Page 23 of A Nine-Month Deal With Her Husband

The spark flared into a flame. Had she found a neat solution to her dilemma? He’d married her, they were business partners and now they were lovers, possibly even on their way to being friends. She hadn’t come across anyone on the website of sperm donors who could match him.

‘You’re plotting something,’ Ben said, resting his forearms on the counter. Her eyes darted back to the website and then to him and back to the website again. When fear jumped into his eyes, she knew he’d worked out what she was thinking...

‘You can’t possibly be thinking that I...’ He stopped talking, still shaking his head.

‘That I would like you to be my father’s baby?’ Millie looked him in the eye and nodded. He’d be perfect. Well, not perfect, but miles better than anyone on any website.

Ben linked his hands behind his head, still calm. Would she ever be able to surprise him? She doubted it. ‘That’s a chemical reaction to us having great sex, Millie.’

Was it? She didn’t think so. She knew Ben, she trusted him. She liked him. They’d already slept together. ‘Nobody comes close to you on the sperm donor website, Ben.’

He shot a look at her laptop and Millie closed the lid.

‘I cannot believe that you are asking this,’ Ben muttered. Millie frowned. Right. Her request might not be a surprise, but it wasn’t a welcome one. ‘I don’t want to be a father, I never planned on having kids.’

Millie frowned at him. Oh, damn! He’d grabbed the wrong end of the stick and was impaled on the sharp point.

She lifted her hand and shook her head. ‘Whoa, hold on! I’m not asking you to be involved in his, or her, life.’

‘Th-then what are you asking, Millie?’

She fully intended to raise her baby alone, without anyone’s input. This baby, and its sibling, if she was lucky enough to be able to do this again, would be her family, she would be a single parent and responsible for raising her child. She didn’t want any outside input, thank you very much. Her body, her baby...

‘I don’t want afatherfor my baby, Benedikt, that’s not what I’m asking. I intend to raise this baby on my own. All I’d require is for you to help me become pregnant. I still want a divorce. I wouldn’t expect you to pay me maintenance or to be involved in my child’s life. I’d happily sign any legal documents stating that.’

‘So you just want my sperm?’ he clarified, with a strange look on his face.

She lifted one shoulder to her ear. ‘Yes.’

‘I’m not sure whether to feel relieved or insulted,’ Ben stated. Millie couldn’t read the emotion in his eyes and she didn’t like it when he closed down mentally and emotionally. Looking closely, she saw that there was heat within those blue depths, as well as irritation. She bit down on her bottom lip.

Had she completely spoiled what had been a lovely night by tossing this idea into the equation? Possibly. Probably. But she wasn’t good at waiting for what she wanted. Once she decided to embark on a course of action she jumped in with both feet and her whole body.

Millie twisted her lips. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve thrown this at you late at night and after...after we just had an amazing time together in bed.’

Ben sent her one of his enigmatic looks, the one where she had no idea what he was thinking and feeling. Millie felt like an absolute fool...and wasn’t sure what to do. She’d erected this huge barrier between them—she’d couldn’t flip back into being his lover...

Why hadn’t she thought more and spoken less? ‘Uh...so I’m going to go to bed.’

What else could she say? Do? She hesitated a minute and hoped Ben would say something to reduce the tension between them, to take them back to where they were a few hours ago. She’d messed up and she was hopinghe’dget her out of her jam. She wasn’t being fair...

‘I am sorry, Ben. Having a baby is important to me and...’ she said, feeling the need to explain.

When his eyes remained steady on her face, she knew she was digging her hole deeper and making the situation a lot worse. Thank God he’d worn a condom tonight; her falling pregnant accidentally was the last thing she wanted. She would never take the decision out of his hands and she hoped he knew that. She thought about reminding him of that and decided not to, it would only make the situation worse.

Ben released a long, drawn-out sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Go to bed, Millie.’

There was nothing else she could do, nothing else she could say, so she did as he suggested. She climbed the stairs to the guest bedroom, knowing she’d spend the rest of the night, not that there was much of it left, cursing herself for asking him to be her baby daddy.

And praying for a miracle he would agree.

CHAPTER SIX

THEREWASFLIPPINGthings upside down and then there were emotional nuclear strikes.

When Ben followed Millie downstairs he’d expected maybe a whisky-flavoured hot chocolate in the kitchen, running his hands up her bare legs as they watched the still-falling snow through his huge windows.

He had not been expecting her to ask him to give her a baby.

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