The Firebrand Who Unlocked His Heart by Anne Fraser

about keeping a professional distance, she had become involved with this small, hurt family.
    The clock ticked into the silence.
    ‘I like to get Harry up every day,’ Colleen said, ‘even if it’s just to sit. But I think he’s well enough for us to try to take him out when the weather’s okay. Maybe take him to a cricket match. We could all go.’
    ‘I tried to get to his school cricket matches as much as I could. He was in the team, you know. Unfortunately I didn’t get to them as often as I would have liked.’
    ‘Work?’ Colleen guessed.
    If he heard the disapproval in her voice, he chose to ignore it.
    ‘I took him to Lord’s for his tenth birthday. It didn’t go quite as I planned.’ Daniel’s smile was bleak. He took a sip of his drink. ‘I wanted to spend his birthday with him. The first birthday we would spend together.
    He seemed so excited when I picked him up. He barely looked at the present I’d bought him. I thought it would be a new start for us. A common interest. Something we could share.’
    ‘Go on,’ Colleen said quietly.
    ‘I’d arranged the best seats and a picnic with all his favourite things. Eleanor had told me exactly what he liked. At first everything seemed to be going so well. He was chatting away, telling me about his matches, pointing out his favourite cricketer. And then, I don’t know, something went wrong. He clammed up.’
    Colleen was puzzled. ‘Was it something you said?’
    ‘I don’t think so. I had guests. You know, business acquaintances I needed to speak to. It was when they arrived that Harry went all quiet. Maybe they made him shy.’
    Colleen couldn’t control herself any longer. ‘Oh, you great big lummox of a man. Can’t you see what went wrong? Here was a little boy, being taken out for a birthday treat by a father he barely knew, thinking he was going to have you all to himself—for once. Then these strangers appear and take all his father’s attention. What kind of birthday treat was that for the lad?’
    Daniel looked stunned by her outburst. ‘I would have been happy if
my
father had taken me to a cricket match.’
    Agitated, she jumped to her feet. Hadn’t he listened to anything she’d said? Daniel
had
to start being more involved with his child.
    ‘And,’ she continued, ‘you have to spend more time with Harry. You’ve hardly spent any time with him so far. I know you have your cases, but isn’t it time you put Harry first?’
    Under any other circumstances she might have foundthe look of incredulity on Daniel’s face amusing. She doubted anyone had ever spoken to him like that.
    ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she said. ‘I think I’ll have a tray in my room if it’s all the same to you. We can talk again tomorrow.’
    But as she spun on her heel, Daniel’s voice came from behind her.
    ‘Colleen, wait.’
    She stopped in her tracks.
    When she turned around, Daniel was looking as if the demons of hell were fighting a war behind his eyes.
    ‘When I found out that Harry was mine, I was bowled over,’ he said slowly, almost as if the words were being pulled from somewhere deep inside him. ‘I never thought that having a child would make me feel the way it did. Eleanor had talked about having children, of course, but only as a distant future possibility. I couldn’t actually imagine ever being a father. While we were married it didn’t seem there could be room for a child. When I found out Harry was mine, I was shocked—and furious with Eleanor that she’d kept him from me, but mostly I was amazed and delighted—even if I was scared to death that I wouldn’t live up to Harry’s expectations. I wanted to get to know my son, but what I didn’t anticipate was that he wouldn’t feel the same way. I didn’t know it was going to be so damn difficult to talk to him.
    ‘Taking him to a cricket match was the only way I could think of being with him. I thought that if I took it slowly—gave him time to get to know me—he’d