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balance.
    Selfish. That’s the kind of man he turned out to be, and it tore another chunk of her heart away.

Five

    After a sleepless night, Tiaan accompanied Mac and an incredibly pissed off Chelsea downtown to begin their adventure in paternity testing. On some kind of molecular level, he knew Ruan was his son, made of his own flesh and blood, but the biting, snappy woman who brought the sweet-natured babe into the world worried him.
    Since her outburst yesterday, he received an earful from Mac explaining that the university and the scholarship program required her to pay back every cent with the highest possible – and legal – interest when she had to drop out of the program. Mac told him that the Dean felt her reason wasn’t good enough for her to not have to pay everything back.
    He had to admit, that part did make him feel like a piece of crap. Not to mention her dream, which she’d had to give up because of him. How would he have felt, being forced to put aside his dreams because of a single night of passion? Hell, Tiaan knew he’d be just as irate about the whole situation as she was.
    But…
    Why hadn’t she told him that she wasn’t on the pill?
    She had ample opportunity to announce that little fact. Or…
    Wait…had she?
    Tiaan sat in the waiting room, eyes closed, going through that night in his mind. As soon as the lift stopped moving and the lights went out, he jumped at the chance to comfort the sexy little thing. And no sooner had he kissed those soft lips did she end up nude and writhing on the floor beneath him. Hell, Tiaan never told her his name. He never gave her a chance to say much of anything, attacking her the way he did.
    “Okay, Ruan Carstens and family?”
    Tiaan snapped his gaze not to the nurse who spoke, but to Chelsea. At first, surprise touched her lovely features, softening her eyes and mouth. Then she glared at him, like he had made the nurse announce such a thing.
    “It’s Ruan Reid and he isn’t a part of the family.” Chelsea very clearly motioned to Tiaan.
    The nurse offered Chelsea a sad and understanding smile, like she knew how the other woman felt. Damn, so he was outnumbered here! Even Mac was taking her side.
    Shit, this is all your fault though , his conscience reminded him.
    Ja, Ja, Ja .
    Stubborn bastard.
    Trailing after the women, Mac shadowing him as if he might run the hell away – the thought crossed his mind – Tiaan entered yet another room, this one with a large cherry wood desk sitting in front of a wall filled with medical diplomas. He felt a pang of guilt for having taken that away from Chelsea. What field of medicine had she been interested in? He’d taken a few courses over the years, mostly in biology.
    Watching her with Ruan and with Erik, he could see her being one hell of a pediatrician. She was a natural around kids and genuinely seemed to care about Erik even though she had no direct relation to the child.
    The nurse ushered them all into the office and got them sitting down. “The doctor will be with you shortly.” She closed the door behind her with a very final sounding click.
    With Mac in the middle and Chelsea holding Ruan on the other side, he watched her lift up her shirt and begin to feed the hungry little guy. In spite of the obviously non-erotic display, he was instantly hard, recalling how his own mouth had fastened over that very nipple. Jesus Christ, someone he helped to create was actually feeding from a part of the only woman who helped him get through months of torture! It wasn’t like he’d get turned on by the bloody buffet table so how did this happen?
    “Don’t stare,” Mac reprimanded and jabbed him in the ribs.
    I’m a bona-fide asshole , he mused sardonically. No better than a bloody, horny teenager .
    Thankfully the doctor arrived, saving his thoughts from becoming too degrading even for him, and they began the process. One heck of a lot of paper work to fill out before anyone was swabbed. Tiaan actually felt