Page 39 of Pregnant After One Forbidden Night

But if honor and goodness thought they could take away what had rapidly become the most important part of his life, he would destroy them both.

“Think about the baby, Jenna.”

The words worked like a charm. The righteousness went out of her, leaving exhausted resignation to sweep over her.

Seeing clearly now, she turned to him, stopping them both in their tracks. Her gaze was like a high beam in the night making him certain she saw exactly what he was doing but had lost the will to do anything about it.

“Does it always have to be your way, Sebastian?” she asked.

He held back the wince that wanted to be let free. Whatever she had seen of him, it had revealed too much.

He said, “It’s better this way.”

Her lips pressed into a firm line while her eyes darted around his face as if she looked for the key to unlocking him. Finally, she asked quietly, “Better for who?” before stepping back from him and continuing along the path.

Her dress, where it showed from beneath the long jacket she wore, was as dark as a blood blot test.

Catching up to her in a matter of strides, he could see the wheels of her mind turning.

“Better for you,” he answered. “Our baby. Me,” he added.

Her face said he’d surprised her with the admission but she had lost none of her leeriness with him. “Why?” she asked.

“I won’t have to worry about you as much.”

“If the king can manage, you can, too.”

“The king had no choice in getting married.”

“This is a choice thing?” she asked, incredulously.

“Yes, Jenna. I choose not to get married.”

“Why?” she demanded, volume rising.

“Because of you, Jenna. It is clearly enough of a challenge to resist our attraction when we are merely colleagues, but I am willing to face the risk for the sake of our child. This is not simply a fear of commitment, Jenna. It is a choice between being a functioning human being and a slavering mess waiting to jump at your beck and call. I choose to provide a better example for our child than that. I’m not not choosing you, Jenna. I’m choosing to be a man, rather than a puppet and a fool.”

She was unmoved by the eloquence of his dilemma.

Placing her hands on her hips, she said, “Well, I am choosing not to consign myself to a life as your live-in nanny and nursemaid.”

With an exasperated oath, he swore, “I will not lead my family down the same path of folly as my parents. What lives between us, the thing that neither of us can seem to deny or resist, is dangerous. It’s a cancer preying on our child’s future. We both excel in our chosen fields and have experience navigating complicated and delicate situations with tact. We will come together on the matter of our child’s future.”

At his side, she nodded, uncowed by his low outburst. “I agree. We will. But not like this. We’ll do it like normal people in our situation. I will accept your offer to stay here through my pregnancy and the birth of our child. Once I have a new job, the baby and I will move into our own residence, and the two of us will share custody.”

Nothing about the dismal vision she presented aligned with his plans, but why would it? This was Jenna he was dealing with.

Irritation growing into something larger as she pulled away from the future he wanted, he rasped out, “It’s too late for that.”

They had gone too far.

Again, she stopped, turning to him, her face compassionate. “It’s not. We have to be adults about this.” She smiled softly, the expression, he assumed, supposed to be comforting. “But it isn’t too late to get to know each other.”

“It’s too late to go back, Jenna,” he said. “I’ve already been inside you. I know that’s not enough commitment for you, but it changed everything. As to knowing each other...? If you don’t know me by now then it’s best you not find out exactly what kind of creature you’ve already invited in.”

Her lips parted, breath halted. The tip of her tongue darted out to moisten them and her cheeks flushed, not with fear, but heat. She felt what he felt, whether she acknowledged it or not.

“I already know,” she said, hushed as she stared at him, her eyes bursting with the want of him.

He couldn’t risk answering her unspoken invitation, so instead he snarled, “You only think you do.” And then he turned around to stride back to Redcliff, leaving her to stroll on or follow after him if she liked. He had exhausted his interest in persuading her.

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