Bound By Their Scandalous Baby. Heidi Rice

jetlagged and exhausted; she needed to see Nico, but she didn’t like the way Lukas Blackstone seemed to be taking over. He was in the UK now. He couldn’t just order her or the staff around.

      Apparently, though, Lukas hadn’t got the message because he barely spared her a glance before saying, ‘Perhaps you should go and see your nephew. I don’t think we require your presence while I take a blood test.’

      She wanted to argue, to ask again why his legal team were getting involved in any of this, but as Lukas and his entourage were ushered down the hallway by Dr Patel, Maureen stepped forward to give her a motherly hug.

      ‘Bronte, it’s so good to see you. Nico will be overjoyed. He’s been asking after you every day. I brought the clothing you texted about.’

      ‘Oh thank you... I can’t wait to see him too,’ Bronte said, grateful for Maureen’s steadfast presence and the chance to change out of the gown. But as she craned her neck, trying to see Lukas’s tall frame as he disappeared down the corridor, a terrible feeling of foreboding descended.

      ‘And it’s such spectacular news that Mr Blackstone has come over to help,’ Maureen added, but the enthusiasm in her voice only made the ball of anxiety in Bronte’s stomach knot.

      ‘Is it?’ she said.

      Maureen’s warm smile became quizzical. ‘What’s wrong, dear? You don’t look as ecstatic as I thought you would.’

      Bronte sighed. Maureen had been her rock ever since she’d moved into the flat above Bronte’s a year ago. A retired nurse with no family of her own, she had been only too willing to step in whenever Bronte needed a babysitter. She’d been indispensable since Nico’s illness. And Nico adored her.

      ‘I’m not sure Blackstone has any intention of helping Nico, even if the DNA test comes back positive,’ Bronte said, voicing her fears.

      Maureen glanced over her shoulder, but her smile remained relaxed. ‘Bronte, you’re tired. And stressed. You really mustn’t worry any more than you have to. Dr Patel told me Mr Blackstone made a million-dollar donation to the hospital’s charitable trust last night. And he’s come all this way. Surely he wouldn’t have done all that if he didn’t intend to help Nikky?’

      Blackstone had made a million-dollar donation? The news stunned Bronte, but it did nothing to ease her panic, or her sense of foreboding.

      Maureen squeezed Bronte’s arm. ‘All you really have to worry about now is whether Mr Blackstone is the match we need.’ The older woman’s smile glowed with all the optimism Bronte no longer felt. ‘Given that he’s the spitting image of Nikky, I think we can already hazard a guess what the DNA test will reveal.’

      Bronte nodded, forcing her jetlagged mind not to go to places she couldn’t handle right now. ‘Okay.’

      They walked down the corridor together to the children’s ward. Maureen left her at the door with another hug and an admonition not to worry.

      But still the anxiety threatened to choke her as she rushed in to see Nico. What if the donation wasn’t about generosity, but about control? She didn’t trust Lukas Blackstone as far as she could throw him.

      And what had he meant by saying she would have serious questions to answer?