He did try to manufacture skepticism and searched for reasons to be suspicious, but he couldn’t even scrape up anger. They’d both been rash. This was the result.
“Who else knows?”
Her amber eyes flashed up, appalled. “No one.” As if the thought of anyone knowing was far too compromising to admit.
He ignored the sting of that and tried very hard to imagine how she could have known he would be at the ball that night, let alone got to the rooftop ahead of him. How could she have tricked him into unprotected sex so she could present him with this outcome, all in league with his brothers?
While managing to look hideously ashamed of it?
“It’s been confirmed?”
“I have the result from the doctor’s blood test.” She started to reach for her purse, but he flicked a hand to indicate proof was unnecessary.
“I believe you.” Given her discomfiture and the effort she’d made in tracking him down, he didn’t think she would have told him unless she was sure it was his.
“I’m keeping it,” she stated, voice cool. “I felt you should know, but this doesn’t obligate you. I’m more than capable of supporting myself and the baby.”
He searched her aloof veneer for the woman whose sexuality had been so tuned to his own they’d made a baby within minutes of meeting each other. Where was the goddess who’d set the bar so high he hadn’t looked at another woman since?
“You’re free to walk away if that’s your preference.” She glanced toward the door in what smacked of a dismissal.
“You think I would turn my back on my child?” That annoyed him. His progeny would never be something shameful to be shipped away to a penal colony of a boarding school, never recognized or provided for.
Her brows lifted with surprise. “Given our no-strings agreement, I anticipated your interest would be low to nonexistent.”
“You anticipated wrong.” His harsh tone made her stiffen, but she offered a jerky nod of acknowledgment.
“Very well. I suggest a trust. I’m in the fortunate position of being able to offer the child a comfortable upbringing without prevailing on you. It’s really about what you consider a fair arrangement for the long term.”
“Prevail,” he insisted, his attention caught by her use of the. Not our child or even my child. The child. “I want and expect to be fully involved,” he stated without equivocation.
“I see.” Another blink as she absorbed that, cheeks hollow. “Well, we have time to discuss exactly how that will look. My wish is that we remain as discreet as possible while we work that out.”
“You don’t want anyone to know I fathered your child?” He wasn’t shocked. She was a pedigree show dog caught in heat by an abandoned mongrel. He deliberately cultivated the image of a low-rank plebeian on an upwardly mobile trend as he infiltrated the establishment. All the better to annoy his noble brothers, but, “Why tell me at all if you want it to be our little secret?”
“I considered not telling you,” she admitted frankly. Damn she was cool, perched so still on the edge of the desk, projecting patient tolerance of his presence before her. “But both of my brothers learned belatedly that they had children. I extrapolated that you might also feel cheated if such news came to light well after the fact. By being open with you, I expect we can make adjustments to accommodate our joint participation in the child’s life while mitigating otherwise-damaging rumors.”
There was the the again. He choked on a humorless laugh. “You sound like you’re still pointing at data and graphs. Speak like a human.”
She sat taller, her chin coming up, but there was a flash of irritation in her gaze that he found very satisfying. It meant he was getting under her skin.
“I’m too smart to be in this position. So are you. It serves both of us to keep this as simple and quiet as possible.”
“Consenting adults have affairs. Sometimes they slip up. This news won’t hurt either of us.” In fact, in the back of his brain, he was seeing how this new connection to the upper echelon of society could play out very much in his favor. Maybe that was her concern? “Are you trying to sideline me because of who I am? You don’t want to be associated with me? Is that it?”
“I don’t know who you are, do I?” she shot back. “I know your name. I know you sneak into parties to which you aren’t invited, place wild bids on innocuous items, then lurk in private areas like a cat burglar, seducing strangers you catch unawares. Would you like to explain any of that?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I was under the impression the seduction was a mutual agreement.”
She looked away and briefly touched the back of her neck before clasping her hands in her lap again. “It was,” she allowed. “But it was impulsive and irresponsible.”
“What happened to ‘no regrets’?” What had happened to that introspective, intriguing woman he’d been so compelled to hold and touch and possess? He really had been on some kind of daredevil high that night. She definitely wasn’t his type.
“Regret comes from wishing for a different outcome from the one you face,” she said flatly. “The truth is, why you were there and who you are doesn’t change the fact that I chose to behave in a way that will reflect badly on my family. I can’t undo that, but for their sake, I intend to do everything possible to cast this in as least damaging a light as possible.”
She really didn’t know about his connection to the Gomez family. She couldn’t, or she would be hysterical right now.
As he was processing whether that was a good or bad thing, comprehension of what she was reall