would be, Jackie decided, and satisfied that she had managed to erase her emotions from her expression, she took a deep breath and headed for her office to wait for another disturbing encounter.
This time she would not let him get to her. She wouldn’t even think of him as a man, but only as the doorway to an opportunity to make a few memories with a sweet little child.
“Jackie.” Merry’s imperious voice stopped Jackie in her tracks. She turned and looked at the elegant but fading woman.
“Did you need me, Merry?”
“Not exactly, but you might need me if you’re looking for Mr. Rollins. I’ve set him and his papers up at a shaded table in view of the beach. I thought the atmosphere might make your business more pleasant.” The woman tried a smile, but it was clear that she wasn’t usually the cheerful type. That was okay. Merry had been more than accommodating to Hammond Events. Perhaps too accommodating, Jackie suddenly thought.
The last thing she wanted was to sit with Steven Rollins in a secluded, romantic setting. But she wanted to get this over with quickly, to get past it so she could see the baby she had helped bring into the world.
“Thank you, Merry.” She nodded.
Merry tilted her head. “I’ll lead you to him.”
There was nothing to do but follow and hope that she could retain her cool and calm.
But when Jackie came to the end of the path, she nearly balked when she realized that Merry had led her to one of the bowers at the edge of the beach. Surrounded by palm trees, exotic foliage and blossoms, the bower enclosed a small shelter complete with a linen-covered table for two and a convenient double hammock. The scent of flowers drifted in, setting the stage for those who were looking for romance. A waiter appeared with a golden tray of cold drinks in sparkling crystal.
Jackie blinked.
“A person can’t conduct business on a hot day without something to slake her thirst can she?” Merry mused as the waiter approached the table.
But Jackie had moved on to other thoughts. Steven Rollins had risen to his feet at their approach. He nodded to the waiter and to Merry, who withdrew. He was wearing an open-necked white shirt tucked into jeans that molded to his thighs. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing strong tanned arms.
“Ms. Hammond,” he said with a slight nod of his head as he held out his hand.
She hesitated, noting that his fingers were long and brown, his palm callused. He was a rancher, wasn’t he? And though he had every reason to hate her his manners would never show that.
Old fashioned, she thought, and then she resisted the urge to close her eyes as she slid her hand into his, feeling the warmth and strength of his grip for one short second before he released her.
“Mr. Rollins.” She sat, and he followed suit.
“I was wondering if you were going to actually go through with this,” he began.
“Hoping I wouldn’t, I think you mean,” she countered.
He shrugged and kept his direct gaze on her. “I’d like to keep this simple.”
A small bit of hope crept in. “Then we agree on something. I want to keep things as simple and easy as possible, too.”
“You said you wanted to meet my daughter. I won’t pretend to like that, but I’ve decided that I’ll agree to it. I suppose I can bring her here next week, arrange for a few hours together.”
His tone was uncompromising, though his voice wasn’t nearly as harsh as it had been yesterday.
She wondered what he would say to her suggestion. He wouldn’t like it. She knew that much, just as she knew that she might lose her courage if she didn’t just plunge in.
“I want two weeks,” she said, her voice breaking only slightly.
The long silence that followed was heavy, laced with unmistakable anger. Steven Rollins’s eyes were like dark smoldering flames.
“No. You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I don’t, generally. I—”
He held up one hand. “I’m not even going to discuss this. This is my daughter you’re talking about.”
“I know that.” And this time her voice wasn’t calm or cool or any of the things she wanted it to be. “I know that,” she said again, trying to bring the emotion down a notch. “And I understand what you’re thinking. You want me to sign away my right to Suzy forever and you want me to do it now. Well, I’m prepared to do that. I’ll sign this very minute. I’ll agree to disappear completely when we’re done, but first I want the right to spend just a short time with her. Two weeks is such a small amount of time, and it’s all I’m asking for. I have the right to ask, you know.”
“I could fight you in court.”
“You could, but someone would have to explain how those eggs ended up in the wrong place. That could take lots of time. This could drag out. You give me my two weeks, and I’m gone for good. It’s over, and you and Suzy can get on with your lives without me.”
He scrubbed one hand back through his dark hair. “Why are you doing this? You didn’t even know she existed before yesterday. She can’t mean anything to you.”
And she obviously meant everything to this man. Jackie knew that. She honored it, but…
She took a moment to gather her thoughts. She raised her chin, her hair falling back as she gazed way up into Steven’s eyes. “I’m doing this because I gave up a child once before. I freely donated the eggs that time, and there was no question of me ever having time alone with the baby when she was born. I didn’t think it would matter, but it did. Giving a child life, and her mother hope, has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life, but also one of the most painful. Chloe can never know about me, at least not until she’s much older. Her mother, Trish, and I are cousins, and it would only complicate things to tell her child that I’m her biological mother. I know that, and I accept it. I chose it, so I don’t have a problem with the situation.
“But this time is different. My eggs were used without my permission, and I’m incensed about that. Somewhere on your ranch is a little girl who started out as a part of me, however much you dislike that fact. This time I get the chance to do things differently. I get the chance to be a part, however small, of her life. And it can work because she’s young enough that she’ll never remember me. You’ll never remember much of me, but I’ll have something to hold in my heart forever. I’ll walk away, Mr. Rollins. You’ll have my word and my legal, unbreakable signature before witnesses as a guarantee. Just don’t ask me to sign Suzy away without ever having seen her. Don’t be that cruel. Would you simply walk away if someone had told you that she was out there and that you had fathered her?”
Steven opened his mouth to speak, but then he closed it again. “Is this how you get people to donate expensive artwork to your auctions, Ms. Hammond? By blackmailing them?”
Heat and anger rolled through Jackie, but she subdued them. The man was testing her, and she wouldn’t be tested. She’d jumped through hoops for her father, and later for Garret, a man who had claimed to love her for a time. She’d given up her own wishes too many times and all to no avail. “You came to me, not the other way around,” she reminded the man.
As the seconds ticked by they stared at each other, a silent standoff. Then he held out his hands, palms out.
“You’re a hard woman, Ms. Hammond.”
His comment caught Jackie off guard. She had been called many things in her lifetime—invisible, shy, maternal, sweet, a marshmallow, a leaf blowing in the wind, a pushover. But then she had never had anyone come to her with this kind of news before. And she had never faced the prospect of giving away her baby without ever having the chance to see her face even once. She rather liked being hard in this instance. This was a