The Billionaire’s Baby Read Online Free PDF Page A

life in that small town. I took advantage of you.’
    He rubbed his free hand over his face but it did little to wipe the anguish off his face. ‘We were practically kids. And eloping? Blowing off your parents? Going against their wishes? What were we thinking?’
    ‘I married you because I wanted to,’ she said, her voice tremulous, and she swallowed several times to stop it cracking completely. ‘You were my world.’
    Pain, deep and irreversible, flickered in his eyes, turning them stormy pewter as he gripped onto her hand as if he’d never let go.
    ‘Same here, sweetheart, same here. But you wanted to follow me, hit the road to goodness knows where while I scrounged for work, when you had your own dreams to follow.’
    He jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards the café next door. ‘There’s your dream right there. You wanted to live in the big city and run your own place; you’ve done it. And that’s great. You couldn’t have done that if you’d traipsed around with me to the ends of the earth and back. I couldn’t let you do it.’
    Something niggled in the back of her mind, something about her parents, but she ignored it for now, needing to concentrate long enough to make sense of what he’d just said, to absorb the emotional impact of it all.
    For there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Blane meant every word he said, that he truly believed he’d done the right thing.
    But at what cost? Her heart? The wonderful life they could have had together?
    ‘You couldn’t let me?’
    She shook her head, hoping she could get through this without dissolving into a teary mess.
    ‘It was my choice to make. Mine, not yours. At the very least we should’ve discussed it…’ She trailed off as a light bulb flashed in her mind, illuminating what she’d been trying to put her finger on a few moments ago. ‘How did you know I was going against my parents’ wishes? They never spoke to you about what they wanted. You didn’t even see them the week after we eloped.’
    Guilt clouded the strong, rugged features she’d once loved with all her heart, and her hand shook with the effort not to reach out and smooth the indentation from between his brows.
    ‘I went to see them after we eloped to try and explain how we really felt about each other, how I’d never try and come between you and them.’
    ‘Bet that went down a treat,’ she muttered, struck by the irony of the situation. In leaving town, he’d catapulted her into a life-changing confrontation with her parents, resulting in an estrangement she couldn’t breach.
    ‘They gave it to me straight, and I knew then I couldn’t put my needs ahead of yours. It wasn’t right or fair. And they were right about one thing: I had nothing to offer you. You had a comfortable life there, a way of building a financial future before following your own dreams, and I couldn’t take that away from you.’
    A harsh snort burst from deep within, and she took advantage of his momentary surprise to ease her hand out from under his. She had to before she turned hers palm up and hung on for dear life.
    ‘Funnily enough, you leaving ended up being the catalyst in me running from Rainbow Creek as fast I could.’
    Shock widened his pupils. ‘Why?’
    Camryn took a sip of water, instantly transported back to that day in her parents’ kitchen: the tantrum, the accusations, and the god-awful truth.
    ‘I lost it. Blew up at them big time. Mum lost it, too, we started arguing, then she hurls in my face this was the very reason she was keeping Nan’s inheritance from me till I turned twenty-one.’
    She slugged the rest of the water, hoping to wash away the bitter taste of her parents’ deception, lingering to this day.
    ‘Turns out I could’ve had the money when I reached eighteen. Imagine how different our—my life could’ve been.’
    And that was what rankled the most. If she’d had the money when she’d been entitled, maybe they would still be together. He wouldn’t