Part 3 (2/2)

Still, if Grace argued, if she didn't handle this situation with kid gloves, her reply could sound like an accusation and accusations only caused arguments. She did not want to argue. She wanted all this settled as quickly and amicably as possible.

”It's good that you want to be involved-”

Danny suddenly turned from the window and caught her gaze, but Grace couldn't read the expression in his eyes and fell silent. She didn't know what he was thinking because she didn't know him. Not at all. She hadn't worked with him long enough to even know him as a boss. With Orlando he had been fun and funny. But when she'd told him about being pregnant he'd been hard, cold, unyielding. As far as she knew he had two personalities. A good guy and a bad guy and she had a sneaking suspicion few people saw the good guy.

”I want my daughter to live with me.”

”Live with you?” Grace would be the one getting a visit every other Sat.u.r.day afternoon? He had to be joking. Or insane.

”I've got money enough and clout enough that if I take you to court I'll end up with custody.”

Grace gaped at him. It had been difficult to bring her child to meet him. As far as she was concerned, he could have stayed out of their lives forever. She was only here for Sarah's sake. Trying to grasp that he wanted to take Sarah away from her was staggering. Could his money really put Grace in a position where she'd be forced to hand over her innocent, defenseless baby daughter to a complete stranger? A man who didn't even want her?

She pulled in a breath and said, ”That's ridiculous.”

”Not really. When I retire, the option to take over Carson Services will be Sarah's. She'll need to be prepared. Only I can prepare her.”

”But your son-”

”Never wanted the job. It falls to Sarah.”

Overwhelmed, Grace shook her head. ”This is too much in one day. I never even considered the possibility that you wanted to know I'd had a baby. Yet the day you find out, you're suddenly demanding custody.”

”I don't have any other choice.”

Grace sat in stunned silence. The whole h.e.l.l of it was he didn't want Sarah. He wasn't asking for any reason except to fulfill a duty. Which was just wonderful. Grace would lose the baby she adored to a man who didn't want her, a man who intended to train her for a job. Not to love and nurture her, but to a.s.sure there was someone to take over the family business.

The injustice of it suffocated Grace at the same time that she understood it. Danny might not want Sarah, but he had a responsibility to her and to his family.

She wondered if he really needed to live with Sarah to teach her, then unexpectedly understood his side again. Preparing to take over a family fortune required more than a formal education. It required knowledge of family history and traditions. It required social graces. It required building social relations.h.i.+ps.

All of which Grace didn't have. Sarah had to live with him at least part of the time.

Part of the time.

Suddenly inspired, Grace said, ”You know what? I think I have a compromise.”

”I don't compromise.”

No kidding.

”Okay, then maybe what I have is a deal to propose.”

His eyes narrowed ominously. ”I don't need a deal, either.”

”Well, listen anyway. The problem I see is that you don't know Sarah-”

”Living together will take care of that.”

”Just listen. You don't know Sarah. I don't think you really want her. You're asking for custody out of a sense of duty and responsibility not to her but to your family, and, as bad as it is for my cause, I understand it. But as Sarah's mother I can't let you take my baby when you don't want her. So what I'm going to propose is that you come to live with Sarah and me for the next two weeks.”

His face scrunched in confusion. ”How exactly would that help?”

”If nothing else, in two weeks, I'll get to know you and you'll get to know her. Especially since I don't have a housekeeper or nanny. You and I will be the ones to care for her.”

His shrewd brown eyes studied her, as if he were trying to think of the catch. Since there was no catch, Grace continued.

”The deal is if you can spend two weeks with us, learning to care for her, and if at the end of that two weeks I feel comfortable with you having her, I won't contest shared custody. Week about. I get her one week. You have her the next. That way, as she gets older, you can schedule the functions you think she needs to be involved in, and I won't have to give her over to you permanently.”

Danny shook his head. ”Grace-”

”I won't give her over to you permanently. Not for any reason. Not any way. The best you'll get from me is week about and only if I believe you can handle her.”

”You're not in a position to name terms,” Danny said, shaking his head. ”I can beat you in court.”

”And then what?” Grace asked barely holding onto her temper. This time yesterday he didn't know he had a daughter. This time last year he didn't want to even hear Grace was pregnant. He couldn't expect her to hand over their child. She'd spend every cent of money she had before she'd recklessly hand over her baby to a man who didn't want Sarah, a man who probably would keep his distance and never love her.

”Say you do beat me in court. What are you going to do? Pa.s.s off your daughter's care to nannies, and let her be raised by a stranger when she could be spending that time with her mother? Is that your idea of grooming her? Showing her how to walk all over people?”

He ran his hand along the back of his neck.

She had him. They might not have spent much time together, but she'd noticed that when he rubbed the back of his neck, he was thinking.

”It sure as h.e.l.l isn't my idea of how to teach her,” Grace said quietly, calming down so he would, too. ”If nothing else, admit you need some time to adjust to being her dad.”

He sighed. ”You want two weeks?”

”If you can't handle her for two weeks, how do you expect to have her permanently?”

Danny said nothing and Grace retraced her argument, trying to figure out why two weeks made him hesitate. A person who wanted full custody couldn't object to a mere two-week stay with the same baby he was trying to get custody of- Unless he wasn't worried about two weeks with Sarah as much as he was worried about two weeks with Grace. The last time they'd spent three days together they'd ended up in bed.

The air suddenly filled with electricity, so much that Grace could almost see the crackles and sparks. Memories-not of his accusations when she told him she was pregnant, but his soft caresses that Sunday night and Monday morning-flooded her mind and the attraction she'd felt the weekend they'd spent together returned full force.

But she didn't want it. She did not want to be attracted to this man. He'd come right out and said he didn't want a relations.h.i.+p with her. Plus, he had clout that she didn't have. Grace needed all her facilities to fight for Sarah's interests. She couldn't risk that he'd push her around in court the way he'd steamrolled her when she told him she was pregnant.

The reminder of how he'd kicked her out of his office without hearing her out was all she needed. Her chin came up. Her spine stiffened. She would never, ever trust him again. She would never give in to the attraction again.

”You're perfectly safe with me. Our time together was a mistake. I wouldn't even speak to you were it not for Sarah.”

He remained silent so long that Grace sighed with disgust. He hadn't had a clue how painful his words had been to her. He hadn't cared that she could have misinterpreted everything he'd said and drawn the conclusion that he'd had his fun with her but she wasn't good enough to really love. He'd been so wrapped up in his own wants and needs that he never considered hers.

Or anyone's as far as Grace knew.

Another reason to stay the h.e.l.l away from him.

”I mean it, Danny. I want nothing to do with you and will fight tooth and nail before I let you take Sarah even for weekends if only because you're a virtual stranger.”

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