Chapter 5 5
Well, she wouldn't let that happen again, nor would she give him any ideas that she'd agree to marriage. Going into a marriage with such low expectations wasn't her dream of a future. She had a future. She and Juliana would be just fine.
Part of her dreaded Stefan's showing up again. And he would. She might not know a lot about the man, but one thing was for sure. He'd drawn a battleline in the dirt and she was scared of the first attack.
Because Stefan Maynard, handsome as the devil, was a gentleman.
His attack would be subtle. But she didn't doubt that when it came to something he wanted, he'd fight dirty.
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Stefan drove his car around town for an hour with no destination in mind. He thought about calling his buddy, Reese, then decided that he wanted to keep this to himself for a while. His fingers tensed on the steering wheel and he pulled up to his hotel and shut off the engine. He didn't get out, his mind tripping over plans, over ways to get into his daughter's life. And into her mother's.
Man, he thought, rubbing his face. Alana Jackson didn't look like a mother. He didn't think it was possible for her to look better than she had that night after the wedding. But she did and her kiss was just as hot. He tried to imagine what it had been like for her, tried to imagine her belly swollen with his baby, and when he did, something sparked inside him.
Longing?
Did he want in her life because of the baby? He checked that thought off the list in an instant. He'd done nothing but think about her for months. For fifteen of them. Being unable to talk to her all that time was like salt in the wound. Her number wasn't going through, but the time wasted gnawed at him.
He sighed. It wouldn't have changed much. Hell, he would have gone nuts if he'd known she was carrying his child, anyway, he thought. He'd have wanted to be there. With her, for her. He'd have done anything for that chance. Dammit to hell, he hated that he'd missed it all.
Sighing with resignation, he left the car and headed up to his room. He didn't notice the women offering smiles as he passed. Didn't notice the way they tried to get his attention. All he saw was Alana holding his daughter to her breast, stroking Juliana's little spine. He'd wanted to take the baby in his arms, feel the responsibility. But he didn't have to touch the baby to know it. It was already inside him.
Juliana was his daughter. His flesh and blood. And he was going to give her everything he'd never had. And that included her daddy's name.
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Alana looked at Emily. "I know you're sorry. Forget about it."
"Well, you should have tried harder to tell him," Emily said insistently. "It would have been easier if he'd known from the start."
"Yeah? How so? Would he have been any less… determined?''
"My big brother's a handful, huh?"
Alana rolled her eyes. Her sorority sister was a romantic. Alana wasn't. She'd given that up after her fiance broke their engagement. Once was hard enough, but to be dumped twice? Alana had a stellar record, falling for men who seemed to find the right girl after they'd already proposed to her. It was humiliating and the reason she didn't ask a guy for promises. They couldn't keep them. Stefan wasn't any different. Well, maybe a little. He knew the meaning of honor, at least.
When she had been with him all those long months ago, women had flocked around him. She didn't want to see that he'd ignored them and focused only on her, but still. He'd had a few lovers before her. Emily had mentioned them once or twice. Heck, any man who looked like a brick wall of muscle would have females young and old dropping at his feet.
Okay, so she'd been one of them. She'd wanted Stefan. She'd always want Stefan. He was under her skin, in her blood, whatever, but he was there. Fifteen months of trying to pry him out of her mind hadn't done much good. She still wanted him. Yet, in her bed was far different from in her life.
Her phone rang and Alana rose to get it. The voice on the other end of the line made her smile. "Mom, how are you?"
"Oh, we're fine. How's my granddaughter?"
Alana smiled at her daughter sitting in her high chair. "Eating cereal and making a mess on my kitchen floor." Her mother laughed. "So what's up? I just talked to you yesterday."
"That was before Stefan called."
"What?"
"Yes, just a little while ago. He talked to your father."
Alana groaned and leaned against the wall. "And Daddy said what to him?"
"I don't really know. I know he was happy when he came out, because he was laughing. He was still on the phone with Stefan and took it with him out into the garage. Apparently your father and Stefan hit it off. Did you know Stefan makes furniture too?''
Oh, great. Her father made furniture, too. The man had every tool ever made for woodworking, and now that he was retired, he produced more than her parents or Alana had room for, so he'd branched out into taking special orders. And now it seemed Stefan and Dad had bonded. Swell.
"Furniture, huh? No, I didn't know Stefan made furniture." She glared at Emily as if it was her fault that her father and Stefan had things in common. Alana asked to speak with her father, but he was out. "Ask him to call me, please, Mom."
"I don't think he'll tell you what they said—he wouldn't tell me."
Well, that was devious, Alana
thought. "Stefan's hoping to butter up you and Dad to get to me." She paced, her fingers tight on the phone.
"Oh, he didn't do anything like that, sweetie. He just introduced himself and told us what we already knew. That he hadn't known about Juliana till now."
"What else?"
"He said that he would take care of you and his daughter."
"Well, Stefan Maynard is going to learn that I don't need his financial help."
Her mother's voice held a smile as she said, "I don't think he was talking about money, sweetie."