His mouth dropped. ‘I didn’twhat?’
‘You let me go without so much as—’
‘Just because I didn’t assault you doesn’t make me a nice guy.’ He pinched his nose and muttered an oath.
‘Well, it’s a start, isn’t it?’ With a chuckle, she shook her head. ‘You tried to warn me off that night too. Why? What’s so bad about you?’
‘What’s bad?’ He dropped his hands and fixed her with a firm glare. ‘Be warned, Violet. I won’t stop until I get what I want. I’ve experienced the worst failure imaginable and I’mneverputting myself in that position again.’
‘That doesn’t sound bad, that sounds determined.’ She looked at him, feeling both cautious and curious. Curiosity won. ‘What was the failure?’
She was sure it wasn’t money he was talking about. Nothing to do with the business. This was something deeply entrenched and far more emotive—more raw than something simply material. This was something that had wounded his soul.
But he’d stilled, that flare of emotion subsiding as swiftly as it had risen.
‘It’s irrelevant to this,’ he said. ‘But you can be sure I won’t fail again. Not you. Not our child. That’s why we’re getting married as soon as it can be arranged.’
CHAPTER FIVE
‘WE’RENOTGETTINGMARRIED.’ A fierce kick of rejection made Violet speak immediately.
Thatwas what he wanted? Why on earth would he want that?
‘Sure we are. It’s the only sensible thing to do.’
‘Sensible?’
‘You’re not an American citizen. You’re here on what—some sort of temporary visa?’
She fell silent.
‘Doubtless you could get sent out of the country awfully easily,’ he added. ‘I can’t have my child—’
‘Don’t...’ she breathed. She couldn’t cope with the ‘child’ concept being uttered aloud yet.
‘Plus, how are your family going to react?’ he pivoted with remorseless precision. ‘Surely those brothers of yours wouldn’t want their baby sister left pregnant and alone? Won’t they fully support my plan? And your parents—they’d want me to do the right thing, wouldn’t they?’
‘Don’t use my family to persuade me. You don’t even know them.’
‘That’s true. So you tell me whattheywould want you to do.’
They’d be impressed that he wanted to ‘do the right thing’, and he was the ultimate ‘marry well’ groom. But they also wouldn’t want her to marry him if she really didn’t want to. They’d always try to protect her from anything tough but they believed their way was the only way. And that was the problem. ‘Go home to them,’ she said. ‘Right away. And they’ll take care of everything. Of me. And my baby.’
‘Ourbaby.’
‘Doesn’t matter. They’d do anything to help me.’
He paused. His gaze narrowed. ‘But you don’twanttheir help. Or mine.’ He inhaled sharply. ‘What happened to make you so determined to have your independence?’ His jaw tensed. ‘Were your parents more than over-protective? Did they keep you on such a short leash...?’ His focus zeroed in on her. ‘Your inexperience stretches beyond the sexual.’
So what if it did? She was not discussing any of that with him. Nor was it the time to revisit the claustrophobic upbringing that had constrained her so much.
‘Yet you care greatly what others think of you,’ he added.
Heat flamed her face. Of course she cared about what her family thought, what anyone thought. What had happened between them was supposed to have been her own secret. But to have had a one-night stand and fallen pregnant, after all the warnings her family had issued...?
‘Are you ashamed of consorting with me, angel?’ Roman asked. ‘Am I not the kind of man a woman like you marries?’
The ridiculousness of that statement made her shake her head. He was the ultimate catch—a supremely successful businessman, gorgeous to boot. Whowouldn’twant to marry him?