Page 54 of The Christmas Cowboy

“Yes. The baby…isn’t Liam’s. Well, not his biological child. But if we’re married, he’ll be the legal father, correct?”

“As long as his name is on the birth certificate, yes. Does the biological father know about the pregnancy?”

“Yes,” Liam said. “Val told him, and the bastard denied paternity. Basically, told her to get lost and not bother him again.”

Marina tapped her pen thoughtfully on the desk. “Forgive me for being blunt, but are you certain this man is the father?”

“Absolutely. I hadn’t been with anyone else for a year before him and I was only with him the one time. I didn’t plan this. The condom broke.”

“Val ran into him a couple of days ago. When he found out Val had married me and I’d be the baby’s legal father, he threatened her. Said he didn’t want me raising his baby.”

“The baby he categorically denied was his,” Val said.

“You know the father too?” Marina asked Liam.

“Yeah. So do you. It’s Trent Harvey.”

Marina raised her eyebrows. “I see.”

“I don’t want him to have anything to do with my child. I feel like he gave up the right when he claimed he wasn’t the father and accused me of lying. If he decides he wants to claim the baby, can he make me consent to a test?”

“The short answer is yes. It would have to be court-ordered and you should be able to refuse to have it until after the child is born. In all likelihood, though, you’ll have to submit to a paternity test if he takes you to court.”

“Would he—could he—get custody?”

Liam wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything would be okay. Since he couldn’t, he simply held her hand.

“It’s possible he could get partial custody or at least the right to see the child at regular intervals. Unless you could prove he is unfit.”

“He is unfit,” Liam said. “He’s a piece of shit. The only reason he’s bent out of shape is because Val married me and I’m the legal father. He couldn’t care less about the baby. He just wants to make me suffer.”

“Back in the day I knew he talked badly about you and your family but why make you suffer?”

He told her about the ranch and Trent’s father.

“I remember you two went at it in school a couple of times.”

Liam shrugged. “That was a long time ago, but apparently he hasn’t forgotten.”

“Is there anything we can do to protect the baby? And what if he goes around saying he’s the father? Can I make him stop saying that?”

“I don’t see how. I think your best bet is to ignore him.”

“So there’s nothing we can do until she has the baby and then if he demands a paternity test she has to have it?”

“If it’s court-ordered. And from what you’ve said it shouldn’t be hard for him to get one. One thing he might not have considered is that if he does prove to be the father he’ll be responsible for child support.”

Liam bet he hadn’t thought of that yet.

Chapter Twenty-Three

It took Liama long time to catch up on his chores, but Val knew he’d been spending a lot of time doing other things so she wasn’t too surprised that he had a lot to do. By the time he got to bed it was way past his usual bedtime. Val was already in bed, but she couldn’t sleep.

“Liam?”

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“I wasn’t really asleep. Too busy worrying about what’s going to happen.”

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