Page 5 of Staking His Claim

She’d always been the adult in their relationship. No doubt     Keira had known all along she would agree to sort everything out.

Her heart was racing, and her head had started to pound. The     ache in her back seemed to be growing worse by the minute. Ella knew all this     couldn’t be good for the baby. She had to calm down. Think         of the baby. She drew a shuddering breath...counted to five...and     exhaled slowly.

Pulling a cloak of assumed indifference around herself, Ella     said with every bit of dignity she could muster, “I have a job—a demanding job.     I don’t have time for a pet, much less a baby.” Ella would’ve loved a pet—a cat.     But she didn’t have time to care for any living thing.

Keira was staring at her again, her bottom lip quivering.

Ella refused to feel one bit guilty. She was not going to be left holding the baby; she couldn’t     keep it. That had never been the plan. The baby had been conceived for Keira—and     Dmitri—to parent. This was not her baby.

Lifting her hand from her belly, she said, “Then we’re in     agreement. I have no choice but to give your baby up for adoption.”

“If you see no other way out.”

Before she could reiterate that this was not her preference,     that the baby was Keira and Dmitri’s responsibility, to her horror Ella felt the     warm, wet flood as her water broke.

Keira’s baby girl was not going to wait another week to be     born.

* * *

Night had already fallen by the time Yevgeny Volkovoy     strode into the waiting room set aside for family visitors on the hospital’s     first floor. He didn’t notice the calming decor in gentle blues and creams lit     up by strategically placed wall sconces, or even the soft-focus photographs of     Madonna-like mothers cradling babies that hung on the wall. Instead, his focus     homed in on where his brother sprawled across an overstuffed chair while     watching a wide-screen television.

Fixing startlingly light blue eyes on Dmitri, he demanded,     “Where is he?”

“Who?” Dmitri swung a blank look up at him.

“The child.”

“It’s not a boy...it’s a girl,” his brother corrected him even     as the soccer game on the television recaptured his attention. “I told you that     after the ultrasound.”

Yevgeny suppressed the surge of bitter disappointment. He’d     been so sure that the ultrasound had been read wrong. He should’ve known! For     almost a century his family had produced boys...there hadn’t been a girl in     sight. How typical of Ella McLeod to give birth to a girl. Contrary     creature.

He waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever. I want to see her.”

Retracing his steps out of the family room he emerged in time     to see his sister-in-law appear through the next door down the carpeted     corridor. Yevgeny strode forward. Nodding at his startled sister-in-law as he     passed her, he entered the private ward beyond.

Keira’s icicle sister was sitting up in the bed, propped up     against large cushions.

Yevgeny came to an abrupt stop. He had never seen Ella McLeod     in bed before.

The sight caused a shock of discomfort to course through him.     Despite the fact that she barely reached his shoulder when she was on her feet,     she’d always seemed so formidable. Stern. Businesslike. Unsmiling. Even at     family occasions she dressed in a sharp, formal fashion. Dark colors—mostly     black dresses with neck scarves in muted shades.

Now he allowed his gaze to drift over her and take in the other     differences.

No scarf. No oversize glasses. No makeup. Some sort of ivory     frilly lace spilled around the top of her breasts. She looked     younger...paler...more fragile than he’d ever seen her.

The icicle must be thawing.

Yevgeny shook off the absurd notion.

As though sensing his presence, she glanced up from the screen     of a slim white phone she’d been squinting at. Antagonism snaked down his spine     as their eyes clashed.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Where is the baby?”

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