something underhanded and wrong! I can’t believe how conniving you are!” She was hot with anger and her voice had risen. She hated his unshakable cool demeanor.
“All right, maybe I should have told you. But that’s over and done. Now that you know, why can’t we go on with this marriage? You’ll still get all sorts of things you never would have otherwise. And if we split up, you may never get married again. You might never have those children you want,” he stated flatly. “You’re thirty-one now,” he reminded her. “Your biological clock is ticking.”
“You needn’t remind me,” she replied stiffly, hating him with her whole being. “I don’t want my children to have a father who loves money more than anything else on earth. And last night…that was the most devious behavior of all. You led me to believe that you cared, that there was a chance for our marriage to be real. That love would come. ‘I told you that love will bloom,’ you said. ‘I want this marriage to work,’” she quoted. “‘I think this marriage has every potential for success. I don’t want to lose you.’” She glared at him. “It was lie upon lie,” she added, not caring about his excuses.
“You’re blowing this all out of proportion, Emily. And we’ve been good together. Deny that one,” he said, leveling a look at her that only increased her fury.
“What else haven’t you told me? What other big shocks lie in store?”
“That’s it,” he snapped, for the first time scowling at her. “That inheritance changes nothing between you and me.”
“It changes everything. You weren’t straightforward with me. It’s a betrayal of my trust!”
He pushed open his jacket to place his hands on his hips. He stared at her, his gray eyes glacial. “It’s ridiculous for you to waste your money staying at this hotel. Come out to the house. You can stay down the hall and we can avoid each other as much as you want, but we can talk things over and come to some agreement.”
“I’m not moving in with you,” she said. Was he listening to her at all? “I want a divorce. Or an annulment. Now I know why you fought the idea of divorce so strongly. Evidently, Hubert will cut you out of that inheritance if you divorce.”
“He hasn’t said that in so many words,” Jake said, but his face flushed, and she suspected she was exactly right.
“And the nursery, Jake. I see why you wanted a nursery. I’m sure you sent pictures of it to Hubert,” she said and saw Jake’s face flush even more. For once, he couldn’t maintain his impassive gaze. “You didn’t give a fig for the nursery! You may not even care about the baby if you ever have one. You’re after money.”
“I wanted him to know we were planning a family.”
“Of course you did. The only reason you haven’t lied to him and told him I’m pregnant is because you know he’ll want to meet the baby or see pictures. Well, you married the wrong woman,” she said. “I want out of this marriage.” She raised her chin. She wondered if Jake had ever been told he was going to have to do something he didn’t want to do.
His eyes narrowed. “You promised just a little over twenty-four hours ago that you would give me another six months. You gave me your word. And I agreed to give you a half a million dollars.”
“You’re a fine one to talk about giving your word!” she cried, winding her fingers together tightly.
“You promised me, Emily. Six more months.” He rubbed the back of his neck and gave her a stormy look. “You’re giving up a half a million dollars’ worth of help for all those people you say need it so desperately.”
“I’m not letting you touch me again. I don’t want to have your baby! I don’t want to get pregnant by you. My body is mine—you can never buy it. Never!”
“Never is a hell of a long time and you have a lot to learn about negotiation,” he said imperturbably, fueling her anger.
“You don’t deserve to have me honor my promise.”
“Perhaps not,” he said, leveling a cold hard look at her. “But you won’t be able to live with yourself if you don’t honor what you promised. It doesn’t matter one damn bit what I did when it comes to you giving your word. You live by a code of honesty and you know you’re going to have to uphold it to feel good about yourself.”
Suspecting he was right, she frowned. “This is one time I’ll live with guilt. I’m not coming back with you. I don’t want more intimate moments with you or to help you get more money. You’re consumed with greed, Jake!”
“You haven’t disliked intimate moments with me in the past,” he reminded her. She glared at him in silence, seeing they were at an impasse.
“This marriage is finished,” she declared.
“Maybe,” he said, studying her. “I’m always open to negotiation, Emily. You need to learn to salvage what you can from a bad situation,” he said.
“There’s nothing I want to salvage here. Deceitfulness is unforgivable. I can’t trust you.”
He shrugged, dismissing her. He jammed his hand in his pocket and gazed at her with speculation. Another lock of black hair curved over his forehead, giving him a slightly disheveled appearance that was usually enticing. She had no idea what he was thinking, but she was certain he was trying to figure out a way to talk her into doing what he wanted. She folded her hands across her middle and stared at him. She could wait as long as he could—she had no intention of letting him talk her into staying.
“Now think before you answer. Use your head and not your emotions.”
“I’ll really try, Jake,” she said with sarcasm.
“You stay…”
She opened her mouth to protest and he held up his hand, giving her a warning look.
“Hear me out before you answer. Always listen to the offer and weigh your options. You stay the six months with me at my Dallas home, stay as my wife—”
“Absolutely not!”
“Listen to me. Stay married to me in name only—a true paper marriage of convenience this time—for the six months and I’ll increase that half million I’m giving you to one million. That’s one million dollars for you, your family, your charities, whatever you want to spend it on. You can never do that much good for people, Emily, if you say no and walk out now.”
Once again, Jake had shocked her. She drew a deep breath. In spite of her protests and her fury, she knew that she had to think this over. That was too much money to blow off for her own selfish reasons. And he knew it. Nothing changed in his expression, but she was certain that Jake expected her to accept.
She stared at him, hoping she seemed as unruffled as he. “Well, maybe I can learn something about negotiation from the master, Jake. I want tonight to think over your offer.”
He nodded. “Fair enough,” he replied with a note of confidence. “Sleep on it and think about what you’d be giving up. A million dollars is a helluva lot of money.” He turned slightly as if to leave, but then paused. “I’ll come here in the morning—half-past seven. You can give me your answer. If you stay, I’ll take you to breakfast. If you
