Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts) (26 page)

Daisy looked back. He was near the sofa, picture in his hand. He stared at the portrait; at the daughter she knew he assumed was his. Probably, a lot of assumptions were made since hearing the truth from a source other than her. For that, she was sorry. She’d handled things badly with Pete and him. Loving Amy as she did, she couldn’t completely regret it. Her daughter meant more to her than either of them. Only a mother could understand how consuming and protective that kind of love can make you.

“
She’s not yours,” she said, her throat dry and her tone harsher than she intended.

Aiden smirked. He set the picture back down carefully but didn’t address her.

Daisy closed the distance between them. She stepped directly to him, forcing eye to eye contact. Maybe she’d try to reach him with a patient voice, to diffuse the ticking bomb in him before things got to far out of control. He’d been there a full five minutes and he said nothing, which terrified her. Pete was all anger and words. Aiden’s silence meant he was scheming, and when he did strike, God help her but she might not see it coming.

“
She’s upstairs,” she said softly.

His eyes narrowed into suspicious slits. They dropped to her cleavage and made a slow climb back up her face. He seemed to respond or at least she hoped he did from her closeness or her tone. Either way, she sensed he wasn’t as receptive or needy as he was the last time they met. “I need you to stop this. Just don’t, please… not like this. She’s only four. I don’t want her to come down and hear you… see you. Hear us. Leave and I’ll um… I can come to you later… and we can, um, talk. I’ll explain.” She touched his arm. “That’s what you want, right? An explanation? You have to go. Now.”

“
I
have
to go?”

“
Yes, you have to go.”

“
Because I’m the devil? Satan? Everything evil and scary in your life happens because of Aiden Keane?” His dark brows slanted inward as his stare hardened. Her hand dropped off his sleeve. “You’ll come to me? Explain it away?”

“
Aiden, I won’t fight with you.”

“
You don’t have to fight with me, Daisy. You made your feelings pretty clear. You can hate me. I’m used to it. Let me tell you what you can’t do.” He grabbed her by the arm, snatching her to him. His grip was so strong and the force so unrelenting, she was forced to her toes in her high-heels. His face moved in close. Her nostrils filled with the rich manly scent of his cologne. Aiden’s lips curled into a cynical smirk that revealed a half dazzling display of white even teeth. “What you can’t do is deny me my child. Are you listening to me, Daisy? Because you need to understand who you’re dealing with.”

“
Let me go.”

“
What you won’t do is run and hide this time. There's no where you can hide my kid from me!”

“
She’s not yours. You hear me? She’s not.”

“
You want to play that game with me? Now! Do you? Do you!”

She held his glare and he released her. He brushed past her, leaving her standing there in breathless denial. When she dared to look back she saw him glance to the stairs, as if he’d go up them. She quickly stepped back into his line of view, between him and access to Amy.

“
You’re angry and so what!” Daisy said, her chest swelling and her legs parted with her fists at her side. “Amy isn’t yours; I don’t know what that investigator told you but I’m the only one that knows the truth.”

He smiled. It chilled her and caused her to falter with her words.

“
What would the courts say? Your life-style.”

“
My what?” Daisy frowned.

“
Running away, changing your name, breaking the law. Keeping a poor honest business man like me from my child?”

“
Don’t you dare threaten me, Aiden? You don’t really know me. I have my limits. This is my limit. You have no idea how far I’ll go to keep my baby safe. Play with my company, my heart, all of it. I don’t care. But don’t you ever… ever… threaten me with Amy!”

“
It’s not a threat, Daisy. I may not know you, but you damn well know me. I don't have a limit.”

She wanted to slap him. Smack him hard. Her fingers curled into fists so tight the muscles in her right arm tensed. So this was his game. He was toying with her, pushing her buttons. He wanted to see her squirm. What a joke! This was Aiden Keane. He was a lot of things, but ‘daddy’ wasn’t it. She shook her head at his arrogance. She turned and walked away, chuckling. She was convinced that Aiden didn’t want Amy anymore than he wanted her. Again, he just loved the concept of it all.

****

Her chuckles and light giggles were maddening to him. They were like nails on a chalkboard. She mocked him, even now. Was she trying to push him, test him? Of course she was. She thought of him as a joke. He wasn’t sure if all that went down between them was the cause, but she’d changed. It made her both reckless and foolish. She dared kick his heart and feelings around for sport. He glared after her; wanting to hurt her, make her pay, but still drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Yes, he wanted her. He wanted to get burned by her once more, maybe reach the Daisy who talked about nail shops and thought a man like him had a heart. She unknowingly pegged him right. He was nothing more than a ball of conflict and contradictions over his ‘wants’.

Aiden took her in. The dress she wore that tied at the hip and crossed over her ample breasts was cut from some delicate fabric that moved like liquid around the curves of her shapely hips and ass. She’d take a step and the front would part, revealing more of her leg than intended. Her hair, with golden highlights from the roots, possessed a beautiful sheen through dark brown layers. Locks hung in graceful curves about her shoulders and back. His Daisy had the most delicate features, but her chin was an iron will of determination. He had made only one mistake with her, which he regretted to this day. Her beauty always distracted him. Not today.

She glared at him over her shoulder as if she sniffed his weakness and read his thoughts. This time, he was forced to look away.

“
You don’t want kids, Aiden,” she said, and it was true. He returned his focus to the stairs. He didn't want a kid. But to be the father of her child was a desire that grew with each passing moment. He was weakening to the thought of having someone in his life that was his and to having created a life with the only woman that made his heart beat. How could he ever express the meaning of it all in words?

“
You hear me, Aiden?”

“
You don’t know what I want, Daisy,” he mumbled, continuing to stare at those steps that wound upward to the lofty top level of her home. He was mysteriously drawn to them.

“
I do,” she said.

His eyes flipped back over to her. She waited for his undivided attention. “Be honest… for once. You never wanted anything that you couldn’t squeeze dry for pleasure. I did you a favor, and you and I both know it.”

“
A favor?”

Daisy nodded. “A baby, Aiden? Our baby?” She approached with a small smile to her lips. “Five years ago you tossed a million dollars at a young naïve girl for a little fun. Oh yeah, you raised the stakes and went at it bare-back. I guess you didn’t think a country girl like me posed any risk? Huh?” Daisy cocked her head to the side. “What’s that hooker’s name you used? Candy, Peaches… Ice-cream, noooo… X-tacy, right? You had it all planned from the beginning. That contract meant nothing. The odds were stacked in your favor, and that measly million dollars was just the bait. What was it? You’d get a good time and a good laugh. Right? Oh… no wait. You wanted to prove a point. I forgot. Let’s see. It was that everyone could be bought and that love didn’t conquer all. You showed that we all had a price.” She snapped her fingers. “Of course, in Aiden’s world, people just don’t meet and fall in love. That’s not possible.”

“
You and I both know it is,” he said.

She ignored him now, circling him, stalking him. It displaced the air about him with her scent, fucked with his cool, and part of him liked her balls. She was tough. Even now, when he had her cornered, she was ready to fight. He found her confidence and independence sexy, even if he wanted to wring her pretty neck.

The other half of him was ready to show her what pushing a man like Aiden Keane too far meant. He was tired of playing her sap. He stared anywhere but at her and he felt another renewed sense of anger over all she’d done. She stopped in front of him once more. “A sure thing, right? Except you placed one bet too many. What if I did show up with a baby? C’mon, Aiden. What then?”

He didn’t say much, and she mistook silence for weakness. A fatal flaw.

“
Tell me you didn’t dodge a bullet?”

“
You think I’m a man who would have a child and walk away because it’s inconvenient?”

She shrugged. “Sure, sounds like you to me.”

“
Oh no, sweet Daisy. You’re the only one that disposes of babies because it’s inconvenient.”

He hit his mark. She paled, her quiet oval face contorted in rage. He should have apologized or backed off, considering he was unsure of his feelings. But she had pushed him to this point. “You’re a cold bitch. Aren’t you, Daisy? And this isn’t the first time,” he said stalking toward her. “You denied one man a child by killing it, then another man a child by stealing it!”

The slap across his face was of no surprise. The sting went through his jaw and left his ear ringing. She exploded in silent rage, swinging and throwing her fists and hands at him all at once. He could barely get a hold on her.

“
I hate you! I hate you, damn it! I hate you!” she groaned, stumping her feet and clawing at him. He grabbed her by both arms, turning her against him and putting her back to his chest. She fought hard for her release, bucked and kicked, feet leaving the ground. He drew her up into his chest, holding her firm, reducing her to soft wheezes and forcing her to go still. And she did. Her head dropped back on his left shoulder as every muscle in her being tensed from the embrace.

He then pressed the side of his face to hers, so he could drop his face into the side curve of her neck as he allowed one hand to free itself and stroke her breast. His fingers eased inside the front of her dress while he ran his nose up her neck to her ear and spoke into it. “You named her after me,” he whispered and kissed her lobe.

“
Get off me… You're crazy,” Daisy said, but she shuddered and weakened in his arms. He felt it.

“
Yes, yes you did,” he said, squeezing her breast. “Admit it.”

“
Go to hell.”

“
Admit it. You knew I’d find you, and you wanted me to. When you had her, I was the first man you thought about, because you knew, Daisy, just as I did when I saw her, she’s mine.”

Daisy turned her face even further away. She was so delicious when conflicted. He pinched her nipple and her ass moved against him, for escape possibly, but the brushing was enough to heat his groin and make him careful in how he punished her.

“
She’s happy, Aiden.” She spoke with a renewed strain to keep from breaking, and her voice cut through the naughty stream of thoughts in his head, reminding him of his purpose. “Happy and loved. She’s so sweet, Aiden. She’s a good baby. You don’t want to change that."

“
No,” he said, removing his hand from her breast, a pang of guilt piercing his heart once more. Another blow might prove fatal. He was so wounded by her continual rejection. There was no reaching her, and he was growing weary of giving her liberties he granted no other. Away from her, it was clear. He’d strip her of everything and make her regret hurting him. But when he was with her, touching her, feeling her, inhaling her, he was all over the place. She’d be the death of him if he weren’t careful.

“
You have a life. Don’t forget your kingdom. You don’t need us,” she panted.

“
Don’t tell me what I need.”

“
If you were honest, you’d admit that you don’t even want us. You think this is a game? She’s my baby, you asshole! I'm not playing with you. I'm terrified.” She snatched free when his hold loosened, and he let her go. She turned on him, covering herself and fixing the front of her dress. “Just let us go. We don’t know that she’s yours. You can’t possibly think that she is after just one night. Did you forget I had a fiancé? What you sampled, he tasted every night. Trust me on this. Or are you so arrogant that you’d think it’s all about you? Of course you are! Aiden Keane always gets his way…not on this. Not this time.” She looked to the door and he looked back then to her as if considering something. Her face had worry on it that he couldn’t place. Instead of fleeing him, she came directly toward him.