But she had died.
His child would have his mother. And no other poison.
You don’t know that. You don’t know what manner of parent she’ll be. You don’t know her. She is a woman whose arms you spent a pleasurable few hours in.
He couldn’t imagine Jessie being cruel.
Why? Because she gave you her virginity? Because you think that makes her pure in some fashion?
No. That wasn’t why.
She hadn’t tried to bleed him for more money. She hadn’t tried to exploit the fact that she was carrying his baby.
Yet.
And perhaps the issue was there was a bigger fish. A mark that she had in mind. She’d said she’d had other lovers. He didn’t believe her. But maybe he should.
He growled, sweeping his papers off his desk.
He should go to one of his clubs. Find a woman interested in performing a scene and have her there in front of everyone.
He wasn’t opposed to such things. No act was off-limits for him. Provided everyone involved was willing.
But he just...
He couldn’t. Not as long as the memory of her skin beneath his hands haunted him in this way.
He stood up, realization pouring through him.
He would have to go back.
That decision was made and he was moving before he had a chance to fully process all of it.
Hecouldn’tstay away from her.
He couldn’t stay away from the child.
To what end?
At what cost?
He would hold her at a distance. Just because he was with her didn’t mean he had to touch her. Perhaps there was a middle ground?
It nearly made him laugh.
He was not a man who knew a middle ground.
He burned bridges to ash and laughed at the destruction.
It was important to him to be confident in what he did, always. When he had broken away from his father, from his family name, he had been determined that he would make something new. And even if it was partly just to spite his old man, it had been his and his alone.
And now there was her. She had brought him back to the estate, a place he swore he would never go again, and he had gone back.
And here he was, poised to go back again.
The intercom in his office came on. “Mr. Kincaid, there is a woman here to see you.”
Jessie filled his mind. Only Jessie.