Return to Sender by Fern Michaels

power to make her son’s life better, the man who had never given a second thought to the son he’d fathered, discarding him like yesterday’s garbage. She wouldn’t give the bastard the satisfaction of speaking to him.
    He leaned in through the open door. “You must think I’ve lost my mind. I saw you earlier tonight by the coat-check counter. You forgot this.” He placed her black wrap on the seat next to her.
    Lin’s heart rate rapidly increased as he leaned in closer. He smelled clean and rich. She felt his breath on her skin, warm and minty, as he spoke. “I had to get out of that room full of stuffed shirts.” When he smiled at her, she almost returned it with one of her own.
    Nicholas Pemberton was a charming son of a bitch; she’d best remember that little fact. She turned her head in the opposite direction so she didn’t have to look at him. “Thank you. Please, just go,” she said to the taxi driver.
    Nick stepped away from the car, slamming the door as he did so.
    Lin was sure she heard him utter something but couldn’t make out what it was. It didn’t matter. All that mattered to her was escaping those dark, questioning eyes.
    “Could you please speed up?” she asked. She’d always heard that taxi drivers in New York drove like bats out of hell. It was just her luck to get one who obeyed the speed limit. She needed to put as much distance between her and Nicholas Pemberton as quickly as humanly possible.
    The driver put the pedal to the metal.
    “Thanks,” Lin said.
    “Anytime, but if I get a ticket, you’re gonna be sorry.”
    “I’ll take the chance,” Lin replied. She closed her eyes, hoping the driver would be quiet. She had to think.
    Never in a million years had she imagined herself in such a situation. Those first few weeks alone with Will had been the hardest. She’d often imagined what it would have been like to have a husband there to relieve her when she’d been so tired, it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. That was when she’d started writing the letters again, even though the previous ones had been returned unopened. As each one came back, Lin would make up some wild excuse for why Nick couldn’t come for her and their son. After years of doing that, she finally admitted to herself that she was nothing more than a spring fling to Nick, if that. Now here she was, an adult, in a city of millions, and he was the first man she had seen. Knowing it was pure coincidence didn’t help, either. There was no way he could have known Will would be attending NYU. Hell, he didn’t even know that the kid existed. Finding her in the crowd of hundreds, Lin also put down to coincidence. It had to be, she assured herself once again, since Nicholas Pemberton hadn’t the first clue that he had fathered a child. Her worries were unnecessary. The odds of Will and Nick meeting face-to-face were slim. Even if they did, it wouldn’t matter. Yes, the resemblance was remarkable, but only to those who knew. And only two people knew what had happened that long-ago night.
    The taxi pulled up to the curb in front of the Helmsley. Lin breathed a sigh of relief. She gave the guy a fifty-dollar bill. “Keep the change.”
    “Thanks, lady.”
    Lin would’ve paid a thousand dollars if she’d had to, anything to get the hell away from Nick. Recognizing her, the doorman assisted Lin as she emerged from the taxi. After reaching into her purse, she tucked a ten-dollar bill into the palm of his white-gloved hand. She’d best find an ATM soon. Her supply of cash was dwindling faster than she’d anticipated.
    Back in her room, she took off the black dress, swearing she would never wear it again, because it would evoke too much anger. She stuffed it into a laundry bag for disposal. She’d seen enough garbage cans on the streets of Manhattan. Someone would be in for a nice surprise on discovering the dress.
    In the bathroom she filled the Jacuzzi tub with hot water, poured some bath salts beneath