Page 41 of Claiming His Baby At The Altar

His brow furrowed and then his mouth widened into the heartbreaking smile she’d always hated because of what it did to her heart, and he chuckled lightly and kissed her.

‘I’ve no idea who called me. Now, tell me what you’re really thinking,’ he insisted, smoothing his thumbs over her forehead.

He was still inside her.

‘We didn’t use protection?’ she suggested as an alternative to the truth.

His eyebrows rose and then he chuckled again. ‘See what you do to me,querida. You make me lose my mind.’

‘Good,’ she whispered, the feigned nonchalance deserting her. ‘Because you make me lose my mind too.’ He made her lose her mind, her inhibitions and all her sensibilities. Barely an hour ago she would have freaked out at the very thought of having unprotected sex with Alejandro.

And that was what he did to her and why she’d fought her desire for so long. One burst of uncontrolled passion and already she was imagining the beautiful baby they might have created through it. He made her want...no, crave...so much. All with him.

He kissed her again, more deeply. More possessively.

She wanted to cry when he broke the kiss and then broke the other connection between them to roll onto his back.

Turning his face to her, he took her hand and brought it to his lips. She rolled onto her side facing him and threaded her fingers through his.

‘How would you feel if we have made another baby?’ he asked, his expression serious.

Wondering if he could read her mind, she nudged her face closer to his. ‘Not unhappy.’ She was quite sure she should be unhappy about it but in this post-coital haze—and she was glad she had enough wits about her to know itwasa post-coital haze—the thought of having another baby, and this time going through the whole pregnancy with Alejandro at her side, made her heart feel as if it could burst. ‘What about you?’

His lips quirked. ‘Not unhappy.’

‘You want more babies?’

‘Sure. You?’

‘Until about a minute ago, I hadn’t really thought about it.’

‘I have.’

She hesitated before asking, ‘With me?’

He kissed the tips of her fingers, his gaze not wavering. ‘Only you.’

Her heart swelled so much she really thought it had burst.

‘You’re serious?’ she whispered.

‘Flora...’ He sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them back onto her, he let go of her hand and twisted onto his side. Pulling her flush against him, he stroked her hair and said, ‘You are my wife. Whatever the reasons for why we married, I chose to marry you.’

‘Because you didn’t want me to keep Benjamin from you or poison him against you,’ she reminded him.

His smile was rueful. ‘I don’t think I believed even then that you would do that.’

‘You didn’t?’

‘No woman who could devote such time and love to her sick mother would treat her child like a weapon.’

Hot tears welled and stabbed the backs of her eyes, but she didn’t know where they came from. The tenderness in his voice? The memory of those dark days when Flora wouldn’t leave her mum’s side? She hadn’t wanted strangers, no matter how compassionate and lovely they were, doing her mother’s intimate care.

Swallowing back the tears, she said, ‘So why did you marry me if you knew I wouldn’t keep Benjamin from you?’

He stared silently at her for so long that she wondered if he was trying to read her innermost thoughts, but then he shook his head and grimaced. ‘It is done. We are here, we are married and we have a son. If you are happy to have more children, then that is great. I don’t want Benjamin to be on his own like I was.’

Now she was the one to stare into his eyes and try to read his mind but her mind-reading skills were poor, and she didn’t want to ruin the moment by forcing a confession of something that would probably hurt her. Back then, he’d hated her. What else was there to know?

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