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‘So you’d stay here in New York?’
‘Yes.’
‘And where would you live?’
Merida swallowed. ‘You have this suite here...’ she said, and then winced a little as he dragged out of Merida her flimsy plan.
‘Okay, so I house you in a five-star establishment. I presume you’d need an allowance—how much?’
‘I’ll get a job,’ Merida retorted.
‘Yes, because finding a job when you’re pregnant issoeasy.’
‘I’ll go back to the gallery,’ Merida attempted, but then sagged. She doubted Reece would have her back. ‘Or I’ll get a job waiting tables.’
‘And then come back and sleep here at night?’ From across the table he gave a mocking laugh. ‘What about medical care? I’m presuming your holiday insurance won’t cover it?’
‘No,’ Merida said, because she’d already looked into that. ‘You’d pay for my medical care and the care of your child.’
‘Who I’ll be housing in a hotel?’ Ethan wasn’t laughing now—he was deadly serious. ‘Have you any idea how ridiculous that sounds? Don’t you see that we need a properly drawn out plan? One that covers both of us? Because from where I’m sitting, you hold all the cards.’
‘Me?’
‘If I don’t adequately take care of you there’s nothing to stop you from getting on a plane and leaving...’
He closed his eyes for a second, for his mother had done exactly that. But this was different, Ethan told himself.
‘A marriage, properly arranged, will take care of all of us.’
He moved on to the next item. And he actually hadn’t said this out loud to anyone.
‘My father’s not well,’ he said, and then elaborated. ‘It’s terminal.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘No one is allowed to know yet,’ Ethan warned.
‘Oh, and there was me about to ring down to Reception and tell them.’
He didn’t smile—he just stared.
‘I was being sarcastic,’ Merida said, and then closed her eyes, because a sarcastic response perhaps wasn’t the best one when he’d just told her his father was going to die. ‘Of course I’m not going to say anything. How long have you known?’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Oh, but it did. In their time apart it would seem that so much had happened.
‘As I said,’ Ethan continued, in such cool business tones that she half expected to look over and see someone else sitting there, taking notes. ‘A grandchild on the way will certainly make things...’ He snapped his fingers as he searched for the words.
‘It might give your father some hope—something to look forward to?’ Merida offered.
‘I was thinking more of the shareholders. It will show them some stability.’
If there was any precise moment when he became a stranger to her, then that was it. But she had been warned about how cold and calculated the Devereux family were. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to find out that everything she’d read and been told was right, yet it did.
‘Whoareyou?’ Merida demanded. ‘What happened to the man I met...?’
‘The man you met was having a night off from himself!’ Ethan retorted angrily. ‘Thisis who I am. Perhaps you should have done your research a bit better before you—’
