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‘I know I want to sleep with you.I’m pretty sure you want to do that too.’He’d kiss her now just to prove it.Hell, he wanted to kiss her hard.
‘Why would I want to have sex with you when you’re forcing me into marriage?’
‘Don’t be so melodramatic, Cally.This isn’t a forced marriage or anything like it.What we’ll have is a deal.A partnership.’
‘One that doesn’t include sex.’
He shrugged, inwardly smiling at the heightened colour in her cheeks.‘You can say when it will be but, let me assure you, it will be.’
She opened her mouth and he knew she was about to make the ultimate protestation.He stopped her by laying his finger across her way-too-kissable lips.
‘Necrophilia’s not my thing.I believe your body will be very much alive and willing.’
Her teeth snapped on empty air.
He was right about this being a deal.That was how to handle it—as a business proposition—albeit unconventional.He could concede her a partnership—eighty-twenty with him holding the majority stake.They both had good business sense.They could make this work.And be satisfied.Very satisfied.
He looked across at her and could see her mentally hunting for a weapon—something, anything to make him withdraw.She was out of luck because nothing she could say would sway him.
Her eyes turned bitter as defeat approached.‘I can’t be with someone who’ll be unfaithful.’
Scarlet anger blinded him for a moment.God, she could be a bitch.How little she knew him.Well, he grimaced, she had a lifetime to get to know him and how he meant it when he said he was honest.He very nearly swore at her some more, but his jaw clamped when he spotted the vulnerability in her eyes.She could say what she liked, but her eyes always told him the real story.Right now this was one angry woman who was just that little bit scared—that little bit hurt.That little bit got to him.He wanted her to be in his keeping, but he didn’t want her hurt or afraid.
He took a deep breath.‘I have never been with more than one woman at a time.And I never will.When I promise to be faithful to you, rest assured, I will be.’
Something flashed in her eyes and he fancied it was disbelief.Fine.He’d prove it.He had plenty of time to.Anger came surging back as he thought of something so distasteful every muscle in his body clenched.‘And I totally expect the same from you.’He thought he knew why the idea was so abhorrent.‘I will not have my child exposed to infidelity or have you parade a string of unsuitable boyfriends before it.’
Unsuitable boyfriends?
Suddenly Cally was the one who was angry.‘I don’t cheat.’She forced the words at him.
‘Good.Keep it that way.’
She opened her mouth.Shut it again.And concentrated hard on keeping her grip, only just restraining the urge to hit him—an urge she’d only ever had once in her life before, about five minutes ago.And that wasn’t her.She hated feeling this way.
She watched as he too tried to keep his cool.The silence was thick as frustration and sheer rage were mirrored in each other’s eyes.And the worst of it was that the primary source of Cally’s anger was that she still wanted him.His closeness, his presence had her yearning for him.It was that ‘conquering ferocious man’ thing again.The place between her thighs was all softness and wet.She wanted to take his hardness deep inside and squeeze the tension from both of them.He was so appallingly attractive—even now.She wanted to rid herself of her extreme physical need by rubbing against him in an extremely physical way.Her breasts felt heavy, her nipples so hard it was almost painful.She pressed the tops of her thighs together trying to get rid of some of the energy by clamping the muscles, stopping the urge to rock her hips forward.
And he knew.The green in his eyes glowed as relentlessly he stared at her.The tension zinged along the invisible cord pulling them together.
‘Very alive.Very willing,’ he murmured.
She had to suppress it, this almost insane urge to sleep with him.The drive to make him lose control and surrender to her—because she knew it wouldn’t really be him surrendering, it would be her.And how she wanted it—the weight of him as he shuddered in her arms, filling her completely, driving against her, into her—hot, sweaty, hard sex over and over.
No way, no way, no way.He thought she’d tricked him and now he was railroading her into marrying him.She could not, would not sleep with him.Mind over matter.
‘I think it’s time you left.’Shaking and low, her voice was almost inaudible.
‘And it’s time you thought through your options.There’s only one, you know.I’ll be back, Cally.’He swung back and for a second she thought he was going to kiss her.Either that or commit some act of violence.He did neither.Instead he spoke, rough and commanding.‘Take care.’
Nine
Blake was back first thing.Demanding Cally find her birth certificate.Unable to muster a hint of defiance so early in the morning when her stomach had her feeling as if she were on a small dinghy in a wildly pitching sea, she simply turned and started walking.He followed her to the small office area, watched as she took her certificate from the filing cabinet.
He watched with a wry smile.‘I knew you’d have your papers in good order.’
She stared back humourlessly.
His smile disappeared.‘I’ll drop this in to the register office today with the other documents.We marry a month tomorrow.’
