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Willow only irritated Raith more by waving and smiling again. "Goodbye, Lewis."
He sighed and got to his feet, which made Lewis send him an anxious look and quickly shut the door between them. As soon as he was left alone with his intoxicating femme fatale, however, he wished he could've escaped with his friend. Shoving his suddenly clammy hands into his pockets, he came around to her side of the desk and leaned against it.
She still wouldn't sit and wouldn't keep his gaze.
He blew out a breath. "So, when is this thing due?"
Willow lifted her face, slayed him with her solemn gaze, and calmly answered, "November."
Raith felt a little dizzy. He took his hands from his pockets and latched them around the edge of the desk to keep from falling.
It was true then. He was going to have a kid. He was going to be a father.
He thought of his own father. He'd been seventeen when Peter Malloy died. Raith remembered him as the greatest man who'd ever lived, the way any dad should be remembered. But he couldn't picture himself being great to any child.
He could never be a Pete Malloy.
"You've already seen a doctor?" he asked, trying to ignore the crazy disconnection from reality that swirled through him.
"No," Willow answered. "My appointment isn't for another month, but I took a home test last week."
Last week? She'd known for an entire week and hadn't told him?
Irrationally hurt, Raith licked his lips. "But you're sure?" He was amazed they could talk about this so logically.
Willow nodded.
He hissed out a curse. "Just don't rape me on child support, okay?" After running both hands through his hair, he closed his eyes. "My alimony payment takes up enough of my salary as it is."
Willow lifted her eyebrows. "Oh, you don't have to pay a cent."
He whipped up his face and pinned her with a questioning look.
She shrugged. "My father's a judge. I'm a lawyer. Do you think I need your money?"
Raith glanced away, a little ashamed he had nothing compared to her family. Nothing worth giving. "I've got to do something."
"I could give you fifty lashes a night if you like," she offered snidely.
Raith glared. "I'm serious. Just because you're richer than Croesus doesn't mean I should be off the hook."
"Well, what do you want to do?" she snapped. "You can be on the hook as much as you can handle, Malloy. I'm certainly not going to hold my child back from its father if you really want some quality daddy time. But for all I care, you can send a birthday card once a year and let that be enough."
She paused from her tirade to blow out a calming breath. Then she asked, "Just how much involvement do you want?"
He felt suddenly lost. "I don't know," he admitted in a hoarse voice. He couldn't tell her he wanted it all. He couldn't tell her he'd like to be a full-time father, which meant marrying his baby's momma. He wanted to be there when the kid was born. He wanted to watch it take its first step and hear it say its first word. He wanted everything. But, damn it, he could never get Willow DeVane to marry him.
She sighed as if exhausted, making him study her face for fatigue lines. He felt like crap when he actually found a few creases bracketing her eyes and mouth. God. He just wanted to pull her into a hug and reassure them both.
"Well, when you know what you want, why don't you let me know. Until then, I plan on raising this kid like any other single mother."
She spun away to stalk out the door.
"Wait," he said.
She stopped but didn't turn. He opened his mouth to spill all. But when she glanced over her shoulder and her brown eyes caught his, he chickened out.
"Uh, let me give you my phone number and address," he said and scurried to find his business card. "I want to know if anything happens."
