He wanted her and it wasn’t going away. Possessing her in Charleston had made the hunger worse, not better. If she hadn’t been pregnant, a quiet, lengthy affair would have been the perfect solution, but she was pregnant. And alone.#p#????#e#
He had nothing but contempt for men who refused to take responsibility for their children. Standing on high ground knowing he wasn’t the father would be cold comfort if Lauren wound up raising her child alone while the world judged Paolo as the deadbeat who’d put her in that position. No, he couldn’t take that risk with his reputation and, frankly, wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he cut her off simply because the baby wasn’t his. If she had fallen into a dead-end affair just before Ryan disappeared, it was because she’d been lonely, grieving over the loss of her grandmother and scorned by her unfaithful husband.
Whose fault was it that she’d still been in that marriage? He kept coming back to that. If you were the least bit worried about me, you’d take responsibility and help me through all of this.
He couldn’t deny that he’d been worried about her. The depth of his worry unnerved him, making him expect a cold sweat to condense over him as he let himself contemplate tying himself to her permanently. Instead, the mist seemed to clear from his mind while a weight lifted away. Marriage. Si. It was the perfect solution. His gut knew it and so did his intellect.
“If you give me a few days to make arrangements,” he said with placating calm, “I can take you south myself. We’ll call it a honeymoon.”
* * *
Lauren subtly slid one hand over the other, pinching the back of her hand and giving it a fervent twist for good measure. Her heart tripped into a trot, a canter, then a gallop. It found an opening in the shields she usually kept in place against Paolo and raced toward him.
“Are you proposing?” Her voice wasn’t quite steady as disbelief threatened to unbalance into spirit-swelling elation.
He stood taller, his stature filled with pride and masculine elegance. Her mind’s eye took a photo of him like that: regal and handsome and projecting his will like a force that made her sway with admiration and primitive desire to capitulate.
“Si, that is exactly what I am doing. Proposing marriage.”
A glow of jubilation warmed her. “You believe me about the baby, then?” Finally. She began to soften all over. A joyous smile tickled her lips.
His expression remained shuttered.
“That can be proven in time, but in the short term you need someone to watch out for you. Since I will be perceived as the father, I’ll do what’s expected—”
Her ears blocked out the rest. Her heart snapped back into her chest, doors slamming behind it. Everything in her was crushed and buried under disappointment and rejection. She turned back to her groceries to hide what a slap-down this was.
“Why would you do that again? Marry when you’re not sure whether you’re the father of the baby?” she choked out, keeping her head down, confused and appalled by how buoyant and excited she’d been at the prospect of him falling in love with her.
“This time I know there is doubt. And Ryan shouldn’t have left you in a position of feeling you had to isolate yourself from people to hide his behavior. As his friend, it’s my duty to look out for his wife. Did you not just tell me to take more responsibility?”
“Not because you think I’m some kind of charity case! I want you to take responsibility because you love and want your child.” She wanted him to want her.
Recognizing that, realizing she was still the needy girl who had married in a rush in case Ryan changed his mind, made her want to break down into jet-lagged, hormone-provoked, hurt and angry tears. Mamie had told her a thousand times she could have everything she dreamed of if she would only believe she deserved it, but it was hard. Very hard when this man was offering a pity-marriage on the heels of his pity-bedding.#p#????#e#
“I’m sure I’ll come to care for the child no matter who fathered it. Which is something you will communicate to any man who might come forward in the future.” Paolo’s demeanor hardened right down to the pinpoints of his aggressively contracted pupils.
Her heart skipped a beat, startled by his sudden shift to undisguised possessiveness. His teeth showed in a subtle snarl.
“I’m going into this with my eyes open, but so are you. Once we tie the knot, you and the baby are mine. No take-backs.” He withdrew her phone from his pocket and held it out to her. As though he expected her to call her mystery man and blurt out his reverse-ransom demands.