Page 40 of Savage Redemption

He shoots a glance in the direction of the buggy. “She’s fine.”

Erin gazes at us, wide-eyed but seemingly not unduly alarmed at the commotion. She’s far too preoccupied by her small collection of cockle shells to bother about me.

Adan sits up, then gets to his feet. He offers me his hand, so I take it.

He helps me up with a wry grin. “You are okay?”

I dart past him to kneel in front of the pushchair. “Sweetie, are you all right? Mummy is fine, there’s no need to be upset.”

She gazes back at me, giggling and not the least bit upset. Then she shifts her gaze to Adan. A small frown creases her little brow, and she lets out a small, mewling cry.

I unfasten the straps and snatch her to my chest. “Don’t worry, darling. Don’t let the nasty man scare you. He’s going.” I turn my head, glare at him. “You need to leave. Now! Before anyone sees you.”

Again, that rueful smirk. “No one’s going to see me. Ethan and half his men are three hundred miles away. He’s expecting to meet with me, actually, but alas, I must disappoint him.”

“What are you talking about? He’s gone on a business trip. And if you’ve been free for… how long is it? A year? Where have you been until now?”

“In Hong Kong, actually. I had other pressing matters to attend to.”

Pressing matters? Hong Kong? What the…?

I hug Erin until she quietens, trying to make some sort of sense of all this. And the penny drops.

“You set it up. The land deal or whatever it was, and the invitation to dinner.”

He inclines his chin. “I needed your host away from his little empire for a while, and to take his architect with him, and for both to bring their wives along. I prefer us to be… undisturbed for our reunion.”

“It’s not a reunion,” I snap. “It’s… It’s… an assault. You attacked me.”

“I have apologised for any distress caused. But I wished to speak with you alone, and of course to meet my daughter.”

I whirl away from him and stride across the shingles. Every instinct screams at me to put distance between him and me, and especially between him and Erin. “She’s not your daughter.”

He keeps pace with me easily. “We both know she is, but if you insist on a paternity test, I have no objection.”

“There’ll be no test. No nothing. Go. Away.”

“That will not be happening,querida.” He sprints to get in front of me. “Wait, please. I just want to talk.”

“Well, I don’t. I hate you. Leave me alone.”

He continues alongside me, matching me step for step. “You left your buggy behind.”

“Fuck off.” The cliff path is only a few paces ahead. If I can just get there, get back up to where the first cottages are. Maybe someone will be around…”

He reaches the path ahead of me and blocks my way. “Just talk to me,” he pleads. “Nothing else, I swear.”

“I don’t believe you.”

His brow furrows. “Did I ever lie to you before?”

I back away, desperate now for a way of escape, any way.

“You, you kept me a prisoner,” I accuse him. “You… raped me.”

His frown deepens. “No, I did not. Why would you say that?”

“I couldn’t leave. I wanted to go home, but you… you…”

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