Page 54 of Strictly Business

‘Oh, so you noticed? Congratulations. Yes, I am angry. What’s with you, for heaven’s sake? I thought you wanted to be involved in this pregnancy. You can’t expect to be involved by remote control.’

‘Hang on,’ he retorted just as sharply. ‘I thought that was whatyouwanted. You made it patently clear you wanted me out of your hair. You told me, you told your mother, and you told Julia. Everyone seems to know that you want time and space to sort yourself out.’

‘I don’t need sorting out.’

‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that.’ Was there a hint of insult in Liam’s voice?

Alice bristled with mounting fury. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Look –’ He let out a loud, impatient sigh. ‘Just make up your mind what you want, Alice. And then when you’re sure, you let me know.’

‘But I don’t have to work anything out. I know what I want.’

‘Yeah? It might be helpful if you’d fill me in.’

I want you here. I want you to love me.

Damn it.No way was she going to beg for his love.

When she didn’t answer, Liam sighed again.‘Alice, I’m going out of my way to handle this exactly the way you want it.’

‘You could have fooledme.’ Livid with him for not understanding what was so perfectly obvious to her, Alice ended the call. And burst into tears.

Maybe it was her hormones; they’d been making her a bit teary, but now she totally gave in to them. Curled in a ball she sobbed her aching heart out.

How could Liam be so dumb? How could he possibly think she wanted to be left alone, to never see him? Damn the man. He’d made her pregnant. And now he was staying clear of her, making her miserable and lonely while delivering lectures about sorting herself out! What would he know?

Thank heavens she’d never accepted his proposal of marriage.

Oh, my God. Alice uncurled abruptly and sat up as something fell into place in her scrambled thoughts ...

On the night Liam came to her, worried because she was ill, and she’d told him she was pregnant – what was the first thing he’d done?

He’d asked her to marry him. He’d taken her into his arms and he’d kissed her tenderly and he’d proposed marriage.

And what had she done? She’d pulled away from him. She’d leapt out of his arms and become businesslike. She’d refused his offer and told him in no uncertain terms that she needed time to recover from the breakdown of her first marriage.

Was the man taking her literally?

She thought about it. He’d kept his word to the letter. He’d taken her on polite, almost formal dates. He’d spoken to her parents, he’d introduced her to his family, and he’d stayed involved – from a distance. Oh, good heavens, was thisherfault?

Looking at this from Liam’s point of view, he had every right to be furious with her. She’d laid down the law, he’d followed it, and then she’d told him he was doing it all wrong. And hung up on him.

Now she’d stuffed things up completely. Liam Conway was not the sort of guy you hung up on. He would probably never phone her again.

When her phone rang she jumped. Oh, cringe, she was in no state to talk to anyone now.

‘Hello.’ Her nose was stuffy from crying and she needed to blow it.

‘Are you okay?’

It was Liam. The concern in his voice was so sweet she almost burst into another round of tears. She turned her head away from the phone and tried to sniff quietly. ‘Liam, before you say anything – I’m so sorry about cutting you off.’ Her voice sounded pathetically teary.

‘You’ve been crying.’

‘I’ve stopped now.’ She sniffed again. ‘Don’t worry about me.’

‘Huh, you’ve got to be joking.’

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