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Whatever it took, he would be more, better, than he had been until now. Whatever the cost, he would win back her trust again and reclaim his right to stand at her side.

She was watching him, assessing him. “How much do your parents know?”

“My father knows everything. I confided in him. But my mother knows nothing—beyond being certain that Trevor is my son as well as yours.”

“You told her?”

“No. She guessed that he was mine the moment she saw him. She asked my father what he knew. He offered to betray my confidence and tell her everything. She didn’t think that would be right, so she declined his offer to break his word to me.”

“I do like your mother.”

“Yes,” he said dryly. “Like you, she is thoroughly admirable—and you remind me I need to speak with her.”

She indicated the tabloid she’d tossed to the floor and asked him wearily, “About all this?”

He nodded. “By now, she’ll have had her morning look at the newspapers, including The Sun. I have to go to her and explain.”

Sydney said, “We’ll go together.”

It was more than he’d hoped for. Much more. “Are you sure?”

“I’ll just leave a note for Lani.”

They met with his mother in the apartments she shared with his father. It was just the four of them—Adrienne, Evan, Rule and Sydney.

Rule told the whole story all over again. His mother’s face remained unreadable throughout.

When he was done at last, she turned to Sydney. “I am so sorry that my son misled you.”

Sydney replied with a slow nod. “Yes. I am, too.”

Rule stared straight ahead. He felt like the bad child in school, sent to the corner to sit on a stool facing the wall and contemplate the terrible extent of his transgressions.

His mother said, “All right. Where are we now in terms of dealing with The International Sun and their absurd pack of lies?”

His father outlined the brief earlier meeting with Leticia and Donahue, concluding with, “To start, at least, Donahue will demand a retraction.”

His mother looked at Rule, at Sydney, and then at Rule again. “Would a retraction satisfy you two?”

Satisfy me? Rule thought. Hardly. What would satisfy him was to have his wife once again look at him with affection and desire, to have her forgiveness. “That would be fine,” he said, not caring in the least anymore about the damned tabloid story.

“It’s not fine with me,” Sydney said.

He glanced at her, took in the tightness of her mouth, the spots of hectic color high on her cheeks. She was as furious at the tabloid as she was at him. It hurt him, to look at her. It made him yearn for the feel of her skin under his hand, for the pleasure of simply holding her. Despair dragged at him. She’d said she wouldn’t leave him.

But how long would it be before she allowed him to hold her again?

Sydney went on, “The retraction, yes. Absolutely. They should start with a retraction. And then we should sue their asses off.”

“Their asses,” his mother repeated, exchanging a glance with his father. “I do admire your enthusiasm, Sydney.”

“It’s an outrage.” Sydney pressed her lips more tightly together. She blew out a hard breath through her nose.

His mother said, “I agree. And we will have a retraction.”

“It’s not enough,” Sydney insisted. “That article is a gross misrepresentation of Rule’s integrity, of his character. Rule would never simply walk away and desert a woman who was pregnant with his child. Never.”

Rule realized he was gaping at her again. He couldn’t help it. She astonished him. As infuriated as she was at him, she still defended him. He reminded her gently, “Sydney. It’s just a silly tabloid story. It doesn’t matter.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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