Her Pregnancy Secret Page 12

  She continued to sing. No reply. Either she didn’t hear him or she was deliberately ignoring him.

  “Hello, damn it!”

  The singing stopped, but she didn’t call out to him. Annoyed, he stomped into Will’s bedroom and found her kneeling over a box of thick wool sweaters.

  “What’s with the opera? I thought you were into rock music.”

  Her quick blush made his gut tighten and his body harden.

  “Apparently, Mrs. Ferrar took Tony’s player and speakers. So I was singing something Luke was humming earlier at the bistro.”

  “Luke? I thought he finished his assessment of Chez Z. Doesn’t he have his own empire to run?”

  “I’m sure he does, but he came by because he’s so sweet.”

  Sweet, my ass.

  “He took me to dinner at one of his restaurants last night to show me a few more tricks.”

  Dinner? Sweet had nothing to do with it. He was hitting on her.

  “Sorry. I know I can’t carry a tune. Luke has the most beautiful voice.”

  Luke, again. Damn. “You sounded okay. Not bad,” he said, grumpily, his mind on Luke.

  “What can I do to help around here?” Michael muttered.

  She refused to look at him. “Just pack everything, I guess.”

  “Okay. I can do that.”

  “Maybe you could work in the living room, that way—”

  “Right. That way you can avoid me.”

  “Did I say that?”

  “I was rough on you last week, so you think maybe I should apologize.”

  “Why? You meant what you said. I’m glad I know what you think of me. Now I can move on.”

  Her cutting words made him feel bleak as hell. But she was right. He didn’t trust her. Why should he? Unfortunately, he still wanted her in his life.

  He let out a long, frustrated breath and shoved a hand through his hair. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed a box off the floor and went into the living room where he began slinging books into it with a fury. Consumed with her, he worked, banging about in the living room for more than an hour. After he finished unloading the bookshelf, he started on the desk and then the computer.

  The drawers were slower going because he couldn’t pack papers and files without going through them in an effort to figure out if they were important. After an hour, he’d finished two drawers and filled two boxes. Then he opened the bottom drawer and found it stuffed with discs and flash drives that were labeled as photos and videos.

  Curious, he loaded a disk that Will had titled Our First Night Together and Honeymoon into the computer, because Michael had to prove to himself once and for all that she’d been lying about her relationship.

  But the pictures weren’t of Will and Bree; they were of Will and Tony.

  In the first series of shots, Will and Tony were holding hands. In the next, they were hugging. Then the pictures got racier.

  In each shot, the two of them wore less. Hell, was this some kind of strip session? When they were down to their briefs, Michael decided he’d seen enough and tore the disc from the machine.

  Will and Tony?

  He stared into space blankly. Why hadn’t he seen what had been right before his eyes? Will had always been so sensitive, so sweet and caring. So damned perfect in all the ways Michael wasn’t. Michael remembered how Jacob used to beg Will to bring a girl home. Any girl, he’d say. Had he suspected?

  I will, Dad. I just have to meet the right girl.

  But just after Jacob’s death, Will had moved here and become nearly impossible to reach.

  Had Will been nervous about introducing Michael to Tony? Afraid Michael wouldn’t accept their partnership?

  But he would have. He did accept it. Realities were realities. People were what they were. He’d loved Will. Period.

  The reason Bree hadn’t displayed a single photograph of Will in her apartment was because they’d been friends, not lovers.

  Just like she’d said.

  She’d been telling the truth about that at least.

  So why the hell had Will married her?

  Michael remembered his brother’s glazed eyes in the E.R. and his final words.

  “She’s a wonderful girl. Not what you think. In a way, what you did to her was all my fault. So, if you’ll just promise me...you’ll take care of her, that you’ll do this one thing for me, we’ll be square.”

  What you did to her...

  What had Will meant? What was Michael missing?

  When Michael got up and walked into the bedroom again, Bree looked up absently from the growing mountain of packed boxes.

  “What? What is it, Michael?”

  “Will was gay.”

  She drew a breath and quickly averted her eyes. “Okay.”

  “You knew!”

  She swallowed.

  “So—apparently everybody knew but me...even Aunt Alice. This puts everything in a new light.”

  Her face was flushed and her lips trembled.

  “Who got you pregnant? Why the hell did he marry you?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  Her answer drove him over some edge. “You’ve said that before. My work is complicated. I bet this is simple. If he was in love with Tony, if he lived here with Tony, if he was never your lover as you claimed all along, how the hell did you manipulate him into marrying you? Who’s the father of your baby? Some other guy I don’t know about? Tell me his name!”

  “Damn you,” she lashed out at him. “I was a virgin when I slept with you. You have to know that!”

  On some rational level, maybe he did. But women had been tricking men about their virginity for centuries, and he was too angry for logic to work.

  She stood up, her eyes aflame, her cheeks dark with rage. “This from you right now...is too much!”

  She was angry, angrier than he’d ever seen her. Fighting for control, she shut her eyes. Not that she calmed down any. When she opened her eyes again they were so bright they shot sparks at him. “I don’t want to talk about this with you. Not even now.”

  “Well, I do. You had some sordid affair and made my brother feel sorry for you—”

  “Used him? Had a sordid affair? This is the final straw! I’ve had it with you! You always think I’m some cheap hustler! You always think everything is my fault! It’s my fault we got married! It’s my fault because I’m greedy and manipulative!”

  Eyes aflame, she stared at him for a long moment.

  “Well, it’s not my fault! It’s yours!”

  “What are you saying?”

  “When you slept with me to drive a wedge between me and Will, I was a virgin, and you got me pregnant!”

  He’d gotten her pregnant? Her accusation jolted him like a blow. He reeled backward.

  He’d taken every precaution; he always took every precaution.

  “I couldn’t have gotten you pregnant. That’s not possible.” Then why did his chest feel heavy as he stared into her eyes that blazed with outrage and hurt? It was as if her eyes were a fist she’d rammed inside him.

  “Apparently it is possible because I am pregnant. This mess is your fault as much as it is mine! But unlike you, I take part of the blame because I was the simpleminded idiot who slept with you.”

  “You’re claiming I’m the father, and that’s why Will married you?” Michael’s voice was hoarse.

  “Yes! I didn’t know who to turn to. Like a fool, I cried on his shoulder. He said you were so set against me, it was up to him to do the right thing. He felt someone in the family had to help me get on my feet. He said you’d had a grudge against all women ever since Anya lied about being pregnant and you married her. He said you wouldn’t change your mind about me easily. And, oh boy, how right he wa
s! Your brother had a sense of honor—which you don’t.”

  Her words were sinking in, making sense. Horrible sense.

  Pregnant. She was pregnant.

  “You’re sure it’s mine?” he rasped.

  “Damn you!”

  “Sorry,” he growled, hanging his head with genuine repentance.

  “Look, I’ve never been with another man. How many times do I have to tell you that? Not that I’m proud of that fact. I wish I’d been with ten other men before you, men who had hearts. Maybe if I’d been the gold-digging slut you thought I was, I would have seen through you. I wish I was pregnant by somebody else!”

  He was going to be a father.

  Michael felt too shocked to say anything for what felt like an interminably long interval.

  She was pregnant with his child and she’d been doing her damnedest to hide that fact from him. And he didn’t blame her for that.

  He felt sick with regret. What could he say to her now? What could he do? His thoughts were a painful jumble.

  He’d gotten a virgin pregnant and had run off to Shanghai to try to forget her. He had a lot to answer for.

  “I did my best to protect you—you have to know that. I did everything in my power to prevent this.”

  “I know. I remember. Because I was the last person you wanted to have a baby with. I’m sure there’s a lot of collateral damage with every deal you close.”

  Her voice cut like an ice shard.

  “So,” she continued, “here we are. You and I are going to have a baby. What now? How are you going to spin it so I’m the evil one? Do you still think I’m trying to manipulate you the way Anya did?”

  “No. You’re not like her.”

  “Wow! I can’t believe you said that.”

  What he couldn’t believe was that he’d been so blind to the truth where she was concerned. But so many people lied to him, not only in his relationships but in the business world. Too often the men he negotiated with would say or do anything to make a deal.

  Bree was not like Anya or the sharks in Shanghai.

  The reality hit him hard as he considered how badly he’d behaved toward her.

  She was so different from the women he usually dated that he hadn’t understood that she might be genuine.

  “Were you ever going to tell me about the baby?” he asked softly.

  “Maybe...in time.”

  “You mean in a year or so? Or maybe in twenty years?”

  “Maybe.”

  After the way he’d treated her, he knew he deserved that answer or worse. “Which was it going to be?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe I wasn’t ever going to tell you.”

  He raked a hand through his hair. His heart was hammering violently.

  God, what had he done? Had he thrown away the best thing that had ever happened to him?

  “Damn it, Bree.”

  “You made your feelings for me very, very clear, Michael, on that first night. And on all the nights since.”

  His gut twisted. Yes, he’d sweet-talked her and made love to her until she’d become radiant every time he looked at her. He’d caressed her so seductively she’d trembled when he barely touched her. Her every nerve had leaped in response to him, but he’d thought she’d been faking.

  She hadn’t been. While she’d been sincere with him, he’d treated her as deceitfully as Anya had treated him. He was guilty of everything he’d accused Bree of. Afterward he’d told her he hadn’t wanted her, that he’d been lying all along and had only pretended he’d cared about her. While she’d been sweet and authentic, he’d been a blind, brutal, rampaging fool. Now, as he remembered the despair in her eyes that night, he knew her virginal pain would haunt him for as long as he lived.

  “Everything’s different now,” he said.

  “Not for me, Michael,” she said quietly. “You hurt me. You’ve expressed your poor opinion of me too many times for me not to believe that’s how you really feel.”

  He couldn’t blame her. “I know. I’m truly sorry.”

  “Michael—”

  When she looked up at him, distress and confusion showing in her damp eyes, the suffering he’d caused her tore him apart.

  “What I did to you that night was wrong. The things I accused you of, even after the accident, were wrong. I see that now. I did something I’d never do in a business deal. Because it involved Will, I rushed into the situation, thinking I had all the facts, but I was clueless. I’m sorry for what I did to you, what I said to you then, and ever since.”

  She lowered her eyes and bit her lip. Then she lifted her chin. Her eyes were cool, passionless. “I accept your apology. But none of this really matters anymore.”

  Because he didn’t matter to her anymore.

  He took a deep breath. “I want to make this right,” he said, “but I don’t know how.”

  “It’s too late for us.”

  “We’re going to have a baby,” he said. “We need to do what’s right for our child...maybe get married, maybe—”

  “What? Maybe get married? You’re willing to marry me because you feel guilty right now? Or because you want control of your precious North heir? Are you out of your mind? You haven’t thought this through. You don’t want to marry me, and I certainly don’t want to marry you. We’d make each other miserable.”

  “Hear me out. You’re going to have my son or daughter.”

  “Right. Like I said—your precious North heir.”

  “Listen to me—”

  “No! You hear me out for a change! I want to marry a man who loves me for me, who wants to conceive a child with me, who thinks well of me, and you’re not capable of that. All you’re good at is making money.”

  When he moved toward her, she went white and shrank against the wall to avoid his touch.

  “It wouldn’t be about your child being my heir.”

  “I don’t believe you, Michael.”

  “I still want you,” he muttered thickly. “I want you so much, and I don’t want to hurt you ever again.”

  “But you would hurt me. Because you can’t love me. You can’t love anyone. Money is all you really care about because that’s what saved you from poverty. I’m sorry for you, but I’ve accepted the fact that you are how you are...and that no amount of wishful thinking on my part can change you. I won’t change my mind. We come from very different worlds and we are very different people.”

  The undiluted pain in her eyes pierced his heart. “I can change,” he said. “We’ll make it work. Somehow. I swear to you.”

  “I don’t think so.” She didn’t fight him when he lifted her chin and tried to convince her with a kiss. She trembled when his mouth covered hers, but she didn’t move into him or pull him close. Her taste intoxicated him even though she simply waited stiffly until he ended the kiss.

  “I want you too much to let you go, Bree. The past few days have been hell for me.”

  “For me, too. But what we feel about each other doesn’t really matter. We don’t have the same values. You instantly accused me of sleeping around, and I’m not like that. You care only about money and deal-making...we’re not right for each other.”

  “I lost Will. And now I’m losing you. And our child.”

  “You didn’t lose us. You can’t lose what you never had. At least, I keep telling myself that. I can’t lose you for the same reason—because I never had you.”

  “Damn it, Bree—”

  “Go back to the living room and pack. I don’t want to talk to you any longer.”

  There was a roar in his ears, a fire in his blood as he caught her roughly to him again. “You’re pregnant with my child, and I want to do what’s right.”

  “Then stay out of my life!”

  His mou
th was hard when it met hers. He was determined to claim every part of her, to make her see that love wasn’t necessary when two people belonged together. She was like the air he breathed, the water he drank, the food he ate and the earth he walked on. He couldn’t live without such essentials. He didn’t love the air or water or food, did he? He just had to have them, or he would cease to exist.

  “Kiss me back, damn it.” His command was crisp and impatient. “You know you want to.”

  Her heart pulsed erratically and her skin warmed with fiery need, but she didn’t put her arms around him or lift her face to his or give him any indication that she was tempted.

  “No—let me go,” she whispered raggedly. “Please, just let me go.”

  The warmth of her breath against his cheek alone was enough to drive him crazy. “Why? You know the sex would be great.”

  “I told you,” she whispered huskily. “I want to be valued as a person. Not bought. Or kept. This is just another deal to you. I’m the mother of your child. You enjoy me in bed. I’m not quite as bad as you thought. All in all, I’m a better deal than Anya. In order to get control of your heir, you’re willing to marry me.”

  “Damn it, no.” He lifted her dark golden hair and pushed it back from her neck. “I do value you. Or...or, damn it, I’ll learn to value you.”

  “You’re just saying that to get what you want. But I know what you really feel and think about me. You’ve always thought I’m greedy and unscrupulous and can be bought. That’s simply your viewpoint.”

  He lowered his lips to the base of her throat where her pulse pounded. “Because before you, that’s all I knew.”

  “Well, that’s not who I am, and I don’t want to be with a man who lusts after me but can’t respect me. Nothing’s different except now you know the baby I’m carrying is yours.”

  “That’s a helluva big difference.”

  When his hand cupped her breast, and he kissed her again, she shuddered. But she didn’t kiss him back.

  “I can change. I can learn,” he said. “I will try to see you as you are. I will.”

  “It’s too late. Because now it’s me who doesn’t believe you, Michael. How can I believe anything you say? I’m through. Finished. The suspicions you feel toward others are ingrained so deeply into your character, you’ll never rid yourself of them.”