Caitlin's Choice (4 page)

“I don’t believe it. Let me see.” Maggie took the papers and read them over.

Caitlin felt the blood rising to her face. She pounded her fist against the door. Andrew was suing her? He couldn’t be serious. “I don’t believe he would stoop that low.”

Maggie put her arm around Caitlin’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “He’d never win, Caitlin. The most they’d allow is visitation rights, which he’s entitled to anyway.”

“Think, Maggie. He has money. He can afford the best lawyers. Private investigators. Just imagine what they’d dig up! My own father disowned me.”

“But it was lies.”

Caitlin slumped against the wall as a sour taste rose in her throat. Ghosts from the past were coming back to haunt her. “I can’t prove it. If my own family didn’t stand behind me then, what chance have I got now?”

“You were never charged with anything.” 

Perhaps she hadn’t been arrested, but the town of Weldon had found her guilty ten years ago, and she was willing to bet they hadn’t put a statute of limitations on the anger they felt for her. Helping to prove her an unfit mother would give them a small measure of satisfaction.  “Well, I think a lot of people back home would disagree, and it sure won’t look good to a judge. Particularly when Andrew’s lawyers could twist the lies to suit their needs.”

“I’ll speak to Erik when he gets home. Maybe he can reason with Andrew before it gets to that point,” Maggie said.

Andrew Sinclair, reasonabl
e? In a better frame of mind Caitlin might have found that funny.

“I won’t hold my breath on that one. I have to go. I have to take care of something right away.”

Disappointment spread across Maggie’s face. “What about dinner tonight?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll have to take a rain check.”

She collected her son and was out the door before Maggie could lodge another protest. She had nothing but murder on her mind. Or something worse.

* * * *

Caitlin leaned back against the elevator wall and cuddled Tyler closer. She had just gotten him to sleep; maybe because he was aware of his mother’s tension, he had cried all the way into the city.

How could Andrew be so cruel? She didn’t ask him for anything. Anyone else in her position would have taken him to the cleaners without a second thought.

Caitlin tried to calm her heartbeat, but her thoughts continued to race. What did he hope to gain? Was there some victory in taking her child from her? She would disappear before she let that happen.

She could go back to Singapore. She had received many job offers while she lived there and was sure that some of them were still open. Could the authorities make her come back?

The elevator came to a stop at the twenty-fifth floor and the doors opened wide. She picked up the diaper bag and walked out into the reception area of Sinclair Electronics. The plush, uptown offices bustled with activity.

“May I help you?” the receptionist asked.

“I’d like to speak with Mr. Andrew Sinclair,” Caitlin forced out with saccharine sweetness.

“Your name, please?”

“Caitlin Adams.”

The woman looked over her appointment calendar and then back to her. “You don’t seem to have an appointment”

“No, I don’t.”

“Mr. Sinclair doesn’t see anyone without an appointment”

“He’ll see me. Just call him.”

“I’m sorry, but he has a rather tight schedule today. Perhaps if you leave a message. .

“No, thank you.” Caitlin walked right past the receptionist and into the hallway.

“You can’t go in there,” the woman shouted after her.

“Call security,” Caitlin tossed back and continued her search down the corridors.

She walked through the maze of offices, pausing just long enough to read the names on the doors. The longer she searched, the hotter her temper rose, until there was not one ounce of reason in her. Poor Tyler was getting bounced around in his carrier as she moved quickly down the halls but she couldn’t waste any time.

She finally saw the office at the end of a hall: Andrew Sinclair. President. Before she reached the door, a security guard blocked her path. She made one attempt to pass him, but he stood tall and put his hand on his gun.

“Excuse me, miss. You’ll have to leave.”

She raised her head defiantly. “What are you going to do? Shoot me while I’m holding a baby?”

A crowd began to form, watching them with morbid curiosity.

“Well, go on. Shoot me.”

Her raised voice woke Tyler with a start and he began to cry. She lifted him out of the strap-on carrier and held him against her shoulder, patting him gently. The disturbance in the hall got the desired result Andrew opened his office door to investigate the commotion.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“It’s all right, Mr. Sinclair. The young woman was just leaving,” the security guard said.

“The hell she was,” Caitlin snarled. “Andrew, tell your rent-a-cop that this is not the shootout at the OK Corral.”

Andrew stepped around the guard and smiled. “Ah, Caitlin. I’ve been expecting you.”

She turned her head and looked at the large gathering of people. She was too angry to care that she was making a scene. “Is this your idea of a welcoming party?”

She hadn’t meant the comment to be amusing, but the office staff got a big kick out of it. To her immense aggravation, so did Andrew.

“Why don’t we step into my office?” He looked down the corridor at the large group of spectators they had attracted. “Don’t you all have work to do?”

Andrew spoke and people jumped. The crowd dispersed quickly. She stormed past him into the office and dropped the diaper bag on the nearest chair. She needed a pacifier to calm Tyler, but she was having difficulty searching through the bag while Tyler flailed his legs. She turned to Andrew and unceremoniously dumped the baby in his hands.

He held Tyler awkwardly under the arms, away from his body. Caitlin furiously pulled things from the bag. When it appeared that she wasn’t going to find what she was looking for any time soon, Andrew gingerly cradled Tyler against his chest and gently stroked his back until the crying stopped.

She halted her search and looked up. “I’ll take him.”

“I’ve got him. Have a seat.”

She grabbed a clean diaper and took a step toward Andrew.

“I said I’ve got him,” he repeated.

“I’m not deaf. But the wool from your suit will irritate his skin.” She slapped the diaper on his free shoulder and pointed for him to move the baby to the other side. He shifted Tyler and sat down in a chair.

Caitlin prowled the room nervously. Without Tyler in her arms to keep her focused, she began to feel caged by the office. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up.

“Have a seat, Caitlin. I think we have a few things to discuss.”

She threw herself into the nearest chair. Her body trembled with rage, but she bit her tongue. Often her mouth spoke without consent from her brain. She could not afford to lose control. “What do you want?”

“You know what I want.”

“You want to take him from me,” she accused him.

He shook his head and spoke softly. “No.”

“Then what was the purpose of the subpoena?”

“You wouldn’t return my calls.”

Caitlin dropped her jaw in disbelief. He sounded like a jealous adolescent who’d been ignored by the homecoming queen. “So you decided to sue me?”

“You didn’t leave me a choice. I want to see my son. If you’ll be reasonable, we can come to some kind of agreement without the court’s intervention. I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want time with him, too.”

Even as Caitlin searched for a response, she knew she had to accept whatever terms he set down. She couldn’t afford to have him drag up things from her past—a past she had tried too hard to forget.

“All right. You can visit him sometimes.”

“When?”

“It’s not like you can take him anywhere. He’s still nursing. He can’t be away from me for more than a few hours.”

“So I’ll visit him at your apartment. How often?” Seeing that Caitlin had refused to return even one of his messages, he figured she’d make sure she was out every time he planned to see Tyler.

“I don’t know. We’ll work out some sort of arrangement. Maybe on a Saturday, when I have to do shopping.”

“So what you’re saying is that I can see my son when you need a baby-sitter, and only if it’s convenient for you.”

She inhaled slowly, as if trying to contain her temper. “That’s not what I said. But I work, too, Andrew. Not all of life revolves around your schedule.”

“One day a week is not enough.”

“Well, how much time do you want?”

A lifetime. “I have a proposition for you. I want you to come live in my house—only until he’s old enough to be on his own for a day at a time.”

He wasn’t sure who was more surprised, Caitlin or himself. He hadn’t planned much beyond getting her to sit down and talk to him. What better way to spend time with his son—and Caitlin, too— than to have them both right there under his roof? The more he thought about it, the better the idea sounded, at least to him.

Caitlin, on the other hand, seemed to be in shock. Her eyes widened to twice their size. “Are you serious? It could be eight or nine months before he’s weaned.”

“You won’t be a prisoner. You can come and go as you please. I’ll have a studio set up so you can continue to work from home, as you do now.”

She arched her eyebrow defiantly. “And if I refuse?”

“We’ll let a judge decide.”

Andrew followed her gaze and noticed she was eyeing the paperweight on his desk. She might not be a violent person by nature, but he had to wonder if she was considering cracking him over the head.

He didn’t like to make threats, but she was so stubborn he had no other way to get her attention, and he wanted her undivided attention. Though she glared at him with bitter contempt, she was the most desirable woman he’d known.

“If I say yes, I want it in writing that you’ll be entitled to no more than visitation rights when he’s ready. I don’t want you trying to get full custody later on.”

“Caitlin, I’m not trying to take your baby away from you. But he’s my son, too. I need time to build a bond with him while he’s still an infant.”

Tyler wasn’t the only one he wanted to build a relationship with, but his son would definitely be the easier one to get through to.

Caitlin twisted her fingers nervously in her lap. He could almost see the wheels spinning in her brain. She was looking for a way out. “What’s your mother going to think?”

“I don’t care what she thinks. It’s my house.”

“I’m sure she’ll have a lot to say, regardless.”

“I know my mother can be pushy and domineering, but so can I. You don’t seem to have a problem telling me where to go.”

She rubbed her fingers against her temple. “Can I think about it?”

“Take all the time you need.”

“All right. I’ll let you know in eighteen years.”

The minute she cracked a joke, he knew he’d won. He was wise enough to hide his elation and his relief. He hadn’t expected her to give in without a battle. Yes, she was hurt and angry, but she must still have some feelings for him. Otherwise why would she have had the child when there were other options she could have exercised? Why had she named him Tyler Andrew? And why had she caved in to his offer so easily?

He lifted Tyler up into the air and jiggled him lightly. “What do you think, sport? Do you want to come live in your father’s house for a while?”

Andrew got his answer in a line of drool on his suit.

Caitlin laughed and raised a victorious fist.
“Yes. That’s my boy. Shake him a few more times and maybe he’ll spit up on you, too.”

He wiped a handkerchief across his jacket and grinned.
“You’re spiteful.”

“Me? You wrote the book, chapter and verse.”

Spiteful? Was that how she saw him? He wasn’t motivated by spite. On the contrary, he was struggling to do the right thing. In his entire life, he had never given of himself. In his arrogance, he had never looked back to see the people he had hurt in his climb to the top. His treatment of Caitlin had forced him to take a long hard look at himself, and he didn’t like what he saw. He was thirty-six years old. Time to grow up. That meant taking care of his son and Caitlin, too, even if it was the last thing she wanted from him.

His gaze slid over her, taking in the long dark hair that fell to her shoulders, the delicate swell of her breasts beneath her blouse, and the long lines of her legs crossed at the ankle. Emerald eyes, sparkling with anger, met his stare without blinking. This was the image that had haunted him every night for the past year. A fiery, passionate spirit encased in cool beauty.

Maybe, just maybe, before the nine months was over, he could break through that granite wall she had erected to keep him at a distance.