Claiming The Rancher's Heir (Gold Valley Vineyards #2) - Maisey Yates Page 0,25

from a man.

A girl to take a baby from a boy.

That was the thing. They’d been kids. And everything about it had been messed up. All of it.

But he was not a child anymore, and he would be damned if anybody took anything from him.

His child.

For his son, it was too late. He couldn’t have his son. Not now.

He had just seen that boy with his...with the man he thought was his father, with his siblings. They were a family. Creed never could be. He was just a man who had donated the material that had created the boy.

That wasn’t being a father. He could never have that back. That boy was grown.

Even if he found out about Creed someday... He could never be the boy’s dad.

No, he had lost that chance. But he would never lose that again. Never again.

“You’re going to marry me,” he said.

“I... I most certainly am not,” she said. “That is... It is not a good reason for people to get married.”

“It is the only damn reason for people to get married. It’s legal protection, Wren. For both parties involved.”

“That’s not how the world works anymore.”

“It is damn well how the world works. What’s to keep you from taking my name off the birth certificate?”

“I won’t.”

“What’s to keep you from preventing me from seeing my baby?”

“I won’t,” she repeated. “I won’t do that. We were both involved in this and...”

“You say that, but you don’t know. You don’t know how it will go. You’re marrying me. You’re marrying me, and we’re going to live in the same house. I am not missing a moment of my child’s life.”

“Creed, I didn’t say that you would. But we are not in a relationship. We don’t even like each other, let alone love each other.”

“That doesn’t have anything to do with this. This isn’t about us.”

“Be reasonable. I didn’t even think you would want this baby.”

“Because you don’t know me,” he said. “Not at all. We were naked together, that’s it. But you don’t know me well enough to think that you know whether or not I want this child. I do.”

He did. With every breath in his body.

And the resoluteness he felt over what needed to be done was as intense as it was real.

“I am not letting you take this baby from me.”

“Creed, I won’t. But I don’t have to marry you to...”

“We are getting married.”

“Or what?”

Everything in him turned to ice. If she wanted an ultimatum, he would give it to her.

“Or I’ll do what I have to do to make sure that most of the custody is with me.”

“What?”

“Do you think it’s fair? For one parent to only be with the child on weekends? Do you think it’s fair for one of us to miss that much of the child’s life? Because I don’t. But if you think it’s fair, then you won’t mind if it gets flipped on you. Do you think it’ll be fair to miss a week of the baby’s life?”

“I’m the mother,” she said.

“And I am the father,” he said, the conviction in his voice shocking even him. “I’m the father,” he repeated. “I’m not missing this.”

“Creed...”

“You listen to me,” he said, speaking with all the firmness he could when his life had just been turned completely upside down. “You listen to me, Wren Maxfield. Either you become my wife, or I’m going to have to make this difficult.”

“You listen to me,” she said. “You might be used to issuing edicts, but you don’t get to tell me what to do. Because I’ve lived my entire life walking on another path that was set out for me by someone else. By a man. I will not be dictated to. If you want to fight, I will give you a fight, Creed. You can bet on it.”

And then, she turned on her heel, walking out of the room.

And he could see that she was certain that she could get her way.

All he could see was another woman walking off with his child.

It wouldn’t happen. It wouldn’t.

It wasn’t for another hour that the shock wore off.

And that was when he clutched his chest like he might be having a heart attack and leaned against the wall of the tasting room.

He was going to be a father again.

And Wren Maxfield was the mother.

And he had no idea how in hell they were going to survive this.

Six

She was a coward. She had run away from him, and she could see that whatever was driving