His Secretary Mistress(38)

‘Not a lot,’ Brian informed her with sly grin. ‘Lee asked me to keep an eye on you—friendly like, you know. Where’s your posh bloke with the Ferrari? Dumped you, has he?’

Jenna felt sick. ‘Lee asked you to spy on me?’ No wonder he always seemed to know her movements; no wonder the disturbing phone calls always occurred after she had been out on an occasional date. Brian had been watching her and reporting back to Lee.

‘Not spying,’ Brian’s wife hastily interposed. ‘Lee was worried about you living in the house on your own, and of course he was concerned about Maisie.’

‘Oh, of course,’ Jenna agreed cynically. ‘So concerned he’s hardly bothered with her up until now.’

‘Well, now he wants to marry Louise,’ Ann admitted, and Jenna frowned. ‘What does that have to do with Maisie?’

‘Louise is very well off. She runs her own company—a dating agency.’

‘And she selected Lee for herself? Goodness, her business must be a roaring success. But I still don’t understand.’

‘Louise can’t have children,’ Ann explained, her eyes on Jenna, so that she didn’t notice the warning glare from her husband. ‘She’s mid-forties now, and it seems that she’s unlikely to ever fall pregnant. She feels she devoted so many years to her career she sacrificed her chances of having a baby, or so Lee says.’

‘So Lee’s plan is to provide her with a child—my child—in return for marriage and a meal ticket for life?’

‘I wouldn’t put it quite like that,’ Brian remonstrated. ‘Lee’s main concern is that Maisie is brought up in a stable environment, and you must admit introducing her to a steady stream of your boyfriends is hardly ideal.’

‘I don’t have a stream of boyfriends. I don’t even have a trickle. And you can tell Lee that I refuse to stand by and allow his girlfriend to play happy families with my daughter.’

‘She’s his daughter too,’ Brian reminded her. ‘Maybe the courts will decide that Maisie will be better cared for by her daddy and his new wife.’





‘He’ll never get away with it,’ Jenna told Chris later, as she paced the living room.

‘Course he won’t,’ Chris agreed sagely. ‘Even if the girlfriend pays out for top lawyers, you can still prove that Lee hasn’t taken any interest in Maisie up till now, and certainly never paid any maintenance.’

Jenna was not reassured, and fretted all afternoon, relief flooding through her when the people carrier pulled up outside the house.

‘What on earth is she wearing?’ she demanded when Maisie trotted through the front door looking like a fluffy marshmallow in a confection of pink fur.

‘Auntie Louise bought you a new coat and hat, didn’t she?’ Lee said, hastily handing his daughter over as she waved a sticky lollipop near his jacket.

‘She’s got a perfectly good winter coat,’ Jenna argued furiously. ‘Maisie’s not a doll, Lee. Your girlfriend might want a ready-made family, but she’s not having mine.’

‘We’ll see, won’t we?’ Lee murmured, and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket.

It was a cheque made out to Jenna, and her eyebrows shot up as she stared at the amount detailed. ‘What’s this for?’

‘I fell a bit behind with maintenance for Maisie. That should cover what I owe.’

Jenna stared at the cheque and felt the cold hand of fear close around her heart. Lee meant business, she realised sickly. He intended to fight for custody of Maisie and his first step was to prove that he was a caring and responsible father.

‘I’ll fight you all the way,’ she warned her ex-husband bitterly. ‘If you want to see Maisie and build a proper relationship with her, that’s fine. I would never prevent her from seeing her father. But you are not going to use her as bargaining counter in order to gain a rich wife.’

Lee had the grace to look shamefaced for all of two seconds. ‘As they say in the movies, I’ll see you in court,’ he said confidently, and as he walked towards the door he stepped on her foot.

‘Ow! Careful.’ Jenna winced and Lee glanced down, then deliberately ground his boot into her bare foot. ‘Lee, you’re hurting me.’

‘Oops! Sorry! Silly Daddy trod on Mummy’s foot,’ he said, with a laugh for Maisie’s benefit, and Jenna blinked back tears of real pain.

‘You bastard,’ she whispered. ‘Try any more tricks like that and I’ll report you for assault.’

Lee’s good-looking face split into a grin as he sauntered out of the door. ‘It was an accident, baby. I’d like to see you prove otherwise.’