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‘You must take me for such a fool. But know what? You picked on the wrong himbo.’ His eyes lasered into her—green-grey chips that burned with their coldness.
He thought she’d done this deliberately?
‘You’re wrong.’ Hell, he was the most astute man she’d ever encountered, but he wasn’t getting the truth of this at all. ‘When I said I was never having children I meant because I can’t. I’m not fertile. At least, I didn’t think I was.’
The specialist had said her chances of conceiving naturally were basically nil. She’d have to have treatment first. And she’d never thought she’d bother with that—what was the point? She’d never let someone get that close, not after the humiliation and hurt from Luc. Love and babies and happy-ever-after wasn’t going to happen for Cally. She was alone—she had been since she was twelve and she’d thought she would be for ever. But now, incredibly and against all odds, she had a child—to love and to protect.
‘You expect me to believe that?’
She blinked. She’d never told anyone about her fertility issues. Not even her mother—she’d gone to the doctor in her late teens with bad period pain and Alicia had thought it had all been fixed with drugs. Not so. In her early twenties she’d had it investigated. Surgery was an option but by then Cally had been crushed by Luc and had remembered too much of her father’s pain. So she’d decided to put her job and her charity work and her business ahead of any dreams of a family. She knew how much the fantasy of ‘family’ could hurt. It was the raw wound she kept well protected most of the time. Cool anger began to bubble under the surface.
‘I thought I’d have to have surgery before I could get pregnant.’
He didn’t seem to be listening, too busy looking mad. If he’d just give her a second, she’d be able to reassure him he was free of all obligation.
Blake tried to marshal his thoughts. Focus. One thing at a time. ‘Tell me this. Is it mine?’ After Paola’s threats and deceit, he had to be certain.
There was a silence. He met her gaze. Hot, hard, angry. Her mouth opened. And then he saw her hesitate, could see the workings of her brain as she deliberated, contemplating the lie.
His eyes narrowed. You dare. The flare of his anger must have been apparent because he saw the second she discarded the idea—the second she looked closely back at him. She gave a jerky nod.
‘I had to be sure.’
Her colour was high and she took a deep breath. But he didn’t think the likelihood of her calming down any time soon was high.
‘You’re to see a specialist.’ God, he needed to get in control of this situation.
‘I already am under a specialist. Do you honestly think I wouldn’t be? I never thought I’d get pregnant.’
‘Right.’ He didn’t care how sarcastic and disbelieving he sounded. Of course she’d be under a specialist—she had a ton of money and she’d gone to some pretty interesting lengths to get pregnant. Why hadn’t she just had herself artificially inseminated? But, no, she’d wanted to pick the stud herself, from a line-up of the best in town. Blake hated to be used, and right now he felt utterly used.
‘You don’t need to worry, Blake. This isn’t your concern.’
‘The hell it isn’t.’
‘You know I’ll do anything and everything I can to ensure this baby has the best possible care.’
‘Anything and everything, huh?’ He clammed his jaw together and inhaled deeply through his nose, trying to stay on top of a barrage of emotions that was tearing through him. He was the one who’d do anything to ensure the safety of his child—he’d failed once. Now he had a second chance. ‘We’ll get married as soon as it can be arranged.’
‘What?’
‘Married.’
The look of shock on her face made him even madder. Did she really think she could get away with this?
‘I’m not marrying you.’
‘You should have thought about that before you used me to get pregnant.’
‘I did not use you.’
‘Sure you didn’t.’
‘I never thought I could get pregnant.’ She hurried to the table in the open-plan living area, looking panicky—as she should. ‘Look, I went to my lawyer this morning. Talked about options. He drew this up for me. If you sign it there’ll be no obligations on you. I have money, you know I’m not going to chase you for that. I do want to put your name on the birth certificate, but that’s it. You don’t have to have anything to do with us.’
Her voice faltered as she looked up from the document and saw the look on his face. If it reflected even half the thoughts he was having she was right to look nervous. He was feeling as close to murderous as he’d ever got in his life. He held out his hand for the papers.
It was a moment before she handed them over, sudden reluctance slowing her down as, wide-eyed, she stared at him.
He looked at the pages of type, flicked through a few while his brain processed and the rage part grew inside.
‘Did you honestly think I’d sign this?’ He tore it straight down the middle and threw it. The pages frustratingly fluttered soundlessly to the floor so he pounded his fists on the table. He swore viciously at her expression. She had thought he’d sign it.
‘What kind of an idiot do you take me for? How can you expect me to believe you didn’t plan this when you have some twenty page document from your lawyer conveniently stripping me of all my rights?’
Her mouth opened. Shut again.
‘We are getting married as soon as it can be arranged.’
‘I am not marrying you,’ she repeated, clearly alarmed but fighting him still—showing her inner strength. But he didn’t have room in him for admiration right now.
‘Yes, you are.’ He didn’t know how he was going to swing it, but no way in hell was he being shut out on this. Not again.
She looked stunned and visibly tried to pull herself together with deep breaths that, annoyingly, drew his attention to her full breasts. His already hard-wound body tightened a notch. Damn if he didn’t find her utterly desirable. Even now. Even when he knew how devious she really was.
‘We don’t need to do anything yet.’ She was trying to sound calm. Failing. ‘It’s so early on.’
‘We move on this right away.’
‘I don’t want people knowing about the baby.’ Vehemence flashed in her face.
‘Too late.’ He took malicious pleasure in informing her. ‘It’s obvious, Cally. How do you think I knew?’
She looked aghast. ‘You knew?’ Anger shrilled her voice. ‘You were tricking me with all the wine and the cheese and the damn mussels?’
‘Yeah. I admit it. It was a test.’ He stepped closer and put it plain. ‘Do you want this baby, Cally? What kind of mother will you be? Can you put someone else’s needs before your own or is your life only about you and what you want and when you want it?’
Her hand lifted, palm open, fast as a snake, and she very, very nearly hit him.
But his hand caught her wrist. Held it hard. Satisfaction ran through him. He’d finally succeeded in stopping her from carrying out one of her ill-conceived urges. He hadn’t had much luck up till now—she’d got everything she wanted from him. Well, now she was going to get a little bonus she hadn’t planned for.
‘What happened to your manners, Cally?’ he drawled, masking the molten mess of emotion inside.
‘Leave,’ she muttered.
‘No. You’re stuck with me now.’ His jaw clamped. ‘And I mean well and truly shackled.’ He felt her body tense to break point. Right now he wanted to break her. Docile and compliant—that would do.
‘You don’t trust me, do you?’ She changed tack.
‘Not a jot. And wasn’t I right not to? I’ve never met anyone so calculating in my life.’
‘You won’t believe that I didn’t plan this?’
‘Nope.’
Cally let the tension go out of her body, slackening her arm. He let it go immediately. Maybe she could pacify him. ‘I’m sorry, Blake.’
‘Sure.’ Granite incarnate.
‘Look, I’m grateful to you for wanting to be here for me. I am. But I don’t want or need anything from you.’
‘I’m not here for you, Cally. I’m here for my baby.’
She swallowed feeling stupidly hurt by the bald statement. ‘You were the one who said it was all a bit of fun. We weren’t talking marriage or babies, remember?’
‘We are now.’
She stared at him. Saw the hardness in his eyes. The same hardness that had been there when he’d said it that first night. A definite no-go area. There was definitely history behind him, some reason why he’d never intended to marry. Probably a past hurt. Although she couldn’t imagine him letting anyone get close enough to hurt him. He was all about surface fun and frivolity—naughty weekends that led to nothing.
But there wasn’t nothing now. He was all steel and determination and she had to fight.
‘You don’t want me, Blake. You don’t even want this baby. This is about you wanting control of this situation. You’re never out of control, are you?’
‘Stop and use your brain for just a moment, Cally,’ he answered softly. ‘I think you’ll find you already know the answer to that question.’
Their eyes met and she saw the dark desire, heard the echo of his hoarse cry as he climaxed inside her, the feel of the flood of his life force in her. She closed her eyes as a ripple of remembered ecstasy flowed from her belly out, making her want to … making her want him to …
Stop.
She didn’t want him taking over like this—didn’t want him taking advantage of her sexual attraction to him.
‘This is my baby,’ she whispered.
‘It’s my baby too. That’s my flesh and blood you’re carrying.’ He wasn’t going to give an inch.
‘OK.’ She’d still try compromise. ‘We can work out visitation rights. You can see the baby any time you like.’ She could do that. Surely he’d lose interest after a while?
‘No child of mine is growing up thinking he wasn’t wanted by his father. I am this child’s father and I will be there for her or him every step of the way. So get used to me being around, Cally, because I am going to be right beside you every minute of this pregnancy and beyond.’
Cally bit hard on the flesh of her inner cheek as she registered the passion, the deep conviction behind his words. Not good. Was that what had happened to him? He hadn’t been wanted by his father? Her heart ached and absurdly the urge to embrace him flashed through her. She knew what it was like not to be wanted.
‘You can be an involved dad—’
‘I am living under the same roof as this baby!’ he overrode her furiously. ‘Either you live under it with me or I have custody and I will fight to the death for that—don’t think for a second I won’t.’ Every muscle in his body was hard, every word shot out. ‘And trust me on this, Cally. When I fight, I win.’
She stared at the stranger in her room. She’d never glimpsed this side of him in that sex-drenched weekend. Then he’d been all about lust and laughter and unbelievable thrills.
She deepened her analysis—suddenly remembering the way he’d won the bet. This was a man happy to take risks to ensure he got what he wanted.
Calculated. Merciless. Driven.
No wonder his company was so successful. No wonder he had the reputation for being such a shark in the business arena. Single-minded, he was able to do whatever it took to ensure he got the result he required.
He was right. She had picked the wrong guy.
Desperately she searched for another way to appeal to him. ‘We don’t have to marry to get what we both want.’
‘What I want, Cally, is for my child to grow up as part of a family.’
That stopped her. Family? From the man who never talked marriage and babies? Suddenly he was talking family?
Anger resurged in her. She knew all about family. About betrayal and loss and how much it hurt when the security you were supposed to get never eventuated. Her parents had married for this exact reason—because her mother had got pregnant. And that marriage had failed—her mother walking out on them less than two years later and leaving her father in one hell of an ugly mess.
She paced towards him. ‘How can you honestly marry me? How can you promise to love me? How can you make that vow if you’re always so honest? If you always “deliver on your promises”?’ Scathingly she quoted him and then braced for the answer.
It was a while coming. When he did speak, it was quietly, deliberately and woundingly truthful. ‘You’re carrying my flesh and blood. You are the mother of my child. I will always honour you. I will always respect you.’
Components of love perhaps—but certainly not the whole recipe. He would never love her in that true sense. He didn’t quite say it, but he didn’t have to. She understood he had no other depth of feeling for her and, while it struck at her own dangerously soft heart, at least now she knew her child would have the benefit of two adoring parents. Emotion threatened to topple her, tears burning the backs of her eyes. ‘This baby means that much to you?’
‘Yes.’ He looked at her quizzically. ‘Is that such a surprise, Cally? Or is it only women who are allowed a strong parental urge?’
‘No.’ She shook her head. She knew damn well some women didn’t have any kind of a parental urge at all—her mother for one. But her father? Her father had loved her and cared for her and right this minute she missed him more than ever. She couldn’t deny her baby the possibility of a relationship as close as that with its own father. That realisation struck deep into her, and that moment she knew her fate was sealed. ‘Of course not.’
But while her father had been capable of great love, he’d been capable of deep hurt too. He’d been broken-hearted by her mother—by her blithe betrayal and her rejection of both him and their child. Cally was more her father’s daughter than her mother’s—she already knew how much she could hurt; Luc had proven that. Since then she’d tried to keep her heart hidden and protected. Unfortunately a little part had crept out under Blake’s playful caresses those few weeks ago. She knew she couldn’t handle the kind of humiliation and hurt that would come if she ended up falling for him while he felt nothing for her other than a kind of gratitude. She had to keep some kind of distance. Surely she had to say no to him.
But how could she? He’d win; he’d always win. He’d warned her just now and she knew to believe him. And the difference between her and Blake and the situation of her parents was that both she and Blake wanted this baby. Whereas her mother hadn’t, her mother had wanted money and a name, not a baby to have to care for.
Blake was making it clear he wanted to care for their child. He was determined to be there for it every step of the way—as her father had been there for her. How could she deny her child that?
Cally hid the internal quiver. She was trapped. So much of her didn’t want a false marriage, but she couldn’t rob her baby of its right to two loving parents.
She’d got a little more than she’d paid for on their wager, but the result was priceless. She’d sell everything to keep her child—her body, her heart, her soul.
Blake studied his bride-to-be and couldn’t decide what he wanted more—to shake her or to kiss her. Fired-up fury ran through his veins and he tried to ice it up. He’d been taken for a ride and he didn’t like it. But he was back in the driver’s seat and there he’d stay—in charge of the situation. He wouldn’t let her take the wheel again. They’d marry—a.s.a.p. and then he’d have her there right under his nose.
The sudden thought of Cally warming his bed night after night stirred his blood more. Then came the image of her lush, curvy body growing to bear the burden of his child—her head bent over a baby as she nursed it. The protective instinct rose all powerful. Masculine aggression flowed through his veins.
He would fight like the devil to keep his child, and its mother, safe from harm. He would fight her if she tried to block him, and he was quite happy to fight dirty.
He looked at the anger and uncertainty in her eyes—the passion that made the brown melt and mix with golden flecks. He saw the new bloom of colour in cheeks that had been so pale when he’d first arrived. He stared at her sulky mouth as it parted with her fast, short breaths and felt the pull in his groin. There was one way he could get her to say yes. One way he could get her to scream it.
But desire fogged his brain as well and he needed to keep focused. He’d be better to keep her out of his bed until she was there willingly—utterly willingly and for as long as he wanted. If he stayed in control now, he’d be able to retain the advantage. And he needed to do that until he had her firmly tethered to him.
When Paola had got pregnant he’d been powerless to do anything about it. He was not powerless now. And he’d keep it that way.
Cally had used him but at least she wanted the child. And now she’d got him in the bargain. A little more than she’d banked on, but he knew they could swing it to their advantage. They actually had a lot in common. Not least a sexual drive that matched nicely. Once they were through these negotiations they could have a lot of fun together. He decided to throw the thought into the fire. Test her reaction.
‘We deal together pretty well, Cally. You please me. I’m pretty sure I can please you. We can definitely work this out.’
