with someone with whom you plan to have a child, if that is your reason for being here.”
“Why is that your business?”
“Because I would cease to insist that you see me socially. I would not want to intrude on another man’s territory.”
Her gold-green eyes turned to feminine fire. “For your information, Sheikh Saalem, I am no man’s territory. In this day and time, a woman doesn’t need a man to have a baby, at least not all of a man.” By the discomfort in Karen’s expression, Ash discerned that she regretted the revelation.
He streaked a hand over his jaw, not quite certain what to make of Karen’s disclosure. “Then you plan to have a child on your own?”
She tipped up her chin in defiance. “Yes, I do. Artificial insemination.”
That did not set well with Ash. He understood the need for the procedure in some instances, but not in this case. “Do you mean insemination with some stranger’s sperm?”
A blush spread across her cheeks. “I don’t care to discuss sperm with a sheikh.”
“But you would consider having a child by a man you know nothing about?”
“Yes, and that’s my prerogative. I’m thirty-one and I’m not getting any younger. It’s the right time in my life to do this.”
Ash pondered her words, her purpose. Yes, he definitely had something Karen needed. Services he no doubt would be willing to give her, with great pleasure. And she had something else he wanted as well. The ability to have a child, the means for him to settle into a permanent relationship with a woman whom he found both intelligent and alluring. He had waited many years to find that particular someone since his father had thwarted his first attempt.
“Perhaps I could assist you in the matter,” he said.
Her eyes went wide. “You mean you’re willing to make a donation for me to use?”
“I have no desire to share my affections with a plastic receptacle. I prefer making a child the way nature intended for a man and woman to procreate.”
Karen shook her head. “No way. I’m not going to allow…well, allow…that.”
Ash moved closer and brushed a lock of wavy brown hair from her shoulder. He suspected Karen enjoyed a challenge, much like him, and if he had to use that device, then so be it. “Are you afraid?”
The willful look she gave him verified his assumption. “Of course I’m not afraid. Why would I be?”
He braced a hand on the car and leaned forward. “Perhaps you fear what you might feel if you allowed me to make love to you. What we might experience together.”
He heard a slight catch in her breath, the only sign she had been affected by his words. “It wouldn’t be a good idea, that’s all.”
“It is an exceptional idea. For some time now I’ve considered having a family of my own. This would benefit us both.”
Her sigh brimmed with impatience. “I only want a baby, not a relationship.”
“A baby who would not know his father? I believe that if you search your soul, you would not want this for your child, considering what you have recently learned about your father’s kidnapping.”
Karen studied the toe of her functional black canvas shoes, avoiding his gaze. “I don’t have a choice. I want a baby more than anything.”
With a fingertip, Ash nudged her chin up until she looked at him. He saw only indecision in her eyes, not total refusal. Enough to propel him forward in his planning. “I am offering you a choice. I am willing to father your child.”
She eyed him with suspicion. “And exactly what would you expect in return?”
He had given his heart to a woman once, and only once. He had no more left to give in that respect. But he could give Karen the baby she desired and a comfortable home, a secure future. “I want to have you as my wife.”
She frowned. “That’s nuts. We don’t know each other.”
“What better way to become acquainted?”
“I don’t want to get married. I almost made that mistake not long ago.” Again she looked chagrined, as if she had revealed too much.
Ash had no call to be envious of another man who’d had Karen’s affections in the past, yet surprisingly he was. No matter. If given the chance, he would attempt to make her forget any former liaison, especially one that appeared to have caused her pain. He could personally relate to that concept.
In order to do that, he must convince her that marriage would be favorable for them both, even if it meant proposing terms that were anything but amenable. “Perhaps we should have an agreement. If you decide not to continue the marriage, you are under no obligation to uphold the arrangement. You would be free to leave after the birth of our child.”
“You mean divorce?”
The word sounded harsh in Ash’s ears. It went against everything he believed. “Yes.”
She worked her bottom lip between her teeth several times before saying, “I take it you would want to stay involved with the baby after the agreement ends.”
He would do everything in his power to make certain that there would be no need to discuss custody of their child. He would do everything humanly possible to prevent their marriage from ending. “Of course. Would you not want that?”
“I suppose that would be best.”
Ash sensed impending victory. “Then we are agreed?”
“No.” She straightened and slipped the purse’s strap over one thin shoulder. “I need to keep my appointment. Weigh all my options until I’ve reached a decision.”
Ash pushed away from the sedan and gestured toward the building’s entrance, not quite ready to concede defeat. “Go inside with my blessing, Karen. And while you are there, think of me.” He slipped his arms around her waist. “Think of us. Consider what I am offering you, a father your child will know. The means to create life through an act that will give us both pleasure.”
He pulled her closer and kissed her—a kiss meant to persuade, to tantalize, to keep him foremost in her mind. Her lips were firm against his, but with only slight coaxing, Karen finally opened to him and he took supreme advantage, slipping his tongue inside the soft, sweet heat of her mouth, but only once. A brief glimpse of how it could be between them.
With great effort, Ash stepped away from her, withdrew a business card from his pocket and pressed into her palm with an added stroke of his thumb over her wrist. “Here are the numbers where I can be reached when you make your decision. Decide wisely.”
Karen remained as still as a pillar as Ash walked away. Hopefully good judgment would reign and she would see the logic in his offer and agree to his proposal. If not right away, then he would simply have to try harder to persuade her.
Two
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