Lusty Billionaires Bundle(81)
She wasn’t totally certain any longer, so she shrugged. He could make what he liked of it.#p#分页标题#e#
“Your opinion of me is very low,” he said grimly, all humor gone from his countenance. “I should have the proof you need of Phoebe’s marriage to Spiros within the hour.”
She remained mute. She’d believe it when she saw it. It wasn’t his brother Spiros who had announced his engagement to the young Greek heiress.
“I can see it is of no use attempting to talk with you until I have the documents.”
“I don’t want to talk to you at all,” she admitted.
It was a useless sentiment. She was pregnant with his child. They would have to come to terms eventually, but those terms would not include her giving up her baby.
“Do not play the child.”
She forced herself to eat a bite of her eggs. Their fluffy warmth tasted like sawdust on her tongue. She had believed she was even tempered before she met Dimitri.
“You said you are no longer modeling to support yourself.”
She nodded, wary of where this was leading. She didn’t want to give away any more information than she had to.
“What are you doing now?”
“Maybe I’m just living off Hunter’s largess.” She knew the idea of another man supporting her while she was pregnant with his child would infuriate Dimitri.
Sure enough, his eyes narrowed. “Are you?”
“I’m living with them,” she pointed out.
He just waited and when she remained silent, he sighed. “I already have five reputable detective agencies on my retainer. Now that I know the name you are living under, it should be a matter of a phone call or two to elicit the information.”
“I’m working as a translator and interpreter for an agency that sends out temps.”
His blue eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened. “You go out to work for strangers?” He made it sound like she was some sort of call girl or something.
“It’s not that different from doing a modeling assignment.”
“But then you knew the photographers, the other models.”
She pushed her plate aside and took a sip of herbal tea. “What difference does it make?”
“You are pregnant and obviously ill.” His gaze wandered over her with tactile force. “You should not be working.”
If he didn’t want Hunter supporting her, how did he expect her to live? “I have to support myself. I refuse to be my younger sister’s charity case.”
“Why have you not returned to your parents’ home?”
A traditional Greek man who shared the loving rapport he had with his grandfather could never understand the complicated relationship she had with her mother. “I’m not welcome,” was all she said.
“This cannot be. You are pregnant with their grandchild. Surely your parents desire to care for you at this time.”
“My father died six years ago and my mother is only willing for me to return to New Orleans and the family home if I invent a fictitious husband who conveniently died recently or lives overseas. It’s positively draconian, but that’s the way she is. She refuses to even discuss the baby and hasn’t come to visit Madeleine since I moved in.”
His jaw set. “You refused to invent this pretend spouse?”
“Yes.” She’d rather live without her mother’s approval than continue pretending to be something and someone she wasn’t.
“It will be a relief for her then that the real and in fact living father of your child will soon be your husband as well.”
CHAPTER FIVE#p#分页标题#e#
“AS JOKES go, that’s not a very good one.”
He fixed her with an impenetrable stare. “I am not joking, pethi mou.”
“Don’t call me that. It’s an endearment and I’m not dear to you which only makes it an insult.”
He shoved his plate away from him in an uncharacteristic show of temper. “My marriage proposal is a joke and endearments an insult. Is there nothing I can do right with you?”
“You could leave me alone.”
His blue eyes darkened to the color of the sky just before midnight. “This I will not do.”
She forced another bite of melon down, its succulent juiciness lost on her. “I figured as much.”
“Then why suggest it?”
“Wishful thinking?”
“Do not be facetious. This is a serious discussion we are having here.”
“What exactly are we discussing? Your attempt at bigamy?”
His fist slammed down on the table, causing the dishes and plates to clatter alarmingly. “I am not married.”
She eyed him warily, almost believing him. Maybe, deep down, she did believe him, but some imp in her wanted him to prove it, to see how it felt to have his word questioned on a claim that should be accepted without hesitation.