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You don’t want to test me on this. ”
“Until we know whether or not there’s a child, the point is moot. ” She had to force the words past her lips. “Until then . . . ”
“Until then, I’ll be fucking the hell out of you daily,” he growled, moving around the table to jerk her into his arms. “And I think I’m addicted to the feel of your pussy bare, Janey. There won’t be any more condoms. How long do you think it will take you to get pregnant if you’re not already?”
“I think you’re crazy,” she gasped. “Listen to yourself, Alex. This won’t work. You know it won’t work. ”
“Why?” He pushed her against the wall, not ungently actually, the move too damned sexy. It made her wet. Made her want to weaken, to surrender to him then and there. “Tell me why it won’t work, Janey. ”
“Do you love me, Alex?”
Janey already knew the answer. She knew, but it still tore a hole in her heart to see the answer in his face.
“Don’t believe in fairy tales, sweetheart. ” He sighed, touching her cheek with his fingertips. “Sometimes I forget how young you are. ”
How young she was? As though age had anything to do with love. Since when?
Janey jerked away from him, barely restraining the urge to throw something at him. Glaring at him instead, raging inside, she faced him, her fists clenching at her side.
“Well then, remember,” she said scathingly. She wasn’t going to bother to even try to hide the anger.
Screw it. She’d been in Somerset six months, and hiding beneath that damned mask of unconcern wasn’t fooling anyone, least of all Alex. “Remember how young I am, Alex,” she told him, mocking anger twisting her lips. “Because I won’t marry a man who doesn’t love me. Screw it. You and this damned
town. I deserve better than a man who thinks loving a woman is a fairy tale or a town that thinks I’m such a tramp I’d sleep with that disgusting excuse for a father that I had. You know what? You can all go to hell. ”
His arms went over his chest as he stared back at her silently, coolly. She recognized that posture. Did he really think that flashing those impressive biceps of his was going to change her mind?
From the corner of her eyes she caught a glimpse of that bite on his neck, and the shiver that rushed through her, barely hidden, almost weakened her knees. She had one on her neck as well. Her shoulder, across the tops of her breasts. Her stomach.
Her breathing became shallow. Okay. They’d snacked on each other like ravening beasts the night before and broken a rubber. She could deal. That didn’t mean she was going to marry a man who didn’t love her.
“You know it’s not going to be that simple. ” He finally spoke, and when he did she wished he had just kept his damned mouth shut. His tone was implacable, his expression determined.
“Yes, it is going to be that simple,” she informed him. “Starting today, Alex, my life is going to simplified exponentially. Number one”—she held up one finger—“I’m no longer pretending to be some damned robot that doesn’t mind the little strikes and barbs that come my way. Number two”—she held up the second finger—“I’m not going let you or anyone else dictate to me how I walk, talk, dress, or act. And number three”—before she knew it, she had her finger buried in his chest and her voice had risen—“I will not marry any man who doesn’t love me. ” The finger came back to her, to her chest, and determination struck a hard, fierce blow there. “I’m not unworthy of love, no matter my age or who the hell my biological parents are. So stuff that along with your arrogance and go straight to hell. ”
She turned on her heel and stomped to her bedroom. She had work to do. She’d wasted too much time in the past months letting people, people she didn’t know and who didn’t matter to her damned life, affect her. She loved Somerset, but she could leave. She could go anywhere she wanted to go now, and there was nothing and no one to stop her.
Except herself.
She slammed the door shut, locked it, then leaned against it and slowly placed her hands over her stomach as her eyes closed.
She could be pregnant. That changed her plans. Until she knew for certain, Alex was right—she couldn’t leave. But if she was pregnant, there was no way she could stay either. She wouldn’t let her child be subjected to the prejudice and cruelty this county was heaping on her. Especially Alex’s baby.
Alex was considered one of Somerset’s favorite sons. A Special Forces soldier who had survived untold wars. He returned home wounded, healed, and went out to fight again. He was a hometown hero, sleeping with a traitor’s daughter.
Funny, how those same people saw Natches as a hero as well. Well, not funny perhaps. They had stood aside all those years that they knew Natches was getting the hell beat out of him at home. When Dayle had disowned him, many had turned their backs on him as well, until Dayle’s arrest. Now he was a hometown hero, too, and they’d found someone new to punish.
She pushed her fingers through her hair and fought back the anger rushing through her. Anger wasn’t going to help her. Pride, determination—screw all of them.
She stalked to the closet, drew out the clothes she’d already chosen to wear today or this evening. The restaurant opened its doors at four, but the employees arrived hours before that. She needed to be downstairs, overseeing everything within the hour.
She usually enjoyed her coffee and rolls first. But no, this morning Alex just had to drop his little bombshell before she could even get that first jolt of caffeine into her system.
She had no doubt it was deliberate.
Her hands were still shaking with anger as she rolled sheer black stockings up her legs and attached the lacy elastic band to the straps of the matching garter belt. Black panties came next, the thong eliminating any hint of panty line beneath the black mid-thigh-length silk skirt.
From her dresser she pulled free one of her favorite bras. One she had rarely worn outside the house.
