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"What-fucking-ever." I stifle a fake yawn. "We done? I have an important meeting to go to.”
She visibly reddens, then turns and begins to stomp out. "Don’t forget to email me the list of potential candidates, Ms. Easton."
* * *
"Black is my favorite color." The thin woman with the scrunched-up face and lips so big they are, clearly, botoxed looks at me with a glint in her eyes.
I finish the last piece of my steak, then lean back with a sigh. "Are you sure you don’t want to eat your"—I gesture to her plate with the pile of greens on it, without dressing, as she’d requested—"uh, whatever that is."
"Oh, no, I’m not hungry." She glances down at the remnants of the meal on my plate then back at my face. "Not at all."
"And why do you want to marry me?"
"Uh, I have the bloodline. My fifth cousin is a distant relation to the Prince of Wales. Also, I know how to throw a party for a thousand people, and how to command a retinue of servants and—"
"Get gone."
"Excuse me."
I jerk my chin in the direction of the door.
Her jaw drops. "You’re joking?"
I stare at her. She swallows, then rises to her feet and stomps off.
"Which one was that?" Adam drawls as he slips into the vacated seat.
"Does it matter?" I growl.
"I’ll tell you; that was the last candidate on your shortlist."
"You trying to run my life for me?"
He raises a shoulder. "You trying to run from the reality that’s been staring you in the face all this time?"
"What’s that?"
"That you have the perfect nominee for the role, but you refuse to acknowledge it."
"Huh?" I narrow my gaze on him. "What are you talking about?"
"The woman who could be pregnant with your child as we speak," he murmurs.
"Hold on. The only woman I’ve slept with since I returned is—" my voice trails off.
"Exactly." He tilts his head. “Did you use protection?”
Realization sinks into my bones. I sit back in my seat. "Fuck."
"You did not, and you have to pay the consequences, my friend."
"She was a virgin," I say slowly. And I didn’t ask her if she was on birth control. Of course, she might be, but I didn’t check. And who was I to assume she wanted unprotected sex? I didn’t even think of using a condom. How could I be this careless? It didn’t cross my mind until Adam bought it up, which shows how distracted I’ve been by her. All the more reason to keep my distance from her. Except—if she is pregnant with my child, then—
"Looks like you got ahead of the game. After all, the deal with your father was for you to marry in the next month and produce an heir in the next year, so things are going according to plan." Adam reaches for the bottle of water on the table and takes a swig. Asshole’s sworn off alcohol. Good for him. Wish I had the same restraint. But the booze is the one thing helping me forget—other than when I’m deep inside her and the noises in my head recede. And now, I have to find out if I’m paying the price for being addicted to her.
Adam places the bottle back on the table, then wipes the back of his hand over his mouth. "So, what are you going to do about it, hmm?"
Penny
