“Timothy's private practice in Flint was thriving—”
“He's been buying and selling babies on the open market,” he ruthlessly interrupted. “Taking children from poor mothers and giving them to rich, childless couples who can afford his illegal fees.”
She stared at him, her mouth agape. Then she shook her head violently. “No! Timothy wouldn't do that!”
“Before your wedding, you told him you were pregnant with another man's child. What did he do?”
All the color slowly drained from her face.
“He told me he'd take care of it,” she whispered. “But I thought he meant… I thought…”
She sucked in her breath. Then covered her face with her hands. “Oh my God.”
Diogo stared at her.
Ellie hadn't known.
She hadn't intended to sell their child.
Not for love.
Not for money.
She'd just turned down Diogo's offer of a hundred million dollars. How many women would have done that? None of the greedy debutantes or avaricious actresses of his acquaintance. They all would have made noises about loving their child and wanting to be a good mother—but for a hundred million dollars, they would have tripped over themselves trying to shove the baby in his arms.
He had his proof. Ellie Jensen was…not a gold digger.
She was just foolish and blind. She'd given her precious virginity to Diogo, knowing that he had no intention of being a husband or father. Then she'd agreed to marry an unscrupulous, rotten man like Wright, because she actually thought he would be a good father for her child.
Like most women, Ellie was weak. But she wasn't immoral. She wanted to protect this baby, just as he did. She placed the security and happiness of her child above her own desires.
And that changed everything.
“I'm sorry, Ellie,” he said quietly. “I had to know what kind of woman you really were. I had to know that you wouldn't hurt our child.”
She wiped the tears from her face. “And now that you know?”
Now that he knew? Diogo still wanted to protect his child.
But he also wanted Ellie in his bed. To have her every night and make love to her until he was utterly satiated. He took her in his arms.
“I want you to stay with me, Ellie. Raise our child together. I want you to remain in my bed for as long as the sweetness lasts.”
She took a long breath. “And then?”
He stroked her cheek, forcing her to raise her chin. “We will always be parents, Ellie. Even when we cease to be lovers.”
Looking up into his eyes, the expression on her face changed.
“Damn you,” she whispered. “I won't be your toy.”
“Yes,” he said with absolute certainty, “you will.”
And he kissed her.
CHAPTER SEVEN
HIS KISS WAS TENDER and pure, but Ellie felt the hunger beneath his embrace. Diogo's demand matched her own, threatening to consume her and burn her in his fire.
He wrapped his arms around her. He towered over her, so much taller and stronger than she, and Ellie felt captive in his arms, unable to pull away. But it was her own longing that trapped her, holding her as no act of force possibly could. His body was hard and warm against hers. The fresh wind blew from the ocean, twisting her blond hair around them, and she felt the hot Brazilian sunshine against her skin. The world seemed suspended in time as his lips demanded the surrender she longed to give.
She realized she was holding him as tightly as he held her. Her fingers clutched his back as his tongue teased hers, causing a sigh to rise from deep in her throat.
She knew she should stop but she wanted another minute in his arms. Her whole body begged for just one more minute…
But no matter how she wanted it, she couldn't let this happen.
To Ellie, making love to a man meant being in love, while to Diogo it was nothing but a moment's pleasure, swiftly forgotten before the next break of dawn.
Diogo's hot kisses lured her to her own destruction.
“Ellie,” he whispered against her hair. “Come to my bed. Now.”
Her heart pounded. She pressed her cheek against his chest, barely able to breathe for the pounding of her heart. “It wouldn't be wise.”
“Why?”
She licked her lips. “I told you…I can't just be your one-night stand.”
He ran his hands through her blond tendrils, down her bare arms. “You're far more than a one-night stand to me.”
She looked up at him. “I am?”
“We will always be connected, Ellie.” His dark eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her. His charming, arrogant, impossible-to-resist smile. “You are the mother of my child.”
Only that.
In spite of herself, her heart sank in her chest. She should have been glad. That Diogo would wish her to be his mistress, and that he'd be an active partner in their child's upbringing, was far more than she'd once dared hope.