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“The hell it is!”
Ivy glared at him. Damian glared back. Her chin was raised. Her eyes were cold. Her hands were knotted on her hips.
She looked like one of the Furies, ready and determined to take on the world.
He wanted to cover the distance between them, grab her and shake her. Or grab her, haul her into his arms and kiss her until she trembled.
He hated the effect she had on him, hated himself for bending to it…And it was time to put all that asi
de.
He knew what he had to do.
It was time she knew it, too.
“We’re getting sidetracked,” he said.
“I agree, Your Highness.”
That drove him crazy, too. The way she said “Your Highness.” He hadn’t been joking when he’d told her she made it sound like a four-letter word.
“Under the circumstances,” he said brusquely, “I think you should call me Damian.”
She got his meaning; he knew because he saw her cheeks flame. Good, he thought grimly. He wanted her a little uncertain. Why should he be the only one who was balancing on a tightrope?
“This is a pointless conversation. Why should it matter what I call you? Once we determine what happens after my—after the baby’s born, we don’t have to see each other again.”
“Is that what you would you like to happen?”
Was he really asking? Ivy could hardly believe it but she was ready with an answer. This was all she’d thought about since the day she’d gone to his apartment.
“I’d like a simple solution,” she said carefully, “one that would please us both.”
“And that is?”
She could hear her heart pounding. Could he hear it, too?
“You—you’ve fathered a baby you say you didn’t want.”
“More correctly, I fathered a baby I didn’t know about.”
If that was true—and she had to believe it was—it worried her. The way he’d just stated the situation worried her, too. Fathering a baby he didn’t want wasn’t the same as fathering a baby he hadn’t known about.
She wanted to call him on it but that wouldn’t help her case, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
“A baby you didn’t know about,” she said, trying to sound as if she really believed it. “A baby my sister wanted.”
“But?” He smiled thinly. “I could hear the word, even if it was unspoken.”
She drew a breath, then let it out. “But, everything’s changed. Kay is gone and I—I want this baby. I didn’t know I’d feel this way. That I’d love the baby without ever seeing it. That I wouldn’t want to give it away or—”
“Very nice,” he said coldly. “But please, spare me the performance. How much?”
She looked puzzled. “I just told you. I want the baby with all my heart.”
Damian came toward her, shaking his head and smiling. “You have it wrong. I’m not asking about your heart, I’m asking about your wallet. How much must I pay you to give up this child you carry?”
“This has nothing to do with money.”
