willing to give wolves the benefit of the doubt,’ she gritted. ‘But we both know that you’d do whatever it took to get what you wanted.’
‘You don’t want another baby?’ Despite his mild tone his eyes were fixed with a curious intensity on her face.
She blinked; the question took her aback. Did she want another baby? ‘That’s not the point—’
‘I would say it’s very much the point,’ he inserted drily.
‘It’s far too early…’ She stopped and angled a searching look at his lean face. ‘Do you want a baby?’
‘And if I said I did, would it make a difference to you?’
She looked from the sensual curve of his mouth to the velvety darkness of his eyes and felt her concentration slipping… Her expression hardened.
‘You expect me to believe you give a damn about what I think?’ She released a scornful trill of laughter and saw the anger flicker in his liquid dark eyes. ‘Let’s not drift into fantasy land here…’
Angolos cut across her. ‘Actually I don’t feel that having a baby at this time would be a sensible idea.’
The colour in her cheeks receded. She ought to welcome his comment, she told herself crossly. Anyone would think I wanted to have his baby. ‘When we don’t even know if we’ll be together in two weeks’ time, let alone two years, I couldn’t agree more,’ she contended coolly.
‘The positive attitude again. You know, Georgette, cynical doesn’t suit you.’
‘Get used to it, Angolos,’ she suggested, maintaining her indifferent pose.
‘Do you realise that the moment I start to get close to you…’ He took an actual step towards her and without thinking Georgie retreated two steps. ‘I was going to say, you push me away, but maybe that should have been you run away.’
A defiant frown formed on her face as she met his ironic smile. ‘I’m really not in the mood for your silly games.’
‘I’m not playing games, Georgette. I know you want to punish me,’ he revealed in a harsh voice, ‘but hasn’t it occurred to you that I’m not the only one suffering here? You’re hurting too. You want me, Georgette. We both know that.’
She opened her mouth to angrily rebut this claim and stopped. She released a long, slow, shuddering breath. ‘I am hurting, but there’s not a lot I can do about it. And I doubt very much if getting into your bed is going to make that hurt go away. I will probably sleep with you, Angolos.’ She saw triumph flare in his eyes and added with a self-derisive shrug, ‘You’re right—I have very little self-control where you are concerned. But I can’t let myself trust you again, Angolos; you hurt me so much.’
The taut silence lengthened. Angolos walked over to the window. ‘That cuts both ways.’
Bewildered, she stared at his broad back. ‘I hurt you…?’
Angolos turned back; he didn’t want to hear another denial. ‘I really think there is no point dissecting what went wrong between us.’
On one level he could recognise how the situation could have driven her into another man’s arms: she had felt isolated; he had been too busy with work to give her the attention she needed…recognise but never forgive.
‘I thought you wanted to talk,’ she protested, bewildered by his swift change of mood.
‘I think we should talk about the future.’
‘Suits me.’ She shot him a wary glance. ‘But let’s not go over ground we’ve already covered,’ she cautioned.
‘What ground would that be?’
‘Babies,’ she elaborated.
‘I was not…I actually think you’re a marvellous mother.’
Georgie’s eyes widened. Coming from Angolos, who didn’t throw around the compliments, this was praise indeed. ‘I’m a fairly all right mother,’ she corrected. ‘I’m a long way from marvellous. I make loads of mistakes. I expect you will too. It’s a steep learning curve so don’t expect to get it right the first time. I suppose it’s not unlike riding a bike or…’
‘Or?’
‘I forget,’ she said, unable to think on the spur of the moment of a more convincing lie. Angolos didn’t look convinced.
She released a hiss of angry frustration and she shot him a look of fulminating frustration. ‘I was going to say making love, but I’m sure you were always perfect at that, damn you!’ she added with a resentful sniff.
The look of astonishment that spread across his face was swiftly supplanted by a slow, sensual smile. ‘There’s no need to look so smug.’
‘I don’t feel smug. I’d just forgotten how much you always made me laugh.’ Then to her dismay he did just that in a loud and uninhibited way.
Hell, she thought, he really did have the sexiest laugh in the world.
‘Shut up,’ she hissed, ‘Nicky will wake up, or someone will come up to see what’s going on.’
‘Is this better?’ he asked.
Georgie studied the sober face he showed her. ‘Your hair’s sticking up,’ she said. It wasn’t, but it helped her not say what she wanted to. You’re beautiful might take this conversation in a direction she really didn’t want to go!
‘Thanks,’ he said, drawing a hand over the neatly trimmed pelt. ‘Has your family got something against laughter?’
‘No, just you.’ The rueful smile created a brief sense of unity. ‘Do you remember…?’ she began, then stopped.
‘What?’ he prompted.
‘I was just thinking about the first time you met the family, and your face when Gran asked you if you worked in a bar. You looked so astonished.’ She shook her head. The memory of his aghast expression was so strong that it was hard to keep the quiver of amusement from her voice. ‘And you said no, but you thought that you might own a vineyard, but you’d have to ch…check.’
‘I did check and I own two, but they are very small.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘YOU’LL wake him,’ Georgie reproached Angolos again before stuffing her fist on her mouth to stifle her own laughter. She laughed until her ribs ached and when she stopped she wiped away the tears from her cheeks. A quick peek revealed that Nicky was still sound asleep.
‘It’s lucky he’s a…’ She turned towards Angolos and promptly forgot what she had been about to say.
There was no lingering amusement on his face. Under the sweep of his dark, luxuriant lashes his eyes glittered. The expression on his lean face was intense and raw.
The air between them suddenly buzzed with an almost visible electric
