for someone else when she so badly wanted a child of her own. Reaching out, she hugged her friend tightly and bit her bottom lip when Elizabeth briefly squeezed her back.
“You must be excited,” the other woman said, forcing happiness into her tone.
“I am,” Julia replied, wishing there was something she could say, something she could do, to make this less painful for Elizabeth. “And a little overwhelmed. It’s all happening so quickly.”
The pretty redhead gave her another wistful smile, then seemed to gather her inner strength while squaring her shoulders. “Enjoy it, Julia. Seriously. Make sure you take the time to enjoy every minute.”
There it was again, that pang of sympathy, and everything in Julia yearned to ease the pain flickering in her friend’s eyes. Some things, though, simply couldn’t be helped by a warm hug or a heartfelt wish. “Elizabeth … would you like to come up for tea?”
“No. No, thanks.” Elizabeth lifted her chin and forced a bright, yet brittle smile. “I’ve got to run. I’m meeting a friend for an early dinner and I don’t want to keep her waiting.”
“Sure,” Julia said, realizing that Elizabeth was trying to make a hasty getaway. And who could blame her? “But if you ever need someone to talk to …”
“Thanks. I appreciate it, really. But I’m fine. We’re fine. Reed and I, I mean.” She took a breath, blew it out and said, “Now I’m babbling, so I’m gonna go.” She took a few steps away, then stopped, looked back and said, “Just remember what I said and make sure you relish every minute of this, okay?”
Then, as if she’d said too much, Elizabeth hurried across the lobby and nearly beat Henry to the door in her haste to get outside.
Julia stepped into the elevator and noticed the faint scent of Elizabeth’s perfume still hanging in the air. As the doors swept shut, Julia closed her eyes briefly and wondered where the justice in life was. Elizabeth wanted a child so badly, and the absence of a pregnancy was slowly destroying her happiness. And Julia was marrying a man who didn’t love her because of a surprise pregnancy.
As the elevator lifted, she dropped one hand to her stomach and whispered, “Don’t take it personally, though, little one. I like surprises.”
Smiling to herself, Julia leaned back against the elevator wall and idly listened to the hum of the motor as she glanced through the mail she still held in one hand. She thumbed through the envelopes until she came to one that looked chillingly familiar.
Tearing open the flap on the plain white envelope with only her name scrawled across the front, Julia ripped the single sheet of paper from it and quickly scanned the words written there.
Congratulations on your so sudden marriage. You’ve escaped me. This time.
Seven
They left the lawyer’s office and Max steered Julia out onto a crowded sidewalk. Pedestrians hustled past them, a few of them clearly irritated at being forced to walk around the couple, who only stood there and stared at each other.
“I want my own lawyers to look over the papers before I sign,” Julia said for the third time since leaving Alex’s office. “It’s only reasonable.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Max told her, taking her hand and dragging her out of the flow of foot traffic. He shifted until her back was against the dappled marble of the office building and his own body shielded hers from passersby. Then he looked down into the big blue eyes that had been haunting him for weeks.
He tried to read her thoughts, but for whatever reason, today she seemed able to disguise what she was thinking. Which only troubled him more than usual.
“You looked at the papers yourself. They’re perfectly straightforward. What’s the problem?”
“You’re rushing me,” she said, glancing to either side of her as if to assure herself that no one was paying them the slightest amount of attention. “I don’t like to be rushed.”
He laughed shortly. “You’re the one with the tight schedule here.” He shot a quick look at her flat belly and then lifted his gaze to meet hers again. “We want this marriage sewn up tight before you start showing, remember?”
She glowered at him and her eyes danced with sparks of anger. “I’m not going to sprout overnight, Max. Another day or two can’t possibly make that much difference.”
It did, though. To him. Since setting out on this path, Max had become more determined with every passing day to have her be his. Legally. He wasn’t willing to look at why; all he knew was that he wanted her. In his bed. In his home. In his life. And he wasn’t willing to give her a chance to change her mind and waltz out of his world as breezily as she’d waltzed into it.
“Who’s your lawyer?” he asked. When she gave him the name of one of the city’s top firms, Max nodded. “We’ll go there right now.”
“Max, I can take care of this myself.”
“No reason you should have to,” he said. “Besides, you’ll want to be at your apartment when the movers show up.”
“That’s another thing!” she snapped, lifting her chin and narrowing her eyes. “I didn’t ask you to arrange for movers.”
“You didn’t have to. I saw what needed doing, so I did it. End of story.”
“To you, maybe.”
Max moved in closer as the crowds thickened behind him. Julia shot a nervous glance around her as if trying to find an escape route. As if he would allow that to happen. He bent his head to hers, and her eyes looked huge in her face. Her breath quickened and the pulse point at the base of her throat began to throb in time with her heartbeat.
Max smiled, enjoying the effect he had on her even while having to deal with how his own body responded to her nearness. Walking wasn’t going to be comfortable for a while, but damned if he could force himself to back up any. The scent of her reached him and clawed at his self-control.
Lifting both hands to his chest, Julia gave him a shove that didn’t move him an inch, then, disgusted, huffed out a breath. “Honestly, Max, you can’t just take over my life.”
One corner of his mouth lifted as he skimmed his fingertips along the side of her jaw. “You think that’s what I’m trying to do?”
She batted his hand away. “Aren’t you?”
“No,” he said, and meant it. Hell, he liked her just the way she was. Opinionated, stubborn, with a barely contained wild streak—which was the very reason she’d allowed herself to fall into bed with him the night they’d met.
He’d known from the moment he saw her that he wanted her. And the sparks between them had flown fast and furious that night. Still, he’d been surprised that Julia Prentice, society princess, had stepped out of her entrenched-in-rules life long enough to lose herself to passion.
That night had been a revelation to him. He’d seen beyond the facade she showed society to the woman she was beneath her well-tailored clothes and appropriate
