Page 36 of A Baby to Make Her His Bride

“Itwasawful.” He blue gaze narrowed to pierce into her.

“I wasn’t trying to shut you out!” she insisted. “I’m still in shock that this has even happened. I wanted you to know because it felt like the right thing to do, but I had no idea how you would react. Given how I caused things to go sideways with your plans for REM-Ex, I couldn’t expect anything from you.”

She had only hoped, really hoped, that he would welcome this news the way she did. Maybe she had hoped for a welcome of another kind, too, for her, but that was definitely not something she had expected.

“Iexpect things frommyself,” he asserted. “Of course I’m obligated to my child, exactly as much as you are. I’m obligated to the woman who carries my baby. You are both my responsibility, Vienna. Starting now. Your divorce is final, right?”

“Yes. But no.” She held up a finger that trembled, her mind hung up on that dreadful word:obligated. “My divorce is final, yes, but it took meyearsto make that happen. I fought really hard to get to this point where I make my own choices. I won’t give that up for anyone.”

“I’m not ‘anyone.’ I’m the father of your baby. And you should go have a quick chat with Amelia because, guess what? Babies run your life for roughly twenty years.”

“I know that!” She was prepared to makethosesacrifices. “I’m not saying you can’t be involved, Jasper.” She pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes. “But you can’t sweep in here and tell me how it’s going to be the second I tell you I’m pregnant. I haven’t had time tothink.”

“What is there to think about? This isn’t a case where more information changes the decision. You want the baby. I want the baby. It’s basic anthropology that we stick together and do everything we can to give our child their best start.”

“How? What are you suggesting? A loveless marriage? Been there, done that and no. I can’t, Jasper. Ican’t. And you can’t make me believe it’s what you would want, either. Not after what you just said.” Her voice cracked and she had to look away.

Was he still in love with Annalise? A little? That thought ate clean through her soul.

His hands were knotted into fists in his pockets, his jaw hard as ironwood.

“Your marriage was absent of more than love. From everything you told me, it lacked basic respect. We have that much.”

“Do we?” she asked wildly. “You just accused me of sleeping around and trying to pawn someone else’s baby off onto you.”

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“This caught me off guard,” he said tightly. “Frankly, I have trust issues after the people who hired me killed my friend and tried to frame me for it. That’s not on you, though, so I apologize for what I said.”

Oh, he absolutely destroyed her when he was fair and recognized his own missteps. She buried her face in her hands again, trying to think of a reason to keep her distance from him.

“We both want this baby, Vi.”

“That doesn’t mean we’ll work as a couple.”

“We work very well as a couple.” His voice curled with dark irony. “Too well.”

She scowled at him for playing dirty by reminding her. His low blow was a sensual pulse between her thighs. His heated gaze insisted she remember how they had conceived that baby, promising more of that pleasure. As much of it as she could stand.

Her throat grew hot.

“Marriage has worked out for Amelia and Hunter,” he pointed out.

“Of course Hunter fell for Amelia,” she scoffed. “Who can help loving her? She’s perfect.”I’m not. That was the sharp pang that struck deep in her heart. She wanted to be loved. She really did.

“It’s true I don’t possess my sister’s capacity for affection and warmth. I’ve always preferred to live alone, but I’m not walking away from my child. We owe our baby an honest effort at raising it together. Did you really tell me expecting I wouldn’t want anything to do with you or the baby?” She thought there was a ring of injury beneath his disbelief. “Then why tell me at all?”

Her chest tightened as he forced her to confront her true motive in coming here. She looked to the ceiling, acknowledging she could have waited months to tell him. She could have lied for years, claiming to anyone who asked that the father was someone in Europe or an IVF donor.

The real reason she had wanted to tell him was because she had wanted an excuse to see him. To see.

She had wanted to see if he still wanted her.

Maybe he did, sexually, but what he really wanted was the baby.Nother.

Even so, that was alluring to her. She didn’t want to do this alone if she didn’t have to.

“I do want you involved,” she said tentatively. “I just don’t know how much.”

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