“Something close,” she said. “And I’ll never go through that again.” She paused as the waiter set a plate of cheese and crackers on the table, then she gave Jack a wavering smile. “I’m sorry Mr…. Marin, was it? You’ve been very kind, but I won’t be suing.”
She expected him to look disappointed, but instead, his gaze sharpened. “I don’t think you should make a firm decision about that until you’ve had some time to let this sink in.” He hesitated, his gaze dropping to what he could see of her belly. “Everything is going all right, isn’t it?”
“Oh yes. I’m fine. It’s been a relatively easy pregnancy, or so they tell me.” She said a quick, silent prayer of thanks for that. “I’m almost at seven months. It won’t be long now.”
His dark eyes were inscrutable. “Good. You’ve got a healthy little boy coming and I know you want to do everything you can to make sure he gets here in good shape.”
She stared at him, frowning. The man was a complete stranger. And yet he knew all about her situation, even the sex of the baby she was carrying.
It finally dawned on her that no one else but the doctors should know about what had happened. She’d been assuming he was a lawyer, but how had he known about her case? And why had he shown up out of the blue just when she was there? Now that she was thinking more clearly, she began to see that this wasn’t really making a lot of sense.
She wet her lips with her tongue and took a deep breath. “Mr. Marin…”
His dark eyes met hers. “Call me Jack.”
“Jack…I told you I’m not interested in suing.” She awaited his response, trying to get some answers from reading his face.
But that wasn’t easy. Instead of trying to talk her into reconsidering, he merely nodded. “I’m glad. I hate that kind of thing, too.”
She shook her head, perplexed. “But…aren’t you a lawyer?”
One dark eyebrow cocked in amusement. “A lawyer? No, whatever gave you that idea?”
She blinked at him, now totally at sea. “Who are you?”
His clear-eyed gaze held hers. “Why, Gayle, I thought you knew. I’m the father of your baby.”
Chapter Two
Gayle’s chest felt as though it would explode. Her hands clenched the edge of the table and she stared at Jack, aghast.
“What?” she said breathlessly, her eyes round as saucers. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I thought you understood, or I would have explained sooner.”
Her heart skipped a beat and then began to pound like a drum, shooting adrenaline through her system. She needed to escape—again. The phrase “Out of the frying pan, into the fire” came to mind. She reached for her purse and slid out of the booth. “Stay away from me,” she warned, glaring at the man. “Keep your distance.”
He was shaking his head as he gazed at her, and the look of sympathetic understanding was quickly replaced by an expression of cool exasperation. “I’m sorry, Gayle,” he said, just as calm and sure with her as he’d been with the doctors. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. You’re carrying something that belongs to me.”
She stood at the edge of the table, staring down at him. “What?” she said, outraged. “I…you have no right…”
“Oh yes, I do.” He gestured with a nod of his head. “Sit back down. We need to deal with this in a rational manner.”
Rational? What was rational about this impossible situation? She shook her head. “I’m going home,” she announced firmly, though she still hadn’t started away from the table. Something about the man was holding her here, even though he wasn’t touching her. “If you have anything to tell me, you can write me a letter.”
He sighed, his dark eyes clouding. “Calm down,” he told her. “You’re not going anywhere. I definitely can’t let you drive yourself home when you’re so upset.”
She blinked, clutching her purse to her chest. “Let me? What possible business is it of yours?”
“It is very much my business. You’re carrying my child. I don’t want that baby hurt.” He made a gesture of forbearance and gave her a hard look. “If you insist on passing up the great food this place has to offer, I’m going to have to do the same, and drive you home myself.”
She stared at him as he unfolded his long, muscular frame and stood before her. Gayle was tall for a woman, but she only came up to his shoulder. He started to reach out to take her arm, but she jerked away, and the look in her eyes seemed to stop him from trying again. He looked down at her with a half smile, more bemused than angry.
“Gayle, we are going to talk this through. We can either do it at your house or we can do it here. Since you hardly know me, I would think you would prefer it in a public place.” He shrugged. “But the location is up to you. You choose.”
Something visceral told her to believe everything he said. She wasn’t used to dealing with this sort of man. Her father had been a lovable teddy bear who would shower his daughter with presents—even if it often was to make up for having left her alone so much. Her husband had been hesitant and diffident, willing to let her take the lead in most choices and judgments.
But this man, this Jack Marin, was a different breed entirely. She could see that he was tough, that he was used to making decisions swiftly and following through on threats. She searched his ebony eyes and couldn’t find any hint of uncertainty. If she didn’t let him drive her, he would follow her home. She knew that as well as if he’d told her so. He wanted to discuss this issue between them, and it was going to be discussed. Simple as that.
Slowly, she sank back down into her seat at the table. She wasn’t about to give in to anything he wanted. But for now, she was going to play along and see just exactly what his demands were going to be.
“All right,” she said evenly, lifting her chin. “Let’s talk.”
Jack slid back into his own seat and looked across the table at her, doing a quick reassessment of his situation. He knew what he wanted. He wanted his son. That was as important to him as anything had ever been. Ordinarily, he was used to making things happen the way he wanted them to. But in this instance, he didn’t have the control he would have liked. What he yearned for was inside the body of another human being. That made it tricky.
He watched her, studied her, glad that she was easy on the eyes. Then he looked away quickly when he realized what he was doing. He wondered if she’d noticed. But he couldn’t help it. This was the mother of his son. He wanted to become familiar with every detail.
He liked her lustrous auburn hair. And her wide blue eyes. And the dimple that had disappeared now that she wasn’t smiling any longer. He wanted to ask her about her family background, about illnesses, talents, foibles. What was her father like? Any insanity in her family? Curly hair? Twins? Musical ability? All the questions inside him he would have to hold back for now. If he pushed too hard, she would only retreat again. He had to play this just right.
It seemed it was going to take skill and tenacity to end up with what he wanted. This elegantly tall and graceful woman sitting across from him was no pushover. There was spirit in those azure eyes and evidence of a certain fire in the set of her lush, beautiful mouth. But he’d dealt with women before. He could handle her, too.
The advantage he figured he had was that he knew from experience women were not to be trusted. As far as he was concerned, it went right back to Adam and Eve, and it was the same story over and over again. The woman held out temptation, the gullible man reached for it and she casually cut him off at the knees. It was a pattern that had been repeated often in his own family. His mother had put his father through hell, then left him. Not having learned from example, Jack himself had