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‘You make it sound as though I’m on the breadline! It’s not that bad, Jed.’
‘But it’s bad enough, isn’t it? Hence the heating, roof and car,’ he murmured, clearly ticking them off in his mind. ‘You’re so stretched financially that every time something goes wrong it’s a major problem for you. Am I right?’
She stiffened and dropped her fork onto her plate. ‘My finances are none of your business!’
‘On the contrary, they’re entirely my business. You’ve been supporting our child on your own for five years. I owe you money.’
Brooke bristled at his words. ‘You don’t owe me anything! I don’t want your money.’
‘Brooke, Toby is our child.’ The words were gentle but firm. ‘He’s my responsibility as well.’
Brooke shook her head, her heart pounding. She couldn’t believe she was hearing this. ‘Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said? Toby isn’t going to be anyone’s responsibility.’
‘What about you? He was landed on you,’ Jed said bluntly, but she gave a soft smile.
‘No. Toby was a gift to me.’ Her eyes misted. ‘A precious gift.’
‘A precious gift?’ He looked at her curiously and shook his head. ‘He turned your whole life upside down.’
‘He was the best thing that ever happened to me.’
His eyes searched hers as if he was trying to read her mind. ‘Tell me something else. I realise now why you were so keen to pretend you didn’t know me and keep me at a distance. If Toby hadn’t blown your cover, would you have told me eventually?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly, resisting the temptation to lean on that broad chest and cry her eyes out. He wasn’t hers to cry on. ‘Probably not. What was the point in telling you? So that we could be a drain on your resourc
es? I wouldn’t do that to you, Jed.’
‘A drain on my resources?’ He blinked at her and looked baffled. ‘Brooke, you don’t know anything about my resources but, believe me, it would take quite a bit to drain them. I have every intention of helping you out financially.’
‘I don’t want your money! I’ve already told you that.’
He cleared his plate and sat back in his chair, his blue eyes narrowed. ‘Calm down. I do understand why you feel like that—I’m not that insensitive. I totally understand the reason you’re so fiercely independent and the reason you don’t want to accept help. But I’m not your father. I don’t resent helping with the upkeep of our child. I will never make him feel guilty or beholden to me.’
‘But you didn’t choose to have him—’
‘No,’ he said honestly, ‘but that doesn’t mean I resent him. I think he’s great, if you must know, and I love him already. You’ve done a good job, Brooke.’
Brooke looked away so that he wouldn’t see her eyes mist. This was so hard. He was such a thoroughly decent man, so strong and dependable, with none of the weaknesses her father had shown. This man would never blame anyone else for his failings, not that Jed seemed to have many…
‘So, tell me about you.’ She fiddled with her glass, her dark hair spilling over her shoulders. ‘What do your parents do?’
‘They dabble in all sorts of things,’ he said with a brief smile. ‘My dad is actually a vet but my older brother, Phil, runs a property company and we all have a hand in it, Mum included. Keeps us out of mischief and it’s a welcome distraction from medicine.’
‘You mentioned another brother…’
He nodded. ‘Tom. He’s a surgical registrar in London, but he’s dying to get back up here. We all hate the city really but he wants to finish his surgical rotation and then he’ll look for a job here.’
‘Like you did?’
He smiled. ‘Something like that, although don’t get the impression we live in each other’s pockets because we don’t.’
She swallowed. ‘But you’re close.’
‘Yes.’ His eyes were suddenly gentle. ‘And I know how lucky that makes me.’
‘When we met that night—’ she looked at him curiously, suddenly anxious to fill in the gaps in her knowledge ‘—where were you working? What were you doing?’
‘I was a registrar in obs and gynae. I stayed in London as a senior reg and then I got this post.’ He drained his glass and gave her a smile. ‘It’s a good unit.’
