“Ah. But first, you want a check for…How much? A hundred thousand? Five hundred thousand? A million? Don’t shake your head, Miss Madison. We both know you have a price in mind.”
Another steadying breath. “Not a check.”
“Cash, then. It doesn’t matter.”
The icy little smile slipped from his lips and she repressed a shudder. The prince would be a formidable enemy.
“I don’t want money. I want a letter. A document that makes it clear you’re giving up all rights to the child in my womb.”
He laughed. Laughed, damn him!
“Thee mou, lady. Don’t you know when to quit?”
“Sign it, date it and I’ll be out of your life forever.”
His laughter stopped with the speed of a faucet turning off. “Enough,” he said through his teeth. “Get out of my home before I do something we’ll both regret.”
“Just a letter,” she said. “A few lines—”
He said something in what she assumed was Greek. She didn’t understand the words but she didn’t have to as he gripped her by the shoulders, spun her around, put a hand in the small of her back and shoved her forward.
“And if you’re foolish enough to tell your ridiculous story to anyone—”
The thing to do was hire a lawyer. Except, he’d hire a dozen for every one she could afford. He had power. Money. Status. Still, there had to be a way. There had to be!
“And if you really are knocked up, if some man was stupid enough to let your face blind him to the scheming bitch you really are—”
Ivy spun around, swung her fist and caught him in the jaw. He was big and strong and hard as nails but she caught him off guard. He blinked and staggered back. It took him all of a second to recover but it was enough to send a warm rush of pleasure through her blood.
“You—you pompous ass,” she hissed. She marched forward, index finger aimed at his chest, and jabbed it right into the center of his starched white shirt, her fear gone, everything forgotten but his impossible arrogance. “This isn’t about you and who you are and how much money you have. It isn’t about you at all! I don’t want anything from you, Prince Damian. I never—”
She gasped as he caught her by the elbows and lifted her to her toes.
“You don’t want anything from me, huh?” Damian’s lips drew back from his teeth as he bent his head toward hers. “That’s why you came here? Because you don’t want anything from me?”
“I came because I thought I owed it to you but I was wrong. I don’t. And I warn you, letter or no letter, if you should change your mind a month from now, a decade from now, and try and claim my baby—”
“Damn you,” he roared, “there is no baby!”
“Whatever you say.”
“The truth at last!”
“Truth?” Ivy laughed in his face. “You wouldn’t know it if it bit you in the tail!”
“I know that I never took you to bed.”
“Let go!”
“How come you didn’t factor that into your little scheme?” Damian yanked her wrist, dragged it behind her back. She flinched but she’d sooner have eaten nails than let him know he was hurting her. “You made several mistakes, Miss Madison. One, I don’t drink to excess. Two, I never forget a woman I’ve been with.” His gaze swept over her with slow deliberation before returning to her face. “Believe me, lady, if I’d had you, I’d remember.”
“I’m done talking about that.”
“But I’m not.” He drew her closer, until they were a breath apart. “Why should I be? You said we were intimate. I said we weren’t. Why not settle the question?”
“It isn’t worth settling. And I never said we’d been intimate.”
His lips drew back from his teeth. “Ah, Ivy, Ivy, you disappoint me. Backing down already?” His smile vanished; his eyes turned cold. “Come on, glyka mou. Here’s your chance. Convince me we slept together. Remind me of what it was like.”