A Ring to Secure His Heir

‘It was too good to be a mistake. I very much enjoyed it,’ he told her with unselfconscious cool.

Rosie almost choked on her tasty mouthful of chocolate croissant and remained silent until she had swallowed it in a painful rush. ‘I’ll think about meeting my grandfather when my exams are over,’ she conceded.

Alexius dealt her an assessing glance, noting that her belligerent streak was currently at bay. ‘And will you also think then about marrying me?’

Rosie stiffened and raised her eyes as high as his slightly stubbled chin. It was a very determined, very stubborn chin with a cleft and outrageously male. ‘No, that decision was clear as cut glass and I won’t be revisiting it.’

Alexius released his breath in an exasperated hiss of impatience. ‘Why not?’

‘How can you ask me that when you don’t want to get married in the first place?’ Rosie prompted with raised brows signalling her astonishment at his attitude. ‘Have you ever wanted to get married?’

‘No,’ he conceded.

‘Have you ever wanted a child of your own?’

Alexius frowned at that unfortunate question and hesitated.

‘You promised to tell me the truth from now on,’ Rosie reminded him doggedly.

‘No,’ he admitted curtly. ‘I have never wanted a child.’

‘So, why on earth would I want to marry you?’

Evidently, she lacked the greed gene he was used to igniting in all her sex. ‘Security? Support? A father for the child?’

‘If I married you, you’d be off with another woman in five minutes flat,’ Rosie forecast with a grimace at that humiliating likelihood. ‘You don’t strike me as the sort of guy likely to adapt easily to domesticity and parenthood either, particularly if you didn’t choose either of your own free will.’

Alexius, ludicrously unused to being deemed a potential failure at anything he attempted, gritted his teeth. ‘I might surprise you.’

‘And pigs might fly,’ Rosie remarked only half beneath her breath.

Alexius elevated a fine black brow. ‘Is that a challenge?’

‘No, it’s not,’ Rosie hastened to tell him, keen not to start another row. ‘Can’t we be friends, Alex?’

‘I don’t want to be friends with you,’ Alexius shot back at her as she brushed crumbs from her lap and stood up. ‘Have you eaten enough?’

‘More than enough,’ she insisted, glancing at her watch. ‘I have a class to get to.’

Alexius lifted the phone. ‘I will organise a car.’

‘That’s not necessary.’

‘A car and driver will be at your disposal for the foreseeable future,’ Alexius delivered as she walked to the door.

Rosie spun back, her eyes wide. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. What would I do with a car and a driver?’

‘Use them,’ Alexius responded without an ounce of humour. ‘Give me your phone number …’

‘Isn’t it ironic that you’re asking for it now only because I’m pregnant?’ Rosie tossed at him before she could think better of it, glancing across at him to see that his handsome features clenched hard at that blunt reminder.

‘We still have a lot to discuss, moraki mou.’

Rosie winced. ‘I think I’ve said all I’ve got to say.’

A satiric smile slashed his sculpted mouth. ‘While I have barely begun.’

Rosie wrote her number on a piece of paper and looked back at him. ‘Don’t tell my grandfather I needed time to think about meeting him, just tell him I have exams on,’ she urged suddenly. ‘I don’t want to hurt his feelings.’