Page 60 of Staking His Claim

“I don’t want you to come. This is going to be hard enough without you there making it more difficult for me.”

Yevgeny got out of the bed. Ella recoiled. Impatiently he reached for a pair of jeans slung over the blanket box at the end of the bed and dragged them on. Buttoning the fly, he said, “My intention is not to make it more difficult—but to make it easier—”

“You’re not doing that!”

“Ella, you should consider my proposal—”

“No!” She warded off his reaching hands. “No. No. No. I’m not marrying you!”

He wished she would stop interrupting him, stop rejecting him and stop pushing him away. She was making it so much more difficult...for both of them.

“Ella. Listen to me. I am Holly’s father.”

Eleven

“What?”

Ella’s eyes stretched wide with shock. Finally, anger set in.

“What kind of stunt is this?” He’d tried persuasion, coercion—

all with no luck. So last night he’d taken her to bed and, while she still basked in the warm, golden glow of his lovemaking, he’d asked her to marry him. Now this. Ella marched toward the bedroom door. “I don’t believe you.”

His hand closed around her arm.

“Wait!”

Fury broke over her. She yanked her arm loose.

“Don’t touch me!”

He put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “This is no stunt. I am Holly’s biological father...I donated the sperm.”

Frantically Ella searched his face, seeking something—anything—that would prove his claim a lie. Instead, she saw only calm, unwavering certainty.

Her shoulders sagged.

Holly’s father. Not her uncle...

The dizzying discovery changed everything. And explained so much.

Like exactly why he’d slept with her last night. And why he’d asked her to marry him...and why he just refused to give up in his pursuit to adopt Holly.

A heavy weight sank over Ella, until it settled deep in her belly. He wanted Holly so badly—because she was his daughter.

The queasy feeling in Ella’s stomach grew. Churned. Nausea rolled over her in turbulent, battering waves.

Vivid images flashed through her mind. Yevgeny demanding to know where the baby was that first day in the hospital. Yevgeny bending over Holly’s cot, entranced. Yevgeny producing Nadiya as his fiancée so Holly would have the mother Ella demanded. Yevgeny’s fury whenever she’d tried to roadblock his efforts. And the picture that hurt most of all? Yevgeny kissing her...loving her...to get want he most wanted....

Holly.

The next realization struck her.

Yevgeny wasn’t going to give up. Ever. Last night’s seduction had already proved just how far he would go to get Holly.

As Holly’s biological father, he would be eligible to adopt the baby. The prohibition against a single man adopting a girl child did not apply to a father.

Ella’s lawyerly brain went into overdrive. Hell, he might already be contemplating the first step: applying for guardianship. Ella knew she could challenge that. After all, Yevgeny had not been married to her—or even in a relationship with her. But there was a chance that a judge would grant the order because Holly’s best interests were a stake. Once he’d been appointed joint guardian along with her, Ella suspected he’d waste no time seeking temporary custody of the baby. He was Holly’s biological father; the court might look favorably on it. Unless she fought him. When Holly had been born, Ella would have done anything she could to stop Yevgeny getting the baby.

But now?

Ella bit her lip. He loved Holly. How could she stand in his way?

There would be some formalities to go through—paternity tests—not that Ella doubted that what he’d said was the truth. She could hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes. He was Holly’s father. Even the hard-nosed, skeptical-lawyer part of her believed it. The court would, of course, demand incontrovertible evidence. But Ella knew the tests would prove beyond doubt he was Holly’s father.

And once he’d secured temporary care of Holly he’d launch a formal application to adopt the baby.

“You’re going to use the courts to get Holly,” she breathed.

“This is not—”

“You’re not going to give up, are you? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“I hoped to convince you without having to reveal this.”

“You’re ashamed of being Holly’s father?” But that didn’t make sense.

His eyes caught fire. “Never!”

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