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She made a quiet sound against her will. It bubbled up from her chest cavity like a volcano erupting. “I…”
“Marry me.” And he kissed her, his tongue slashing into her mouth forcefully, her body weakening against his as the kiss robbed her of thought at the same time it gave her courage. She needed him. She always had done. But was it just physical? Was it just their insane degree of chemistry? And what happened when that faded? When he decided he wasn’t so obsessively in lust with her?
She’d have a million dollars for Lexi’s future. And more than that, she’d have him as her husband.
Tear
s ran down her cheeks. She wasn’t aware of them until one fell into her mouth, tanging it with salt. “Five years ago, I would have married you in a heartbeat and it wouldn’t have cost you a damn.”
And she would never have slept with another man; never borne his child. “You’ll marry me now,” he said into her mouth, his fingers tangling in the lengths of her messy hair.
“But not because I love you.” She pulled away, just enough to look into his eyes. “Doesn’t that bother you?”
His expression was grim. “No. Not as much as not having you as my wife. Not as much as the idea of you marrying someone else.”
She sniffed and turned away, her eyes running over the shabby lounge room. “How can I marry you? You’re a Prince. I can’t even imagine what your life is like.”
He shrugged. “You’ll adapt.”
“This is absolutely insane. You need to … you need to give me something more to go on.”
“Other than a million dollars?”
“Other than blackmail,” she corrected.
He resisted the urge to push harder. She was talking. It was more than he’d expected. “Such as?”
“Well,” her tongue darted out and traced her lower lip thoughtfully. “I need more time.”
“No.”
“No? Is that what marriage would be like? I ask and you answer?”
He expelled a breath. Dictating terms wasn’t going to make this work. He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes locked to hers. “How much time?”
“As long as it takes,” she murmured. “Lexi needs to get to know you. I won’t marry you if she doesn’t … if she doesn’t like you.”
“Fair enough,” he nodded, ashamed that he had barely given the child a moment’s thought beyond using her as the proverbial stick with which to beat Sarah into his plan.
“Good,” she nodded.
“Anything else?”
She nodded urgently now. “I need to get to know you again, too. I meant what I said last night.” Her cheeks flushed. “I loved you so much, and when you left, it was like I’d been pulled in two.” She swallowed, not meeting his eyes, not wanting him to see the ready pain she carried there. “I need to understand why.”
He nodded slowly, and the ease with which he conceded to her suggestions should have been a warning sign. An indication as to what he really wanted for Sarah Smith.
“I think there are mysteries we both need to understand better,” he murmured. “Lexi, for example. Her father. Your life in the last five years…”
Her cheeks dusted with a pale rose colour. She wanted to tell him to mind his own business, but that seemed faintly absurd when she was contemplating marrying him. Could she really do this?
“And it would be a real marriage?” She whispered throatily, her mind finding it difficult to comprehend such an idea.
“You mean, would we sleep together?”
Her whole face glowed red. “No, that’s not what I meant.” She snapped angrily. “Given the fact you propositioned me within five minutes of arriving the other night, I don’t for a second imagine us in a celibate relationship.”
His lips twisted in a smile but shame was curdling in his gut. “What do you mean then, najin?”
