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Shetskedand frowned at the foot of her bed. She had changed into jeans and a T-shirt before catching the train. Her faded yellow shirt hung loose over her waistband, so he couldn’t tell if her waist was thickening, but he would swear her breasts were fuller than the already deliciously round swells he had worshipped so thoroughly three months ago.
He swallowed, trying not to get distracted with memories.
“We have to try, Fliss. I live a very good life. One that our child is entitled to. I can offeryoua very good life.” He glanced toward the sketchbook, impressed with her flare for a graceful line and a pop of unexpected color or pattern. “Are you really going to put your dreams on hold for the next eighteen years? I can help you achieve them, you know.”
“Ew! It’s not an achievement if someone hands it to you.”
Was that a dig at what he stood to inherit?
“It’s not cheating to maximize the opportunities you’re given. Try telling me that Ms. McCartney’s last name didn’t open doors for her. Tell me that growing up in a world where she already had access to designers and celebrities didn’t give her a leg up. That’s all I’m offering you.”
“That’s not why I’m having this baby, though,” Fliss blurted. “I need you to hear that and believe it.”
“Why, then?” he asked, more from curiosity than suspicion.
The tendons in her neck briefly stood out, as though his question put her under great stress. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and held an ache that penetrated far more deeply into him than was comfortable.
“I don’t have anyone anymore. Granny is gone and...” She waved toward the photo of her grandmother. “I want a family, even if it’s just me and my one child. I don’t want whatever it is that you just described.” Her splayed hand drew a circle to encompass the conflict that had been baked into his upbringing. “That sounds awful.”
“Understood.” He didn’t blame her for resisting an invitation into his family, but he didn’t regret warning her what it was like, either. She needed to know where he’d come from and what she was getting into. “You didn’t intend to get pregnant. I know that.”
He was heartened by what he perceived as genuinely sentimental feelings toward their baby, too. They didn’t keep a jaded part of him from remaining on guard against her, though, speculating whether her show of reluctance to marry was a long con of some kind. He wasn’t forgetting about that invitation she’d taken.
All of that aside, however. “We can still make the best of an unexpected situation.”
“A rush into marriage is not ‘the best.’” She was still hugging herself, shoulders high and tense, brow crinkled with consternation.
“We don’t have to marry right away. At least come home with me—”
“To America? I can’t leave my life here!”
What life?He bit back the question, rephrasing to a milder, “What would you be leaving behind that you can’t live without?”
“Mrs. Bhamra,” she mumbled, biting her thumbnail.
“I come to London constantly. I’ve actually debated buying a property here. We could do that so we have more of a home here.”
“So I’d live in London and you’d come and go?”
“New York is a more convenient base for me because I fly to LA as often as anywhere else. Let’s start in New York while we figure out how to live together. Ultimately, we’ll settle wherever we decide is best for our baby to live.”
“I don’t have health insurance in America.”
“That’s not even an argument. I’ll fund an obstetrics wing if I have to.”
She rolled her eyes. “Must be nice.”
“It is. Try it,” he said blithely.
Her mouth pursed in dismay.
“What would that even look like? Would we live as roommates or...?” Her tone was overly casual, but he could see how hard she was trying to sound blasé when she glanced at him. Apprehension had stiffened her expression.
He let his head thump back against the wall, watching her through the screen of his lashes. “Is that what you’d prefer?”
Fliss seemed to find something extremely interesting on the side of her elbow. “Well, it’s not as if we were planning to continue our affair, is it?”
“I was.”
