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He could have added he had never been so sexually aroused by any other woman and he was envisaging an exciting length of time where she wore no pants at all, but he thought logic might work better for him at this point. He would reinforce the passion between them later.
“But I don’t love you,” she said, her beautiful blue eyes wavering under the certainty he was beaming at her.
Love... Matt’s thought pattern was severely jolted, the emotional pull of that one word disrupting his straight-line plan of action.
What was love anyway? Something that grew out of passion, liking, respect. It would happen, he told himself. Besides, love didn’t guarantee a future together. Her own experience should be telling her that. Where had love got her in the very recent past? Down the drain!
She needed some guidance on the more practical aspects of marriage—the real living together, not the hearts and flowers stuff which was ephemeral anyway. If she’d been actually living in Rome she wouldn’t have been fooled for so long.
“‘With my body, I thee wed,’” he quoted at her, “and we’ve sure got the right chemistry for that to be a mutual pleasure. No denying the spark’s there. We’ve got plenty to build on, Peta.”
Hot colour shot into her cheeks, giving them a glow that rivalled the brilliant shine of her hair. Her eyelashes fluttered down. She picked up her drink. “I don’t think that’s enough to build a marriage on,” she muttered and took temporary refuge in sipping the gin and tonic.
“You’re right Goodwill and mutual goals and a sense of commitment are more important,” he said emphatically. “Half the world does very well with arranged marriages where such things are established beforehand. Love doesn’t enter into them at all.”
“I hardly know you,” she cried, her inner agitation showing as she swirled her drinking straw around the ice cubes in her glass.
“Did you know the man who deceived you for two years?” he countered and instantly regretted the words as pain flashed across her face. Damn it! He didn’t want to remind her of him, though she did need to appreciate knowledge came in provable facts, not just feelings. He’d already totted up in his mind quite a résumé on her life and background, just as she should have done on him by now.
“Peta...this can be a clean slate for both of us,” he pressed gently, wanting to mitigate the hurt. “There’s no need to bring bad emotional baggage from the past into the future we make for ourselves. We care about the same things. We can share them.”
It caught her attention. She was with him again.
Eager to appease her doubts and fears, he asked, “What do you need to know?” willing to supply her with any information she required in coming to view a future with him more favourably.
His life was a fairly open book, no skeletons to worry about. His secretary could probably list a few faults but he wouldn’t be human if he didn’t have some. Skye and Janelle could undoubtedly list a few more—women being women. However, all relationships worked on give and take and compromise. Marriage was no different. It was just longer on commitment.
The ice cubes clinked continually as Peta considered the need-to-know question. Matt didn’t hurry her. Assessing him in the light of a possible husband was probably a big step for her and needed appropriate consideration. Fortunately, the groundwork had already been laid. He couldn’t be dismissed as an inadequate breadwinner. His health was good. They had similar values, much in common, and their wedding night shouldn’t hold any fears, not after that kiss.
Her gaze shifted, fastening on his hands, one curled lightly around his glass, the other resting on the table near it. Was she remembering his touch on her breast, the way she’d responded? He sat very still, not wanting to distract her, conscious of his own pulse picking up tempo as erotic images played through his mind. Peta Kelly had the sexiest body he’d ever felt. And her mouth... As though her thoughts were attuned to his, her lashes lifted enough for her to focus on his mouth.
Matt was glad of the cover given him by the table. His heart pumped so hard it sent a rush of stirring blood to his groin. Keeping still was almost beyond him. He curled both hands tightly around his glass to stop himself from reaching out to her. The urge to leap up and haul her into his embrace again was close to irresistible.
“What you’re putting to me...” she said slowly, her gaze lifting, sharply concentrated now as her eyes scanned his, “...is a marriage of convenience.”
“Yes. Why not?” If she wanted to think of it like that, Matt didn’t mind, as long as she was thinking of them being together. “Save us both from wasting more time,” he pointed out, hunting for backup arguments. “I don’t want to be an old dad. And I can’t imagine anyone I’d like more as the mother of my children. Fine genes,” he added for good measure.
It drew a wry smile. “Yours don’t look so bad, either.”
He grinned. “Consider me a sperm bank.”
She sighed. “It’s not that simple, is it? There is the matter of living together.”
“Reasonable people can always find a way,” he argued. Caring hearts also helped, he thought. Peta no more liked to hurt people than he did. The sense of fairness that had driven he
r to come after him tonight was very heartening. He could deal with that.
“And for all you seem very virile, you might fire blanks.”
“What?”
“Have you fathered any children?”
Matt recovered from the shock of having his potency doubted. “I’m not an irresponsible sower of oats,” he declared strongly.
She shrugged. “Just checking. If we should enter a marriage for the purpose of having children...”
“Okay. We’ll have tests done first. Sensible idea,” he approved, though he didn’t feel like being sensible where Peta Kelly was concerned. He didn’t want her to back out. There would be no reason to, he swiftly assured himself. His father had certainly sired him. Why shouldn’t he be successful in the paternity stakes?
