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Kerry looked down at her baby through a film of tears. His bright blue eyes fixed on her just as sharply as ever, and then he broke out into one of his most engaging smiles, with dimples dancing in his cute little cheeks.

Her eyes blurred once again as fresh tears formed, and all she could see was his thick black curly hair. Then she heard him giggle, and he

r relief and joy at their reunion was complete.

She blinked away her tears and held him tight—determined never to let him out of her sight again.

Theo stood to the side, watching events unfold through narrowed eyes. He understood that everything was all right. That Lucas was safe and sound. Lucas—his baby son—was safe and sound.

Kerry was crying and hugging the baby, and suddenly Theo caught a glimpse of curly black hair as she turned slightly to the side. His son had curly black hair. Somehow that detail surprised him. In the couple of hours since he’d discovered he was a father he had never even wondered what his baby looked like. All babies looked alike, didn’t they?

Suddenly he wanted to see his son properly, and he took a step closer. At that moment he heard a sound he couldn’t immediately recognise. Then he realised what it was—Lucas was giggling.

It was a beautiful, pure sound—the sound of his baby son’s happiness at being back in his mother’s arms. Something inside Theo contracted. That was his baby. And no one was ever going to deprive him of even one more moment of his son’s life.

The next few minutes passed for Kerry in a daze of overwhelming relief while Bridget tried to explain everything that had happened. But all Kerry could focus on was the fact that Lucas was all right. Apart from a few bruises he had survived his fall intact. It wasn’t as bad as Bridget—in her state of guilty panic—had originally made it sound.

Kerry had imagined him falling from top to bottom of a flight of stairs, when in fact he had just tumbled down the short flight of steps that led from Bridget’s kitchen to her utility room. Lucas wasn’t crawling yet, but he could roll, and she had only turned her back for a second.

Theo had barely spoken. He had been perfectly polite to everyone at the hospital, but Kerry knew him well enough to know something was going on behind those dark, assessing eyes.

‘Thank you for bringing Kerry so quickly,’ Bridget suddenly gushed, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

‘You are welcome,’ he said, standing as still and unyielding as a rock until she stepped back awkwardly. ‘Thank you for contacting us earlier this evening,’ Theo continued. ‘I want you to know that I appreciate all you have done for Lucas—but now you and Steve should leave us and return home to your own children.’

‘I…’ Bridget paused, and looked at Kerry in confusion.

‘He knows,’ Kerry managed to say.

‘Yes. I know that Lucas is my son,’ Theo said. ‘And now that I know I will take my responsibility as his father seriously.’

‘What do you mean?’ Bridget asked, looking worriedly from Kerry to Theo to Lucas, who was now dozing peacefully in Kerry’s arms.

‘I mean that from this point onwards I will take charge of his care,’ Theo said.

‘Hang on a minute,’ Bridget said, rising to her sister’s defence. ‘You chucked Kerry out. You’re the one who finished it—you didn’t want to know her.’

‘That was before I knew about my son,’ Theo said. ‘Everything is different now.’

‘But you can’t just waltz in here and—’

‘It’s all right, Bridget,’ Kerry said. She knew Bridget was trying to protect her, and Kerry loved her sister dearly for it. Bridget was just a few years older than her—not old enough to have been involved in the conspiracy to keep Kerry in the dark about her mother. ‘You go home now. This is something Theo and I have to sort out.’

‘But—’

‘Come on, love. You heard her,’ said Steve, looking exhausted.

Kerry tried to smile at her sister reassuringly as Steve led her away. Inside she was a horrible mess of churning emotions, but at least she had Lucas back in her arms again. She bent forward and brushed her cheek against his soft curls, feeling a wave of love for her baby son. Lucas was all that mattered. And as long as she had him everything would be all right.

‘We will go to a hotel for what remains of the night,’ Theo said. ‘Then tomorrow we will discuss the future.’

They travelled in the limousine in silence once more. But this time Lucas was secured in his car seat next to Kerry. The atmosphere between them had changed somehow—and not for the better.

Earlier she’d known Theo was furious with her, and she’d understood why. Even though his temper had been building, and sometimes he had seemed on the verge of exploding, she’d felt as if she’d known where she stood with him.

Now everything seemed different. She had no idea what he was feeling or thinking, because his expression had become as cold and impenetrable as ice.

She looked up and found him studying her. His eyes glinted in the dark. They bored into her like lucid black ice—freezing the blood in her veins and delivering a dreadful premonition of the storm that was brewing.

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