For Duty's Sake
Page 33
He drew himself up and scowled. “I do not doubt his paternity.”
“I know that.” She rolled her eyes. “I meant so there could be no question of the baby’s parentage to others. Anyway, it might be a girl.”
“Yes, because the men in my family are so good at fathering female offspring.” They hadn’t done so in five generations that he knew of, not in his direct lineage anyway.
She turned an interesting shade of green and started taking more rapid shallow breaths.
“Are you well?” What the hell was he asking? She was pregnant. Of course she was not well.
“Morning sickness,” she gasped between breaths.
“It is nowhere near morning.”
“The baby doesn’t seem to care.”
“This is not acceptable.”
She cringed, her expression filling with too many emotions to name. “You don’t want the baby?”
“Of course, I want this child. How could you ask such a thing?”
“Well, you’re acting like it’s the end of the world, or something.”
“Are you that naive?”
“I am not naive. Not anymore.”
“I disagree. You have not considered the complications this pregnancy will cause. It will be all over the press. After a lifetime of protecting my privacy and behaving with circumspection, I will make a bigger tabloid splash than your father and my brother combined.”
“You don’t want me to have this child? You think I should terminate my pregnancy?”
“Have you lost your mind?” How had she gone from what he had said to something so reprehensible? “Do not ever suggest such a thing to me again.”
“I wasn’t suggesting it. I’m not the one having a temperamental fit.”
The accusation snapped the last thread of his control.
“Di
d you do this on purpose?” he leaned forward and asked, memories of Elsa’s betrayals freshly branded in his brain. “Was this your way of getting back at me for my relationship with Elsa?”
“Now, who’s making insane accusations?”
“Women scorned have been known to do worse.”
“You never scorned me, you arrogant ass!” Then she swallowed convulsively and scrabbled for the button that would open the sunroof.
He reached up and pressed it when she seemed unable to make the stretch. “When you were eighteen, and I refused your kiss.”
“That was five years ago.”
“Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
She took several deep breaths before saying, “I can’t believe this.”
“Join my world.”
“Oh, get over yourself.”