An Act of Persuasion(64)

For him the move couldn’t happen soon enough. He loved the idea that she would be living in the house he provided, loved, too, that she accepted his gift. When he’d bought the house he remembered thinking that by the time she learned of it, he would be dead. She would have no choice but to accept it as his last gesture of what he wanted. He didn’t think she would deny him that.

When he told her about it the other day, he knew there was a possibility she would reject it outright. That the house would make her too beholden to him and she had too much pride to take something of such value.

But no. She’d looked at those papers that declared her the sole owner of the home and she’d put a hand to her belly and nodded as if it all made perfect sense to her. As if he’d been right to give it to her.

It certainly made perfect sense to him. She was only a couple of blocks down the road from him. No matter what happened between them, she would always be close. If they had to share custody of the child, her proximity would make that easier, too. Hell, when the kid was old enough he could walk between their houses.

Of course, that wasn’t Ben’s ultimate plan. The plan was to get her to let him inside. And once he’d gained access, he would do everything in his power to never leave again.

“This is the color for the nursery. Since I’m not sure yet if we’re going to find out the sex and because I’m not really an all-blue, all-pink person, I went with soft canary cream. What do you think?”

Ben looked at the sample intently. He saw yellow. It was nice. But he knew that she would expect him to care about this. This was the first step they were taking together to prepare for their child to be a part of their lives. What color would the room be where he or she spent those first few years. Where the child would remember nothing about the decor.

“I think it’s very nice,” he said thoughtfully. “Calming. Yet cheerful. Soothing but...”

This time she laughed outright and took the sample back from him. “You’re such a faker.”

“It’s yellow, Anna.”

She looked at the sample. “Soft yellow and I think it’s perfect. There, that’s done. The other thing I was thinking about is some furniture shopping. If you want to come along, that is. But you totally don’t have to.”

“Of course I will.”

“It will be boring. You’ll probably hate me when you see how indecisive I can be about these types of things. I’m very careful with my selections. I’ll be even more so shopping for this place. I want everything to be perfect.”

“It won’t be boring. I’ll be with you. I can help your decision making.”

“Okay.” Then she reached into her bag again, this time for a manila folder. “I brought this, too.”

He took the folder and opened it. It contained a copy of her birth certificate. “What’s this for?”

She looked down at her hands, which were twisting in her lap. “I thought about what you said. About going to Mark for help instead of you. The truth is, before everything happened I never once thought about finding them. I don’t know what happened to my father. I have no memory of him at all. But her, well, I know she deliberately left me, so it was, like, who cares what the hell happened to them. But now it seems important. Since you are an important part of my life now and you have experience tracking down information I thought that it was right that I give it to you, too. I’ll let Mark know. Of course, he’ll probably want to make it part of this crazy competition between the two of you, but, really, if anyone is going to find them, it should be you.”

Ben closed the folder and said nothing. He looked at her face, its open expression, and swallowed. This thing that she’d given him. This was trust.

Suddenly it scared the living hell out of him because he didn’t know what would happen to them if he ever broke it. He set down the folder carefully and thought about the lengths he would go to for this woman. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. To make her happy, to keep her safe and to stay a part of her life.

Since you are an important part of my life now...

He’d been her boss. That had to have been important. He’d been the man she thought she loved. Surely that had to qualify as being significant in her world.

Only now she was saying that things were different. That he was different to her and even more important.

No, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. And there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her protected. Even if it meant lying to her.