His Black Sheep Bride (Aristocratic Grooms 1)

But first, she had to tell him her news.

Tamara checked her watch. It was six in the evening, but she knew Sawyer would still be at his office. He’d told her that he had a late meeting.

Tamara wandered out of the bathroom and into the bedroom that she and Sawyer shared. First, she called her ob-gyn’s office to schedule an appointment.

Then she paced. She could wait until Sawyer arrived home, trying to tame her restlessness until then, or she could try to intercept him at work. With any luck, she’d arrive at Melton Media when his meeting was over, or just a little before.

Impulsively, she grabbed her purse from where she’d dropped it on a nearby chair and hurried out of the bedroom. When she reached the town house foyer, she asked Lloyd, who happened to be around to drive her to Melton Media.

Within the hour, she was at Sawyer’s offices. Building security recognized her as the new Countess of Melton and waved her by without the need to check in.

She rode the elevator up, and when she reached Sawyer’s executive floor, she crossed the reception area, her footsteps muffled by carpeting.

Sawyer’s office door was half-open, but just as she was about to peek inside, she froze at the sound of her father’s voice coming from within.

“I’m glad to hear most of the due diligence has been completed,” her father said.

“My attorneys have said the merger documents will be ready for our review in the next couple of weeks,” Sawyer responded. “Then we can pick a closing date.”

Tamara could see neither man from her vantage point, but their words reached her distinctly.

“Splendid,” her father replied. “Of course, the deal won’t close until I know that you’ve upheld your part of the bargain and gotten Tamara pregnant.”

Tamara sucked in a breath.

“Naturally,” Sawyer responded, his tone dry but easy.

She was suspended by shock and disbelief for several moments before realization sunk in, followed by hurt and anger.

She felt as if a boulder had come crashing down on her spirit…and her heart.

The villain.

The double-dealing toad.

She flattened one hand against the office door, pushed and walked inside.

Sawyer’s gaze immediately connected with hers from where he sat behind his desk. He rose at the same time that her father swung around in his chair.

Tamara could tell from Sawyer’s expression that he’d understood everything about her sudden appearance. “Tamara—”

“I see I’ve come at an inconvenient time,” she announced, ignoring Sawyer’s warning tone.

How dare he warn her. If anything, he was the one who needed to be cautious given how she was feeling at the moment.

Her father belatedly stood, too. “Now, Tamara, I don’t know what you heard…”

She held up a silencing hand. “Enough to know that you’ll never change. It’s Kincaid News you’re concerned about first and foremost, isn’t it? And it always will be.”

Her tone was bitter, but her true rancor was directed at Sawyer, whose face was inscrutable.

“Tell me,” she said, willing her voice not to waver as she lowered her hand to clench it at her side, “was any of it real? Or were you faking the emotion even when you slept with me?”

You’re beautiful.

He’d seduced her. And she’d fallen for it. For him.

Her heart squeezed.

She might not be an ingénue like her mother had been, but she’d nevertheless let herself be swept away by flattery and pretty words.

Her father cleared his throat, his expression grim. “I will leave you and Sawyer to discuss this matter between yourselves.”

“Isn’t it a little late to decide to stop meddling?” she tossed out as her father made his way to the door.

“Where I come from,” her father responded, turning back, “it’s called looking out for one’s interests, and it’s gotten me to where I am, though you and your sisters stubbornly refuse to recognize it.”

“I hardly have a choice about recognizing it in this case, do I?” she retorted. “You and your—” she glared at Sawyer “—ilk have seen to it.”

Silence reigned then as her father exited the office.

When she heard the office door click, she swung back to face Sawyer.

“All this time I thought you were deceiving my father,” she charged, “but I was the one that you were keeping in the dark about the truth, wasn’t I?”

Sawyer looked implacable, his eyes flinty. “I was aboveboard with you that day at your loft when I suggested a marriage of convenience. It was only later that Kincaid attached another condition to the merger—”

“And you agreed!”

She took his silence for an admission of the truth.

“I thought you forgot to think about contraception because you were swept up in the moment,” she accused. “But you didn’t forget, did you? You intentionally didn’t ask!”

She’d been swept up in the moment, while he’d been planning his next move with the deliberation of a chess master.

The realization stung.

“I was nothing more than a pawn in your game,” Tamara said. “All of it was a lie.”

Sawyer’s jaw set. “Is that what you think?”

“What else can I think? Are you going to deny you deliberately set out to sleep with me?”

“No, I’m not going to deny it.”

Tamara lowered her shoulders. So.

“I’m not going to deny that I did everything in my power to get you into my bed because I desired you,” Sawyer said. “Because whenever I was around you, all I could think about was repeating that first kiss and then some. Because I couldn’t get you out of my mind, and I didn’t want to.”

She shivered, but then steeled herself against his words. Sawyer was an expert at seduction, she reminded herself.

“Why should I believe you?” she demanded. “Why shouldn’t I think this is just another ploy to win? You’ll do anything to get your hands on Kincaid News, won’t you? You’d even seduce your rival’s daughter. You’re just as ruthless as my father.”

“These past few weeks, I’d do anything to get my hands on you,” Sawyer shot back, “and as far as I can tell, you felt likewise.”

“Yes,” she admitted, “and more fool me.”

Sawyer stepped toward her, but she raised a hand to ward him off. “Don’t, please. There’s nothing you can say to make this better for me.”