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My temper tugged at the leash I’d put on it. The beast in me was excited by the challenging signals she was sending, making bolts of heat arrow straight to my groin. I tried not to pay any attention, tried to concentrate on my detachment instead. ‘What can I do to convince you? Anything at all, it’s yours.’
‘You can’t buy my agreement, Con.’ Her pretty features had softened and there was real regret amongst the sparks in her dark eyes. ‘I’m sorry, but I have to be firm on this. I’m marrying for love, both for me and for my child, and that’s final.’
Frustration coiled tight inside me, threatening all my emotional distance.
‘So if someone else comes along,’ I ground out, ‘someone who says he loves you. You’ll marry him?’
‘If I fall in love with him too, then yes.’
‘And what if you’re wrong? What if he turns out to be a terrible person? What if he hurts you? What if he hurts our child? Because it’s my child too, do not forget that.’
Her mouth softened. Was that pity in her eyes? ‘I know,’ she said quietly. ‘Believe me, I’ve never forgotten that the baby is yours. But you don’t have to worry. I will never fall in love with a man like that.’
Except she had, hadn’t she? She’d fallen in love with me.
‘Jenny,’ I began, to say what, I didn’t know.
But she only said, ‘Con,’ and put her hands on the edge of the table and gave me a very serious look. ‘You need to take me back to London. We’ll figure out something when it comes to the baby later, but right now I want to go home.’
‘Jenny,’ I began again. Because she had to listen to reason. I needed to explain myself further, more clearly.
‘No,’ she said calmly, regretfully. ‘That’s my final word.’
Then she pushed her chair back and got to her feet.
What? She was leaving?
My frustration intensified. Because she needed to understand. Shehadto. She was vulnerable, and so was our child, and I couldn’t leave her unprotected. I had never done so before, and I wasn’t about to start now.
‘Sit down.’ I tried to stay cold, yet that growl crept into my voice all the same. ‘Sit down and eat your breakfast. I haven’t finished speaking.’
Jenny merely shrugged before turning around and walking away.
I did not like that. I did not like that one bit.
‘Jenny.’ Her name came out low and harsh and I didn’t bother moderating it. ‘Sit down.’
But again she ignored me, going to the door.
‘Jenny,’I growled.
She walked through it.
People did not walk away from me. People did not ignore me. People who knew what was good for them obeyed whenever I gave a command and they certainly nevershrugged.
This concerned the safety of our child.Mychild. I wouldn’t tolerate it.
I shoved my chair back before I even knew what I was doing and went striding after her. ‘Don’t you dare walk away from me. I haven’t finished.’
But the corridor outside was empty.
I caught a glimpse of movement on the landing and started up the stairs after her, taking them two a time, gritting my teeth against the sudden and inexplicable anger that threatened to swamp me.
In the back of my mind a warning sounded. I was allowing my temper to get the better of me, that I needed to stay in control. But control had always been difficult with her. Heat and hunger consumed me whenever I was in her presence, and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t detach myself the way I normally did.
All I could think about was some other man hurting her, some other man hurting my child and me not knowing about it. Me not being able to stop it.
That had been my childhood—mine and Valentin’s—and there had been no one to protect us, no one to save us.
