Valentine's Fortune by Allison Leigh

Author:Allison Leigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2009-12-11T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Bethany stiffened. “What?”

He sat up and despite the cold douse of shock coursing through her, she couldn’t help but appreciate the thoroughly masculine beauty of him. “I know it sounds crazy,” he admitted, “but it makes perfect sense.”

“Why? Just because we slept together?” She didn’t believe for a minute that any man in this present day and age would think one should necessitate the other.

“If you need a reason, yeah. Because we slept together.”

“No. No. You don’t want to marry me,” she countered swiftly, denying the very idea of it. For pity’s sake, she’d practically had to beg him to make love to her. “It’s not like you need to rescue my virtue.” Her parents had essentially auctioned that off to Lyle, though Darr had no way of knowing that.

He exhaled briefly, impatiently. “This isn’t a rescue.”

“Of course it is. And I need to take care of myself. All my life I’ve let other people do that, and look what happened!” She spread her fingers across the swell of her baby.

His gaze followed her hands and she couldn’t help but swallow hard when she saw the way his gaze drifted upward, lingering on her breasts. Nor could she help the way her flesh tightened, the way her nipples pebbled and rose like they were begging for his attention.

They were begging, darn it all.

Every nerve in her body wanted more of his touch.

More of him.

“As my wife, you would be immediately covered under my insurance.” His voice was a hair ragged and she felt a perversely feminine thrill over it. “So would the baby. I’m hardly rolling in dough, but I can still provide. We could find a house here in Red Rock. Or even build. You wouldn’t have to work unless you chose to. And you damn sure wouldn’t have to worry about that spineless bastard finding you. You…and the baby…would have my name.” His angled jaw looked carved from stone. “Nobody messes with a Fortune and gets away with it.”

What he offered sounded so easy. So plausible. So reasonable.

“We hardly know each other!”

“We know enough.”

That was the problem. He didn’t know enough. And she couldn’t bring herself to tell him.

What would he think when he learned how little she’d truly mattered to her own family? That they’d rather marry her off to an abuser than give up the millions that Lyle had been prepared to invest in the family business upon their marriage?

Maybe Darr would end up agreeing.

Her small gains of independence were too fresh, too tender to put to the test. If she backslid now, what would happen later when it wasn’t just her pregnant self she had to take care of, but a tiny, defenseless baby, as well?

“I can’t marry you.”

“You mean you won’t.”

She slid off the bed and stood. “I mean I can’t! You’re a nice man, Darr. A decent man.” Her gaze caught. An aroused man. “A…a really…decent man,” she repeated doggedly. Goose bumps that had nothing to do with the chill in the air were dancing down her spine, and she snatched up her robe, dragging it over her shoulders.

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