Her Bad Boy Billionaire Lover (Billionai - By Bretton, Barbara Page 0,45

because I'm not going anywhere until we talk this out."

To her horror, tears welled in her eyes. "Go away," she said, her voice breaking. "I don't need you or anyone else."

He grabbed her by the arms and shook her. "You might be able to get someone else to believe that, but not me. What are you hiding, Meggie? What the hell's going on?"

And then it happened. The worst of her fears was realized. From across the yard Jenny let out a shriek and barreled full speed across the grass toward them.

"You let my mommy alone!" she yelled, heading straight for Jake. "Don't touch my mommy!"

#

She was a tiny bundle of fury and Jake jumped back as she tackled him around the knees.

"What the hell--?" He looked at Megan, whose face had gone pale. "Who is she?"

"Go away!" the child shrieked. "You can't touch my mommy."

He bent down and detached the little demon from his legs. "I'm not touching anyone's mommy." The kid must have been out in the sun too long.

She looked up at him with fierce golden eyes and a stab of something damn close to fear shot through his chest. "I saw you! You pushed her and I hate you!" With that the pint-sized pugilist hauled off and punched him in the thigh.

"Jenny." Megan placed a hand atop the child's head. "Everything is fine. Apologize to Mr. Lockwood for hitting him."

The kid looked as if she'd like to bite him in the leg. The feeling was mutual.

"No," she said, her lower lip protruding. "You can't make me. It's my birthday."

That tone of voice...the way her little jaw was set in granite. Recognition was hovering just beyond reach. He hoped it stayed there.

"Forget it, Megan," he said. "She didn't draw blood."

Megan nodded. A small muscle in her cheek worked furiously.

No, he thought. I don't want to know this.

The little girl looked up at him. "You talk funny."

He looked down at her. "So do you."

"I do not. I talk normal."

"So do I."

"Uh-unh." She shook her head and her silky hair brushed against her cheeks. "You talk like Croco--" She stopped.

"Crocodile Dundee," said Megan, her voice a whisper. "It's her favorite movie."

"What's your name?" he asked.

"I can't talk to strangers."

"He's not a stranger, Jenny," said Megan, voice trembling. "He's an...an old friend of mine."

"I'm Jenny," the kid said. "Who are you?"

"Jake." He squatted down in front of her as an odd sense of recognition swept over him. "You have good ears, Jenny. Crocodile Dundee is from Australia. So am I."

"I have a stuffed kangaroo in my room," Jenny said, looking at him with a mixture of dislike and curiosity. "I keep pennies in her pouch."

"How does the kangaroo feel about that?"

Jenny sighed broadly. "The kangaroo isn't real."

Megan placed her hand on the child's shoulder. "The pony won't be here much longer, Jenny. Why don't you go and have one last ride before Sparkles leaves."

The little girl was gone in a flash leaving Jake alone with a woman he thought he knew.

"Her birthday?"

Megan nodded.

Six years...six long years. He'd been a fool to believe life could stand still. "She's yours, isn't she?"

The expression on her face was one of sadness and wonder. "Yes."

The question burned his gut, tore its way up through his chest, ripped at his throat. He already knew the answer. Some other man had lain between her legs, joined his body with hers, and made that little girl with the red hair and fierce temper. Some other man had heard the sounds she made when she came, seen the look of passion in her eyes, the look that he'd remembered through six long years of emptiness without her. The existence of a child paled beside the reality of another man.

For one terrible moment he wanted to wrap his hands around her throat and squeeze until she collapsed limp in his arms, the memory of other men erased forever from her mind. But it wouldn't be enough. He wouldn't be able to erase the truth from his heart.

#

Megan saw it in his face. His jaw was set in granite. His mouth was tight with barely controlled anger. The look in his eyes was one of betrayal and regret.

He doesn't know, she thought in amazement. He'd looked at Jenny and he hadn't realized the truth. A towering anger rose inside her chest, an anger that matched his.

"You don't see it, do you?" she asked. "My God, Jake, are you blind?" She pointed toward Jenny who was jumping up and down as she