His Ex's Well-Kept Secret(21)

It was typical Mick, Piper thought. He always had a backup plan, a way  to cover his ass. Even in death, he came first. Selfish bastard.

While she could live with losing the paintings and a couple of pieces of  furniture, she couldn't handle losing her house. Thanks to Jaeger, she  wouldn't have to. Resolved to get back into the attic and to contact the  few relatives left on her mother's side to see if they knew anything  about her great-uncle-without mentioning the stones-and whether they had  any family papers, Piper turned and walked into the dark living room.

In the light spilling from the hall, she saw Jaeger lying on her couch,  one foot on the floor and his other bent leg resting on the cushions.  Her son-their son-was sprawled over Jaeger's broad chest, his mouth a  scant inch from Jaeger's strong neck. One of Jaeger's hands covered Ty's  small back. His other arm was firmly under the baby's little butt.

Piper sat on the table next to the couch and looked at her son and his  father. Two peas in a pod, she thought, examining their faces.

She should tell Jaeger, Piper thought. He had a right to know, and if  she was a better, braver person, she would share the miracle of her son  with this man.

But...there were so many buts.

If she wanted to tell Jaeger about Ty, then she would have to come clean  about why she'd felt she needed to keep the secret in the first place.  She'd have to tell him about Mick, her illegitimacy, and admit that her  mother was her father's lifelong mistress and Piper was the daughter he  never wanted.

If it came out that she was Mick's daughter, his bad reputation would  taint hers and could badly damage her career. Her client's faith in her  would be tested-the apple didn't fall far from the tree and all that.

If she told Jaeger about Ty, she'd have to trust him on all levels.  Trust him to keep her paternity to himself. Trust him to understand why  it was so important to her that Ty have an involved father, or no father  at all.

Trust him to be that kind of father for Ty.

She really liked Jaeger-hell, she was halfway to falling in love with  him! He was funny and smart and generous and hot. Any woman with a pulse  would fall a little in love with Jaeger. Maybe he wouldn't care that  she was Mick's daughter. Maybe he would understand her reasons, and  maybe he would even like Ty. But none of those reactions would change  the fact that Jaeger didn't want children.                       
       
           



       

When Jaeger recovered from the shock of the truth, what sort of dad  would he be? Would he ignore Ty for the rest of his life? Would he be a  half-there dad, visiting Ty when he felt like it? Would he be the type  of parent who bought expensive presents instead of spending time with  him?

Ty needed Jaeger to be fully involved, to love him with everything he  had. He needed to be the most important person in Jaeger's life. Ty  deserved everything a father could give, and she wouldn't accept  anything less than amazing for her son. She would not allow Ty to spend  his life questioning his father's love, second-guessing himself,  wondering why his dad chose his career and his freedom above his son.

Not happening. Not to Ty.

Jaeger didn't want a family, didn't want children.

Ty needed, deserved, a crazy-about-him dad.

But still...didn't Jaeger deserve to know?

God, she was so confused. Her heart and brain were at odds, and she really didn't know what to do.

He's only been back in your life, in Ty's life, for a week. You don't need to make this decision now.

Piper latched on to the thought. So much had happened, she kept  forgetting Jaeger had reentered her life only a week ago today; she was  allowed to slow down, to take a breath. She was feeling emotional and  stressed. It was very late. She didn't need to deal with this now.

Piper watched as Jaeger's eyes opened. He yawned and turned his head,  his eyes connecting with hers. Desire flared, and Piper felt the  moisture drying up in her mouth. The special spot between her legs  started to tingle, and she briefly wished his mouth was licking her to a  fiery orgasm. He would be naked, she would be naked and she would climb  on top of him...

"Hey, how was the exhibition?" Jaeger asked in a sexy, sleep-roughened voice.

Exhibition? What exhibition? Piper sent him a blank look.

Jaeger lifted an amused eyebrow. "You did go to see Latimore's latest work, didn't you?"

Oh, right. Latimore. Sculptures. Sage slapping him.

God, Piper wished she wasn't so ridiculously attracted to her baby's  father. Earlier she'd stared at one of Latimore's pieces for more than  twenty minutes, because it reminded her of this man.

"Ah, yes. The exhibition was-" Piper hesitated "-interesting."

Jaeger's hand moved up Ty's back to hold his head. Ty, fast asleep,  didn't react. "A good or bad interesting?" Jaeger asked, his voice a low  rumble.

"His works were dynamic and flat-out brilliant. Supersexy."

Jaeger lifted an amused, and interested, eyebrow. "Really?"

"Mmm. There was one piece I couldn't stop looking at. It reminded me of you...naked."

Jaeger flashed his heart-stopping smile. "Were you having naughty thoughts about me, Ms. Mills?"

"I was."

"I like it."

"I thought you might," Piper said, her tone dry. "Oh, and Latimore  kissed Sage and she slapped him, hard," Piper reluctantly admitted.

Jaeger's low laugh surprised her.

Piper frowned at him. "You're not upset? The incident is going to be breaking news in the morning."

Jaeger managed a quick shrug. "If you're worried about being in the news  then you have no business being a Ballantyne." The corners of his mouth  kicked up in amusement. "You are dying to know their history, aren't  you?"

She wished she could deny it but...of course she was. "It was a hell of a  kiss and a hell of a slap," Piper admitted. "Anyone would be curious-in  fact, rumors were flying-but if it's a big secret, then I can live  without knowing what it is." She wasn't a hypocrite. Sage was entitled  to keep her past buried, just as Piper was.

"It's not a big deal," Jaeger explained. "They had a thing and something went wrong."

Piper looked at Jaeger, waiting for more. What went wrong? What happened? "That's it? That's all you're going to tell me?"

"Shh." Jaeger pointed to the sleeping Ty. "That's all I know because that's all she told us."

"And you didn't pry?"

"Uh, no. She cried, we threatened to kill him, she threatened to kill us  if we interfered and Connor told us to stay out of it, so we did."                       
       
           



       

Rats, Piper thought. She wouldn't know anything more than the gossip  she'd heard. Damn these Ballantynes for being so damn intriguing, and  interesting. And contrary.

Talking about contrary...

"Why is Ty sleeping on your chest and not in his crib?" Piper asked.

Jaeger twisted his neck to look down at Ty, his mouth curving into a  grin. "Ah, that. Well, we were drinking beer and smoking cigars and  watching a porno horror flick-"

"You were not," Piper interrupted, unable to keep the amusement out of her voice.

"Okay, we were watching the game, and midway through me explaining how a  technical foul worked, he conked out. Blam! Lights out."

"He's always done that," Piper admitted. "He goes flat-out and then drops like a stone."

"It could be because he motors over the floor like a Formula One racer."

Piper lifted her hands, not understanding. "What are you talking about?"

"His crawling."

Piper shook her head. "He isn't crawling yet."

"He crawled from the den into the kitchen and spent the evening crawling  all over the floor," Jaeger said, both hands on Ty as he swung his legs  down and sat up in a fluid, easy movement.

"That really sucks," Piper muttered, standing up.

"Shouldn't I have let him crawl? Is that a problem?"

Piper heard the worry in Jaeger's voice, the self-doubt, and her  feelings of resentment instantly disappeared. "No, of course not. I  would've just loved to see him crawl for the first time. It's a big  deal, and I wanted to be here."

"I'm sorry," Jaeger said, still holding her sleeping son-their son-in his brawny arms.

"It's okay." And it was. Jaeger had missed out on so much; she could  give him this moment with Ty. And if she didn't tell him about Ty, soon,  he'd miss out on him walking and talking, his first day at school...

Cool your jets, Mills. It all depended on whether he was prepared to be part of Ty's life or not.

You weren't going to think about that again tonight, remember?

Piper stepped forward to take Ty from Jaeger, but Jaeger shook his head. "I'll put him in his crib if that's okay."