Page 203 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 1-4

‘Is that why you clenched your fists? Because you don’t want to touch me?’

‘The baby,’ she said, deciding they had to get this conversation started so it could end and as soon as possible. ‘That’s what we were supposed to talk about.’

‘Oh, yes,’ he murmured. ‘That’s right. There’s a baby. Almost forgot about that.’

‘You were the one who—’

‘I will not be cut out of my child’s life,’ he interrupted, his tone hard as iron. ‘Do you understand me? I will be involved. You might not need me, Maude Braithwaite, but my child will.’

At the sound of her name, spoken in that voice, all darkness and heat, she felt another electric pulse. As if part of her had liked what he said and wanted it, which couldn’t be true. Shedidn’twant him involved. Her mother had brought Maude up on her own, without any help from Maude’s father. In fact, her mother had never even told Maudewhoher father was, not that Maude cared.

Her grandparents had thought Sonya hadn’t done a good job with her, but, despite that, her memories of the commune were good ones. She certainly hadn’t suffered through lack of a father, and she’d make sure her own child wouldn’t suffer either.

Except the look on Dominic Lancaster’s face and the iron in his tone made it clear that he would brook no argument.

Her heart gave an odd little thump and, while she didn’t want to admit it, a part of her was almost admiring of his willingness to step up and take responsibility for his child.

However, he also was who he was. A man with too much money, who apparently liked clubs and parties, all things that Maude didn’t care about, and who almost certainly didn’t value the things she did or wouldn’t even be interested in them.

She didn’t want him to be part of her child’s life.

The child washerresponsibility. She’d made a mistake, it was true, and she should have never done what she had in the forest that night. But now there would be a baby, and she couldn’t shake off the feeling that somehow this child was a gift from the forest. It had been conceived in a way that still felt magical and sacred, even now. Perhaps if the man standing in front of her had been as deeply connected with nature as she was, then she would have felt differently. But he wasn’t.

He was from the city and inhabited a different world. The same kind of world that her grandparents inhabited, and she didn’t want her child to have the same kind of upbringing she’d had. Where she’d been told what to do and how to be and how to behave. Been stuffed into the little box they’d prepared for her and never let out. Forced to grow into a shape that wasn’t her own.

She wanted her child to be free to be their own person.

How do you know he doesn’t feel the same way you do about it?

Well, here he was, already ordering her around and laying down rules, so of course he didn’t feel the same way she did. That wasn’t even a question.

‘Why do you even want a child?’ she asked belligerently.

‘I didn’t. But we can’t always get what we want, can we?’

‘Unfortunately,’ Maude muttered. ‘I can take the child away. You can’t stop me.’

He lifted one dark brow. ‘Do you really believe I can’t stop you?’

Maude wished that she didn’t, in fact, believe him, but there was a steely glint in his eyes that made her think that would be a mistake. He was a billionaire, with mountains of money and a whole bunch of lawyers on speed dial. Of course he could stop her.

He could take the child from you if he wanted to.

Something cold settled in the pit of her stomach. He had a hard edge, this man, a harder edge than she’d expected. He was rich and liked parties, but that didn’t mean he was stupid. In fact, she had a feeling he was the opposite, and that while she had a stubborn streak a mile wide, he had a ruthless one as stark as the white stripe in his hair.

‘Fine,’ she bit out, trying to mask her trepidation. ‘What kind of involvement are you talking about, then?’

‘I want the child to live with me.’ His eyes glittered. ‘And that includes you as well.’

Maude’s brown eyes widened and she blinked, her mouth opening slightly. Which satisfied Dominic far more than it should. About time he surprised her, because he was tired of her doing the same to him.

She wouldn’t like what he suggested, he knew that already.

It was a tactic of his, to make outrageous demands and then see what the response was. Usually the response was a refusal, which was then his cue to start proper negotiations. From there, he would gradually give ground until it looked to the other party as if they’d got the best deal, when, in fact, they’d ended up giving him everything he wanted.

She would refuse, he knew, and sure enough, after a moment of shocked silence, she said, ‘Are you kidding? I’m not living with you.’

There was no reason to feel a slight prick of irritation at that, yet he felt it all the same. ‘It’s not as if you’d be living on the street,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a substantial house in the middle of London and—’

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