The Billionaire's Baby Bargain(27)
Condescension flickered in his eyes. “You wouldn’t be the first woman to try and force my hand at marriage by playing the pregnancy card.”
“I would never do something so horrible, you jerk.”
“But I am more inclined to believe you,” he continued softly, ignoring her denial. “Because you, being a talented little seductress, are the only woman who’s made me lose my mind long enough to forget to use protection.”
The vision of him with other women had her stomach curdling, and she lowered her lashes so he wouldn’t see her reaction.
“I’d rather not hear about your list of conquests,” she attempted with sarcasm.
He laughed, sounding pleased. “Are you jealous, cariño?”
Yes. But she could barely make the admission to herself and would rather die than make it to him. “Hardly.” .
Andrés made a noise in the back of his throat, a sound of amusement that had her blood pressure skyrocketing. “I don’t want partial custody,” he finally continued, his words dripping with derision. “This child will grow up knowing who I am and that I am his father. I will not have him be raised by the next man you decide to take to your bed. I want full custody of our child.”
Full custody. Fear slammed into her with a force that left her quaking. Her stomach revolted and she let out a strangled groan. Then the anger seeped in. Without thinking she lunged across the space between them.
He caught her wrist before she could hit him, deftly maneuvering her until she was pinned against the long seat of the limo beneath him. “I warned you to never hit me again.”
“I’ll fight you on this,” she vowed raggedly, tears blurring her vision now. Her baby. He wanted to take her baby from her. “You controlling, spiteful bastard. You can’t have my child.”
“I can and I will. Try to fight me, Chloe. Let us see who can afford the better legal team,” he challenged mercilessly.
Her heart clenched and she bit back a sob, closing her eyes. “Why would you do this? You know I can’t win in court against you.”
“It is simple. Because the child you carry is heir to my fortune.”
His words and implications made her head spin. She finally opened her eyes and found his angry stare upon her. But there was also the same controlled heat in his stare that she’d seen in Valencia. It was the look that could reduce her to a quivering puddle, and it drove fear into her heart to see it in his eyes again.
He couldn’t still want her.
“You can’t fight me,” he repeated with deceptive softness. “But you can marry me.”
Chloe’s heart stuttered, and then started pounding again furiously. Her body was acutely aware of the length of his body pinning hers to the soft leather of the limo, but fortunately his words were enough of a distraction.
“Marry you?” she repeated unsteadily, her brows drawing together. Confusion swamped her, mixed with a hope she knew was utterly foolish. If Andrés truly wanted to marry her, it had nothing to do with love. “You hardly seem the type to marry.”
“It certainly wasn’t on my immediate horizon,” he murmured impassively. “But it seems like an optimal solution, don’t you agree?”
“No,” she sputtered and tried to squirm out from beneath him. “No, I absolutely do not agree. I don’t even like you.”
Andrés caught both of her wrists, pinning them above her head with one hand. He swept a possessive gaze down her body “You may not like me much right now, cariño. But you very much like being in my bed. And you will enjoy the title as my wife.” He gave a hard smile. “Just think of all the money you’ll have access to, and all without having to sell my dirty secrets.”
“You’re so quick to assume the worst about people, Andrés. Yes, I was a magazine columnist, but I was never going to write some gossip article about you. I didn’t even know who you were. You took the diary from my backpack—the one thing that is absolutely priceless to me.”
“And your detailed notes about me, cariño? Were they priceless as well?”
How could she explain that she’d thought she was falling in love? That writing about her romance in Spain could’ve only enriched the article about the lovers in the diary? Andrés would never believe the truth. The mocking look of disdain on his face pretty much guaranteed it. Explaining anything to him would just be a waste of her breath. And besides, her pride also stopped her from admitting how deeply she’d fallen for him in those few days.
“My notes that I took on you are apparently no more useful than last week’s garbage,” she finally said.