There was only amused indulgence in her voice, though. She loved their daughter without reserve. Did she really think that wasn’t something herequiredin his marriage? Her capacity for loyalty toward family had tremendous value to him.
They had to marry. He still saw no other course of action that accomplished as many goals in one swoop, but he would have to be mindful of how easily she could influence him.
He would have to hold her at arm’s length even when he was buried deep inside her.
Amelia had the fearful sense that if her daughter hadn’t woken, she would be courting another pregnancy right now.
She gently smoothed her daughter’s fine hair, thinking she would happily have a dozen more of his babies. This one was so lovably perfect, it was ridiculous.
Amelia was genuinely scared for Peyton, though. Hunter’s world was as dangerous as it was luxurious. As she pulled her mind out of sexy kisses and back to everything Carina had said, she knew that marriage was the only way to spin their affair to keep Peyton from being crushed by the fallout.
Lust and a baby were not the strongest pillars on which to forge a marriage, though. The sort of marriage she had always seen for herself had been built on love and respect and liking. Friendship. Equality.
She didn’t have any of those things from Hunter. Even his respect for her must be a thin version of it, given how she had forced this one-eighty on his life plan. Equality? Pah!
She drew the bodice of Vienna’s dress back into place and shook out a fresh receiving blanket from the package of a dozen.
This was Peyton’s life, she acknowledged as she gently swaddled her. Money wasn’t everything, but it was something. Plus, as someone who had lost a parent, she knew the value in having a good relationship with the one who survived. She had to marry Hunter, for Peyton’s sake. She knew that.
And she wanted to marry him. For her own sake. For the sex.
She clenched her eyes shut as she admitted it to herself. That kiss had been the same wild magic as their night last July. It was wonderfully exciting and dangerously disturbing. He made her feel weak. Helpless to herself and to him.
He made her want things he wasn’t likely to give her, which made her deeply afraid their marriage wouldn’t last.
Maybe she was best thinking of it as a continuation of their affair, one that would be a little messier to end than most.
Cradling her daughter against her shoulder, she found him downstairs taking the dishes from the living room to the kitchen.
“Everything all right?” he asked with a flicker of his gaze from her tense expression to the firm grip she had on their daughter.
“Sure. I’m dandy as hell. You?”
“Point taken.” He set the dishes in the sink.
“Look. I know we have to get married,” she began carefully.
He turned and leaned on the counter, arms folded across his wide chest. His expression was an absolute study in poker faces.
“Peyton needs your protection. I suppose I do, too.” She chewed her lip, feeling hollow as she spoke of marriage so clinically, rather than with the excitement she had always anticipated she would feel. “It goes against everything I believe in to marry expecting to divorce, but that’s what I think will happen.”
“That’s the spirit,” he drawled. “Positive thinking is the secret to success.”
“Doyouthink we have what it takes to go the distance?” she scoffed.
“I’m pretty stubborn when I set my mind to something.”
“Like running a marathon even if it makes you vomit? That’s the spirit,” she mocked.
“We’ll have a prenup,” he said as if that was obvious. “If we divorce, it will be very civilized. I’ll make sure of it.”
Thatwas the spirit she expected from him, she thought dourly.
“I don’t care about your money. I need you to believe that. But I am concerned about what my life will look like.”
“Finish school. Teach if you want to.” He shrugged that off.
“I was worrying more about whether we would have more kids. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Not right away. I’m not ready to be pregnant again anyway. But I’ll go on the pill or something. Obviously, condoms don’t work for us.”