Page 46 of The Billionaire's Accidental Legacy

“I have never failed at a single thing that I’ve ever put my mind to. I don’t intend to start now.”

“So confident. For a man who ran from here only a few days ago.”

“Every decision that I’ve made so far has been about what I thought would be better for the child. Believe me when I tell you, there are worse things than having no father.”

She looked at him, that luminous green boring into his soul. “You think I don’t know that? My father is the person creating all these problems now. Of course I know that. But you...”

“What? You think because we have incendiary sex we can make something more of it?”

“Not anymore. Because I already know who you are. You walked away from me. For five months, you were away from me. You knew where I was. And then you came back, and you saw that I was having your child, and you left again.”

“You told me to leave,” he said.

She jerked backward as if he’d struck her. “A gentleman wouldn’t remind me.”

“I am not a gentleman.” He moved toward her. “We are strangers, Jessie. Nothing more than two people who found pleasure in each other’s bodies. That does not make us fated. But if you need some things explained to you, then I will do so. I never wanted to return here. This was a house of suffering. Why do you think I hate my father? Do you think it was because he would not increase my allowance when I asked? Do you think that I’m a poor little rich boy? Is that what you suppose? My father was a monster. He starved me. Beat me. Neglected me. Under the guise of making me stronger. Because the weak perish. And I would either become strong or die. He would see his line carried on by an honorable man, one like him who never turned a public scandal.” He grinned. “So I became public scandal.”

The color drained from her face. “But you... You were his son...”

“Yes. But he was mad. And you cannot reason with a madman. Or an evil one. So believe me when I tell you, I have no interest in attempting to do so with your father.”

Her throat worked. The evidence that she was affected by what he’d said written in the paleness of her skin.

“It will be a marriage in name only, and I will be here until I’m certain you’re safe. I cannot ever be a real father to the child. Do you understand that? I can never be a real husband.”

She glared at him. “I don’t want you to be.”

“You seem angry about me leaving.”

“It’s complicated, Ewan. I don’t like feeling abandoned, and I don’t like feeling manipulated and all of it’s happening all at once. I have to be a mother, and I don’t have the energy for you, but I hated that you left even though I asked you to. I am pregnant, my father is a narcissistic sociopath and I refuse to be reasonable because I feel I deserve an outburst!”

He reached down and gripped her chin, and regretted that the moment his thumb and forefinger made contact with her soft skin.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That things are this way. That I am this way.”

She looked away. “So tell me, how many times a year do you have to deal with something like this?”

“Never. I’m always careful.”

“You weren’t careful with me.”

He shook his head. “No. I wasn’t.”

“You admit it.”

“How can I deny it?”

She shook her head. “I don’t want you here. I don’t want to marry you. I don’t want you to be high-handed and...”

“It has to be a big wedding, and it has to happen soon. It must be visible. You must, for all the world, be the wife of Ewan Kincaid. Do you know why?”

“Yes. Because coming for me will be visibility my father won’t want. But as long as I’m nothing and nobody squirreled away in the Highlands...”

“Exactly.” He looked at her. “You’re not a foolish woman, Jessie. You did not get where you are by denying reality. You and I both know that.”

She tilted her head to the side, as though she’d just had a realization. “It’s a con.”

“If that makes you feel better.”

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