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When she opened the door to him, he did not kiss her, or even smile.
She wasn’t so reticent. Begin as you mean to go on. And she meant for her relationship with him to be affectionate. Not that she had a lot of experience with that, but they could both learn. She leaned up and kissed his chin.
He didn’t tilt toward her so she couldn’t reach his lips, but she didn’t let that bother her. “I missed you.”
“Did you?”
She stepped back, biting her lip. “You’re upset I was gone for a week.”
“You could say that.” She’d never seen him look so cold and remote.
If she wasn’t sure she was mistaken, she would think his brown eyes were filled with disgust. But that would be much too strong a reaction for her little burst of independence.
“Are you angry I took longer than the weekend to make my decision?” she asked, trying to gauge his mood exactly as she turned and led him into her living room.
She sat down on the yellow sofa.
He took a chair as physically far from her as it was possible to get in the room. “So, you have made your decision?”
She tried a smile. “Yes and you might as well get used to the fact that I don’t take orders well. It will make our life together less bumpy if you accept it. I’m also not fond of the cold shoulder treatment.”
“So, you desire to marry me?”
“Yes.”
“That is interesting. I must wonder why.”
Her buoyant confidence that had carried her home began to falter. This conversation wasn’t making any sense to her. “You haven’t changed your mind just because I was gone for a week.”
“No, I did not change my mind because you chose to take longer for your decision than I told you to.”
“Good.”
“However, other considerations have come to light.” That was definitely disgust in his eyes.
“What do you mean?” What other considerations?
“You were no virgin when we made love the first time.”
“I told you I wasn’t.”
“But what I did not appreciate was that lack indicated a deeper flaw in your character.”
“You consider my status as a nonvirgin a lack?” she asked carefully.
He simply looked at her.
“Should I then consider your similar status the same way?”
“I, at least, understand the meaning of fidelity to one partner.”
“And you’re saying I don’t?” she asked incredulously. No way were they having this conversation. “Because I had one lover before you, you’ve decided I couldn’t be faithful? I don’t believe this.”
“No.”
“What are you saying then?”
“That you have done a very good job of hiding your true character, both from your father and from myself as well as my investigator. At least at first. Clearly you are very clever at leading a double life. I should salute your ingenuity. It takes much to fool my investigator and your father’s security team, but you have managed it.”
“Sandor, I don’t know what you are talking about. I haven’t hidden anything from you.” Well, she hadn’t told him the details of her single past liaison, but that would hardly fall under the misnomer of hiding her true character.
“On the contrary, you did a very good job of deceiving me. Looking back, I can see the signs I was too blinded to take heed of before.”
“What signs?”
“The condoms. If you were so innocent, why did you have condoms the first time we made love?”
“Because I assumed you’d want to make love eventually and I didn’t want to risk pregnancy.”
His lip curled. “That is a convenient excuse, but not a realistic one. Until last week, I made no moves to take our relationship to the bedroom.”
“I know, but—”
He sliced his hand through the air, cutting her off. “I do not wish to sit here arguing with you.”
“What do you want?” Inside, everything was freezing, but she didn’t feel numb. It hurt, like being outside in below zero weather without her gloves. Cold so biting, it cut to the bone. That’s what her insides felt like…painfully frozen.
“To say what needs saying and go.”
“Then say it,” she demanded from between lips that could barely move.
He looked hesitant for a second, but then the cold mask descended again and he said, “Your father wants an heir for his business. You refuse to be that heir, so he went looking. He found me.”
More shards of ice pierced her heart and somehow she knew this wasn’t done. “What?”
