“I’ll pay for your school, let you quit that damn job,” he repeated, “take care of you and the baby. I’ll pay your medical bills—”
“No one is that filled with benevolence. What do you want out of this generous offer?” she asked in a cynical voice.
“Stop fighting me,” he said, gazing steadily into her green eyes and thinking that every inch of her made a man think of sex. “I want to know my niece or nephew. I want to make sure this baby is taken care of in the manner he or she should be. I don’t want your body,” he reaffirmed, trying to avoid looking at her lush body and failing annoyingly to stop thinking about it. “I want to know your baby. I want to see you able to take care of yourself and the baby. I can pay for your education. In turn, this Ransome will become part of our family. Dad has had one heart attack already. I want him to know his only grandchild.”
“If you want your father to have a grandchild so badly, you should rethink your stance against marriage.”
“I married once and never again for me,” Matt replied grimly, refusing to discuss the matter further.
“What happened? She didn’t like your bossy arrogance?”
He banked his irritation and ignored her question. “Your baby will be the only Ransome in the next generation. My dad isn’t getting any younger and he desperately wants a grandchild. I think he’s given up on all of us, but now, with your baby, his hopes are rekindled.”
As Olivia bit her lip, Matt couldn’t resist looking at her mouth.
“Look, dammit. What are you holding onto here besides your independence?” he asked. “This isn’t a castle. Your job is tough and tiring and pays little. You work in an unhealthy atmosphere. Men hit on you, and I can imagine what they’re saying to you—”
“And you won’t hit on me?” she asked in a sarcastic tone.
“No, I won’t,” he said flatly, trying in vain to shove erotic images of her out of his mind. “You know you’re an attractive woman, but you’re like a relative,” he said, while an inner voice laughed and he wiped his perspiring brow. When had the temperature in the small room climbed so high?
“What do you want?” she asked. “You look like the straight-arrow, determined, accustomed to getting-your-way type.”
“I want to take care of my dad and our ranches—we own three. No commitments beyond my family and our ranches. I want my dad to get to know his only grandchild. Pretty damn simple,” Matt snapped, thinking it should not be complicated, but it was. He was playing with dynamite right now by bringing her into their family.
“I suspect there’s more to it than my baby.”
“I swear I’m telling you the truth.”
“I know I work in a bad place and I’m looking for another job,” she said, waving her slender fingers at him. “I’m holding on to my independence because that’s all I really have. I don’t want to have to depend on you and I don’t want to have to repay you for favors.”
“If it reassures you, we can put my offer in a contract. I don’t want anything physical,” he repeated. “I’ll pay for your school and all your expenses and your baby’s. I’ll pay you a lump sum up front so you’re not beholden to me for money. You don’t have to repay any of it.”
“That sounds too generous. I know you can’t understand someone holding such a value on independence, but it’s important to me. In spite of what you say, I can’t believe there aren’t strings attached to your offer.”
“Listen. I’m trying to give you the help you need to become completely independent. In exchange, I want to know my brother’s child That’s all there is to it.”
She glowered and inhaled, and he looked down as her full breasts strained against the fabric. When he glanced up, she frowned.
“It’s difficult to be convinced that you really want to know this baby—or that your father wants a grandchild badly—when Jeff so totally denied us and was emphatic he didn’t want anything to do with my baby.”
“None of us knew Jeff’s attitude. My guess is, his reaction was to get out of his responsibility, which was typical of my younger brother.”
“So what happens later when I want to move on?”
“We’ll work that out when we come to it. I hope you’ll stick around until you finish your education. Maybe by then you’ll like us and trust us enough to stay close permanently. Do you have long-term plans?”
“I intend to finish school and get a job. I still say, you could marry again if you want kids so all-fired much.”
“There is already a baby coming who is a Ransome. I’m not going to turn my back on a child who has Ransome blood. I have to keep reminding you—your baby is my relative.”
Matt stared at her while she glared at him and the clash of wills was tense, but along with the contention was a sexual undercurrent of desire. Sparks danced between them, and Matt was certain she felt the same attraction he did.
Instinctively, he knew the appeal was as unwanted to her as it was to him. Trying to control his insistent lust, he made a stronger effort to think only of the future and a baby he wasn’t going to surrender without the fight of his life.
“If I give you a sum of cash up front and promise to pay your expenses, you won’t feel dependent on me. I’ll repeat—we can sign a contract.”
“I don’t want to get involved with Jeff’s kin,” she insisted and he wondered if she had a clue how much he was willing to give her to change her grim conditions.
“Possibly my offer will help with your decision. We’ll set up a trust fund for your baby. I’ll cover your expenses and you’ll have room and board at the ranch. Plus how’s a hundred thousand dollars paid to you, half now, half in six months?”
Olivia stared in disbelief at Matt Ransome as the princely sum stunned her.
“For that much money, you want me, body and soul, plus my baby,” she replied curtly as she stood. “Get out!”
“Sit down,” he ordered in the cold, quiet voice he had used before that sent a chill down her spine, yet made her feel that the last notion on his mind was her body. She sat.
“I keep telling you that I can have our attorney draw up a contract. If you want, you can meet my family and talk to them.”
Barely considering his family, Olivia nodded stiffly while the amount of money spun in her thoughts. The sum dazzled her. Unable to stop herself, she speculated about the classes she could take, the freedom she could have, the dreadful job that she could leave. It was more money than she could ever earn at the bar. Her heart pounded, her palms had grown damp and it was an effort to resist accepting his offer blindly and instantly. She realized silence was stretching between them and he was waiting patiently.
“You’re very different from your brother,” she remarked.
“I hope to hell I am,” he said.
She had seen Matt Ransome at the rib place hours before he had spoken to her. She had never met him, but she had seen him once when she was with Jeff and he had told her that Matt was his brother. Matt had none of Jeff’s easy charm or happy-go-lucky ways. He was perhaps a couple of inches shorter, more broad-shouldered, handsome in his own way with the same dark blue eyes and thick lashes. Matt’s hair was black. Jeff’s had been brown.
That first moment of a close encounter with Matt Ransome had disturbed her. She had