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hoped Laurel was mistaken.
    â€œI see.” Her voice sounded cool.
    â€œI intended to come back when I’d found out what was going on. I thought — hoped — she was lying.” How he’d hoped.
    â€œBut she wasn’t.”
    He drew a deep breath. “No, she wasn’t.” Only the crackling of the wood as it shifted in the fireplace broke the silence between them. “Believe me, Tali, I would have done anything to have made it not true.”
    â€œSo, you married her.” Her voice dropped so low he had to bend his head forward a little to catch what she said.
    â€œShe said she loved me and she was pregnant with my baby.” What else could he have done? He’d had a duty toward Laurel and his unborn child.
    â€œI loved you,” she said, her pain eloquent in those few words. For a moment, hope flared in his heart—maybe she could come to feel that way again—but the unmistakable spark of fury in her eyes quenched it.
    â€œNathalie, I…” He wasn’t sure what else he could say. Laurel had trapped him into a marriage he hadn’t wanted, and while he bitterly regretted the way he had treated Nathalie, he would never regret his daughter.
    â€œI thought we had something special back then, Evan. We’d talked, made plans together, then you kissed me goodbye after Maria’s wedding and vanished.” She shook her head and a long tendril of hair fell loose across her cheek. “I felt so stupid. No phone call, no letter, nothing. Then Jerome told me you’d settled in London and weren’t coming back.” She glared at him.
    â€œIf I’d told you back then about Laurel, would it have made any difference?” he asked.
    â€œI could have slugged you a good one.”
    â€œThat’s fair. I would have deserved it. I behaved appallingly. I just convinced myself at the time that I had done the right thing.” He’d thought a clean break would be better for both of them. Except for Nathalie, it must have felt as if he’d simply lost interest and dumped her.
    She drained the remainder of her drink. Her hand shook as she placed the empty glass back down on the beer mat. “Why is Polly with you now?”
    Evan swished the dregs of his beer around in the bottom of his glass. “The relationship was wrong from the start. We weren’t in love. The only bond between us was the baby. Laurel — or Laura, as she was then — was just beginning to establish her career. She didn’t want a child, but at the time, it seemed all the major female celebrities were pregnant. It was fashionable.” He couldn’t hide a grimace as he swallowed the rest of his drink.
    â€œWhat happened?” Nathalie’s eyes were dark in the dim light.
    â€œShe hated being pregnant. After Polly was born, she abandoned any pretence of loving her once the cameras had stopped snapping at the various photo shoots she dragged Polly along to.” He paused as he relived the past, angry at the way he’d allowed himself and his daughter to be used and manipulated.
    â€œWhen did you leave?” Nathalie smoothed the stray curl of hair back from her face. Her expression had blanked again, telling him nothing of how she felt.
    â€œOnce Laurel’s career began to take off, we were never together. She was travelling and working long hours, or so she said. I took care of Polly. Laurel liked the idea that I was still around as a sort of financial safety net if her career nose-dived. But I finally got her to agree to a divorce six months ago.”
    Nathalie blinked, and he wondered if she had any idea what it had cost him to tell her all this. “Poor Polly,” she murmured.
    â€œPolly doesn’t have the best health. Ever since she was born, she’s had eczema and asthma. The eczema is better now that she’s older, and her doctor is optimistic that she’ll grow out of the asthma as well. But Laurel