Mistress And Mother

‘I would not have suggested an abortion,’ Sholto countered with cold clarity. ‘Nor would I refer to

that distinctly cathartic encounter at Freddy’s as a one-night stand.’

Recalling that same encounter, Molly refused to look at him. Tears were stinging the back of her eyes, her throat thickening ‘Frankly,’ she enunciated with difficulty, ‘I don’t want to even think about that night, never mind talk about it.’

A dark flush scored the slashing lines of his cheekbones. ‘Molly—’

‘Please,’ she cut in jaggedly.

Without warning, he thrust back his chair and sprang upright. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him pace over to the tall windows, his seething tension palpable now. ‘You know that I have always wanted children…’

‘Yes.’ He would have had to strain his ears to catch that concession. Molly didn’t require the reminder that once he had been prepared to marry her to gain those children while conserving his heart, his thoughts and his emotions for another woman. And even more clearly did she recall that before that wedding he had been careful to suggest that they didn’t wait too long to start a family.

‘Naturally, I want this child,’ Sholto completed almost aggressively.

Molly curved her arms around herself as if she was cold. All of a sudden she knew what was coming next, marvelled that she had not foreseen it from the outset. She stared at the table until it blurred. ‘I know what you’re going to say…please don’t say it.’

‘Since when did you read my mind?’ But he was off balance. She could hear it. His accent growled along every syllable, so sinfully sexy it made her stupid heart pound.

She forced her head up, her gaze angrily accusing, revealing nothing of the bitter pain of rejection she was experiencing. ‘You’re about to ask me to marry you because you want the baby. And my answer to that is…no!’

Ebony lashes dropped low on his spectacular dark eyes, his vibrant features freezing. ‘No?’

CHAPTER EIGHT

A HYSTERICAL laugh lurked like a dangerous tripwire low in Molly’s dry throat. Sholto was striving so hard to contain his disbelief. And she really couldn’t blame him, could she? The last time he had asked her to marry him she had been ecstatic and would never have countenanced a less conventional arrangement. And now she was living under his roof, sharing his bed and pregnant and he just could not comprehend her negative response.

‘You’ve been acting really strangely since yesterday. I’m not being sexist here but I suspect it’s something to do with your hormones,’ Sholto drawled with deflating superiority.

The laugh escaped against Molly’s volition and she crammed a hand against her tremulous mouth, terrified that a sob would follow.

‘If you can find something amusing in all this, share it with me!’ Sholto invited with raw bite.

Molly shook her head urgently, not trusting herself to speak.

Why had she been afraid that an abortion would be his first request? How utterly blind she had been! He had been looking after his baby with tender loving care from the instant he’d suspected its existence! Telling her to stay in bed, not to tire herself out, steering her clear of alcohol. Sholto had come to terms with the situation by focusing on the one positive aspect he saw…he had always wanted a child.

And now, seen in that light, with the promise of a profitable gain in the offing, an inconvenient pregnancy suddenly became acceptable! After all, what did he have to lose? The woman he loved was far away and would soon be another man’s wife. But Molly was bitterly aware that if she married Sholto she would not only be second best to Pandora, she would also end up being second best to her own child in his eyes. No, she thought fiercely, she had no plans to submit herself for use as a brood mare! It would be the ultimate humiliation to live with the knowledge that that was the only reason he had married her.

‘You are the last woman in the world I can imagine looking forward to life as an unmarried mother,’ Sholto spelt out grimly.

She wasn’t looking forward to it at all, but a shotgun marriage on his cold-blooded terms appealed even less. ‘You can’t buy my baby with a wedding ring,’ Molly told him, experiencing a surge of bitter satisfaction at that awareness.

‘You are not behaving like a rational woman.’

‘You’ve got no right to complain about that. A rational woman would never have ended up in bed with you in the first place!’ Molly retorted with fierce self-loathing.

The silence with which he greeted that assurance seemed to last for ever.

‘So…’ Sholto finally breathed. ‘What are your plans?’

Molly stilled, shaken by that simple question. As yet she had not thought beyond the immediate present. ‘I haven’t really had time to make any…but obviously I’ll move out as soon as possible—’

‘Madre di Dio…you are not leaving with my baby inside you!’ Sholto grated in a savage undertone.

Shaken by that aggressiveness, Molly flinched. ‘You don’t own me.’

‘But I do virtually own your brother,’ Sholto reminded her with chilling clarity.