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“Didn’t,” he corrected. “I’ve come to accept, perhaps welcome, the inevitability.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Since Monday?”
“Since my trip to see my father this morning.” A few moments ago, there’d been a gentleness in his tone, along with persistence and a slight cajoling tease. Now there was a chill. “He’s not returning to the business. I’ll be damned if I’ll allow Noah to break apart what we’ve spent two hundred years building.”
“You need to find someone else,” she protested.
“You’d be a very wealthy woman.”
At what cost? She understood the allure of financial stability, but for her, the devastation of falling for a man who didn’t love her wasn’t worth the risk. “I’m happy with my own results. I have no interest in a marriage for your convenience.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to give up your career. You’ve built a well-respected business, and I understand that you enjoy it. There would be a stipulation that you already know about. We would need to have children. I’d promise to be involved, and we could have a nanny. Adoption is a possibility, if that was a decision we made together. But if we want to have our own, we could stop after one if you find pregnancy doesn’t agree with you.”
A baby? She’d never allowed herself to dream of that possibility. It would mean taking a chance on a relationship. But the idea of having a child with Rafe… Her heart clutched, as if she’d just gone over the first exhilarating downhill on a roller coaster.
“I will be talking to my attorneys about changing the archaic terms of the trust so that females can inherit. If England can change rules for the monarchy, there has to be a way.” Though she wasn’t giving him her full attention, she realized Rafe was still talking. “I’ll admit, I wouldn’t mind trying to get you pregnant.” The earlier coldness had receded from his voice, leaving behind an inviting warmth that she yearned to surrender to.
In order to remain strong, she forced herself to banish the sudden image of a child with eyes as startling as Rafe’s.
“Under what terms will you walk down the aisle toward me?”
“None. Rafe… No. I can’t.”
“Won’t,” he challenged.
“I agree we have chemistry.” Like spark and kindling.
“And I will be devoted to you. So we’ve sorted out the first two C’s.”
“We don’t know if we’re compatible.”
He traced the shell of her ear, igniting something deep inside her. “No?”
“This is chemistry,” she protested.
“You enjoyed being with me last night, and not just the sex. The conversation at dinner, then breakfast. You’re intrigued by the Titans. I’ve told you my family’s history and the dramas, and you’ve already invested part of yourself in it. If you walk away this moment, which you are free to do, you would miss being part of my life.”
“Arrogant, much?” His statement was true, though. Even though she didn’t want it to be.
“Go with me to Louisiana. We can leave Friday at lunchtime.”
She grabbed his wrist. “I’ve told you that I can’t just walk away from Prestige on a whim.”
“Do you have anything on your schedule, workwise, that Skyler and Tony can’t handle?”
She scowled. “That’s not the point.”
“Do you?”
Their next mixer wasn’t until Tuesday. Hope had a breakfast meeting on Friday morning, and she could attend it before leaving. She and Tony were scheduled to attend a charity auction Saturday night. If Skyler were available, it would be a good opportunity to try her as a recruiter. Then she seized her last possible excuse. “The Colonel. I need to take care of the Colonel.”
“What about your neighbor? Caroline, was it?”
Does he remember everything?
“We can get her a nice gift card as a thank-you, for a spa day or something to recover from the trauma. Or a bottle of champagne, perhaps?”
Caroline was easily bribed. And a spa visit would do it.
“It’s two nights, not forever. I want to prove to you that we are compatible.” He lowered his hand, and she missed his touch. “Aren’t you in the least bit interested in seeing the Parthenon? I can get us a cottage on the property.”
