Page 10 of Outlaw

“Stevie, I need to have a chat with Mr. Shephard. I’ll just be right out here, okay?” I told her.

She nodded her head, then turned her attention back to the television. Seemed she wasn’t going to argue or pepper me with a million questions. Small miracles.

I closed the door and looked back at Linc. He wasn’t wearing the cowboy hat today, and his hair was still like it had been five years ago. Thick, wavy brown locks, brushed back in a messy yet perfectly styled look that I doubted he ever spent much time on. Just one more unfair advantage in his appearance. Even the tiny touches of silver in his beard were sexy. Damn him.

“Her name is Stevie?” he asked me. His hard edge had softened some.

I was afraid to look at him.

I nodded. “Yeah,” was all I said wanting him to stop asking about her.

“Odd name for a girl.”

His words said one thing, but his tone said another. He liked it, but then I had known he would. The drugs or the high of holding her in my arms the first time had made me sentimental.

“Not if you grew up listening to Fleetwood Mac,” I replied, then bit my tongue before saying any more. Too much, and he might connect the dots.

He didn’t need to remember. In Vegas, I had wanted him to,but not any longer.

“That was before your time.”

I lifted a shoulder and stared out at the parking lot instead of him. “I didn’t have a normal childhood.”

And that was all he was getting from me about that. The days of him singing “Gypsy” to me while ruffling my out-of-control curls, which my father had no idea how to manage, were long gone.

“Is she mine?” The three words came out hard, laced with accusation.

Lying to him, I found, was going to be more than difficult with his dark blue eyes lasered in on me. I swallowed, straightening my shoulders. I had Stevie’s future to think about. Her life and everything that was almost hers. The two-story house that Hudson lived in that would soon have a swing set in the backyard. The private school he was going to pay for and the security that when it came time for college, she would get the chance I never had. Hudson wanted her. Linc had not. I couldn’t hurt her by telling her that she did have a father, but he didn’t want her. He had given up any right to her when he left me that pill.

“She’s mine,” I finally said.

His eyes narrowed. “She’s not Jesus. There was no immaculate conception. Who is her father?” he snapped at me.

I took a deep breath. He would not intimidate me.

“I’ve never had a paternity test done,” I replied, leaving out there was no reason for a paternity test.

I had slept with three men in my life—Bastian, him, and Hudson. There was only one man it could have been; at that time, it had been a year since I’d slept with Bastian, and I hadn’t met Hudson yet.

His nostrils flared, and his eyes darkened with distaste. What? Did the idea that I might have slept with other men around thesame time make me a bad person in his eyes? Hypocrite. His body count was in the hundreds or possibly thousands. Like he had the right to judge anyone.

“Then, I will require one before I sign anything.”

My flash of anger spun into dread. What would happen when he found out? How could I explain this to Hudson? I’d told him Stevie’s father was dead. Because to me, he was. I’d rationalized my lie to make it something I could sleep with at night.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed a number before holding it to his ear while his gaze bored into me like he wished he could grab me and toss me over the railing. When he knew the truth, he just might do that. Or worse. I shouldn’t have come here. This was a mistake. I could have found a way around this if I’d tried. Maybe an annulment. But he’d have had to be contacted for that too, right?

GOD! Why had I brought Stevie with me? If he had never seen her…

Sweat trickled down my back as I scrambled for a way to save this situation. Stop him from doing this. He didn’t want a child. Why was he so set on knowing if she was his?

“Burl.” His gravelly voice heightened my fear. “I need a paternity test done. I’m at the Madison Inn. Room 210.”

Who was Burl? Was he asking him to send a doctor or lab person here? To our room?

I wrung my hands in front of me. What would I tell Stevie? She thought her dad was dead too. I’d told her the same lie to protect her. I hadn’t wanted her to go looking for him one day and find…well, this. The man in front of me. The one who hadn’t wanted her.

Linc shoved his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. The fury in his gaze narrowed on me. “You’d better fucking pray she’s not mine.” The threat was the last thing he said before turning and walking away. Back toward the stairs.

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