frowned. “I don’t think I can eat.” She handed Matt the basketball.
“Let me get some menus,” Evan insisted. “Maybe you’ll change your mind.”
Matt grabbed a handful of quarters and climbed on the ottoman to play pinball again. Kelly followed Evan to the kitchen.
“You don’t think it’s safe for us to go home?”
He turned his body to face her, speaking quietly. “No, I don’t. You and I both know that Buzz Campbell already has heard about Doyle’s interview. He’s seen your photo, he’s seen Matt’s. With Helen Thompson’s accusations, Doyle is building quite a formidable case here. Buzz has major damage control on his hands.”
“I can’t leave town. I have Neverland.”
“I know that. You and Matt should stay here.”
Kelly shook her head. “Impossible. I have to work.”
“You can’t go home with Matt.”
“Well, I can’t leave him here.”
“If the good senator can’t make you disappear, he’ll try to make everything look correct in the public eye. He’ll demand DNA testing. He’ll try to smear you, cite you as unfit or a liar, and depending on what his attorneys tell him, he may sue you for custody. If you think I asked you tough questions earlier, you have yet to run the gauntlet. The man was a marine, Kelly. He doesn’t back down.”
* * *
KELLY SAT ON the closest chair. Of course. She knew all this. “I’m in for the battle of my life.”
He pulled menus from the drawer and splayed them on the counter, as if on autopilot. “You have to keep your son out of reach. Stay here. No one can get past my doorman.”
The way Evan said your son convinced her that he considered Matt off-limits to the senator. “Thank you for saying that, Evan.”
“What?”
“Calling Matt my son.”
He reached for her. Very tentatively, he wrapped his arms around her. “And a fine son he is. With a mother like a warrior princess.”
Kelly stiffened in his arms, but when she felt the warmth of his concern to match his words, she melted against him, sorely needing the comfort of strong arms. She laid her cheek against his chest. He rested his chin against the crown of her head as if he’d done it a thousand times. Wow. He was tall. And, goodness. He felt warm and familiar. His masculine scent suffused her senses like much-needed air.
A brief impulse almost had her wrapping her arms around his waist. Instead, she tucked her palms between them on his chest.
She whispered, “It’s been Matt and me against the world from the start. I hated the senator for what he did to me, but I’ve loved Matt since I felt the first flutter in my belly. All my plans to put him up for adoption fell away, and I never looked back.”
He caressed her head, and she could not remember when she felt more safe. Within the sanctuary of his arms, she opened the floodgate a bit wider.
“When Campbell violated me, he stole my right to choose whether I wanted to become pregnant, let alone have sex. I don’t want Buzz Campbell anywhere near my baby. I can’t imagine the confusion Matt will suffer if he learns that he is a child born of rape and has to acknowledge that ogre as his father.”
Evan held her at arm’s length, meeting her gaze with as much conviction as she felt. “Then, we declare war.”
She stepped away from him, once again her own counsel. Evan kept saying, we. When it came to surmounting challenges, her world had been, I. A few days ago, Evan had offered friendship and trust. Moments ago he offered marriage. She blew him off as if he’d been kidding because she couldn’t consider that he’d been sincere. If he was sincere, then she’d have to examine her own feelings. Right now, she was upset. She needed to think clearly—and on her own.
While Evan’s overpowering personality and take-charge attitude could be a welcome escape from facing Campbell alone, those very traits overrode her comfort level. Evan’s aggressive career and unwillingness to take no for an answer reminded her startlingly of Buzz Campbell. Yet, Evan was different. He possessed a kindness that was unmistakably genuine and his moral standard matched her own. Yet, could he truly be trusted? He had already pushed her to go public with her story. He seemed to have no intention of letting that topic drop. A thread of suspicion had her wondering how much of Evan’s motives were geared more toward uncovering a news story than toward standing by her.
She