Mandy wiped a tear off her eyelash and knew she needed to explain everything to Damien. This wasn’t a secret she could keep any longer, not when she knew Damien the way she did now. Not when this mutual attraction was undulating between them.

“I was seeing a man for six months. He misused a condom, and when I turned up pregnant, suggested I terminate. When I refused, he offered me five thousand dollars to have my baby and never bother him again. He has two grown sons who are a disappointment to him. He didn’t want to bring up another child, only to have it let him down.” Mandy was still horrified by Ben’s reaction. She had thought she’d known him, but clearly she had been completely wrong.

“Asshole,” was Damien’s vehement opinion.

“Yes.” She nodded. That about summed it up.

Damien took a step to the right, then back. His hands went on his hips. “The flu you had…it was morning sickness, wasn’t it?”

She nodded. It didn’t surprise her he had worked that out already. Damien was an intelligent man, a quick thinker. It was how he was so successful.

“No wonder I didn’t catch any germs from you then. I kept waiting to come down with the flu. I sure in the hell can’t catch what you have.” He shook his head and gave an ironic laugh. “Is this why you’ve avoided me? You didn’t want me to know?”

His finger went into his mouth and he chewed on a corner of the nail.

Mandy wanted to explain herself, wanted to take away the harshness that had crept into his face. “I need this job. I need the health insurance and I need the nine-to-five hours so that day care arrangements will be easier. I didn’t think that the Damien Sharpton I’d been told about would hire a pregnant woman.” And she hoped like hell Demon Sharpton wouldn’t fire a pregnant woman.

But she didn’t believe he would, despite the tension in his shoulders. She wouldn’t have told him if she had.

“You’re probably right.” Damien glanced at his finger and dropped it. “Why the fuck do I keep biting my nails?”

She hoped that was a rhetorical question.

The beach had darkened, and his face was pale against the dark sky. His voice softened. “So why did you tell me now, Mandy?”

“Because I wanted to be honest with you.” She took a step closer to him, skirting the bag she’d dropped in the sand. “And because when I felt the baby move, I needed to share it with someone, and I think that you’re a man who can appreciate what I’m experiencing. Was I wrong?”