Would that core of integrity propel him to try and fight her for custody of the baby? He was rolling in money whilst she was borderline broke and, when it came to getting results, the guy who was rolling in money was always going to win hands down over the woman who was borderline broke. You didn’t need a degree in quantum physics to work that one out.
‘You can stop looking as though you’re about to pass out, Brianna. I have no intention of indulging in a protracted battle with you to take custody of our baby.’ He was slightly surprised at how naturally the words ‘our baby’ rolled off his tongue. The shock appeared to have worn off far more quickly than might have been expected, but then he prided himself as being the sort of guy who could roll with the punches and come up with solutions in the tightest of spots.
Brianna breathed a sigh of relief. ‘So what are you proposing?’
‘We get married. Obvious solution.’
‘You have got to be joking.’
‘Do I look like someone about to burst into laughter?’
‘That’s a crazy idea.’
‘Explain why.’
‘Because it’s not a solution, Leo. Two people don’t just get married because, accidentally, there’s a baby on the way. Two people who broke up. Two people who wouldn’t have laid eyes on one another again were it not for the fact that the girl in question happens to find herself pregnant.’
‘Brianna, I’m not prepared to take a backseat in the upbringing of my child. I’m not prepared for any child of mine to ever think that they got less of me than they might have wanted.’
‘I’m not asking you to take a back seat in anything.’
‘Nor,’ Leo continued, overriding her interruption as though it hadn’t registered, ‘am I willing to watch on the sidelines as you find yourself another man who decides to take over the upbringing of my child.’
‘That’s not likely to happen! I think I’ve had enough of men to last a lifetime.’
‘Of course, you’ll have to move to London, but in all events that won’t depend on the sale of the pub. In fact, you can hand it over to someone else to run on your behalf.’
‘Are you listening to a word I’m saying?’
‘Are you listening to what I’m saying?’ he said softly. ‘I hope so, because the proposal I’ve put on the table is the only solution at hand.’
‘This isn’t a maths problem that needs a solution. This is something completely different.’
‘I’m failing to see your objections, aside from a selfish need to put yourself ahead of our child.’
‘I could never live in London. And I could never marry someone for the wrong reasons. We would end up resenting one another and that would be the worst possible atmosphere in which to raise a child. Don’t you see that?’
‘Before you knew who I was,’ Leo said tautly, his dark eyes fixed intently on her face, ‘did you hope that our relationship would go further?’
He sat forward and all of a sudden her space was invaded and she could barely breathe. ‘I knew that you weren’t intending on hanging around,’ she said and she could hear the choked breathlessness in her voice. ‘You said so. You made that perfectly clear.’
‘Which doesn’t answer my question. Were you hoping for more?’
‘I didn’t think it would end the way it did,’ she threw back at him with bristling defiance.
‘But it did, and you may not have liked the way it ended, but what we had...’ He watched the slow colour creep up her cheeks and a rush of satisfaction poured through him, because behind those lowered eyes he could smell the impact he still had on her.
‘This wouldn’t be a marriage in name only for the sake of a child. This would be a marriage in every sense of the word because—let’s not kid each other—what we had was good.’ Her naked, pale body flashed through his mind, as did the memory of all those little whimpering noises she made when he touched her, the way her nostrils flared and her eyelids quivered as her body gathered pace and hurtled towards orgasm. He already felt himself harden at the thought and this time he didn’t try to kill it at source because it was inappropriate given she was no longer part of his life. She was a part of his life now, once again, and the freedom to think of her without restraint was a powerful kick to his system.
‘What we had was...was...’
‘Was good and you know it. Shall I remind you how good it was?’ He didn’t give her time to move or time even to think about what was coming. He leant across the small table, cupped his hand on the nape of her neck and pulled her towards him.