Page 82 of The Bachelor's Dilemma

“I’d like you to leave now, Myles,” she said, her back still to him.

He took hold of her shoulders, turning her to face him.

“I’m not leaving until we hash this out. I obviously made a mistake. So I’ll keep looking for the boy Tiffany and I had. It changes nothing for us.”

“I think it changes everything. Please leave.”

She pulled away and went down the hall. He heard the bedroom door close.

Stunned, for a moment he couldn’t move.

Zack wasn’t his?

He loved that little boy. How could he have bonded so quickly with the child if there wasn’t a connection?

The same way he’d connected with Anna so quickly. He fell in love.

For a moment, Myles stared ahead seeing nothing. Love didn’t recognize biology or blood. Love came from all directions, for all people.

He went down the hall and knocked on her door.

“Anna, talk to me, please.”

“No. Go away, Myles. Go away.”

He waited a long moment. He should have waited to talk about this. There was a reason she never brought it up. There was nothing to bring up.

“Anna, I can explain…”

There was no further sound from her room. Slowly he went to the front door. He hesitated, then opened and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind him.

Anna heard the outer door close. She was leaning against her bedroom door, her heart breaking. She’d been so happy just moments before. Now the crushing pain was excruciating.

She loved Myles.

And he wanted to marry her because he thought Zack was his son.

From the very beginning, he’d encouraged their relationship because of a mistaken idea her son was his. She could hardly breathe.

Theirs was a relationship based on a lie. There would be no wedding, no new house on Long Island, no Myles in her life anymore.

She held her breath against the pain, but tears flowed and she crossed to curl up on her bed, sobbing as quietly as she could into her pillow.

After a while, the tears ceased. Lying listlessly on the bed, she tried to see when she might have realized that Myles hadn’t been as in love as she’d expect a man to be to get married.

Granted, he’d never said he loved her, but she could excuse herself for seeing his every action construed that way. What other man would take on a woman and her child, plan dates that included activities for Zack, work at the preschool?

Only, it wasn’t for her. It was all for Zack. Or who he thought Zack was.

She’d excused his lack of telling her he loved her due to his background. A child growing up without love might not know to say it. But now she realized that had little to do with his not telling her. He’d been honest in that, at least.

It’d been so hard to move on, to let herself trust in the future again, to plan to build a new life. But she’d done it. Only to have it slap her in the face. She’d have done better to never have gotten involved than end up like this.

Longing for Myles’s arms, she ached to be held, yearned for his kisses. She’d love to just sit beside him and feel safe and cherished. How could things chance so radically, so quickly? She’d miss planning for a future together. She’d always misshim.

Chapter Ten

Anna woke to a splitting headache the next morning. She lay in bed feeling sad and lonely. Hearing Zack running down the hall, she tried to shake off her melancholia so not to upset her son. He’d be unhappy enough when he finally realized Myles was out of their lives.

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