Page 41 of Marriage Bargain with His Innocent
He frowned. ‘Don’t say that.’
‘Why not? It’s true, isn’t it?’
‘Do you want to start an argument with me?’
‘Of course I don’t.’
Georgina looked down, but he wouldn’t allow that, tipping her chin so that she was forced to meet his gaze.
She looked back at him with a veiled expression, then said, her voice cooler, ‘But we’re both into being honest about what’s going on here.’ She shrugged. ‘This is all for your mum, and I’m really happy that it’s ended up being about more than just bringing her out of her mental slump. I’m really happy that along the way the two of you have finally managed to forge a meaningful connection.’
‘What does that have to do with you thinking that you’re a notch on my bedpost because you were a virgin when we first made love?’
Georgina wished that he would stop going on about her virginity. It wasn’t his intention, but did he have any idea how much the mention of her virginity led her to comparisons with all those women he had bedded whohadn’tbeen virgins? She hated thinking of him in bed with other women. She’d never had a jealous bone in her body before, but right now her entire skeletal frame was glued together by the green-eyed monster.
‘It was just an expression,’ she said lightly.
‘Idon’tsee women as notches on my bedpost,’ Matias persisted.
She could almost smile at his outraged expression. He’d said to her in passing that when it came to women he always laid his cards on the table, was always open and up-front with them. No commitment, no cosy meals in, no meeting the parents. If they chose to ignore those ground rules, then that wasn’t his fault. He had a black and white approach to relationships that beggared belief.
‘Let’s drop this conversation. It’s not going anywhere.’
She opened the door to a silent house, but instead of following Matias remained standing behind her, then he leaned down and whispered into her ear.
‘You’re not a notch on my bedpost—and don’t put yourself down by saying something like that.’
‘Who says I mind being a notch on your bedpost?’ Georgina pointed out calmly.
That deepened his disapproving frown which, in turn, gave her a weird kind of kick. She raised her eyebrows and succumbed to something wicked inside her.
‘I mean...’ She dragged the syllables out as she looked at him without blinking. ‘If I’m going to be a notch on anybody’s bedpost, then who’s to say that I don’t want it to be yours?’
‘This conversation is really beginning to get on my nerves, Georgie.’
‘Why?’
‘Don’t give me thatbutter-wouldn’t-melt-in-my-mouthexpression,’ he growled in return.
‘I wasn’t. I’m just saying...’ she paused and tilted her head to one side ‘...that if I had to lose my virginity then there’s no one in the world I’d rather have lost it to.’ She said that with heartfelt sincerity. But little did he know just how sincere those words were, and before he started circling the truth and zooming in on it, like a hawk spying a sparrow, she added lightly, ‘You’re a fantastic lover. You’ve given me confidence. And when I look ahead...’
‘Look ahead?’
‘Well, you know...to when this is all over and I move on...’
‘I don’t speculate about events that have yet to come—so, no, Idon’tknow.’
‘Well, one day I’ll meet the man I’ll want to settle down with—a man who’s going to love me the way I love him and want to settle down with me the way I want to settle down with him—and when that happens I’m going to think back to—’
‘I get the picture,’ Matias snapped, flushing darkly. ‘No need to expand. And if this isn’t the sound of you wanting to start an argument, then I don’t know what is.’
‘I have no idea why you’re angry.’
‘Whoever said anything about being angry?’
His dark eyes collided with hers and she swallowed painfully.
‘I just don’t think that this is the time or the place to start a soul-searching conversation about some man who has yet to appear on your horizon.’
