Page 20 of Cinderella's Secret Baby

“Think about it.”

“No.”

There was a ring of some internal bell.

“The nurse is here.” He rose and walked away while Amelia kept thinking,No.

CHAPTER SIX

THETESTWASa cheek swab that Peyton slept through. Hunter gave his own sample and showed the nurse to the door.

“I’ll put her down and have a shower if you don’t mind,” Amelia said, still cradling the sleeping baby.

She was trying to avoid him and the proposition he’d put forth. Hunter could tell. Was she disappointed he hadn’t been more romantic about it? The hardware guy would have gone down on one knee and offered a diamond worth two months of his salary, he was sure, but what did that prove?

Their marrying made sense. He wanted to keep talking until she saw that, which was how he behaved in most business negotiations, but Amelia’s hollow cheeks suggested she was on her last nerve. He would have to give her a little time to process and come around to seeing the wisdom in it herself.

“Do you want something clean to wear? I think Vi left a dress here that might fit you.” He waved her to precede him up the stairs.

“Vidid,” Amelia said skeptically.

He bit back a sigh, not used to being disbelieved or having to make explanations for himself, but he could understand her suspicion that it belonged to Eden.

“Vienna was shopping and brought it up when she came for lunch. She wanted to try it on again because she thought she might return it, then she forgot it in the foyer. I left it upstairs for whenever she comes by again.” He veered into the other guest room to fetch the flat box with the embossed scroll of the boutique’s name.

When he came back to the room full of baby gear, Amelia was reading the back of an unopened baby monitor. Peyton was in the playpen, fast asleep, wrapped in a duck-print blanket snug as a tortilla around a burrito.

“I can figure out the monitor,” Hunter said, setting the box on the bed. “Helpful dad, remember?”

“This isn’t a reality show. I’m not going to marry you for TV ratings.” She handed him the monitor, though, and lifted the top off the box, peering at the dress.

“I’m not trying to portray myself as a better father than my own. I want tobebetter. You would still get a decent guy with a decent job.” Actually, his position was demanding as hell, but it had its perks—designer dresses like that, for instance. “Auntie Vienna will make cookies with her niece,” he added with a nod to Peyton. “Actually, they’ll probably finger paint. I realize that’s not the same, but it’s something. Uncle Remy would love to take her fishing with your dad.” In Martinique. Was she open to outright bribery? Because he could go on.

“We don’t even know each other. You didn’t want to get to know me,” she reminded him as bright red spots arrived on her cheekbones. Her voice quavered with degradation as she added, “It was a one-night hookup, and you tried topayme.”

He recoiled as though she’d slapped him. “That’s not what happened.”

“Do you know what gaslighting is?” She scowled at him.

“You were upset, and I was trying to help.” He squeezed the back of his neck, still embarrassed at how that morning had gone. “You said—” He couldn’t remember what she’d said. Something about having to get home right away because her brother was reported as missing. He’d asked, “Do you need money?”

She had looked at him like that. Like he was the lowest form of life.

“I was trying to help. Money solves a lot of problems. I won’t apologize for being wealthy,” he stated. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been punished for it.

“Clearly it creates them, too,” she said sweetly. “Because I didn’t want anything to do with you after that. I still don’t.”

She walked into the bathroom and firmly closed the door.

It was one of the best showers of her life, damn him.

Amelia was feeling grotty and sweaty from a very tumultuous day, but was revitalized as the showerhead rained gently upon her face. The water was soothing and cleansing as it ran down her naked skin. Hotel-sized shampoo and other products were already in the bathroom, and they smelled amazing, producing bubbles that caressed her scalp and skin.

When she came out and moisturized with an equally delicious and fragrant lotion, she couldn’t bear to put on her stained T-shirt. She gave in and tried on the blue-and-yellow polka-dot summer dress that had supposedly been purchased by Vienna, not Eden. Either way, it still had the tags and—

“Good grief,” she muttered, eyes popping at the price.

It fit, though. Her bra straps showed beneath the tie straps and the bodice strained across her ample, padded breasts, but it would be easy to nurse in. The fall of soft cotton felt so lovely as it brushed her bare legs, she couldn’t bear to take it off.

---