have happened … Damn, he’d never be able to trust her with Dylan again. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?” he snarled.
She remained mute.
Of everything, it was the not calling that enraged him most. She was so pigheaded, so stubborn she would’ve let the baby come to harm before she called him.
His baby.
What had once been a favor to a devastated friend, a random donation of sperm, had turned into the most important thing in his life. Dylan was more precious than anything in the world. And she hadn’t bothered to tell him that his baby was sick. The baby he’d entrusted her with against his own better judgment.
A surge of sheer instinctive paternal possessiveness shook him as he stalked closer. “It was an unforgivable mistake not to call me.”
Pinned against the wall, she faced him. The glaze of shock had receded and her eyes shot sparks at him. “You would’ve taken Dylan away from me.”
“Oh, for …” He broke off before the force of the crude curse erupted.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Recognizing how real her dread was, Connor stepped back and leashed the anger that vibrated through his large frame. “This has gone far enough. I’m taking the baby with me.”
“No.” There was raw pain in the sound. “You can’t!”
“You’ll find that I can.”
Victoria’s head came up. Her cheeks were stained with hectic color, a vivid contrast to her previous bleached paleness. “No. Michael and Suzy wanted us to share custody. I can only see one way that this can work.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m coming to live with you, too.”
Connor gave her an incredulous stare. The silence reverberated with tension. Then he said, “Fine. You can come, too!”
Seven
Victoria walked into Connor’s palatial home for the first time the next evening, not sure of what she would find.
What she didn’t expect was to see Connor lying on his back on the thick carpet in the living room, bouncing above him a bathed, ecstatic Dylan. She hesitated in the doorway and watched as Dylan squealed in delight and Connor whooped.
A long-forgotten sense of being the outsider swept her, of being the kid with the mother who slept all day while her father blew in and out of town like tumbleweed.
Then Connor caught sight of her, and flashed her a dizzying smile. “Look, Dylan, there’s Victoria.”
She dropped her leather laptop case and took a step forward. Dylan stretched his arms toward her. She swung him up and buried her nose against his neck. He smelled clean, of baby powder and calamine lotion. He made soft snuffling sounds and her heart melted.
“How was your day?” Connor had sat up, the laughter fading from his face as his eyes became watchful.
She let out a deep breath. “A lot better than yesterday.” Knowing that Dylan was being looked after by Connor’s housekeeper had lifted a great weight off her shoulders.
“How’s Dylan been?” She set the baby down on the floor and, dropping down beside him, she tugged his T-shirt up.
“Ratty a little earlier. But he had a good sleep.”
“The spots are looking better, not so red.”
“He was fussing so I bathed him … and the cool water seemed to settle him.”
“He loves his bath.” Victoria searched Connor’s chest for signs that Dylan had splashed with his usual abandon but he looked as immaculate as ever. Typical. If it had been her, her shirt would be clinging to her.
“I think you can handle bath time from now on. You must do a far better job.”
His grin flashed back. “I’ve changed—both my jeans and shirt looked like candidates for the wettest wet.”
“Oh.” Victoria instantly felt better. “I’ve arranged for some of my things to be delivered tomorrow. I’ll put the rest into storage and let the town house.”
“I’ve made some calls,” Connor said. “I’ll be interviewing for an au pair for Dylan tomorrow during the morning.”
“But I thought we’d do that together.” He was doing it again—taking over, marginalizing her involvement. And underlining her own insecurities. “I want to have input into the person that we hire.”
Connor frowned. “I’ve already arranged the interviews, and I’ll be working from home until I employ an au pair. It’s not fair to leave Moni with the house and Dylan.”
“Moni?”
“My housekeeper. I’ll introduce you shortly.”
“Thanks,” she said brusquely. “But I’d appreciate it if you would rearrange the interviews for when I come home. We’ve got joint guardianship—and that means we’re partners, we consult each other and make joint decisions.” That would be hard for him. Connor North didn’t have a compromising bone