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‘No. We’re supposed to be talking.’
‘You can talk from over here.’ He was grinning now. Talking was about the last thing on his mind.
‘I’ll lose my thread.’
He gave a mock sigh. ‘Yeah, me, too.’ A pause, and then he hit her with it. ‘Jess, I think we should think about getting married.’
‘What?’ She was already shrinking away from him when she realised that probably wasn’t the thing any man wanted to see when he’d just proposed to a woman. If this could be construed as a proposal. ‘Greg, you don’t have to do that. ‘
‘I want to.’
At this moment he probably did. He wanted to provide for his child. She should have expected this. Greg could be stubbornly honourable at times. But it was all far too risky. She’d known that there was always the possibility that things might not work out between the two of them, that his work schedule might swallow him up again, but she couldn’t take that risk for her child. Marrying him now could just trap them both in a life of waiting for him.
She took a deep breath. ‘I know you do. And I appreciate it, Greg, more than I can say. But I really don’t think this is the best way forward.
’
‘Jess, this isn’t just a business agreement.’
‘I know, but my answer’s still the same. It wouldn’t be fair on you or me or our child. Let’s find another way, eh?’ She smiled at him. Tried to jolt him out of the rosecoloured, impractical world that he seemed to have steeped himself in.
An echo of the man she loved flitted across his features. The man who took what he wanted and gave so much in return. Then it died.
‘Okay. We’ll find another way.’ His smile was carefully constructed. Proper in every way. ‘I’ll have to put you on notice that I won’t be letting you turn all my offers down so easily, though. And I expect you to talk to me, Jess. You know that I can afford to give you whatever you want.’
Fair enough. There was something. ‘I’ll be having my first scan at sixteen weeks.’ She hardly dared ask. Money was so easy for him to give but this might cost him far more.
‘I’ll be there. Just tell me when and where.’
‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’
He reached out for her and she slid along the sofa towards him. The contact made her shiver both with warmth and foreboding. ‘Don’t say that. I want to see him just as much as you do.’
‘Him?’
‘Yeah. You reckon it’s a girl and I think it’s a boy. We could make a wager if you like.’
The look on his face told her that this was one bet she didn’t want to have to pay up on. ‘What kind of wager?’
‘If I’m right then I get to keep you in my bed for a whole weekend. Somewhere nice. Paris maybe.’
‘And if I’m right?’ Jess was almost tempted. Who was she trying to kid? The temptation was pretty much unbearable.
‘You get to keep me in yours for a whole weekend. Somewhere else nice. Rome perhaps. You’d like the house in Rome.’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘Couldn’t we just keep it simple? I bet you a fiver it’s a girl.’
He sighed. ‘I thought you weren’t after my cash. Okay, a fiver it is. Or we could push the boat out and go for a tenner. You’re missing out on a great opportunity, though. You really would love the house in Rome.’
‘So you keep saying. Maybe another time.’
‘I’ll keep you to that.’ His finger found her wrist, caressing the soft skin at the base of her palm. ‘And what about tonight? Can I stay?’
‘I’m… I’m tired, Greg.’
‘I know. I just want to hold you.’
She wanted that too. Even if it did seem somehow disloyal to her baby.
