She bent her head to look down at their linked fingers. “Thank you for inviting me tonight. It’s been a long time since I attended a family gathering.” She looked momentarily embarrassed. “I travel a lot and I don’t often attend family gatherings. Well, except for Hassan’s family, obviously.”
Carrick saw the tenderness in her eyes, heard the soft note in her voice. And cursed when jealousy scoured his throat.
“And who exactly is he?” Carrick asked through gritted teeth.
Sadie sipped her drink and looked at him through long and dark and thick eyelashes. Yeah, that coquettish look was designed to melt irritation at fifty paces.
“Hassan is Prince Hassan Ramid El-Aboud. I was with him in Abu Dhabi when you asked me to consult on the Homer.”
With him? Was she with him naked? She needed to define with him and she needed to do it quickly. “Explain.” Carrick bit the word out.
“Well, there was talk about us getting married,” Sadie blithely replied, and Carrick felt the pressure in his head expand.
“He’s asked you to marry him?”
Sadie sipped her mojito. “Uh-huh...”
She was having his kid and was blithely talking about marriage to someone else? Oh, hell no! “Are you being serious?”
“Sure. His family loves me and I’ve been to two of his sister’s weddings and his parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary celebration. Hassan is the only son and he’s spoiled rotten. They can’t wait to marry him off.”
“And they’ve chosen you? An American non-Muslim?”
“His mom is British and they love me.”
“And have you told him that you are pregnant with my child?” Carrick demanded, trying to keep his voice low, but unable to mask his fury.
“Sure,” Sadie cheerfully told him. She lifted her shoulders and let them fall in a careless shrug. “Hassan’s fine with it. Excited, even.”
“You’re not going to marry him and he’s not raising my child!” Carrick roared and every one of his guests whipped around, their eyes wide.
Sadie gurgled with laughter. Carrick huffed. Well, that was one hell of a way to tell the world there was going to be another Murphy—God help them all—in eight or so months’ time. Lucky for them, their friends and family knew how to keep a secret.
Sadie’s smirk had him wondering what, exactly, she was up to.
“I...what...dammit.”
Sadie winked at Levi. “He can hand it out, but he’s not so good at taking it.”
Levi walked over to them and held out his big fist for her to bump and Sadie tapped her knuckles against his. Then she turned back to Carrick and shook her head.
“I was messing with you, Carrick, just like you messed with Levi earlier. And no, I’m not going to marry Hassan, not now, not ever. While his family does think I’m fabulous, they know, as do Hassan and I, that we will never be anything more than friends. You’re looking a bit pale. Would you like to lie down?”
He placed his hands on her cheeks, captured her face between his palms and laughed against her lips.
This woman, she was going to drive him mad.
Going to? Nope, it was already happening.