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“Emma, please talk to me.”
She shook her head.
“Let’s go have lunch.”
She shook her head again.
“You have to eat. It’s important to keep up your strength.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. “You know I’m pregnant.” Emma pointed at him in warning as he opened his mouth to dance around her statement again. “Don’t you dare deny it. Who told you?”
Nathan gave a resigned sigh. “Cody came by this morning.”
Disappointment stabbed through her. “And the deal with my father?”
Nathan’s expression became a neutral mask. “It doesn’t matter.” He caught her arm when she spun away, stopping her flight. “You are pregnant with my child. And you will marry me.”
Since Valentine’s Day, she’d been beating herself up for letting him walk out of her life, wondering if by proposing with a diamond instead of a ring, he did realize how important her jewelry-designing was to her. That maybe he understood her at last.
Sure, he’d downplayed the emotional side of their arrangement, but considering how much he mistrusted love, she’d hoped that with time he’d come around. She’d gone to his office to tell him about the baby, eager to see if he’d missed her half as much as she’d missed him only to find out he had and that he still wanted to marry her.
Now, after learning that he’d only wanted to marry her because of the baby, she was heartbroken all over again.
“Nothing has changed, Nathan,” she said. “I want a real marriage.”
“Everything has changed. I’m not going to let my child grow up illegitimate.” Nathan pulled her close. “And I’m not going to let another man raise my son or daughter.”
The power of his conviction made Emma’s knees wobble. Why couldn’t he love her half as much as she loved him? It would make everything so simple. Even a hint of love would be enough for her to fling herself into marriage with him.
“I can’t marry you knowing you don’t love me.”
“You can’t raise this child on your own, Emma.”
His lack of faith in her cut as deep as his inability to love her. She twisted free. “I’ll be better off without you or my father telling me how I can’t take care of myself. I’ll continue to grow my jewelry business. Maybe I’ll even open a shop.”
“You don’t need to work that hard.” He set his hands on his hips and glowered down at her. “Marry me. I’ll take care of you and the baby.”
Emma stared at him for a long moment, her entire body aching to be held in his arms. It would be so easy to forget all her worries about money and raising a child on her own and accept his marriage proposal.
But she wasn’t a practical person. And a marriage for practical reasons would break her heart.
She shook her head. “I’ll take care of me. And the baby.”
Twelve
We’ll be just fine.
Emma’s words reverberated through Nathan’s head as he watched her disappear into the lunch-hour crowd. He didn’t doubt for one second that she would be just fine as a single mother. She’d thrive the same way his mother had. They were both strong, capable women.
But what about him?
He wasn’t going to be fine without her. Not one bit. For the first time in twenty years he needed someone more than he needed to breathe. Emma had become the center of his universe. For the last two weeks, he’d dwelled in a black hole of misery, deprived of her ready smiles, her sizzling looks and even her frowns. Instead of cradling her naked, soft, sweetly scented body in his arms, he spent his nights wide awake and wondering how everything had gone so terribly wrong.
Nathan took off after Emma, but it was too late. She’d vanished. Retrieving his car, he headed to her loft. But when he arrived, she wasn’t there. Nor was she answering her cell phone.
He slammed his hand against the steering wheel. Dammit. Why did the woman have to be so stubborn? He could give her a wonderful life. They would be happy if only she’d stop holding out for something he couldn’t give her.
After a fruitless visit to Addison, he called Cody and left a message. Out of options, Nathan headed home rather than returning to work. Knowing she was pregnant. Knowing he’d screwed up with her again. There was no way he could concentrate until he’d made things right with her.
He paced his empty condo for hours, watching the sun set, then rise. At seven, he seized his cell phone to try Cody a second time when it came alive in his hand. He answered the call without checking the number.
“Emma?”
“Not even close,” his best friend said, sounding giddy and half out of his mind. “I got your message. Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner, but I’ve been a little busy watching my son being born.”
