about this,” he said. “I got a phone call while I was in Brussels, telling me that if I didn’t come and claim a child I didn’t know I had by a certain date, I would lose my rights to her forever. Then I went and got testing done to confirm that I am in fact the father, and I am, just so you know. Then yesterday I got a letter saying my parental rights would be terminated and she would be adopted to someone else if I failed to come to a hearing that had been moved to today.”
“She’s one. She just had her birthday.” Just the two of them in Jada’s little house, on the same street where she’d lived for eight years. “Where were you a little over a year and a half ago?”
His mouth twitched. “Near here. I was in Portland seeing to some business.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Ah. Business.”
“I can’t talk about the exact nature of it.”
Disgust filled her. He was the sort of man she’d been blessed never to have had any interaction with. She’d married too young and her husband had been completely decent. She didn’t think men like this, men who bed-hopped with zero discrimination, were real outside of terrible movies. “I can guess. I’ve been caring for the results of that business.”
One brow shot upward. “Just an added bonus to my trip. I’m not a sex tourist.”
Jada blinked, heat rushing into her cheeks. “You are direct, aren’t you?”
“And you are prickly. And extremely judgmental.”
And not accustomed to people who were so comfortable talking about their bad behavior. He seemed to wear it like a badge of honor. “You’re here to take my child from me—what reaction did you want me to have to you?”
He looked at their surroundings. They were the only two people in the antechamber. “I didn’t anticipate being stuck in the lobby with you, I have to say.”
“And yet you are. Answer me this…what does a man who travels the world, doing Lord knows what, want with a baby? Do you have a wife?” She hoped not, all things considered.
“No.”
“Other children?”
“Not as far as I know,” he said, a smile that could only be described as naughty curving his lips. “Clearly these things can surprise you.”
“Not most people, Mr. Vasin,” she bit out. “So, why do you want her?”
It was a good question. One Alik didn’t know the answer to. All he knew was that if he turned and walked away, if he never met her, never made sure she was cared for, if he left her to fight her way through life as he’d had to do, then there would officially be no hell hot enough for him.
Forgetting about the phone call had crossed his mind. Not making it to the hearing had crossed his mind. But with each thought had come a twinge in his chest, a brand on a conscience he hadn’t known he’d possessed.
He didn’t particularly want her. But no matter what, he found he couldn’t leave, either.
He gave the only answer he had. “Because she is mine.”
“Hardly a good reason.”
“Why do you want her so badly, Ms. Patel?” he asked, returning her formality. “She is not your child, no matter how you feel.”
“Is that so? Blood relation, even to a stranger, is more important than the care that’s been given? Is that how you see it?”
Alik looked down at the woman in front of him, all fire and passion. Beautiful, and if it was any other situation, his thoughts might have turned to seduction. Black, glossy hair, golden skin and honey-colored eyes, combined with a petite and perfect figure, made her a very tempting package.
Though, at the moment she was also a dangerous one. She was tiny, barely reaching the middle of his chest and yet she did not fear him. She seemed ready to physically attack him if need be.
Not in the way he would like, he imagined.
“It is not an emotional matter,” he said. “It is black-and-white in my eyes. I am her father. You are not her mother.”
She drew back, a cobra preparing