One-Amazing-Night Baby!. Heidi Rice

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СКАЧАТЬ found a placating tone. ‘I’ll grant you this is far from ideal. But surely you want your child to have a father.’

      ‘He will have a father. I just won’t have a husband.’

      Teeth clenched, he examined the ground and rubbed his forehead. He was a strategist. He needed a strategy. Winning card first up: something they both agreed upon.

      He moved in closer. ‘Stop to consider the obvious benefits.’ He lowered his voice to a sexy growl. ‘Have you forgotten how compatible we are in bed?’

      She coughed on a dry laugh. ‘And suddenly sex is supposed to fix things?’

      Well, it didn’t make things any worse!

      Next. He stood up tall—six-three, last time he’d been measured. ‘I can provide well for the both of you.’

      ‘You can do that without tying any knots.’

      This had gone on long enough. He set his fists low on his hips. ‘I’m not arguing with you. This is non-negotiable.’

      She shook her head, bemused. ‘It’s started already.’

      He held off from rolling his eyes. Here we go. ‘What’s started?’

      ‘Having your boundaries and opinions and decisions forced upon me. I have my own mind, Cooper. I have my own dreams. And they’ve never included saying yes to a loveless marriage.’

      That last sentence echoed his deeper conviction entirely—but they no longer had the luxury of dreams. ‘We need to make this work for the baby’s sake.’

      ‘It would be a mistake to even try.’

      He would convince her. He would make her see. ‘I’ll make it work.’

      ‘Just like my parents thought it would work for them?’

      His patience warped and creaked. Heart pounding against his ribs, he tried to keep his voice even. ‘What about your parents?’

      ‘My father and mother only married because they were having me. My dad was determined to do the right thing. My mother hadn’t meant to get pregnant but, seeing she was, she decided my father was it. But they weren’t in love, and love certainly didn’t grow.’ She pivoted away towards the mock-orange bushes. ‘As far back as I can remember I’ve been the mediator. I thought if I found the right guy and lived happily ever after, somehow I could make their mistake half-right.’

      His throat swelled. His parents had cherished both him and Paige. ‘I’m sure they don’t think of you as a mistake.’

      She slid him a look. ‘I’m talking about them getting hitched for the sake of their child.’

      He rolled a shoulder back. ‘What if they’d married and been happy?’

      Her grin said she was unconvinced. ‘What if we just agree to disagree?’

      Not an option. He needed time to work on her. Some leverage. Anything.

      A lightbulb went off in his head. ‘I have another idea.’

      ‘Does it involve food? Because that’s the only one I’ve liked so far.’

      ‘We’ll have a trial run.’ Until, that was, he convinced her to be sensible.

      Her slim nostrils flared. ‘You’re crazy if you think I’d get married simply to see if we should divorce.’

      No, no.

      Seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, he ran his hands down her arms. ‘I’m talking about living together.’

      He read her eyes, the subtle change in body language at his touch. She was considering it.

      But eventually she waved her hands and stepped back. ‘Not interested.’

      He shoved his hands in his pockets to stop himself from shaking her. ‘Just for one moment can you stop being difficult? Surely you want to give our baby a chance at having a conventional family.’

      Her green eyes glistened. ‘People can start out with the best intentions. Doesn’t mean there’s a rainbow on the other side. You know that.’

      Right. He’d go for the jugular. ‘Think of it as an experience. Let’s say a three-month experience that could make a difference to the person you love most … your child.’

      She stared at him for a long, torn moment.

      ‘Three months?’

      She was cracking. Good. And, if by some miracle she’d forgotten how their sexual chemistry sizzled, now he would fully remind her.

      He drew her near, and the desire they’d shared before plumed in the pit of his stomach. His heart began to beat another rhythm as he remembered the way her limbs had felt twined around him, how she’d murmured his name over and over after he’d tipped her over the edge. He needed her to remember too, to convince her to do this his way. The only way.

      Pulling her in by her shoulders, he didn’t kiss her, but rather drank in the lines of her face with his gaze—smooth skin, kissable lips, eyes he still wanted to drown in. He couldn’t see that ever changing.

      Gradually the tension bracing her body eased. She didn’t return his embrace, but neither did she push him away. ‘Cooper, where on your list is love?’

      His blood stopped flowing before he assured her, ‘As of today I have a new list.’

      Her mouth twisted to one side. ‘If that’s supposed to make me feel any better, it doesn’t.’

      ‘Then let’s try this.’

      With great purpose he lowered his head and kissed her, with equal measures of tenderness and meaning. A shower of electric impulses zapped over his skin. Down below, his blood began to stir and heat. For a moment he was back in that room with Sophie in his arms and tomorrow a million light years away.

      He needn’t worry about luck. If the way her body quivered and pressed against him now was anything to go by, he had more than enough ammunition to succeed.

      Because failure was not an option. He wasn’t accustomed to losing, and before long Sophie would learn to accept that.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      SOPHIE was still reeling when she and Cooper arrived at the restaurant half an hour later.

      On one level she took in the rustic brick front, with its green, white and red flag flapping from a mast, the mouthwatering aroma of freshly baked bread and tasty Italian herbs. But on a far deeper plane she was still experiencing that bone-melting kiss, his will wrapping around and attempting to crush hers in the most pleasurable way possible.

      She was having this man’s baby. Consequently he was determined to marry her. She couldn’t think of anything more thrilling—or more self-destructive.

      At the restaurant’s entrance, a young СКАЧАТЬ