Well he was going to be disappointed.
She drew in a deep breath. ‘This is my baby, Nick—’
‘And mine,’ he put in quietly.
‘But you can’t be sure of that, can you?’ she taunted, pacing the room restlessly as she looked at him. ‘How do you know, how can you be sure, I haven’t been with another man in the last six weeks?’ she challenged.
He didn’t move, but a nerve began to pulse just below his jaw. ‘Have you?’
‘No, I haven’t, damn you!’ she denied furiously. ‘But there’s no way you can be sure—absolutely sure—is there?’ she taunted.
He continued to look at her for several long, breathless seconds, and then he nodded. ‘A doctor will be able to confirm just how pregnant you are.’
Hebe looked at him, frowning, but his expression was so inscrutable it was impossible to read any emotion behind those blue eyes. ‘And you will accept that?’
His eyes narrowed on her probingly. ‘If you insist we can have tests done too,’ he finally murmured softly.
‘If I insist…?’ she prompted suspiciously.
‘Hebe, once this baby is established as mine, that’s exactly what it will be!’ he grated harshly.
She gave a disbelieving shake of her head. ‘Are you saying you would take this baby away from me?’
‘I’m not saying that at all.’ He shrugged. ‘Although, obviously that will ultimately be your decision.’
‘I don’t understand you!’ she muttered emotionally.
‘It’s quite simple, Hebe. If you want to get your hands on “all that lovely Cavendish money” then you will also have to accept that I come along with it,’ he bit out decisively.
Hebe stopped her pacing to stare at him incredulously. ‘But I don’t want your money,’ she finally burst out forcefully. ‘I’m not interested in it. Or you!’
‘Methinks you doth protest too much,’ he taunted.
‘I’m not protesting at all,’ she snapped, stung by his mockery. ‘I’m stating a fact.’
‘A fact, Hebe, the bottom line, is I now have a responsibility to you and the baby,’ he shrugged.
A responsibility? Was that what she had become?
After years of independence, of paying her own way, was that was she was going to be reduced to?
No, she wouldn’t become that! No matter how difficult going it alone was going to be, she wouldn’t become that…
She gave a firm shake of her head. ‘I don’t need or want your help, thank you,’ she told him stiffly.
‘Haven’t you understood yet, Hebe?’ Nick ground out fiercely. ‘I’m not asking, I’m telling you how it’s going to be!’
Hebe raised her head to look at him numbly. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Simply that I am going to marry you, Hebe,’ he told her grimly. ‘Just as quickly as the arrangements can be made!’
Nick was going to marry her?
He couldn’t be serious!
CHAPTER FIVE
NICK watched Hebe’s face suffuse with a look of horror as the full realisation of what he had just said hit her.
Not exactly a flattering response to a proposal of marriage!
Certainly not the response he had been expecting.
Most women he knew, in Hebe’s position, would have jumped at the idea of marrying him.
Hebe just looked as if he had dealt her another insult!
Unless he was just meant to think she was horrified at the suggestion?
He tried to force this idea from his mind. If the two of them were to be married and have a child together, there had to be some sort of common ground for them other than the baby. It would be a disaster otherwise—their marriage just a battleground. Even if they were going to be marrying for reasons other than love.
‘Oh, come on, Hebe,’ he chided tauntingly. ‘It won’t be so bad. You won’t have to work any more. You can spend as much of that Cavendish money as you like redecorating my apartments, if they don’t suit.’ Looking round at this apartment at its warmth and homeliness, he had a feeling that the chrome and leather décor in his own homes wouldn’t be what Hebe would choose at all. ‘Or we could buy a house,’ he suggested, as the thought occurred to him. ‘It would probably be better for the baby if it had a garden to play in—’
‘Stop, Nick!’ she cut in forcefully. ‘Just stop! I am not going to marry you—’
‘Oh yes, you are,’ Nick assured her softly.
‘No. I’m. Not,’ she said firmly.
‘Oh-yes-you-are,’ he repeated, with restrained anger.
‘No!’ She shook her head decisively. ‘I don’t want to marry you. I don’t know you! You don’t know me, either!’ she reasoned frustratedly. ‘And what you do know you don’t like!’
Nick gave a lazy smile as his gaze moved slowly over the slim contours of her body. Whether she realised it or not, her nipples were taut with tension beneath that fitted tee shirt. ‘Oh, I think you’ll find I like my side of the bargain just fine,’ he said mockingly.
Hebe eyed him with frustration, knowing he was deliberately misunderstanding her. What he was talking about was purely physical. The two of them had undoubtedly found a compatability that single night they’d spent together, but that had nothing to do with the commitment of marrying someone, living with them every day. He was thinking only of the nights—not the days, weeks and years of living together.
‘I think you’ll like it just fine, too, Hebe,’ he murmured throatily as he stood up to move purposefully towards her. ‘Would you like me to demonstrate how much you’ll like it?’
‘No…’ Hebe took a step back, her eyes wide as she easily guessed his intention.
She already knew that she did like—only too well!
Nick paid absolutely no attention to her half-hearted protest, taking her in his arms as his head lowered and his lips claimed hers.
Oh, God…!
Hebe simply melted against him, having no defences against his marauding mouth and hands as she felt the flood of warmth between her thighs, her breasts highly sensitised against the hardness of his chest.
His mouth moved hungrily against hers, sipping and tasting, the moist warmth of his tongue moving erotically against her lips before dipping deep into the hot cavern beneath.
Burning desire ripped through her, tearing her defences apart in a single assault, and her hands clung to the strength of his shoulders as she gave in to that engulfing fire.
His mouth broke away from hers, his lips and tongue trailing heatedly down the creamy column of her throat, his hands pushing her tee shirt impatiently aside. Taking one fiery nipple into the heat of his mouth, tongue caressing, teeth gently biting, he let his hand move down between her legs, cupping her there, just that touch through denim and silk making her quiver with pleasure.
She wanted—She needed—
Nick gave her what she needed, his palm pressing against the hardened nub between her legs, pressing more firmly as his mouth moved to her other breast, drawing the nipple into his mouth, sucking deeply as his tongue moved moistly, teeth biting