LITMIR.BIZ

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did you just say?’ For a moment she thought she had misheard him.

      ‘We’ll get married,’ he told her again, his tone supremely confident. ‘As soon as I can arrange it.’

      For a few startled moments her mind played with the proposal. ‘But we don’t love each other,’ she whispered.

      ‘Does that really matter?’ He held her gaze seriously. ‘That emotion only complicates things anyway.’

      She was jolted back to reality with an abruptness that made her blink. ‘Of course it matters!’

      ‘Katie, giving our child a secure upbringing is what matters! Think about it, you can’t possibly manage on your own. For a start you live in a tiny first-floor apartment—totally unsuitable.’

      ‘I’ll manage perfectly well!’ She glared at him.

      He shook his head. ‘Anyway, you don’t have to. You are expecting my heir; obviously I’m going to look after you.’

      ‘By taking over my life.’ Something hardened inside Katie.

      ‘By doing the right thing.’

      ‘Well, I don’t want you to do the right thing!’ For some strange reason she wanted to cry. ‘And if that is your idea of a proposal you can keep it.’

      He fixed her with a piercing look. ‘It’s my idea of a solution,’ he said calmly.

      ‘Well, I don’t like it.’

      ‘So what do you suggest, then?’ He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. ‘Do you think it would be better if I wait until the child is born and then take you forcibly to court because I want custody?’

      ‘You wouldn’t do that!’ Her breath seemed to freeze in her throat.

      ‘Katie, I’ll do whatever it takes,’ he told her powerfully. ‘And, believe me, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of me. Because I have the money and resources to go all the way, and I will win.’

      ‘A judge wouldn’t give you custody!’ Her voice wasn’t quite steady now. ‘No right-minded person would take a baby from its mother!’

      ‘Let’s see … take a baby from a one-parent family and transport it into the loving network of one of the richest, most powerful dynasties in Europe?’

      She swallowed hard. The feeling of initial relief that he wanted his child had now turned to a feeling of complete fear. ‘I can’t believe you are saying these things! That you could even contemplate for a moment forcibly removing a child from its mother—it’s barbaric!’

      ‘I wasn’t contemplating it,’ he told her calmly. ‘I’m hoping you will see sense and it won’t come to that.’

      See sense! The words sizzled through her. He was offering her marriage like he was offering a deal in the boardroom.

      ‘You may have more money than me, but that doesn’t make up for love, Alexi! A judge would look at both sides of the equation.’

      ‘You think my child won’t be loved?’ He looked at her with a quizzical expression. ‘You must think very little of me if you believe that. OK, you and I are not in love, but that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of loving! And I want the best for my child, and that includes a mother—a loving family-unit.’

      The words made her emotions swirl in confusion.

      ‘You are a part of that, Katie … I want you in my life.’

      But he didn’t really want her—not in the way a man usually meant when he suggested marriage. ‘You want me as some kind of convenient baby-minder, you mean!’ she told him bitterly.

      ‘No, I want you as my wife … in my bed.’ He came closer and reached out a hand to stroke it lightly down over the side of her face. It was a gentle, almost tender caress and it made her emotions ache with the need to turn towards him, lift her face for his kiss.

      ‘A marriage without love would never work.’ She tried to keep focussed on reality.

      For a moment anger swirled inside Alexi. He couldn’t believe that she was trying to turn him down! He hadn’t been able to think about anything else this afternoon—and the more he thought about it, the more sense this made. In fact, he couldn’t believe the ache inside him—the passionate intensity with which he now knew he wanted her. Because of the child, of course—not because of the desire she stirred in him. He could click his fingers and have a harem of women if he wanted. He didn’t need her. But, by God, he was going to have her!

      ‘We may not be head over heels in love, but we are compatible, Katie,’ he told her, his tone forceful. ‘Especially in the bedroom.’

      For a moment his eyes rested on her lips, and she felt herself tremble inside as she remembered what had happened between them only this morning. He was right—she had never wanted anyone the way she wanted him. Whatever emotion lay between them, it was powerfully compelling.

      ‘I only have to touch you and you want me,’ he murmured.

      She shook her head, trying to fight against the whispering voices inside that were telling her he was right. ‘You are the most arrogant man I have ever met!’ she told him fiercely instead.

      ‘You said that this morning, before you kissed me.’ He smiled and watched how her skin flared with uncomfortable heat.

      ‘I am a truthful man, Katie.’ He stroked his hand down over her face, tipping her chin upwards so that she was forced to look at him. He watched the shadows flicking through the beauty of her blue eyes, watched as her lips parted involuntarily. ‘I can feel the heat of your desire when I touch you. I can taste it when I kiss you …’

      He came closer and, before she could break away, his lips captured hers, his hand holding her still and compliant. She felt a surge of longing so deep that it shook her to the core.

      Intuitively she opened her mouth for him and kissed him back. She moved a little closer, her heart thundering against her ribs so heavily, so loudly, it drowned out the warning voices inside her head. All she knew was that she wanted him so much, wanted him to touch her intimately, make love to her … take away this craving need for him.

      He was the one to break the spell and pull away. ‘You see?’ He smiled down at her.

      His arrogant confidence seared through her. She didn’t know who she was more furious with, him, or herself for instantly responding with such heat. ‘I don’t see anything.’ She tried to shrug the feelings away.

      ‘You need more proof?’ he asked lazily. ‘Shall we try it again?’

      ‘No! Stop it, Alexi!’ Her voice broke on a small cry of panic, and he laughed.

      ‘You see, it will work between us! So why risk everything by going it alone?’

      His flippant attitude hurt. ‘It wouldn’t be a risk. Not if you were a reasonable person!’

      ‘I am being reasonable, Katie. I’m offering you marriage. I don’t want our child torn apart by a court, by feuding parents! I want him to have the same secure upbringing that I enjoyed as a child in Greece.’

      ‘You’d take him out of the country?’ She looked at him in horror.

      ‘Of course. His heritage is Greek, and I have a large family-network. He would be secure within that network.’

      ‘And just say the baby is a girl?’ she snapped. ‘You might not be so interested then.’

      ‘The sex of the child is unimportant to me! You think a girl doesn’t need a father?’

      The question splintered through her. She knew a girl needed a father; she knew a child needed a secure family no matter what their gender. She knew from personal experience how important it was to feel part of a family, to feel secure and safe.

      ‘So

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