“We’re not talking an occasional visit, Melissa,” he declared bluntly. “I expect to have her here a lot. You’ve had her for more than a year. I’m expecting equal time.”

A year, here with Cody? Away from her? A sudden weakness washed through her. “You can’t be serious,” she whispered, thinking of the warning her mother had given her at the outset. Had Velma been right, after all? Would Cody bring all of the Adams influence to bear to get custody of his child?

“Dead serious,” he confirmed, his unblinking gaze leveled on her.

This was a new and dangerous twist to Cody’s driven nature. Clearly he intended to go after his daughter with the same singleminded determination he’d devoted to securing his place at White Pines.

“Cody, she’s not a possession,” she said in a tone that barely concealed her sudden desperation. “She’s a little girl.”

“A little girl who ought to get to know her daddy.”

“I’ve told you—I’ve promised you—that we can work that out. I don’t want to prevent you from spending time with her, from getting to know her, but to bring her to a strange house, to expect her to live with a virtual stranger... I won’t allow it, Cody. I can’t.”

“You may not have a choice,” he said coldly. “I don’t want to get lawyers involved in this, but I will if I have to.”

Melissa had no trouble imagining who would win in a court fight. As good a mother as she’d been, Cody and his family had the power to beat her. “There has to be another way,” she said.

He nodded. “There is.”

“What? I’ll do anything.”

His mouth curved into a mockery of a smile. “You make it sound so dire. The alternative isn’t that awful. You just have to marry me.”

The conversation she’d just had with Harlan echoed in her head. She couldn’t marry Cody, not under these circumstances, especially not with him trying to blackmail her into it. What kind of a chance would their marriage have if she did? None. None at all.

She forced herself not to react with the anger or counterthreats that were on the tip of her tongue. Reason and humor would be more successful against the absurdity of what he was suggesting.

“Cody, half of the women in Texas would marry you in a heartbeat if you’re anxious to have a wife,” she said, refusing to consider the terrible consequences to her emotions if he took her up on what she was suggesting. “Why try to blackmail me into it?”

“Because you’re the one who’s the mother of my child,” he said simply.