through the flowers, causing the scent of roses to waft over me like an embrace. The only sound was the bluebirds, and a hummingbird and the lazy buzzing of the bees in the dappled sunlight.
“What did you say?” I whispered.
Edward stared down at me, his dark eyes intense. “I want to marry you.”
I drew back.
“I don’t understand.” I put a hand to my head, feeling dizzy. “Everything you said in London—you swore you’d never want a wife or child—”
“It’s all changed.”
“Why?”
“You’re pregnant with my child.” He looked at me. “And I want you, Diana. I’ve never stopped wanting you. From the moment you left, I’ve hungered only for you.”
I gave an awkward laugh. “You’ve had other lovers....”
“No.”
My jaw dropped. “It’s been four months!”
“I only want you,” he said simply.
My heart was pounding. I tried desperately to bring it under control. “You didn’t come to California because you wanted me.” I lifted my chin. “You only came when you found out I was pregnant.”
He clawed back his hair. “I was waiting for you to call me. I thought you would.”
I looked at him in disbelief. “You thought I would call you—after what you said to me?”
“Women always try to win me back.” A rueful smile curved his lips. “But not you.”
I took a deep breath, remembering what it had cost me. I’d felt so alone and heartsick when I’d returned to California. For weeks, I’d cried myself to sleep—then was tormented in dreams, as hot memories of our nights together forced themselves upon me when I was sleeping and helpless to fight them.
“Your pregnancy just gave me the reason to come find you. It forced me to do what I’d been afraid to do. To ask you,” he said, lifting his gaze to mine, “to come back to me.”
Against my will, a shiver rose from deep inside me. A shiver deeper than fury and stronger than pride.
I stubbornly shook my head.
“I want you,” Edward said, his handsome face intent on mine, making me tremble with sensual memories. His gaze fell to my lips. “I need you, Diana.”
“Just missing sex...” My voice came out a croak. I cleared my throat. “That isn’t a good enough reason to marry someone.”
“I don’t want to marry you for sex.” He sat up straight on the park bench, and I was reminded of how powerful his body was, how much larger than mine. “I want us to be wed. So our child can have a childhood like yours. Not a childhood like mine.”
I swallowed, remembering his loneliness then, how his mother had abandoned him when he was ten, and his father had ignored him, except when he could be used as a weapon against his ex-wife. Even the beloved gardener who’d taught him to fish had abruptly left. Boarding school at twelve. A horrible cousin. An empty castle. With only a paid housekeeper to care. That was Edward’s childhood.
“You don’t need to worry.” I briefly touched his shoulder. “Our baby will always be safe and loved.” I cradled my hands over my belly. “I promise you.”
“I know.” His eyes met mine. “Because I’ll be there.”
I glared at him. “Edward—”
Reaching out, he deliberately put his larger hand over mine, gently on the swell of my belly. I gasped when I felt him touch my hand for the first time, felt the weight of it resting protectively over the child we’d created. “I’m not going to let her go.” He looked at my belly with a trace of a smile on his lips. Then he looked up at me. “Or you.”
My mouth went dry.
“But I don’t love you,” I choked out, as if those magic words were a talisman that could make him disappear. “I’ll never love you again.”
The words seemed suspended in the air between us. Then he smiled. Moving closer to me, he cupped my cheek.
“Friends with benefits, then.”
“And marriage?”
“And definitely that.”
“I won’t let you do this,” I said, trembling beneath his touch. His fingertips stroked softly down my cheek, tracing my full lower lip. My breasts, now lush and full with pregnancy, felt heavy, my nipples hard and aching. I breathed, “You can’t just come back, after the way you broke my heart, and force yourself into my life!”
“You mean I have to earn it.”
“Well—yes—what are you smiling about?”
“Nothing.” He lifted his chin. “I’m not afraid. I know exactly what to do.”
“You do?”
“Yes.” He slid down the bench until he was right against me. I felt him close to me, so close, and I shivered with heat in the cool shade of the garden. “I’ll do whatever it takes to earn back what I’ve lost.”
“You can’t.” I swallowed. “Yes, you’re my baby’s father. There’s nothing I can do about that. But that’s all. I’ll never open my heart—or my body—to you again. I won’t be your friend. I won’t sleep with you. And I definitely won’t marry you.”
He pulled me into his arms. “We’ll see....”
My heart beat fast as he held me against the warmth of his body. I heard the intake of his breath, and realized he was trembling, too. That was my last thought before he turned me to face him. And he lowered his mouth to mine.
He kissed me hungrily, and when his lips touched mine, in spite of my cold anger, I could not fight it. When he kissed me, the colors of the garden whirled around us, pink bougainvillea and green leaves and palm leaves glowing with sun, flying wild into the sky. And against my will, I kissed him back.
Just a kiss. One last kiss of farewell, I told myself. Before I sent him away forever.
THE COOL OCEAN BREEZE came in through open sliding glass doors on the other side of the cottage, oscillating white translucent curtains as I peeked inside the front door.
“Edward?” I called hesitantly, stepping inside the tiny house he had rented on Malibu Beach. “Are you in here?”
No answer. It took several seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light. The old grandfather clock on the other side of the floral sofa said nine o’clock. The tiny galley kitchen was empty and dark.
Edward
