A Clandestine Corporate Affair - By Michelle Celmer Page 0,46
with the competition?”
That stung, but she tried not to let it show. Besides, hadn’t it started out that way?
He turned to Nathan. “If you’d kindly hand over my grandson, then you can get dressed and get the hell out of my daughter’s house.”
Nathan didn’t even flinch. He met her father’s eye, wrapped an arm protectively around Max and said, “There’s no way in hell I’m handing my son over to you.”
“Max is this man’s son?” Ana’s father growled, and Nathan had the feeling he’d just opened one big fat can of worms, but he hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut. He’d be damned if he was going to let that arrogant bastard boss him around. Nathan’s role as Max’s father trumped the position of grandfather any day of the week.
“Yes, Nathan is Max’s father,” she said, with no apology, no regret.
“Ana what in God’s name were you thinking?”
“This is none of your business, Dad.”
“The hell it isn’t. Where was he when you were pregnant? For the first nine months of Maxwell’s life? Or have you been seeing him all this time? Lying to me.”
“Nathan didn’t even know about Max until a few weeks ago. But he’s here now.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it.” He turned to Nathan. “I understand you’re in line for the CEO position at Western Oil. I can only imagine how your connection to my family will go over with the board.”
Nathan tensed. He should have seen this one coming. “I suppose I’m about to find out.”
“No you won’t,” Ana said. “Because my father isn’t going to tell anyone. Because if he does, he’ll never see his grandson again.”
Her father scoffed. “Maxwell adores his grandfather. You would never keep him from me.”
“If you ruin the career of the man I love, you’re damned right I would.”
He blinked. “You’re not serious.”
“You don’t think so? Try me.”
“In that case, I want a paternity test. I want proof that he’s Maxwell’s biological father.”
Nathan opened his mouth to tell him to go to hell, but Ana spoke first. “You want? Because I don’t see that’s it’s any of your business. That’s between me and Nathan. Who, for the record, never even asked for one. He trusts me, unlike my own father, who apparently thinks I was slutty enough to be sleeping with multiple partners.”
He leveled his eyes on her. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”
Ana sucked in a breath, and Nathan’s temper shot from simmer to boil in a heartbeat. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was holding Max, he might have actually taken a swing. But for his son’s sake, he clamped a vise down on his anger. He stepped in front of Ana, saying in a very calm and even tone, “You’re talking about the woman that I love. And that is the last time you will ever speak to her that way. Understand?”
Maybe her father realized he’d gone too far, because he actually backed down. “You’re absolutely right, that was uncalled for. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”
“I’m going to get Max dressed,” Ana said softly, taking him from Nathan, leaving Nathan alone to deal with her father.
That wasn’t the sort of thing Ana was just going to forget, and he had the feeling her father realized that. Though Nathan thought he was getting exactly what he deserved, a part of him was sympathetic. He knew what it was like to lose his temper and say or do things he later regretted. The difference was, he’d been man enough to learn how to control it. Maybe this would be the wake-up call her father needed. Maybe he and Ana could begin to repair their fractured relationship.
After an awkward silence, her father said, “I have gifts for Max. Should I bring them in?”
He was actually asking Nathan’s permission? Maybe he figured he had better odds with Nathan than with Ana. And unless her father was doing something to hurt Max, Nathan didn’t feel it was his place to stand between him and his grandfather.
“Sure, bring them in.”
He opened the door and gestured to the man standing on the front walk. He’d been stuck in the cold waiting, his arms filled with packages. His driver, Nathan was assuming, when he saw the Rolls Royce parked at the curb.
It took the man three trips back and forth to bring it all in, while Nathan and Ana’s father stood not speaking. This was definitely not the way Nathan had expected to spend