Page 50 of A Baby for the Billionaire Cowboy

She tried to slow her breathing, but the best she could do was drag in bigger breaths, gasping in and out like a landed fish. She pressed back into the seat. She should put her seat belt on. If they crashed, she might have a chance of protecting Avery if she didn’t go flying around the car. But she’d have to loosen her hold on him in order to get the seat belt on, and she couldn’t bear to do that for even a moment.

“Stop!” she sobbed. “You can’t keep me against my will!”

“Of course not,” he said, as if he hadn’t tricked her into the car against her will. “I simply want to spend some time with you to remind you of what we had.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Those people lured you away, but we would have been happy. You wanted to marry me once.”

He was delusional. Or more likely, he knew the truth but was trying to convince her she didn’t.

“I made my own decisions.” Her voice shook. “Nobody lured me anywhere.”

He shrugged that off. “You panicked. I can forgive you for that. But now it’s time to come home and marry me.”

“You can’t force me to marry you!”

“No one is forcing you to do anything.” His voice was soothing, a stark contrast to his actions. “You have choices. You can marry me. You can give up custody of Avery.” His voice turned sly. “Or the Tomlinsons can pay to get you back.”

So that was it. He didn’t even really want her anymore, not after her rebellion. He was using her and Avery to get money and punishing her in the process. The Tomlinsons would fight that.

Or would they? It was one thing when William was threatening to sue, and he didn’t have a case. If Ava and Xander—any of them—thought Daisy and Avery were in trouble, they’d pay off William to get Daisy and Avery back. The money wasn’t that important to them.

So she had that option. Simply wait until the Tomlinsons negotiated her freedom.

The money might not be important, but the principle was. Daisy hated the idea of William forcing her friends into anything. Besides, she didn’t want to spend another minute with him.

She had to do something, but what?

“Can’t you keep the kid quiet?” William snapped.

Of course Avery was crying, with a shock like this! No, he was too young to understand what was happening. But he might be picking up on Daisy’s panic. She also might be squeezing him too tightly. Her brain told her arms to loosen her hold a tiny bit. Her arms didn’t follow the command.

She had to think! She’d been on her own for months now—well, on her own surrounded by people who respected her and treated her like a sensible adult capable of making her own decisions. But she’d worked for William for a year. She’d learned how to cater to his whims. She didn’t want to do that anymore, but she ought to be able to use her knowledge to manipulate him.

“He’s hungry,” she said. “Your son needs to be fed.”

“Then do it.”

She wanted to snap at him for being such an idiot. Instead she tried to keep her tone calm and nonconfrontational. “Yes, as soon we stop. As you must know, I can’t nurse a baby in a moving car. In fact, it’s far too dangerous to be driving around without him in a car seat.”

“I’m a good driver.”

She rolled her eyes, then glanced at the rearview mirror to make sure he couldn’t see her face. “It’s not you I’m worried about,” she lied. “What about the other drivers? It only takes one idiot being careless to cause an accident. You always complain about all the idiots on the highway. Besides, you don’t want to get pulled over by the police. It’s illegal to have a baby in a moving car without a car seat.”

He had to think about that for a minute. Obviously he wouldn’t want to be stopped for any kind of violation while he was in the middle of a kidnapping. Of course, he probably didn’t think of it as a kidnapping. He probably thought he was reclaiming what was his, or something equally obnoxious.

“Keep the kid out of sight, and it won’t be an issue,” he finally said.

“It’s hours to get home.” She hoped he didn’t notice how she almost choked on the wordhome. “We’ll be passing one of those big box stores soon. If you pull off, we can buy a car seat. Then everyone will be safe and legal.”

He scoffed. “And you’ll call for help.”

“Why would I do that?” She tried to sound shy and sweet. “You’re right that I panicked at our wedding. I wasn’t sure you really loved me or wanted our baby. I thought you were being noble, marrying me since I was pregnant. But today has proven that’s not true. Tracking me down in Last Stand to bring me back! It’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.” Bile rose in her throat, and her voice shook, but maybe he’d interpret her breathlessness as adoration.

He didn’t speak for a minute. Finally he said, “You do want to get married?”

“Of course!” Ha. So much for his plan to extort money from the Tomlinsons. Two could play these games. “We’ll get married just as soon as you want.”

“When we get home. We’ll go to the courthouse—no, I’ll call someone who can do the ceremony and file the paperwork. We’ll keep it private.”

Oops. Maybe she wasn’t ready to play his game. Could he really keep her away from any help until after they were married? If so, surely she could get an annulment under the circumstances. Unfortunately, the circumstances would be her word against his, and he might convince the court that Daisy was flaky and unreliable, so she shouldn’t get custody of Avery.

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