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‘There’s little point in awarding blame this late in the day,’ Eros murmured curtly. ‘What is done is done and we have a child...a child who is, sadly, a stranger to me. That must be remedied immediately.’
Winnie was so rigid that her very muscles ached with the strain. ‘Must it?’
‘Of course, it must be,’ Eros declared, studying her with an incredulity that implied she would have to be witless to expect anything else. ‘Teddy must learn that I am his father and I need to get to know him. I would like to spend time with him tomorrow.’
‘No,’ Winnie cut in without even thinking about it because Teddy had always been hers and he had never been in the care of anyone outside the family.
‘Naturally, I will bring a qualified nanny with me to ensure that Teddy’s basic needs are properly met while he is with me. I have a lot to learn about being a father,’ Eros admitted with a candour that disconcerted her. ‘But given time and experience, I will pick up what I have to know.’
‘I really can’t believe that you’re this interested in Teddy!’ Winnie proclaimed in consternation, watching him pace back and forth in front of her, the lithe grace of his every movement strikingly noticeable and grabbing her attention with its aching familiarity.
A hollow sensation opened inside Winnie, her breath suddenly tripping in her throat. Her nipples were peaking, suddenly tender and tight beneath her clothing. She dragged in a jagged breath as the hot melting sensation of arousal pulsed between her taut thighs. How did he do that to her? How on earth could he still do that to her when she knew he was no longer hers to crave? Never had been hers either, except in her imagination, she reminded herself guiltily, dragging her attention from him to try to focus elsewhere.
‘Obviously I want to get to know my son and I expect that process to begin immediately,’ Eros spelt out bluntly. ‘I will not accept you putting obstacles in my path.’
‘Is that a fact?’ Winnie sizzled back at him, feeling as though she was under attack on every front.
‘I am being frank. You have denied me my rights as a parent for quite long enough,’ Eros reasoned. ‘The situation must change. I will see Teddy tomorrow and take him out. He will be very well taken care of.’
‘I’ll come too,’ Winnie broke in insistently. ‘You won’t need a nanny.’
‘No,’ Eros countered decisively, his wide sensual lips compressing into a determined line. ‘I would prefer to get to know my son away from your influence.’
‘He’s too young for that yet!’ Winnie argued passionately. ‘He’s never been away from me before.’
‘Then it is time you encouraged him to achieve a little independence.’
‘He’s only a baby!’ Winnie gasped defensively.
‘He will come to no harm in my care. He is my son, my family, indeed the only close family I have left alive,’ Eros pointed out grittily. ‘Obviously he will be looked after to the very best of my ability.’
‘You can’t simply exclude me!’ Winnie said accusingly.
Eros elevated a winged ebony brow in direct challenge. ‘Is that not what you have done to me?’ he pressed silkily. ‘I have been excluded from every aspect of his life since birth but that cannot continue and you have to accept that reality.’
‘I don’t have to accept anything from you!’ Winnie objected vehemently, wondering how they had contrived to travel so swiftly from rehashing old issues to his shattering demand to have full unsupervised access to their son.
And that was the crux of the matter, Winnie registered belatedly. Teddy was their son, not only hers, not only his. It was truly the first time that she had been confronted by the unwelcome truth that she did not have total, unbreakable rights over her own child and that awareness cut through her like a knife blade, giving rise to all sorts of other worries and insecurities. Faster than the speed of light, Eros was interfering, setting down his boundaries and making unapologetic demands. Eros was not the sort of man likely to humbly sit back in the corner and wait until she decided to cede him his rights as a parent.
‘You have to learn to share Teddy,’ Eros intoned without hesitation. ‘But try starting your judgement of me from a fair starting point. Why assume that I won’t look after my son as well as you do?’
‘I didn’t make that assumption,’ Winnie contradicted nervously. ‘I’m just warning you now that, no matter how well you look after him, Teddy will fret away from me and that you’ll find him a handful.’
‘You would like me to have difficulties handling him,’ Eros assumed grimly, shooting her an unimpressed glance. ‘But I do not foresee a problem.’
‘Have you any experience in looking after a child this young?’ Winnie enquired, needled by his insuperable confidence.
‘No. You must know that I am an only child and few of my friends are parents yet,’ Eros admitted grudgingly. ‘But with a trained childcare professional on hand to advise me, I am sure that we will manage.’
‘Teddy’s at an unpredictable age. He throws tantrums,’ Winnie warned him ruefully. ‘He can go from rage to tears in seconds.’
‘Perhaps my son needs more stable and reliable care to thrive,’ Eros murmured silkily, as if tantrums could only be the consequence of inadequate parenting.
In receipt of that covert criticism, Winnie reddened with furious resentment. ‘As you said yourself, you have a lot to learn about children,’ she responded non-committally, however, reluctant to expose her sensitivity to any questioning of her own parenting skills. She wondered if she was a complete shrew to hope that Teddy would lose his rag with Eros and teach him the reality of dealing with a volatile toddler.
‘And tomorrow evening, after I have returned Teddy to your care, we will have dinner together and discuss—like reasonable adults—where to go from here,’ Eros decreed decisively.
Winnie compressed her lips. If Eros wanted access to Teddy, she supposed that they had to discuss arrangements that would be acceptable to both of them. But how would she cope with that when even the prospect of having to part with Teddy for a few hours the next day daunted her? She knew that she would spend the entire time Teddy was away from her worrying about him.
‘We’ll have to dine out some other time,’ she told him and not without a certain satisfaction. ‘I have to work tomorrow evening.’
‘I’m leaving for New York the next day and I will be away for at least a week. A later date will not be convenient for me,’ Eros told her levelly. ‘Get a night off or plead sickness. It’s up to you.’
‘I won’t do that, Eros. I won’t let my employers down.’
‘Do you know where I’m going from here?’ Eros enquired grimly. ‘To consult my lawyer about my legal position with regard to Teddy. You are not in a strong enough position to be difficult, Winnie. We must discuss provisions and soon.’
Her heart-shaped face pulled taut, her big brown eyes suddenly ducking from his as she strove to withstand the conviction that she was being deliberately intimidated and forced in a direction in which she had no desire to go. ‘Are you threatening me?’ she asked curtly, feeling a little like a wayward farm animal being firmly
herded down a preset track.
‘No. I’m being honest,’ Eros fielded with harsh emphasis. ‘I am impatient to get to know my son and I would advise you not to stand in the way of that desire. It is natural for a new father to be keen to establish a normal relationship with his child.’
‘But this keen interest of yours is coming at me out of nowhere!’ Winnie protested hotly.
‘Your vengeful attitude ends here and now,’ Eros breathed in a raw undertone.
Winnie flung her head back to look up at him, having until that moment somehow contrived to forget how very tall he was in comparison to her. He was also way too close for comfort, the faint, dangerously familiar scent of his designer cologne flaring her nostrils. ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ she demanded blankly. ‘Vengeful?’ she questioned with incredulous emphasis on that choice of word.
‘When you found out that I was married, you decided to punish me by withholding all knowledge of my child from me,’ Eros extended with perceptible bitterness, his lean, darkly handsome face sardonic.
‘That’s nonsense!’ Winnie proclaimed in shocked denial. ‘I’m not that sort of person!’
‘You believed that the fact I was a married man was a good enough excuse to exclude me from Teddy’s life. But it wasn’t. That attitude won’t wash with me now. You have to adapt to a new situation.’
‘And what about your situation? How is your wife going to feel about all this?’ Winnie cut across his condemnatory speech to demand helplessly. ‘How is she going to react to Teddy’s existence?’
‘I don’t have a wife any longer. I’ve been divorced for some time,’ Eros informed her grimly. ‘All matters concerning Teddy are between you and I and nobody else.’
Winnie was shocked, having automatically assumed he was still married. From the minute she had discovered that Eros was married, she had suppressed every inappropriate urge to look him up on the Internet and learn, not only about his marriage, but about what he was doing. He belonged to another woman. He was no longer her business, should never have been her business. She had warned herself painfully, fearing that seeking information about him would only fuel her longing for him.
