'I never said that,' he pointed out, following her.
'You didn't need to,' she flared back at him. She could see the anger in every tense line of his body, hear it in every word he spoke. The Jake she loved, the Jake she thought she knew, was not this furious stranger towering over her.
'Can you blame me? You would not be the first woman to try and trap a wealthy husband with a mythical pregnancy. I want proof.'
A wealthy ...proof... Charlie heaved in a shuddering breath. She was slow to anger, but this arrogant man standing before her had succeeded in doing just that. Jake had arrived at her home unannounced, insulted her and her friend, and then had the colossal nerve to suggest she was lying and was only after his money.
Fury made her leap up from the sofa and stand glaring athim. 'Call yourself a man?' she derided, her eyes flashing blue flame. 'You sleep with me for a fortnight and then string me along with a couple of calls, ignore me for a month, and then you come charging over here in your private jet, full of self-righteous rage. Terrified I might cost you money,'' she said with enough scorn to make him clench his fists at his sides to control his anger. 'Demanding proof I'm pregnant.' Shaking with rage, she shoved him in the chest with the flat of her hand, and his mouth tightened to a thin line, but he let her. 'What do you suggest?' she demanded hysterically. 'I slash my belly ope
n to show you? Is that it, is that what you really want—a convenient termination? Is that cheap enough for you?'
Jake's cool façade cracked wide open and he paled like a man in shock. 'No. Dio, no.' His strong hands reached out to grasp her shaking shoulders and he pulled her to him, his face only inches from her own. 'Don't say that, Charlotte, don't even think it.' His black eyes, wide with horror, were fixed on hers, his fingers biting into her flesh.
Shocked out of her near hysterics by the force of his reaction, she snapped, 'Don't worry, I have every intention of keeping my child. And let go of me, you're hurting me.'
Jake drew in a deep, audible breath. 'I didn't realize.' His hands gentled on her shoulders, but he did not let her go.
Which was just as well because Charlie suddenly felt weak. 'What a disaster,' she murmured. Her hormones were all over the place, and the emotional turmoil of the past few weeks was finally getting to her. And discovering the father of her child thought she was after his money didn't help. The only positive was Jake had made it very clear he didn't want her to terminate the pregnancy.
It does not have to be a disaster,' Jake said. 'I will marry you.'
Her head jerked up. 'Marry—? If that was a proposal it lacked something in the offering,' she said bluntly. 'I am having this baby, and, I can assure you, living as I do, I am in an ideal position to bring up my own child.' She was being perverse, she knew. Jake was offering her everything she had ever dreamed of, and half an hour ago she would have jumped at the chance, but now she was no longer so sure. She had never heard him so angry or so insulting.
Jake stiffened, his hands dropping from her shoulders, and suddenly he was back to his cool, arrogant best, all trace of emotion gone, more like the Jake she knew so well. 'Don't be ridiculous. There is nothing ideal about bringing up a child without a father. Believe me, I know. So we will get married as soon as it can be arranged.'
He was right, she knew. So why was she so reluctant? Because she wanted it all: she wanted Jake to love her, as she loved him. Was she being unreasonable?
'You know it makes sense,' he prompted. His dark eyes meshed with hers, and something in the glittering depths made her heart twist. 'What I said before about being trapped into marriage, I didn't mean it—not with you, never with you. But I was shocked and mad at the way I heard the news, and reacted badly.'
'Very,' she said dryly, but she could understand. Telling his housekeeper had been a bit over the top.
'The two weeks we were together were the happiest I have spent in my life,' he said, and Charlie felt a glimmer of hope ignite in her heart. 'We are good together.' He lifted a finger and trailed it gently down her cheek. 'You know we are, better than good. Marry me. You know you want to.' His hand slipped down to curve her waist and his hand on her naked flesh sent a shiver down her spine.
Jake was the only man in the world for her and, with his eyes still locked to hers, the warmth in them unmistakable, she wondered why she was arguing with him. He was offering her everything she ever wanted. If only he could say the word love.
Then he broke the eye contact and his hand moved to rest on her flat stomach, a slow smile curving his wide mouth. 'I take it the child is mine. Not that it matters.'
Fury swept through her again and she batted his hand away. 'Yes, it damn well is!' She glared at him, her eyes wild with outrage. 'You are the only man I was ever dumb enough to sleep with in my life, and look where that got me!' she snarled, mortally offended he even needed to ask.
She felt him tense and saw a gleam of incredible emotion in his dark eyes before long lashes lowered, masking his expression. 'All the more reason why you should marry me,' he argued. 'You find me irresistible among men.' A sudden rare brilliant smile illuminated his extraordinarily handsome features. 'You love me.'
'Sex, that's all it was,' Charlie shot back. 'You conceited jerk, that's all I was...' She stopped, as the last of his insulting question registered. Not that it matters. He had said—Jake was prepared to marry her unconditionally. He must love her even if he could not say the words.
'No,' Jake denied, it was never just sex with you and me.'
An image flashed before him of Charlotte naked in the shower their first night together, her legs wrapped around his waist, her eyes wide and incredulous as he had surged into her sleek, silken body without a thought of protection. And earlier, when he'd registered the tightness of her incredible body, her startled gasp, and concluded it must have been a while since she had been with a man. Now he knew the truth: she had been a virgin, and his mouth twisted in a grimace of self-recrimination. He had treated her abominably. It wasn't surprising she was reluctant to marry him.
His heavy-lidded eyes swept over her lovely face and her scantily clad body. He was only a hand's reach away; he could feel her body heat, scent her unique fragrance, and the rigid control he had managed to maintain over his rampant libido finally snapped.
Charlie flinched as he closed the distance between them and rested a strong, lean hand on her shoulder. 'Charlotta,' he said. 'Please marry me.'
Her head told her to wait, step away. But her heart kept her still, the soft please echoing in her head. She felt the tremor in the hand that rested on her shoulder. He was so close that she could see the tell-tale darkening of his gorgeous eyes. And ultimately she said, 'Yes,' because she loved him and could not say no.
'Dio grazia. ‘Jake drew her into his arms, his mouth finding hers with unerring accuracy.
For Charlie it was like coming home, her body melting into his. Five long weeks of abstinence were echoed in the hunger of his mouth, the hot, unbridled passion that swept away all her doubts in a flood of excitement. She felt the hardness of his body against hers, and squirmed ecstatically against him. Jake was back and she wanted his hands on her breasts, her thighs, every where. She was starving for his touch, the taste of him, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers burrowing through the thick dark hair of his head, holding him to her.
He groaned against her mouth. 'Dio, Charlotte, I have missed you, missed this.' His hands lifted and cupped her breasts, his fingers skimming over the cotton that covered her swelling flesh, and she moaned as his fingers plucked the sensitized peaks and a quick stab of arousal lanced from her nipples to her loins.