Tina Duncan – Her Secret, His Love-Child (страница 8)

He ignored the fact that their relationship was over and he shouldn’t be kissing her at all.

He ignored the fact that a young child, in all likelihood his daughter, lay sleeping innocently in the bedroom behind them.

He ignored everything except touching her and tasting her and relishing the familiar feel of her in his arms.

He deepened the kiss. Her arms made their way up and around his neck, where she dug her fingers into his hair.

The flash-fire of primitive desire laid claim to every ounce of tissue in his body. Muscles strained to get closer to her. His skin shrank around his bones. His heart and his pulse didn’t feel as if they belonged to him as they beat out a frantic tattoo.

He urged her backwards, instinctively seeking and finding the lounge. The backs of her knees hit the edge of a seat and he tumbled her on to the cushions.

He looked down. One spaghetti-thin strap had slipped off a creamy shoulder, baring the swell of her breast to his gaze.

His body throbbed—hard.

And, then again, even harder.

Then his eyes landed on a stuffed toy sitting in the corner of the lounge.

It was a brown gorilla. And it appeared to be staring at him.

Alex froze.

This was madness. Absolute and utter madness.

Until this situation was sorted, he shouldn’t be touching her.

He took a step backwards.

And then another.

Then he said, ‘We can’t do this.’

Katrina flopped back against the sofa.

She was weak, breathing heavily, body pulsing.

He was right; they shouldn’t be doing this.

She closed her eyes.

Why, oh why, had she let Alex kiss her? And why, oh why, had she kissed him back? He thought she was a liar and a cheat. He thought she was low enough to try and foist another man’s child on him. She needed her head read for letting him anywhere near her.

She breathed in deeply and willed her heart to stop its frantic beating.

‘I think you’d better leave,’ she murmured without looking at him.

Katrina could feel him looking at her bent head.

‘Are you OK?’ he asked finally.

Her eyes snapped open before flashing to his. ‘I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Why indeed?’

Alex walked to the door and pulled it open. ‘I’ll call you when I get the results.’

‘You do that,’ she said, just before the door closed with a quiet click.

Katrina was cleaning the fridge two days later, trying to take her mind off the fact that today was the day the DNA test results were due, when the doorbell rang.

Immediately, she tensed.

What if it was Alex?

She hadn’t received her set of results yet, but that didn’t mean Alex hadn’t received his.

How was he going to react to the news that Samantha was indeed his daughter?

Stripping off her green rubber-gloves, she tossed them on to the sideboard before hurrying to the door. She paused and took a deep breath before pulling it open.

It was Alex.

But it was an Alex she’d never seen before.

He looked ill. Grey. Strained. Older.

She gripped his arm, which was rock-hard with tension.

‘Alex, what’s wrong? Are you sick? Do you want me to call a doctor?’

He shook his head but didn’t answer her.

She all but pulled him into the apartment.

It was then she noticed the piece of paper gripped in his clenched fist.

Her heart plummeted to her toes with sickening speed, then jolted into the back of her throat.

‘Is that…is that the test results?’ she choked out.

Alex looked at his hand as if surprised to see he was still clutching the document.

He nodded, his fist unclenching as if it was spring loaded.

The paper bearing the logo of the laboratory dropped to the carpet.

Katrina didn’t bother picking it up. Didn’t bother because she knew the results.

Alex lifted his head and stared at her. His face was empty of expression and Katrina registered that he was in some kind of shock.

‘Samantha is my daughter,’ he said simply, his voice so low she could barely hear him.

Katrina nodded.

‘I’m a father,’ he croaked.

Again, she nodded. ‘Yes. Yes, you are.’

He ran a hand through his hair and around the back of his neck. ‘I thought I was prepared for this. When you suggested the DNA test, I knew you had to be pretty sure I was the father. But seeing it in black and white…’ He shook his head. ‘It’s knocked me for six.’

Katrina could see that. She’d never seen Alex like this.

But she found it hard to be sympathetic. She’d told him the truth so many times, she’d practically turned blue in the face. But he hadn’t listened to her.

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