?
??I came by today to talk to you about our wager. I won. I want my trust fund back.”
Silas frowned. “I don’t want my grandchild growing up illegitimate.”
“That’s for Nathan and me to decide, not you.” She met her father’s gaze, letting him see her determination. “I had the money by the deadline.”
“But it wasn’t in your account. So you forfeit. Now, what have you and Nathan decided about getting married?”
“That it’s none of your business.”
“But it is my business. I’m your father and I say you need someone to take care of you and the baby.”
Emma kept her voice level. “I don’t. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself but you’re too stubborn to see that.”
“You think so? And how do you think you’re going to do that without money?”
“I have money.”
“Bah. The hundred thousand I gave you? How long do you think that’s going to last?”
Emma shook her head. Stubborn old man. “Quite a long time, I imagine, since I’m not planning to live off it.”
“No? Then how do you plan to support yourself?”
Emma braced herself against a wave of frustration and pulled the newspaper article about the Baton Rouge show out of her purse. She slapped it on the desk in front of him.
“This is about my jewelry. The article calls me ‘brilliant’ and describes my work as some of the finest around. I’ve worked hard for this recognition, and you’ve never given me any credit.” She ran out of breath. With her heart pounding fiercely, she inhaled and spoke with deliberate force. “I’m good.”
“You can’t seriously expect to live on what you make from it.”
Resentment injected steel into her voice. “I can. And I’m going to.” She clenched her hands into fists so he wouldn’t see how hard she was shaking. “You can keep my money. I don’t need it. I’m going to make a go of my jewelry business. I’m going to take care of myself and my baby.”
“Our baby.” Nathan spoke the words softly from the doorway behind her, but there was no denying the determination in his tone. “The baby is as much mine as it is yours, and you are going to marry me and let me take care of both of you.”
Emma turned from her father and confronted Nathan. Everything inside her cried out to stop fighting him and let him take care of her. He held her heart in his hands. And now, with his child inside her body, she’d gone way past the point of trying to forget him and move on.
“We’ll talk about that later.”
“Putting me off isn’t going to change my mind. I’m not letting you go. We belong together.” He caught her by the arms. “Marry me,” he whispered urgently. “Not because of the baby or a business deal, but because I can’t live without you.”
Joy seared her, sharp and unexpected, stealing her breath. She blinked away tears. Those words might be as close to a declaration of love as she would ever get from Nathan.
And it was enough. Nathan couldn’t live without her. And she couldn’t live without him. She’d been a stubborn fool to believe otherwise.
She cradled Nathan’s cheek in her palm. “That’s definitely something I want to discuss with you later. But first I need to settle things with my father.”
Turmoil swirled in his gray eyes at her request. He wasn’t the sort of man who backed down when he set his mind to something. But she was equally determined.
“But let me help you with this,” he murmured.
It was a precarious tightrope that stretched between accepting help and standing on her own two feet. Could she trust herself and Nathan enough to achieve the right balance?
With her heart pounding dangerously fast, she wavered. She’d been fighting to stand on her own for so long that it was hard to stop. But for all her assertion that she could take care of herself, she liked having him to rely on.
Emma put her hand against Nathan’s cheek as her sleepless night took its toll. Let him take care of you, her mind whispered. And at last she was ready.
“You can help,” she said. “But just this once.”