If she hadn't been so angry and mortified, she would have laughed at his aggrieved expression. The fact he had accepted his mother's opinion on a matter she had no firsthand knowledge of, but not Rachel's personal avowal also rankled.
"So, Phillippa believes I told the truth about being a virgin and you accepted your mother's opinion as Gospel after pillorying me as a liar."
"That is the way it was, yes."
"Did she tell you she believed me about the other too?"
"No! I did not bring this up to her."
"Why not? You told her everything else."
"Not everything." He rubbed his eyes as if tired.
She wondered how much sleep he'd gotten the night before. They'd gone to bed in the wee hours of the morning and he'd woken up before her.
"What, did you forget to mention what color of socks I was wearing?"
"You weren't wearing any socks. Your lovely legs were bare and I did not go into that great a detail with my mother. I would not do such a thing. Have I no credit in your eyes at all that you could believe I would do so?"
Realizing she'd really offended him with that remark, she still shook her head and told him the truth. "No, pretty much not any."
He grimaced. "Well I did not." He waved a hand toward her food. "Eat your breakfast. You need your strength."
For the baby's sake.
Looking down at the beautifully prepared food, she thought he had really jumped headfirst into protective soon-to-be father mode. She mentally shrugged. She would not give daylight to the wish that some of his concern could have been directed toward her person rather than her role as incubator.
That kind of thinking was in the past.
She no longer cared that Sebastian could not love her. She would not let herself.
Without eating any more of the still half-full plate of food, he got up and put it on the counter. Turning to face her, he leaned his tall, hard body against the cupboard.
His silent scrutiny unnerved her and her breath caught in her throat at the partial view she got of his chest because of his open shirtfront. Her gaze slid down of its own volition and she almost choked on that held breath.
His stance outlined semi-aroused male flesh and she felt an unwelcome answering response in the heart of her femininity.
She couldn't possibly be experiencing desire for him.
Not after everything that had happened.
Yanking her gaze from his body, she concentrated on her food.
"When you are finished here, we will go to see a specialist about your thyroid and heart." She could not tell from his tone of voice whether or not he had noticed her appraisal.
She nodded her head, not looking up, not wanting to know.
"While we are gone," he continued, "my people will start packing your things. If there is any furniture to which you have a sentimental attachment, we can have it shipped to Greece or the New York apartment for now."
Her head snapped back and she met his eyes in a hurry on that one. "Packing me? What are you talking about? I'm not going to Greece."
His gorgeous face gave nothing away.
Villains were supposed to be ugly with oily mustaches, like Simon Legree, not men who could compete for the cover of a woman's eye candy magazine.
"Rachel, you need looking after. I cannot do that from half a world away. You will come to Greece."
He was so arrogantly sure he knew what was best and just on principle, she opened her mouth to argue, but then snapped it shut again. Hadn't she called him for this very purpose?
She wanted someone who would take care of her baby if something happened to her. He might be going about it in his usual, King of the World manner, but this time she'd let him get away with it.
"Okay, but we don't have to pack up my apartment. I won't be pregnant forever."
"Yes, we do."
"Why?"
"Your pregnancy may not be permanent, but the changes it will affect in your life will be."
He was right, but she still wasn't going to let him tell her when it was time to move to a bigger place. "I can get by in a one-bedroom until the baby is old enough to walk at least."
"As my wife you will have no need of this rental or to get by with anything."
Her heart started beating too fast and she had no idea if it was the stupid arrhythmia or Sebastian's extraordinary statement offered much too casually.
He'd said it like them marrying was a foregone conclusion, but, "I don't remember being asked if I wanted marry you."
"What you or I want is not important right now. Our baby must be brought into a secure environment of two parents willing and able to care for it."
"I don't have to marry you in order for you to be there for the baby."
"Yes, you do. Anything less than marriage between us will shortchange our child a parent and deprive me of the opportunity to raise him."
"Maybe I don't want to be shortchanged by a husband who thinks I'm a good candidate for slut of the year." She pushed her plate away, having eaten more than Sebastian, but not all of it by any stretch.
He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression bleak. "I told you, I do not think this of you."
"Yes, you do. Don't think I'm stupid enough not to see you're only being nice to me for the baby's sake, but that does not change your real opinion of me."
"I told you that I no longer believe you lied to me."
"You don't have to think I'm a good person to believe I was a virgin. For all I know, your Machiavellian brain has come up with some nefarious reason for me giving my virginity to you particularly. I mean, obviously a schemer like me would have purposefully forgotten protection in the hopes of getting pregnant by you and to trap you into supporting me and my decadent lifestyle for the foreseeable future."
"I did not say these things!"
"But for all I know, you're thinking them." She sighed, feeling tired all at once. "I know how you feel about family, Sebastian. You believe my baby is yours because your mother convinced you I didn't lie about you being my first lover. That means you will do whatever is necessary to protect your unborn child, even pretend a rapprochement with a woman you despise as a manipulative liar."
"You do not trust me at all."
Had he just worked that out? "You know, one thing still leaves me wondering. You've never even raised the possibility of me having gone to bed with someone else in the three months I've been home from Greece. After all, there is no shortage of sexy, available men in Southern California."
Molten fire shot from Sebastian's eyes. "You will go to bed with no other man."
"But how can you be sure I haven't already?"
"You were attacked. You were afraid of intimacy. Although you overcame that fear with me, there is no guarantee you could with another man."
"You've got an incredibly fast mind, Sebastian, but I still don't believe anything you say." She'd made the mistake of trusting him once, even knowing that to trust someone from his world was stupidity itself.
>
He'd hurt her so much her heart had been frozen.
She would not make that mistake again.
Sebastian's hand slashed the air with angry impatience. "I do not think you are a slut. I know you have never had another man besides me and I was the experienced one. If anyone is to blame for the lack of protection that night, it is me."
Well, that explained a little more of what was motivating him now. He was taking on board the responsibility for her unplanned pregnancy.
She was too honest to let him. "Just because I'd never made love doesn't mean I was ignorant about birth control. I just never thought of it."
"I did not either. I was too far gone."
Was there some significance in his admission? She refused to look for it.
"So, it was both our faults. That does not mean you have to pay the ultimate sacrifice by marrying me."