‘You see…’ His head lifted just a fraction so his lips skidded over her skin, a dance of breathy heat and liquid movement. ‘See how much you want me,’ he said. ‘I could take you here, on the deck, and you would be powerless to stop me.’
She tried to breathe, to clear her mind. Yes, she wanted him. No matter how much she wished she could refute his claims her body would not be denied. Her heart would not be denied. She wanted him body and soul. But that still didn’t make what he was doing right. It was one thing for her to give herself freely. It was another for him to take it.
‘But that’s the way you always operate, Damien. You take what you want.’
‘You don’t fool me. You want this too.’
‘So why not take me then? Take me now, right here, while my mother sleeps inside. And what exactly will that prove? Do you for one moment imagine I will be so blown away by your love-making that I will be desperate enough to rush down the aisle for more?’
The change in his breathing told her that her words had hit their mark. His head twisted to rest on her shoulder as his arms relaxed their grip. He surged away towards the house without looking at her, one hand on his hip, the other sweeping back through his hair all the way down to his neck.
She was driving him crazy. He must be crazy, to want to attack her on her own back step, her mother sleeping inside the house.
But he wanted her—so much. Why did she continue to frustrate him? She’d fled from him that first night, hidden her identity and kept it concealed. And she still made out she was an innocent in all this when she’d held all the cards right from the beginning.
‘You seem to take a great deal of satisfaction in pointing out my failings, but do you think your own behaviour is beyond reproach?’ She looked up at him, startled, as if not expecting him to go on the attack so soon.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re the one who ran away the night of the masquerade ball. You’re the one who kept your identity a secret. If you hadn’t told me today about the baby—’ He stopped, reeling back the hours to that time.
She hadn’t told him.
He’d intervened in her dispute with that loser, Bryce, and Bryce hadn’t been the only one who’d believed him. In her fragile state she’d thought he was telling the truth. She’d thought he really did know the baby was his.
He looked up at her, his eyes open for what seemed the first time as the layers of her deceit peeled away.
‘You weren’t going to tell me, were you.’
It wasn’t a question, it was an accusation. ‘You were never going to tell me.’
‘No, Damien, that’s not true.’
‘You were going to keep this baby a secret. You never intended to let me in on it. If I hadn’t come to your rescue and you hadn’t taken me seriously, I never would have known.’
‘No! I was going to tell you today.’
‘But you didn’t.’
‘I didn’t have a chance. I was about to tell you, in your office, but Bryce—’
‘Bryce nothing. I don’t believe you. You’ve hidden the truth from me all along. Why should today be any different?’
‘Because it’s the truth.’
‘No. You were going to keep it your secret. Another little secret. Like making love to me that night. That was your secret. You didn’t want me to know who you were—that’s what that mask was all about—why you wouldn’t take it off. You never wanted me to find out.’
‘Damien, listen to me—’
‘Why should I listen to you? You’ve hidden the truth all along. You hid your face that night so I wouldn’t know who you were. Then you let me believe you were never at that Christmas party. Why would you do that and then suddenly decide to tell me you’re pregnant and it’s my baby?’
‘Because it is your baby. You have a right to know.’
‘You care about my rights?’ he scoffed. ‘I very much doubt that. But this isn’t about rights. I believe you never had any intention of admitting you were in that boardroom let alone advising me that I was the father of this baby. If it hadn’t been for that blunder you made when I threw Bryce out, you would never have told me.’
‘Damien, that’s simply not true.’
‘Isn’t it? You can honestly say you never once considered hiding the truth about this baby from me? You never once considered the possibility of bringing this child up on your own?’
Her eyes slid sideways before they slowly meandered their way back to his. His own narrowed in response. What did that mean if not an acknowledgement of his claims? She’d planned to keep this baby secret from him. Blood rushed to his temples in a flush of heat and anger. Just as well she had no way out of this arrangement. She’d never escape him again.