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Dani’s heart dropped through the floor. Whatever Blake’s game was, he intended to play out his hand to the end. “It’s hard for me to believe that you really want to see him,” she said furiously, “since you wanted me to have an abortion when I turned up pregnant and then walked out on us barely three years later!”
“I know. I know,” he cajoled, lifting his hands in the same patronizing manner he’d used when she’d been his wife. “But can’t you believe that I’ve had a change of heart?”
“It’s hard.”
“Let me go get my boy, Dani,” he begged.
Dani wavered, but only for a minute. “I . . . I think it would be better if I picked him up,” she said cautiously. “You can see him here when he gets home.”
Blake ran a hand over his chin and smiled lazily, his dark eyes regarding Dani with practiced seduction. “Is that an invitation to dinner?”
Clenching her teeth against her impulsive response, Dani studied the man who had once been her husband. He’d aged in the past seven years. Features that had once been boyishly charming were now gaunt and grizzled. “I think it would be okay if you ate here tonight. Cody’s been anxious for you to return.”
“What about you, Dani?” he asked, stepping closer to her.
“I think it probably would have been better if you’d stayed away.”
He reached up to touch her hair, but Dani, still holding her ground pushed his hand aside. “Haven’t you missed me?”
“Not for a long time,” she stated.
“Ya know, there’s still a chance that we could work things out,” he suggested, his brown eyes saddening a little. “I could make it up to you.”
“Never.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“More sure than I’ve been of anything in a long while,” she said, her hazel eyes focusing on his face, her jaw jutting with renewed determination. “And since you’re Cody’s father and he wants to see you, I won’t get in the way. But I’m telling you this straight out, Blake: Don’t try to make trouble. Not for me. Or Cody. We’re happy here and we don’t need you.”
“A boy needs a father,” he contradicted.
Dani bit back the fury on her tongue. “Maybe that’s true. But he needs a father he can depend on, a man who will stick by him no ma
tter what, not someone who abandoned him when he was barely two years old then plans to waltz back into his life when he’s half grown. Think about it, Blake. And before you entertain any thoughts of ruining what Cody and I have together, think how it will affect your son!”
“I never said I wanted to make trouble.”
“Good. Then I’ll try to remember that.”
“You’d do that much for me?”
“No. For Cody.” Her lips tightened. “I’m not giving you back your son; you threw away that right a long time ago when you took off without a backward glance. But I won’t deny Cody the right to know his father unless you do something I don’t approve of.”
Blake’s smile twisted appreciatively. “That almost sounds like a threat, Dani.”
“It is.”
He shook his head as if in utter amazement. “You sure have changed.”
“You made me change. I learned to depend on myself.”
“And I respect ya for it.”
“Don’t try to flatter me, Blake. It won’t work. If you want to see Cody, come back here at six-thirty. Otherwise get out of my life.”
He took one step closer, looked deep into her eyes and saw the sparks of ready-fire in their depths. “I’m stayin’ at Bob’s place, but I’ll be back,” he said softly, touching her on the underside of her chin.
She jerked away from him. “Fine,” she retorted and watched as he climbed back into his pickup and drove away.
