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“I won’t give her any reason not to believe me,” he blasted back without a moment’s hesitation.
Anger spurted through her, stiffening her spine and putting a stop to her shakiness. She banged the mug down on the sink and spun to face him, flinging out a mocking gesture as she cried, “Oh sure! Daddy will be on hand whenever Zoe wants him, not just when Daddy finds it convenient to him.”
He cut straight through her blistering sarcasm to the heart of the issue. “She wants me on hand tomorrow. Are you prepared to let that happen, Nicole, or isn’t it convenient for you?”
The challenge blazing from his eyes allowed her no room to protest the arrangement. If she didn’t concede, she was the one keeping Daddy away. “It will have to be the morning then,” she said belligerently, knowing it would take time off his precious money-making. “Zoe comes with me to the dance school in the afternoon and we stay there until quite late.”
“Expect me at seven o’clock tomorrow morning. I presume our daughter is awake by then.” He gave her a curt nod and turned towards the hall.
“You’re not staying to take your pound of flesh tonight?” she hurled after him, stunned by his decision to leave her now and to return first thing in the morning for Zoe.
He paused in the kitchen doorway and subjected her to a long searing look. “I only ever took what you gave, Nicole,” he said quietly. “Perhaps you could start remembering that.”
She stared at the empty space he left, listening to him walking down the hall, letting himself out of the house, closing the front door behind him. Everything inside her was aching with a sense of emptiness.
Quin didn’t want her tonight.
But she still wanted him.
And it hurt—it really hurt—that he’d spurned the deal they had made.
She was not in control of anything anymore.
Had she ever been in control with Quin or had she simply been deceiving herself, using the deal as an excuse for taking what only he had ever given her?
Now, with their daughter known to him…was everything going to change?
Nicole pushed herself to walk down the hall and lock the front door. Tomorrow morning she would have to unlock it again and let Quin walk into Zoe’s life.
He’d better not break her daughter’s heart.
She could never forgive him that.
Never!
CHAPTER ELEVEN
QUIN arrived at the Burwood house ahead of time. The early morning traffic had not been as heavy as he had anticipated and he’d been lucky in getting green lights most of the way out of the city centre. Having parked his Audi at the kerb of the suburban street, he remained in the driver’s seat, waiting out the minutes before seven o’clock.
Being early would not endear him to Nicole. Given her bitter view of how he’d conducted himself with her in the past, Quin wasn’t sure anything was going to endear him to Nicole. Even so, no way would he give up the battle to win her over to his presence in her life, especially now with their daughter in the picture.
Zoe…
Four years he’d missed. And the pregnancy. All because the timing had been wrong for taking his relationship with Nicole beyond immediate needs. He hadn’t meant to belittle her place in his life, and he understood why she had felt no deep commitment coming from him, but having his child without his knowledge…that was so big a hit at the kind of man he was, Quin was still trying to come to terms with it.
First and foremost he was a man of honour.
He would have stood by Nicole.
But clearly she hadn’t wanted him to, preferring to be on her own, to raise their child without him at her side.
That had to change. He would make it change. The big question was…how best to do it?
He checked his watch. Almost seven o’clock. He picked up the bag containing the blue butterfly from the passenger seat, alighted from the car, locked it and headed for the house, determined on making a positive impact on his daughter’s life. Hopefully that might influence Nicole into viewing him with less hostility.
The front door opened ju
st as he reached the porch. Nicole quickly stepped outside, pulling the door closed behind her—an action which instantly signalled her reluctance to let him into the house. Quin halted, observing her keenly as he waited for her to state what this move meant.
