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He pushed his hands in his pockets, stretching his slacks over a very firm abdomen. “Contrary to what you seem to think, it really hasn’t been all that difficult for me to find female companionship.” He walked over to sit on the banquette and stretch out his legs. “As for my father . . .” For a moment, she thought she saw amusement in his eyes, but that was impossible since he had no sense of humor. “To be frank, he’s not all that fond of you. But he does want the merger, and your father made it very clear this was the only way he’d agree to it.”
She sucked in her breath. “You’re lying! Do you really think I’ll believe this was my father’s idea?”
Again, the glimmer in his eyes that, on anyone else, could only have been amusement. “Apparently he’s desperate to get rid of you.”
She wanted to go for his throat, just as she’d done last night, but she felt too frozen to move. How could he even suggest her father was behind this? It was his father! It had to be.
“If you and your brother had been willing to talk with me last night,” he said quietly, “I could have explained all this.”
Her heart was beating so hard she wanted to press her hands to her chest to keep her skin from splitting. “Daddy would never have proposed something so horrible on his own. I don’t know why you’re lying. All I have to do is ask him.”
“I hope you do. You’ll find out that Warren is the one who’s doing the blackmailing, and I’m the ransom. If Dad wants the merger, he has to turn me over.”
“Ransom!” Sparks shimmered behind her eyelids. “Listen here, you bozo! Marrying me would be the highlight of your sorry life!”
He looked thoughtful. “That’s highly debatable. It’s true that you’re quite beautiful, but you’re also a very difficult woman.”
Torie tried to absorb the fact that Dexter O’Conner, the biggest nerd in Wynette, Texas, might not want her. “I am not!”
“You’re a two-time loser at marriage,” he said slowly. “You have an unstable family background. You cuss like a man. I’m sure you could beat me at whatever sport you put your mind to. And you smoke, which I detest, even though I understand it’s a sign of how little regard you have for yourself.” He paused, and his voice grew strangely gentle. “You also don’t seem to be able to have children.”
She felt as if she’d been struck. “You prick.” Her voice sounded tight and forced. “Who told you that?”
He stood and walked toward her, stopping several feet away. “Wynette’s a small town.”
“Get out of here.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you.” He spoke with a gentleness that sounded too much like pity. “But I don’t play games, and it’s only right that I tell you I’d very much like to have children.”
A sting of tears prickled behind her eyes, but she refused to let them form. “Then it’s a good thing you’re not marrying me because I’m as barren as the Sahara, you son of a bitch!”
“That’s not what your father told me. He said there’s no medical reason why you can’t conceive. Shelby believes it’s simply a case of your body waiting for the right man to come along. Improbable, but then who’s to say?”
She barely pushed the words through the constriction in her throat. “They discussed this with you?”
“It came up.”
She felt so betrayed she couldn’t speak. Shelby had once been her best friend. As for her father . . . for years, he had been the only safe harbor in her life. And then Shelby had seduced him and pushed Torie into the background. Now her father wanted Torie removed from his daily existence so he could concentrate on his new family. Ironic that Kenny, the evil tormentor of her childhood, had become the only dependable person in her life.
Pride kicked in, and she lifted her head. “For someone who’s so repulsed by the idea of marrying me, you certainly seemed to have asked a lot of questions.”
“I didn’t say I was repulsed. I happen to be strongly attracted to you.”
His words were a small Band-Aid over her open wounds, enough for her to curl her lip and scoff. “Like that’s a news flash.”
He smiled. “It’s the strangest thing. I’m not a violent man, but ever since Ted made that remark yesterday about somebody needing to swat you, I keep having this recurring image of you turned bottom-up over my lap.”
A rush of heat shot through Torie’s bloodstream. She didn’t like it one bit, so she sneered, “Am I wearing clothes?”
He seemed to be thinking it over. “A full skirt tossed over your head. Panties draped around one ankle.”
The heat inside her jumped ten degrees, and she realized the biggest nerd in Wynette, Texas, had just turned her on. She felt disoriented. She was supposed to be the outrageous one. At the same time, she couldn’t let him know that he’d outmaneuvered her. “What’s it going to be, Dex? Do you want to marry me or not?”
“I’m not certain. Probably not. On the other hand, there is that attraction. Still, I resent being manipulated this way by your father.”
“Finally, we agree on something.”
“Yes, well, I could have told you that at the beginning if you hadn’t decided to approach this situation emotionally instead of logically.”
