Baby for the Billionaire(125)
Connor took in her hands clenched in front of her breasts, and the way her mouth trembled. Her crushed-rose lips only emphasized her pallor. She looked too damned fragile.
For a moment he considered sweeping her into his arms, holding her close …
Then he shook the impulse away.
This was Victoria, not some frail butterfly. And she didn’t need anything from him—she’d told him so herself.
He stepped closer to her. “That wasn’t a dare. You don’t need to prove anything to me. All I want is Dylan.” And dammit, that was the truth of it. “Make it easy on yourself, let him stay with me.” That’s what he wanted desperately—what Michael would’ve wanted—his son to stay with him. But he couldn’t say that. He’d already hurt her enough. “You can come and visit as often as you want.”
The gold-green eyes that clashed with his were full of turbulence. “You think I haven’t thought of letting him go to you? But I can’t!”
“Why not?” he challenged.
“Because …” She gnawed at her lip.
“Because?” he prompted, forcing his gaze not to linger on her mouth.
“Don’t ask this of me.” There were shadows in her eyes that went way beyond grief. “I can’t do it.”
“It would be the easy solution.”
She hesitated, clenching and unclenching her hands. “Easy solutions aren’t always right. Suzy and I had been inseparable since we were five. I met her on our first day of school. Did you know that?”
He shook his head.
“She was tiny, like a beautiful, blue-eyed doll. She had blond curls, whereas I had dead straight, mousy hair. I felt so thin and tall next to her—she made me want to look after her.”
Victoria’s eyes had glazed over, and Connor knew she’d forgotten about him, about where they were, about the approaching storm. She was in a place he could not reach.
“We seemed like such opposites. Suzy so social, me so quiet.”
“You were fortunate that your friendship endured for all those years.”
“She was so much more than a friend. More than a sister, even. She was my confidante. My family. The person I trusted more than anyone else in the world when my family let me down.” Her gaze cleared. “I can’t give Dylan up. Don’t ask it of me.”
Connor’s sigh went all the way to his soul. He’d already hurt her beyond belief with his swipe that she hadn’t had time for Suzy before she died. How could he take her last link with her friend away from her? Even though he knew that Michael would’ve wanted Dylan to be with him.
The provision for sharing of guardianship and custody in the will had startled him. Victoria was a working woman who clearly didn’t have time for bringing up a child. What had the Masons been thinking? Suzy must’ve insisted on it, never believing the will would have to be acted on long before Dylan grew to adulthood.
But whatever the will provided for, it was absolutely irrefutable that Suzy’s death had left a vast chasm in Victoria’s life.
Connor drew a deep breath and made the biggest concession of his life. Despite what he believed was the right thing for Dylan—and him, he would go along with the provisions of the will. “Then we’ll have to split the custody—work out which of us gets which days.”
Emotion flashed in her eyes. “How can you even suggest that? It took Dylan almost the whole weekend to settle with me. He’s missing his parents, and now you’re suggesting ripping him away from me.”
“Not ripping,” said Connor firmly. “We’ll share him.”
“And he’s going to know what’s happening?” She shook her head so hard the silken mass of her hair whipped from side to side. “No, he’s not going to understand the terms of a custody arrangement. His parents are gone. Right now everything in his little life is in upheaval. I’m his only constant. How can you yank up the few roots he has left and take him away from me?”
She had a point. He remembered how Dylan had snuggled against her earlier.
“And you can’t take Dylan away from my home. That’s all that’s familiar to him right now. Another change of place is going to unsettle him all over again.”
He tilted his head to one side and replayed her words through his mind—Another change of place is going to unsettle him all over again. “That’s it!”
At his exclamation Victoria stared at him as though he’d taken leave of his senses.