She had no claim on him. She didn’t want one anyway.

And Maren certainly didn’t want him.

It was just that they were both very beautiful.

And together, even more so.

She swallowed down that surge of ridiculous anger and walked downstairs to the vast entryway of the estate.

Her home, which was supposed to be a place of tranquility. Instead, it had been nothing but drama.

It’s not the house’s fault that you decided you needed to jump Ewan after winning it from him.

No. She supposed not. And in the end, the pregnancy was why all this was happening.

Her own lack of self-control.

It wasn’t fair. She had been controlled all of her life.

She had never made a mistake.

Except this very tall, very handsome, mistake that was spidering out of control into lots more mistakes.

When the front door opened, she was standing there with her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

“And what exactly do you think you’re going to accomplish by being here?”

But then his stormy eyes were on her, and he was moving toward her with purpose.

With single-minded intent.

He reached out and grabbed hold of her, pulled her against his body. “There is no question about what happens now, Jessica. Your father knows where you are. You owning this estate isn’t going to insulate you from that fact. You need something stronger. You need my name.”

“I need... What?”

“My name. You will be the Duchess of Kilmorack, Jessie Hargreave. You will be my wife.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

HEHADKNOWNthis was the only real option from the moment Maren had told him what was happening.

Hell, he had been on his way to that conclusion anyway.

He had been ready to board the plane back to Scotland even before he’d found out there was a real threat of danger.

And he did not doubt that he would’ve decidedthisbefore it landed.

Maren had simply crystallized it all.

He could sense her vibrating with barely contained anxiety behind him.

“I’m sorry, Jessie...”

“Don’t tell me you’re sorry. You did this on purpose.” Jessie in a fury was a sight to see. He’d seen her passionate, and he’d seen her contained, playing a role. He had not seen this. This uncontained, incandescent rage. “Why couldn’t you just listen to me? Why couldn’t you let me handle it? You’re always so cautious, Maren. If it wasn’t for me, we wouldn’t have any of this. I’m the one that led us through. You had all yourstupid rulesall the time. And maybe if you hadn’t been such a prude, maybe if you hadn’t insisted that we not touch any man, I wouldn’t have lost my mind over this one.” She jabbed her thumb toward him but didn’t look his way.

He looked between the sisters. “Is that true? Did you have rules?”

Maren looked up at him in a beseeching way. “Well, yes. We have... Has she not explained this to you?”