“What?” Was she talking about a job? “What do you mean?”
“As nice as it is spending every day by the pool, reading endless books, I can’t do that forever. And the centre’s beautiful and charming and the woman who runs it sounds lovely. And once the baby’s born, I can work with the older children and the baby can be in the same centre. Presuming they still need me, of course. Isn’t that great?”
He compressed his lips, suppressing his first reaction with great difficulty. “Great?” He murmured aloud, buying for time.
“Uh huh. I didn’t expect to find something so quickly. Of course, I have to interview for the job first, and she might not like me, but she sounds nice and we kind of clicked on the phone, and I told her I’m pregnant. Oh, obviously I did because of how she said she’s happy to have the baby in the baby room. And now I’m rambling,” she said with a laugh and a shake of her head that waved some of her hair loose from the bun.
“Let me get this straight,” he murmured after a moment. “You’re talking about getting a job.”
“Maybe I didn’t ramble well enough,” Imogen laughed. “Yes, I’m talking about getting a job.”
He stared at her for a long moment and then shook his head, instantly rejecting the idea as impossible. “Why?”
“Why?” Her laugh was a short sound but it was just as he remembered it. Bells on the breeze. His gut rolled. “I told you. I can’t just sit around here all day. And I’m good at what I do; and I love it. I miss it.”
“But aren’t there risks to you? In your condition?”
“Gosh, no. All the children are vaccinated and it’s only babies that would potentially pose a risk to a pregnancy. So I’ll be with the toddlers and older. And I know the risks. I won’t lift anything too heavy.”
“You don’t have to work,” he blurted out, cutting across the terrace and crouching beside her, his haunches strong as his pants stretched to accommodate the muscles.
“Of course I do,” she said with genuine bemusement. “I have no money without an income. I mean, savings, sure, but not enough to live off.”
“Money, right.” He could have kicked himself for the oversight. “Of course I intended to set up an allowance for you, credit cards. I should have done it before now. That was remiss of me.”
“You… what?” Her eyes were huge in her face and again desire swarmed his body, thick and fast. “No way.”
“It was our arrangement,” he reminded her slowly. “You would move in with me and I would look after you.”
Imogen stared at him as though he’d utterly taken leave of his senses. “You’re kidding?”
“I’ll have the cards within the week,” he murmured, mentally scrolling through his phone to call his bank manager. “And we’ll talk about a suitable amount for maintenance.”
“Stop.” She lifted a hand and pressed it to his chest, her fingers splayed wide across his warm torso. “Stop talking.”
“Why? I told you, we’ve already agreed to this. It was an oversight of mine that I left it until now to arrange.”
“No! I didn’t agree to that.” She shook her head to emphasise the point. “I’m not letting you pay me an – an allowance! No way!”
“Well, I don’t want you working, and, a
s you so rightly point out, you do need money.”
She stood up jerkily, moving away from him as though he was threatening to whip her. “How can you think I would ever accept that?”
“I’m offering you money that you would have earned while working, because you’re pregnant with my baby. How is that a problem?”
“Because! It is!” She spun around, her breath ragged in her chest as she stared out at the City. Highrises glistened in the dusk sunlight. “I would never let you give me money. What do you think I am?” She bit down on her lip to hold the tears in check.
But his suggestion was nibbling away at her confidence, making her feel completely out of her depth.
“I know you’re rich, and I’m not, but I don’t want your money. Just because we’re having a baby together doesn’t mean I’m going to forget my values and subjugate myself completely to your wishes.” She blinked her eyes shut as pain scored deep lines through her heart. “How can you even suggest that?”
“I told you,” he groaned huskily. “I want to look after you.”
“You said that was about foot rubs and doctor’s appointments. You never mentioned anything about giving me a damned allowance or believe me, I would never have agreed to move in with you. Never. Not in a hundred billion years.”
“That’s a really long time,” he couldn’t help saying, the words soothing and low.