Nine Months Part 3. BEVERLY BARTON

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СКАЧАТЬ his lips and kissed it, then held it against his cheek. “Isn’t what we’ve shared this week enough for you? God, Paige, don’t you realize how good it is between us?”

      “Of course I realize how good it is.” She slipped her hand out of his grasp. “But I want more. I want it all. Not just the fantastic sex. Even marriage isn’t enough without the love and happily-ever-after that goes with it.”

      “Why can’t what we have be enough for you?” Jared clenched his jaw.

      “Is it enough for you?” Paige asked.

      “Yes, it’s enough. It’s more than enough. Hell, it’s more than I ever thought I’d have.”

      Jared’s brutally honest admission touched her deeply. How little had he expected? Had he really thought he could marry a woman and spend a lifetime with her not only without love, but without passion? Poor, poor Jared. His plans to find a suitable mate, marry and produce an heir had been logical, unemotional, sterile plans.

      “Before we met…” She paused, trying to choose the right words, words that wouldn’t frighten him. She wondered if perhaps not only did Jared not believe himself capable of loving someone, but that the very thought of love scared him. “Hasn’t it ever been like this for you before? I mean…haven’t you ever felt about another woman the way you feel about me?”

      Grabbing her shoulders, Jared turned her to face him. “Dammit! What do you want me to say? Do you want me to admit that you hold a power over me that no other woman ever has?”

      “I want you to be honest. With yourself, as well as with me.” Tell me you love me.

      “All right. The honest truth is that I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life, but I hate needing you this way. I’ve always had control over every aspect of my life. You make me lose control. You make me crazy!”

      Even though he couldn’t tell her that he loved her, Paige wondered if perhaps the feelings he did have for her were closer to love than anything he’d ever felt. Had their week together strengthened his feelings for her even more than she had hoped? Had Kay been right after all, about teaching Jared how to love? If so, this might be the first step in the learning process.

      Leaning her head to one side, she rubbed her cheek across the top of his hand that held her left shoulder. He loosened his grip, ran his hand down her arm and circled her waist.

      “I need to go back to my apartment for a few days,” she told him. “I can’t think rationally when we’re together all the time. Whether or not I should move in with you is a major decision.”

      Jared cupped her chin in his hand. “Are you saying that you’re considering moving in with me?”

      “Yes, I’m considering it. But if I do decide to live with you, it will be only until Angela is born.” Or it can be for the rest of our lives, if you learn to love me.

      “Ah, honey, you’ve made me a happy man.”

      “I haven’t decided yet. I think this is something we both need to take time apart to consider. In a few more months, I’m going to be big and fat and…and we may not be able to have sex. Be sure this is what you really want.”

      He kissed her, hard and fast, then smiled. Paige’s stomach did an evil flip-flop.

      “I don’t care how big and fat you get,” he said, then patted her stomach. “You’ll be getting larger as my baby grows inside you. And even if we can’t have sex later in your pregnancy, there are other ways to make love.”

      Don’t blush, dammit, she told herself. Don’t blush! “I need a few days to think about it.”

      “Take a week, if you need to, as long as you decide to live with me.”

      Jared toppled them both over into the bed, and within moments they were lost to the passion that neither could control. They were still in bed when Kay arrived. Jared dressed hurriedly and went downstairs to answer the door, while Paige freshened up and put on her clothes.

      * * *

      The house was empty without Paige, and Jared was lonely. Although he’d been alone most of his life, he didn’t think he’d ever been really lonely before. Except, maybe, for a while after Grandpa Monty had died. He had missed that old man for a long time. Hell, sometimes he still missed him.

      Even though his parents had given Jared everything money could buy, they’d never spent much time with him. As a child, he’d been cared for by a succession of nannies and servants, people paid to see to his needs. As an adult, he’d changed very little about his lifestyle, depending on employees to keep his business and his ranch running smoothly. Even though he made friends easily, he never knew what they liked better, his money or him. And always in the past, he had chosen women with whom he could have unemotional, uninvolved relationships that he could end effortlessly.

      But Paige was different from any woman he’d ever known. And the way he felt about her was different. Stronger. More intense. He’d never really needed anyone before—he’d made sure of that. But Paige had hit him like a ton of bricks. A chance encounter in an elevator had turned his life upside down. After making love to Paige, nothing else would ever be the same.

      As much as he wanted her, Jared hated his weakness. Paige made him vulnerable. She had taken his sane, orderly, well-planned life and thrown him into utter chaos.

      Here he was rich, powerful, not bad-looking and reasonably young. With the snap of his fingers, he could have a hundred women at his beck and call. But he didn’t want those hundred women—he just wanted one. One feisty, stubborn, romantic redhead, who had him spinning his wheels while he waited for her to make a decision.

      Using a cane for support, Jared paced back and forth in his den. How long was it going to take Paige to come to her senses, to realize that there was no logical reason for them not to live together, for them not to marry?

      She had moved back to her apartment three days ago, and even though he’d seen her every day at the office, it wasn’t enough. He wanted her in his home, in his bed, in his arms, every morning and every night.

      Resting one foot on the hearth, Jared tossed today’s issue of the Grand Springs Herald into the fire, then lifted the brass poker and stoked the burning logs. Paige should be here with him now. They could be discussing the Rocky Springs Ranch development or the Florida beachfront condos that Montgomery’s was building. They could be talking about Lamaze classes or deciding on a middle name for Angela. They could be making love on the rug in front of the fireplace.

      Jared viciously jabbed at the logs, then threw the poker down on the hearth. Three days. Three damn days! That’s all it had been since he’d made love to Paige, and here he was half out of his mind. Wanting her. Needing her. Missing her.

      When the phone rang, Jared glared at it. He had no intention of breaking his neck to answer it. For the past three evenings, every time the phone rang, he’d been certain it was Paige. And every time, he’d been wrong.

      Moving at a snail’s pace, he walked across the room. The phone continued ringing. He lifted the receiver.

      “Hello.”

      “Jared, this is Austen Summers.”

      “Austen?” Paige’s brother? “Is Paige СКАЧАТЬ