Momentary Marriage(81)
“I—“ She sank into a chair, not knowing what to say. Anger radiated off him in waves. Standing in front of her, his expression icy, he waited. She’d never seen him like this before.
“So you were just going to keep this little secret to yourself?” Jared demanded, fury in every rigid line of his body. “You leave me, not bothering to tell me that you’re pregnant, and go on with your life?”
“I’m not pregnant,” she said in a low voice, acutely aware of him standing in the midst of her tiny apartment, his presence as overwhelming as a black wall of smoke.
“And I’m supposed to take your word for it,” he sneered. “Obviously you bought the test for some reason. You must have suspected you were pregnant for days and never said a word to me. I come home and you’re gone.”
“I’m not pregnant,” she told him, meeting his eyes. “Really. I thought I might be, but I’m not.”
“And you left without telling me. You weren’t planning on telling me you might be pregnant.” He stood in her apartment, his face as cold as an arctic stone.
Kelsey rubbed a hand over her eyes. “I don’t know what I was planning. Yes, I left. No, I didn’t tell you I thought I might be pregnant.”
“So,” he said in an angry voice, “it’s over. Just like that?”
“Amy says she’s through with Doug,” Kelsey said, feeling herself on the verge of tears. Mired in her own pain, Amy was withdrawing into herself, not responding to Kelsey’s calls, making excuses not to get together. The estrangement ate at Kelsey. Because of her own past sins in leading Doug on, she’d become a part of her sister’s pain. “Doug’s an idiot. A fool, according to Amy, and she’s done with him.”
“How exactly is that pertinent now?” Jared’s eyes were hard.
“It’s no use,” Kelsey said jerkily, getting up and facing him. “I’ve screwed up Amy’s life and Doug’s life, and our getting married hasn’t fixed anything.”
“And that’s it? You don’t need to be married anymore, so we’re done?”
She cleared her throat, fighting the lump there, muttering. “You don’t need a wife to find a lover.”
“But I have a wife,” he reminded her nastily. “You are my wife. In the eyes of the State of New York. Before God and our assembled families. Most importantly, we had a deal.”
“Your parents will understand,” she said, wiping the back of her hand across her face. “Hell, they’re perfect. They’d love and accept you if we went on national television and told the world the truth about our marriage!”
“My family’s opinion isn’t under discussion here,” he said implacably. “We made an agreement. A year of cohabiting and everything that entails. You owe me the rest of the twelve months.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she begged, not bothering to try and hide the trail of tears now sneaking steadily down her cheeks.
“We had a deal,” he said again, his jaw tight.
How had she ever thought him tender? He was all chilly granite now, the fire of his anger kept tightly inside him. God, she loved him, Kelsey thought, a wave of it hitting her. Wanted to throw herself into his arms and tell him she’d never leave him. But she couldn’t. Couldn’t promise forever to herself, much less to him. She might as well get it over with.
“It’s not a negotiable thing, at this point,” he said. “Get your clothes and let’s go home. You made an agreement. I help you deceive your sister and Doug. You live with me and sleep with me for a year as my wife.”
“Well, I don’t particularly feel like having sex with you,” she snapped, anger springing up alongside her grief and miserable confusion. “I didn’t sell myself into prostitution.”
She saw the kindling light in his eyes and wondered for a moment if she’d gone too far.
“No,” he said with a soft note in his voice that left her more shaken than his anger before. “Not prostitution. A year of mutually pleasurable, conjugal intercourse. Now, get your damned clothes!”
“I’m not coming back!” she yelled. “You’re just being a manipulative tyrant!”
“Manipulative,” he echoed in disbelief. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You!” she spat, her heart pounding in her chest like an animal in a trap. “You’ve been trying to talk me into getting pregnant! From the beginning, you wanted to get a child from this marriage. I’m just a means to an end and you’ve never been honest about it! I didn’t sign on for motherhood!”