Proof of Their Sin(33)

“If you give me a few days to make arrangements,” he said with placating calm, “I can take you south myself. We’ll call it a honeymoon.”

* * *

Lauren subtly slid one hand over the other, pinching the back of her hand and giving it a fervent twist for good measure. Her heart tripped into a trot, a canter, then a gallop. It found an opening in the shields she usually kept in place against Paolo and raced toward him.

“Are you proposing?” Her voice wasn’t quite steady as disbelief threatened to unbalance into spirit-swelling elation.

He stood taller, his stature filled with pride and masculine elegance. Her mind’s eye took a photo of him like that: regal and handsome and projecting his will like a force that made her sway with admiration and primitive desire to capitulate.

“Si, that is exactly what I am doing. Proposing marriage.”

A glow of jubilation warmed her. “You believe me about the baby, then?” Finally. She began to soften all over. A joyous smile tickled her lips.

His expression remained shuttered.

“That can be proven in time, but in the short term you need someone to watch out for you. Since I will be perceived as the father, I’ll do what’s expected—”

Her ears blocked out the rest. Her heart snapped back into her chest, doors slamming behind it. Everything in her was crushed and buried under disappointment and rejection. She turned back to her groceries to hide what a slap-down this was.

“Why would you do that again? Marry when you’re not sure whether you’re the father of the baby?” she choked out, keeping her head down, confused and appalled by how buoyant and excited she’d been at the prospect of him falling in love with her.

“This time I know there is doubt. And Ryan shouldn’t have left you in a position of feeling you had to isolate yourself from people to hide his behavior. As his friend, it’s my duty to look out for his wife. Did you not just tell me to take more responsibility?”

“Not because you think I’m some kind of charity case! I want you to take responsibility because you love and want your child.” She wanted him to want her.

Recognizing that, realizing she was still the needy girl who had married in a rush in case Ryan changed his mind, made her want to break down into jet-lagged, hormone-provoked, hurt and angry tears. Mamie had told her a thousand times she could have everything she dreamed of if she would only believe she deserved it, but it was hard. Very hard when this man was offering a pity-marriage on the heels of his pity-bedding.#p#分页标题#e#

“I’m sure I’ll come to care for the child no matter who fathered it. Which is something you will communicate to any man who might come forward in the future.” Paolo’s demeanor hardened right down to the pinpoints of his aggressively contracted pupils.

Her heart skipped a beat, startled by his sudden shift to undisguised possessiveness. His teeth showed in a subtle snarl.

“I’m going into this with my eyes open, but so are you. Once we tie the knot, you and the baby are mine. No take-backs.” He withdrew her phone from his pocket and held it out to her. As though he expected her to call her mystery man and blurt out his reverse-ransom demands.

Lauren wanted to release a laugh of offended pride, but was afraid it would come out as a sob. She ignored the phone and held his stare with defiant refusal to move across the room and touch it while a sensation like falling down a mountain tumbled through her. Her voice hurt her throat when she managed to speak.

“No need. I won’t marry a man who thinks it’s okay to cheat.”

His head recoiled like she’d slapped him. He tightened his grip on her phone until she thought the screen would crack. “I don’t cheat.”

“I wish I could believe you, Paolo, but you’ve lied to me before.” Her hand shook as she went back to stowing groceries in the refrigerator. “Men like you are incapable of monogamy.”

“Men like me?”

“Like you and Ryan. You’re sex machines. You made a pass at a bride on her wedding day, for God’s sake!”

“And you kissed me back,” he near shouted. “You came out to the garden after me, so don’t make out like I hunted you down. I was trying to get away from you. You made the first move in Charleston, too. So which one of us is the sex machine?”

Before she knew what she was doing, the yellow tomato left her hand and was flying at his head.

He fielded it like a pro, his reflexes catlike. His reaction of astonished disbelief came more slowly as he looked at the orb smashed into his palm. Very deliberately he set it aside and wiped his hand on his shirt, lifting his head in a way of a predator locking onto his prey. Retribution was a ferocious light in his outraged expression.