The Marriage Command. Susan Fox P.

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СКАЧАТЬ able to do before? Is it written anywhere in your file, Mr. Pierce, that I’d lay my life down for him without a second thought? Or that I’d kill to protect him?”

      How she managed to say all that while holding back an ever-rising tide of strangling tears, she didn’t know. She lifted her chin the slightest fraction and finished.

      “Did your investigator print a warning page in there somewhere? Something that might read, ‘Caution. Don’t ever mistreat the boy, or this chaste, long-suffering, churchgoing, Mother Theresa clone might come after you with mayhem in mind?’ That’s how much I love the boy, Mr. Pierce. So yes, I’d probably do just about anything to keep him if I had no respect or regard for the law.”

      The moment she finished speaking the words, Claire felt sick. What had she been thinking? She needed whatever goodwill this man might be able to stir up. The fact was that she’d been distraught for months now over the impending loss of Cody. This past week had been sheer hell, and suddenly all her rigid control was crumbling. Her heart was screaming with desperation and vicious pain. Somehow she managed to get the words past her tight throat.

      “I apologize, Mr. Pierce. I’m very upset. Beyond upset. I’m a little frantic about how Cody will survive all this when he doesn’t know you at all. He’s just a little boy, such a sweet little boy…”

      Claire’s breaking voice made her stop, and it was a good thing. No sense further damaging things between them by showing even more emotion or by threatening Logan Pierce any more than she already had.

      That cold black gaze probed hers and then cut over her as deliberately as if he was dicing a vegetable.

      Oh God, she really had blown it. Blown it completely. Surely he would immediately usher her out the front door and drag her to her car. After her threat of mayhem, he might even have someone follow her all the way to the highway and probably to the county line.

      The stupidity of losing control could come at such a heavy price that she might not survive the paying of it. She’d not been sure she could live with the loss of Cody, but if any chance to see him again had just been ruined by what she’d said—something she’d done this time—Claire didn’t know how she’d be able to live with herself.

      “I’ve behaved badly, but I’ve apologized, sincerely apologized, Mr. Pierce. I hope you’ll understand that this is a very emotional time.”

      There was absolutely no flicker of change in those awful black eyes or even a faint hint of softening on his stony features.

      Claire couldn’t imagine how Cody could begin to deal with this man! She was utterly intimidated, but Cody would be terrified. What on earth could she do to protect him? She wasn’t even certain she could protect herself.

      Her brain was racing so frantically that she didn’t catch what Logan said to her then.

      “Pardon me?” Her voice was barely a squeak now and it was all she could do to keep from crying. Her head was so full of tears that her ears were roaring.

      “I asked why you’re twenty-four and not married.”

      The out-of-the-blue question was a new shock, and she answered before she thought about it. “I’m not sure that’s any of your business. Just as it’s not my place to ask you why you’re not married.”

      Again she saw the glittering flare in his dark eyes, and realized with some surprise that what she was seeing was male interest. She almost wished it had been a signal of anger. That she would understand. But interest? She had to be misreading him. He was probably furious, though his stony expression made it difficult to detect anything more certain than harshness.

      “Then you need to know that I just made it my business, Miss Ryan,” he said gruffly, emphasizing the formal use of her name the same way she’d emphasized the formal use of his by addressing him as Mr. Pierce.

      “I want to know if you’re capable of being a wife. The boy ought to have more than one parent at a time. Are you capable of being as good a wife as you are a good mother?”

      Claire gave her head a small, dazed shake. “I suppose.”

      “A traditional wife who stays home? One who can run a house, entertain guests, arrange her husband’s social life? Spend his money, have good sex, raise his kids?”

      He paused, making Claire realize her face probably showed her utter shock. The little shocks he’d dealt her so far that day were nothing compared to this, and suddenly she knew he was on the verge of presenting her with the biggest shock yet.

      Claire felt the room tip a little and her head began to swim. She had to be misunderstanding this whole bizarre conversation, had to be, so she made a try at another interpretation.

      “Are you saying that if I found a husband and was a stay-at-home wife and mother, that you might consider allowing me to raise Cody? If that’s the case, then yes, I’m more than capable of being a good wife the moment I find a suitable husband.”

      Claire realized she was shaking all over suddenly as the roaring in her ears got a little louder. But as loud as that roaring was, it was amazing how clearly she heard what he said next. Though his voice was still a low, gravelly drawl that was almost a growl, it was as loud in her ears and in her brain as if he’d yelled out the words.

      “I meant, be a good wife to me, Miss Ryan. Marry me. Agree to all the things I mentioned, and I’ll allow you to adopt the boy when I adopt him. Otherwise, I’ll let you stay here through the weekend, but Monday morning you’ll have to leave. The boy and I will have to work things out between us without your help.”

      I meant, be a good wife to me, Miss Ryan…

      The room began to spin as those words and those next ones, Marry me, began to go round and round in her brain. But then the other things he’d listed before began to rush in a chaotic circle around those.

      Run a house, entertain guests, arrange her husband’s social life, spend his money, raise his kids…

      They weren’t bad words, they weren’t unpleasant words. In fact, they conjured up the kind of homey, satisfying scenes she’d always longed to see fulfilled when she found the right man and got married.

      But then that other little item he’d specified, good sex, began to race around with all the others, somehow sparkling and tumbling and very quickly dominating all the other images his list had called up.

      Claire tried to focus on the big man, the supremely harsh and powerful looking big man, who sat across from her and had just cold-bloodedly proposed a loveless marriage to a woman he didn’t know outside of a private investigator’s report. A man who, judging by the unremitting harshness on his stony face, still didn’t seem to even like her.

      As stunned and overwhelmed as she was, it was the heartless declaration of blackmail that touched off a conflagration of outrage.

      Otherwise, I’ll let you stay here through the weekend, but Monday morning you’ll have to leave. The boy and I will have to work things out between us without your help.

      Claire was on her feet without making a conscious decision to stand. It was a poor choice because her legs felt like spaghetti, though sheer temper might carry her through a ten-mile marathon.

      “Please indulge me, Mr. Pierce,” she began with strained softness, and it СКАЧАТЬ