LITMIR.BIZ

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again, this time alone. “I will be most happy to return it to her.”

      “Now?”

      “Yes. I would think she might need it since I assume it contains her driver’s license and any means she would have to pay for services.”

      Maria looked hesitant, wary. “You have a point. But I’m not sure she’ll be too thrilled if I tell you where she’s going.”

      “She mentioned a doctor’s appointment.”

      “She did?”

      Maria need not know that the revelation had come after some coercion on his part. “Do you know the whereabouts of the doctor’s office?”

      A slight-of-frame, gray-haired woman breezed up to Maria and offered, “She asked me directions to Industrial Drive at Blakenship yesterday, the two hundred block, so I’m guessing that’s the location.”

      Maria gave the waitress a scolding look. “Mimi, Karen might not like you passing on that information.”

      The woman rolled her eyes. “She has to have her purse, doesn’t she? Besides, I don’t think he’s going to pilfer her credit cards.”

      “I guess you’re right,” Maria said.

      Ash held out his hand to Maria and she finally relinquished the bag to him. “You may trust that I will find Ms. Rawlins and deliver it safely.”

      “Good luck,” Maria said.

      Ash wasn’t one to rely on luck, but he would use his powers of persuasion. He gave the two women a polite nod. “I’m certain I will be back soon.”

      The lady named Mimi favored him with a smile. “I’m sure you will since Karen works here. That missy is a looker, all right.”

      Without responding, Ash left the building, unable to hold back his own smile over his good fortune. He had something Karen Rawlins needed, and she had something he wanted. Quite simply he wanted her. At least this was a beginning.

      On that thought, Ash strode to the silver Rolls-Royce Corniche parked at the curb, slipped into the seat and drove away, his impatience escalating as he wove through heavy downtown traffic. After what seemed an interminable amount of time, he turned off onto the side street Maria had mentioned and approached a redbrick building that appeared to be a clinic.

      Ash pulled into the parking lot and when he noticed the sign that read Milam Fertility Center, he assumed he’d come to the wrong place. Then, near the entrance, he caught sight of a blue compact car that resembled the one he’d seen Karen drive away in at Baronessa’s.

      He took the first available space several rows away, grabbed her purse and left the car to take his place by the hood where he could still view her vehicle. Presuming she had already entered, he decided to wait until she came out even if it took several hours. He had many questions to ask Karen, the most important being why she had chosen a clinic that catered to those intending a pregnancy. Then the sedan’s door opened and Karen stepped from the car.

      Ash saw his chance and strode across the parking lot, finding her bent halfway in, halfway out of the car. He paused a moment to study the bow of her hips and the pleasing shape of her legs extending from the skirt she wore as she conducted a search for, most likely, the handbag.

      “Are you looking for this?”

      She barely avoided bumping her head as she spun around to face him. “What are you doing here?” Her voice held a note of shock, as did her expression.

      He dangled the purse before her. “I have come to return this to you.”

      She snatched it from his hand. “Thank you. I didn’t realize I’d left it.”

      Obviously. “Now it is your turn to answer a question.” He sent a direct look at the nearby sign. “What are you doing here?”

      She worked the bag’s strap round and round her slender fingers. “I told you I have—”

      “An appointment, I know. But what business would you have at this establishment? Are you applying for employment?”

      She looked almost alarmed. “Of course not.” After closing the door with a thrust of her bottom, she leaned back against it, looking quite annoyed. “You shouldn’t concern yourself with why I’m here.”

      Her guardedness frustrated Ash though he had no call to interrogate her. But he had to know why she was here. “I would greatly like to understand your purpose for being at this particular place.”

      “You don’t need to understand. This is my business, not yours.”

      “It is my business if you are involved with someone with whom you plan to have a child, if that is your reason for being here.”

      “Why is that your business?”

      “Because I would cease to insist that you see me socially. I would not want to intrude on another man’s territory.”

      Her gold-green eyes turned to feminine fire. “For your information, Sheikh Saalem, I am no man’s territory. In this day and time, a woman doesn’t need a man to have a baby, at least not all of a man.” By the discomfort in Karen’s expression, Ash discerned that she regretted the revelation.

      He streaked a hand over his jaw, not quite certain what to make of Karen’s disclosure. “Then you plan to have a child on your own?”

      She tipped up her chin in defiance. “Yes, I do. Artificial insemination.”

      That did not set well with Ash. He understood the need for the procedure in some instances, but not in this case. “Do you mean insemination with some stranger’s sperm?”

      A blush spread across her cheeks. “I don’t care to discuss sperm with a sheikh.”

      “But you would consider having a child by a man you know nothing about?”

      “Yes, and that’s my prerogative. I’m thirty-one and I’m not getting any younger. It’s the right time in my life to do this.”

      Ash pondered her words, her purpose. Yes, he definitely had something Karen needed. Services he no doubt would be willing to give her, with great pleasure. And she had something else he wanted as well. The ability to have a child, the means for him to settle into a permanent relationship with a woman whom he found both intelligent and alluring. He had waited many years to find that particular someone since his father had thwarted his first attempt.

      “Perhaps I could assist you in the matter,” he said.

      Her eyes went wide. “You mean you’re willing to make a donation for me to use?”

      “I have no desire to share my affections with a plastic receptacle. I prefer making a child the way nature intended for a man and woman to procreate.”

      Karen shook her head. “No way. I’m not going to allow…well, allow…that.”

      Ash moved closer and brushed a lock of wavy brown hair from her shoulder. He suspected Karen enjoyed a challenge, much like him, and if he had to use that device, then so be it. “Are you afraid?”

      The willful look she gave him verified his assumption. “Of course I’m not afraid. Why would I be?”

      He braced a hand on the car and leaned forward. “Perhaps you fear what you might feel if you allowed me to make love to you. What we might experience together.”

      He heard a slight catch in her breath, the only sign she had been affected by his words. “It wouldn’t be a good idea, that’s all.”

      “It is an exceptional idea. For some time now I’ve considered having a family of my own. This would benefit us both.”

      Her sigh brimmed with impatience. “I only want a baby, not a relationship.”

      “A baby who would not know his father? I believe that if you search your soul, you would not

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