The Paternity Proposition(24)

"Have you thought about the effect those chemicals could have on your baby if you get pregnant?"

"Of course I've thought about it." Biting her lower lip, Julie let her glance drift to Molly's industriously working cheeks. "I'm not pregnant."

"Not now, maybe. But you want children someday, don't you?"

The answer came slowly, honestly. "Yes."

"Alex's children?"

"Christ, Delilah, don't you ever give up?!"

"No. You want Alex's children or don't you?"

"Okay! All right! Maybe I do. Someday."

Actually, she wanted Alex, pretty much any way she could get him. She looked up to find his mother watching her with a hawk's intensity.

"So it boils down to a simple question, Julie. Can you give up a career you obviously love to marry my son?"

Silence stretched out between them, broken only by Molly's contented slurping and the high-pitched bleat of an elephant calf calling for its mother. Julie considered long and hard before answering as truthfully as she could.

"Alex and I aren't anywhere near talking about marriage, but I promise you this. If we do reach that point, I'll think hard about what you and I just talked about."

"That's good enough for me."

To her astonishment, Delilah reached out and covered her hand.

"And I have to say, girl. My son would be damned lucky to have you."





Julie was still dealing with the shock of that pronouncement when Alex delivered another later that evening.

They'd joined Blake and Grace for dinner at Delilah's mansion. When they arrived at the Nichols Hills address, the ever-stately Louis informed them Miss Molly was already fed, bathed and asleep.

"Madam is waiting for you on the terrace," he added

Madam greeted her son with her usual brisk affection and Julie with noticeably less hostility. Alex and Blake noticed the altered atmosphere with obvious surprise. Grace merely smiled and asked how Julie had enjoyed her morning at the zoo.

"It was … interesting."

"I can imagine."

Delilah ignored the provocative remark and enlivened a succulent meal of veal roulade served over egg noodles with a running recital of her twins' youthful exploits. The outrageous tales left the two women giggling helplessly and her sons pleading with her to stop, already.

When Julie said her good-nights after a surprisingly enjoyable evening, she saw Delilah slip something into Alex's pocket. That something, she discovered after he'd accompanied her back to the guest suite, was a small, square box. He waited until she'd tossed her purse on the living room coffee table to dig it out of his pocket.

"What is this?" she asked warily.

"Open it and see."                       
       
           



       

When she popped the lid, she gulped and stared for long moments in disbelief before she could wrench her gaze from the Inca sun god.

"Please tell me you didn't buy this for me!"

"Well … "

"Alex!"

Her mind scrambling, she tried to remember the last bid she'd seen on the piece. Almost twenty-five thousand, if she remembered correctly.

"I can't accept this!"

"Sure you can."

"This is an artifact. It belongs in a museum."

"So donate it to one of your choice."

With a smile that turned her knees to sludge, he lifted the gold amulet from its nest.

"I like the legend behind …  What's this guy's name again?"

"Viracocha," she said weakly.

"I like the legend behind Viracocha." He angled her shoulders and fastened the amulet's black silk cord at her nape. "Didn't you say the Inca believed he created the sun and the moon and the stars?"

Hypnotized by the reflection thrown back by the night-darkened floor-to-ceiling windows, all she could manage was a distracted nod.

"At the risk of sounding like a complete ass," Alex murmured as he bent to nuzzle her neck, "I'm getting an inkling of what Viracocha must have felt when the stars emerged from darkness."

He turned her in his arms, and Julie's heart revved up to a couple of thousand beats a minute.

"Is it too soon to tell you I love you?"

Her throat closed. Her nails dug into her palms. Without much success, she fought to steady her wildly careening pulse.

"Not … "

The hoarse croak got stuck halfway out. She licked her lips and tried again.

"Not from where I stand."

"Good. Now let's see how it looks from a different angle."





They transitioned from vertical to horizontal with minimum fuss and maximum speed. Julie didn't even try to hold back her response to his taste and touch. She was just as voracious as Alex was, every bit as greedy. When he shoved a knee between hers, she wrapped eager fingers around his hot, pulsing erection.

The scent of him, the feel of him was so strong and so tantalizing she almost came at his first thrust. Teeth clenched, she fought against the rapidly increasing swirls of sensation as long as she could. When they built to a furious crescendo, she locked her legs around his thighs and rocked into him.

"Now, Alex. Now, now, now!"

He slammed into her, muscles cording, hips thrusting. With a raw, throat-closing groan, Julie rode the torrent of sensation. Her legs tightened around his thighs. Her nails dug into his back. She gasped out his name-a long, drawn out moan that twisted into a cry.

Vaguely, she heard his grunted response. Her mind spinning, she felt every muscle and tendon in his body lock. A heartbeat later, she shuddered on a wild tide of ecstasy. Moments, or maybe hours, later he poured into her.

A slow, delicious descent followed. A numbed corner of her mind registered the chest crushing hers. The moisture trapped between their bodies. The tang of sweat and musky scent of their lovemaking filled her nostrils.

Breathing in both, she lay in mindless lethargy until the creak of bedsprings and a sudden loss of body heat prodded her into semi-consciousness. She pried up an eyelid to find Alex-beautiful, studly, sweat-sheened Alex-propped on one elbow.

"Do you have any idea how you look wearing nothing but a gold amulet and a smile?" he said roughly.

"Tell me."

"Wild and pagan and very, very kissable."

To prove his point, he buried both hands in her hair and planted a very, very satisfactory kiss on her willing mouth. When he lifted his head, the lazy smile faded from his eyes.

"I meant what I said, sweetheart. I love you."

His words produced pretty much the same slam Julie had experienced when she'd thrown the 602 into a hammerhead yesterday morning. Her heart thudding, she slicked her tongue over suddenly dry lips.

"I love you, too. But … "

The hands buried in her hair tightened. "But?"

"Your mother and I had a long talk this morning, Alex."

Grimacing, he rolled onto his back and brought her with him. "I knew the sudden thaw between you two was too good to be true."

"She said … " Julie hesitated, knowing how much rode on the next few moments. "She said you mentioned being nervous about some of my maneuvers yesterday morning."

"Nervous, hell. You scared the crap out of me."

"Flying is what I do. What I am."

"I know that."

She framed his face with her palms. The day's growth of bristles tickled her palms. The dead seriousness in his eyes matched hers.

"Can you live with me going up every day?"

"I guess I'll have to," he said slowly. "Until you decide there's something more important you'd rather do."

Her breath hissed in. "Like playing Mrs. Alex Dalton and representing DI on the board of a half dozen charitable foundations?"

"Like taking over DI's air operations," he countered with a small crease between his brows. "Overseeing its soon-to-be-launched aero-agricultural division."                       
       
           



       

Overseeing, Julie echoed silently. Not doing. The women in his sophisticated world didn't get down and dirty. No sweat stinging their eyes as they wrestled with a frozen crankshaft. No grease in their hair or under their nails. The prospect of sitting on the sidelines for the rest of her life put a tight knot in her belly.

Alex caught the shift of emotions in her eyes, felt her withdrawal like a hard right to the jaw. He rolled with the blow, but a stubborn part of him wanted to ask why the future he offered wasn't enough. Why he wasn't enough.

And Molly! God, what about Molly? The way things stood now, they might never positively ID her mother. But the odds pointed seventy-thirty to Alex as her father. He was ready, more than ready, to go with those odds. Almost as ready as he was to put his brand on the woman staring up at him with her seductive, changeable eyes. Masking his fierce determination, he smoothed back her tangle of auburn hair.

"We don't have to decide all this right now. Just wear Viracocha for a few days. Let him, uh, shine his light," he finished with a sheepish grin.

Julie groaned. "That is so bad."

"Best I can do when you're all naked and sweaty," Alex returned, getting hard and hot again.