“Look at the way you blush when we discuss sex.”
“Married women blush. If that’s your full supporting argument, you need to hone your deductive reasoning skills.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do not play games with me about this. I know what I know.”
“What you think you know.”
“Stop this foolish claim. I am sorry if my observation has piqued your feminine pride, but I will never allow you to lie to me.”
“Have issues with honesty do you?”
“Yes.”
“That’s surprising. Most businessmen at your level can be very inventive with the truth.”
“But I will not tolerate untruth from those in my personal life. Ever.”
“And will you give the same level of integrity to a relationship?”
“Count on it.”
“In that case, let me repeat…I am not a virgin.”
His jaw tautened and white lines appeared at the corners of his mouth. He was getting seriously upset by her adamant claim to sexual experience. “You have never had a serious relationship.”
“Is that what my father told you?”
He didn’t even look uncomfortable at being accused of talking about her in very private terms with her father. “Yes.”
“Well, he obviously doesn’t know everything about me, which should hardly come as a surprise.” He had to have seen ample evidence during the time they’d been dating how far from close she was with George Wentworth.
“He has reason to know certain things.”
“You mean the bodyguards I supposedly no longer have?”
Sandor managed to look slightly chagrined. “You know about the security service?”
“Of course.” She rolled her eyes. “Please. Just because I told my dad I didn’t want a bodyguard any longer doesn’t mean he listened to me, but at least with them as silent anddistant watchers, I have a little more privacy than I did when my bodyguards remained within touching distance.”
“Notthat much privacy.”
He meant not enough for her father not to know if she had a man stay the night or had done so with one. “I don’t have to sleep over with a man to have sex with one.”
“But you would have to have had a relationship that went beyond a few casual dates because you are not the type of woman to sleep with a man on a whim.”
“You’re so sure about that?”
“Yes.”
She couldn’t deny it because he was right. And she did not lie. Like him, she hated lies. Like the lie when a person told you they loved you but didn’t. Not really.
“So…I have had more than one relationship that lasted a few months. I’m twenty-four years old, after all.”
“But none of those relationships were deep.”
“How do you know? My father said so,” she guessed. “You can’t trust the judgment of a man who thinks that balance sheets are more comprehensible than people. He doesn’tknow me.”
“Like I do not know you?”
“I’m afraid so, yes.”
Sandor shook his head with an impatient jerk. “You are wrong.”
But she wasn’t. Sandor did not know her any better than her father did, which meant he couldn’t care for her any more deeply than her dad. While the knowledge hurt, it also really begged the question why Sandor wanted to marry her.
He was looking at her as if he expected another argument, but she didn’t have to convince Sandor of her point of view. In this instance, it was her opinion that mattered and his confident insistence wasn’t going to change it.
“I am not relying on his word alone,” Sandor said. “I had you investigated.” His expression showed not even a hint of remorse at the claim.
“What?Why? ”
“When I first started considering you as a potential wife, I thought it prudent.”
“You are kidding.”
“No.”
“I would have thought you too arrogant to believe you needed anything besides your own reading of a person in a situation like this.”
“You have called me arrogant before.”
“Have I?”
“Yes, the time I told you who would win the Super Bowl.”
“You were so sure you were right and you aren’t even a football fan.”
He shrugged. “And yet Iwas right.”
“Well, you’re wrong about me being a virgin.” And as much as the memories of the reason for her lack of innocence hurt, she felt a certain grim satisfaction in catching him in the wrong.