‘You should have said-’
‘It was for you to notice. If you didn’t notice, I must have been good.’ Nik sent her a sizzling look of amusement that was as physical as a caress and sent her heart racing. ‘It was the first time I’ve ever made love without a contraceptive…I have to confess that I liked it. I liked it a hell of a lot.’
Already reeling with shock at his revelation, Prudence was burning up with mortification. With difficulty she thought over what he had confessed. Evading his gaze, she muttered stiltedly, ‘It’s not that easy to get pregnant, you know-’
‘No, I don’t. I’m happy to admit ignorance on that score-’
‘I should think it’s extremely unlikely that it would happen.’ Prudence was outraged by his earthy attitude and the humour he had shown.
‘Give me a month. I’m a goal-orientated guy-’
Hot, bothered and infuriated by that comeback, Prudence seized on a more positive statement to silence him. ‘I’m absolutely certain that I’m not pregnant,’ she told him, believing that she was not really lying and that within a couple of days her body would give her the proof that she was right in her conviction.
‘That’s unfortunate. But then for the moment I can only hope that common sense persuades you that rushing into the role of an unmarried mother is a very bad idea,’ Nik said drily.
‘I have a comfortable home and the trust fund my aunt put in my name for Mum and me-’
‘That fund is so tiny it doesn’t count-’
‘But I don’t have champagne tastes. I’ll work as well. Either way, I’ll have enough to raise a child,’ Prudence contended.
‘Material considerations are only one side of the equation. I have other objections. Every child deserves a father-’
‘I got by without one-’
‘Some might say his absence left you with a distinctly low opinion of men,’ Nik shot at her, his dark golden eyes grim. ‘Even if I wasn’t your husband I would have serious reservations about your plans. Raising children is challenging enough for two parents, never mind one. What if you were to fall ill? What if the child is born with a disability?’
Prudence was very pale. ‘I’ve thought of those things…I’ll manage. I’ve really thought this through. I believe I have enough to offer.’
Nik released his breath in an impatient hiss. ‘You’re more like your grandfather than I ever appreciated. When Theo Demakis wants something, he suffers from the same stubborn tunnel vision.’
Sincerely hurt and offended by that comparison, Prudence gave him a furious look. ‘I’m not stubborn…I’m not at all like him!’
‘At least learn by Theo’s mistakes within his own family circle. A child should have the chance to enjoy the benefits of a family life with a father and a conventional home environment.’
Wounded by his apparent conviction that she could not offer a child a tithe of what that little girl or boy deserved and needed, Prudence tilted her chin. ‘Such as you would offer? Have you the nerve to suggest that you could offer any woman a normal family life?’
‘Yes, I have that nerve.’
Three mistresses in three different countries, Prudence reflected in a passion of painful resentment. Normal? Conventional? How dared he criticise her quiet and decent country lifestyle and suggest that he could do better?
‘It’s amazing that you should want to stay married to me after all this time,’ Prudence contended angrily. ‘Why are you so reluctant to divorce me? Do you know what I’m beginning to think? I’m still Theo Demakis’s granddaughter-’
His lean, intelligent face set taut with tension while his stunning dark eyes took on a forbidding aspect. ‘Don’t say it,’ he breathed. ‘Don’t go down that road to insult me.’
Prudence was too upset to heed that warning. Her every instinct was urging her to fight back. ‘Perhaps you still believe I could be a financial asset to you. My grandfather may not be speaking to me right now but-’
‘I threw Theo out of my office last week. He was in a rage about your divorce plans. He seemed to think you had phoned him to tell him that news out of pure malice and he informed me that he had cut you out of his will.’
‘You threw him out…oh,’ Prudence mumbled uncomfortably, unable to meet his gaze, for she was ashamed of herself for throwing the slur that would draw the most blood. She knew it had no basis in fact. Nik was very proud and his sense of honour strong. He would never have married her to save his own financial skin but he had found it impossible to stand by and watch his family suffer the ignominy of bankruptcy. As for that news about her grandfather’s will, she spared it barely a thought because she had never dreamt that anyone who disliked her so thoroughly would consider leaving her anything.
‘So, you don’t figure as a profitable enterprise in any way. In fact, staying married to you might even be bad for business because Theo is a very bitter man right now,’ Nik imparted between clenched teeth of restraint. ‘As you’re also aware, it’s several years since I paid back your dowry with interest. I owe Theo nothing and, when he’s as rude as he was about you last week, not even the time of day.’
Prudence winced at the revelation that defending her name had pitched him into a battle with the older man. ‘I know…I accept that. I shouldn’t have said that about the money-’
‘But you did say it and I won’t forget it,’ Nik swore darkly. ‘I’m well aware that my family profited from our marriage in a way that you and your mother did not. But you have stonewalled my every attempt to redress that balance. You have always refused to accept an allowance from me-’
‘Oh, Nik, please, don’t say any more,’ Prudence urged in a stifled voice of distress and regret that she had reduced their relationship to such a mercenary level that he felt he had to defend his own behaviour. ‘We didn’t have a proper marriage, so I couldn’t possibly have accepted money from you. It just wouldn’t have felt right. You helped out in lots of other ways. When Mum was ill, with the nursing expenses, and other things-when I needed shelters for the animals and extra food…’
‘I am only asking you to give our marriage a chance,’ Nik ground out in a driven undertone. ‘What would that cost you?’
Prudence let her strained blue eyes linger on his lean, bronzed features for a split-second and hurriedly looked away again. But even that one stolen appraisal dazzled her, just as he had dazzled her the very first time she saw him eight years ago. If he had had the slightest idea what it would cost her he would not have asked that question. Once she had been obsessed with him. Was that the Demakis blood in her veins? Was that why she had found it so very hard to let go of loving Nik? But, having mastered that love and distilled all that energy into friendship and acceptance that she could never have anything more, she was terrified of exposing herself to that much pain again.
‘I can’t…I just can’t,’ she said flatly and, glancing down with relief at her watch, she began walking hurriedly to the door. ‘I must go-’
‘You’ve only been here half an hour-’
‘I have to meet Leo at six and you and I have already said all there is to say. I don’t want to say the things I’m saying to you…it’s upsetting me,’ she condemned chokily.
Incensed at the very mention of the other man’s name, Nik caught her hand to pull her back before she could make it out through the front door. ‘And doesn’t that tell you something?’ he growled in a driven undertone. ‘If you fight me you will get hurt, and that isn’t what I want either.’
‘I can’t believe that you know what you want-’
‘Don’t I? Am I so bad at putting my message across?’ A dangerous light in his shimmering dark golden eyes, Nik brought his sensual mouth crashing down on hers.
Astonishment gripped her, for there was nothing cool or sophisticated about caveman tactics. But she found that scorching onslaught as shockingly exciting as the domineering way he hauled her up against him. She kissed him back with bittersweet fervour, opening her mouth for the ravishing quest of his ton
gue. Her heart was pounding into a crazy crescendo. Her body felt tight and hot and oversensitive. She was pushing closer, burrowing in the hard-muscled contours of his powerful frame. And then her subconscious mind served up an image that cut right through that passion. Her memory leapfrogged back to her wedding day and the moment that she had seen Nik kissing Cassia Morikis. That was when she had truly understood that even a wedding ring could not bind Nikolos Angelis to her and make him hers in the way she needed him to be.