Their Secret Baby by Kate Walker

miserably. Instead she just came across as coldly indifferent, stupidly careless.
    ‘That’s a totally irresponsible attitude!’
    ‘Oh, is it?’
    Lightning flashes of anger flared in the burnt amber of her eyes, defying him openly.
    ‘And who are you to lecture me about irresponsibility when you weren’t exactly thinking twice about precautions last night? I didn’t notice you putting on any brakes, saying hang on—’
    ‘All right!’
    For the first time since she had known him, Rhys’s voice came close to a shout as he slammed his coffee mug down on the worktop so violently that the brown liquid slopped over the sides. But almost immediately he seemed to recollect himself, ruthlessly reigning in the black fury that burned in his eyes.
    Drawing a deep, ragged breath, he spoke more calmly. ‘OK, I admit I wasn’t thinking either. But if you had been—if you’d once said stop, or that you weren’t protected…’
    ‘So now it’s all my fault? You didn’t want any of it?’
    ‘Of course I did—then! But now I’m deeply regretting something that I wish had never, ever happened.’
    Oh, he knew how to stick the knife in, Caitlin reflected miserably. How to slide an emotional stiletto right in between her ribs and then twist it sharply until she almost screamed in agony.
    Deeply regretting something that I wish had never, ever happened.
    Yes, he knew how to reduce something that she had thought was so wonderful, so special, the hope of a new beginning, to a quick tumble in a stranger’s bed. Something so sordid and meaningless that he already regretted it had ever happened.
    ‘Well, don’t worry about it.’
    Again she tried to sound confident, only managing the sort of airy indifference that earned her another savage glare of dark reproof.
    ‘No, honestly—wrong time of the month.’
    He looked so relieved that she wanted to throw what was left of her coffee right in his face. And she would have done if she hadn’t known deep down inside that she was lying and it was nothing like the wrong time of the month, unless of course you meant the wrong time of the month to be having wild, crazy, totally unprotected sex with a near complete stranger. And that it very definitely had been.
    Not that there ever was a right time for the lunatic way she had behaved last night.
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Well, I can’t guarantee it. But I don’t think you need to concern yourself about the possible consequences of our stupidity.’
    ‘I can’t not concern myself. I was involved.’
    ‘Look, I’ll see the doctor. This is the sort of situation the morning-after pill is made for. It will be fine.’
    ‘Well, if you should have any doubts then you’ll let me know.’
    Not ‘please let me know’—or even ‘you should let me know’. But ‘you’ll let me know’ as a command, an order that he expected to have obeyed.
    ‘And you will…?’
    ‘Well, naturally, I’ll take care of my responsibilities.’
    ‘Naturally.’
    Suddenly too uneasy and uncomfortable to stay where she was, with those cold blue eyes watching her every expression, she moved across the kitchen, silent on bare feet, to perch on a pinewood stool beside the small breakfast bar, tucking her feet up on the first rung.
    ‘And you needn’t worry about anything else. Any infection…’
    Rhys seemed determined to rub her nose in the totally sordid side of the events of the previous night.
    ‘There will be no problem there.’
    ‘Oh. Great. That’s good to know.’
    She flashed a weak, insincere mockery of a smile on and off like a neon sign, and pretended to drink some of her coffee, grimacing as she realised that it was now almost completely cold.
    Well, if she’d had any illusions left that last night had meant something—anything—to him then he’d completely demolished them in a few short, blunt sentences.
    Totally irresponsible…
    Something that I wish had never, ever happened…
    Naturally, I’ll take care of my