Page 21 of A Billion-Dollar Heir For Christmas

And for a moment, she felt exhilarated. As if she’d somehow managed to goad him into...some kind of explosion that would bring back the Tiago she liked.

And, possibly, lead to more kissing.

Because she’d thought of little else since that night in his study.

But instead, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and letting his hands dangle. It made him look entirely too much like the man she’d just accused him of not being. “I can see that I’ve gone about this the wrong way.”

And he sounded so reasonable, so relatable. It took her a moment to remember that this was literally his job. Making people believe him so that he could make even more money.

If the searches she’d done on him since she’d arrived here were true, he had a gift. He was that good at it.

You need to steel yourself against this man, lass, she told herself grimly.

But he was looking at her square. And there was nothing cold or arrogant on his face, which she told herself was yet another tell. He was putting on an act, surely. He had to be.

“The truth is that I’m just as concerned about the baby as you are,” he told her and more, sounded as if he meant it.Part of the act,she assured herself. “I want to make sure that our child has all the protection that I can offer him, or her, and as quickly as possible. I think you’re taking all this talk of marital business the wrong way. It isn’t as if we won’t have a good working relationship within the marriage, it’s just that when it comes to what I have to offer you and the child, I think it’s better to focus on the big-ticket items first. And also the realities.”

Listening to him talk like this was dangerous. She found herself wanting to nod along and talk more about thisgood working relationship. To stand up from a little table and go to him, so she could sit beside him on the couch and perhaps put her hand on his, to make sure he knew that she was listening. Carefully. With her whole body—

You need to sort yourself right out, she told herself sternly.

“And I don’t mean that these realities are a bad thing,” he continued in the same seemingly earnest tone. “You and I barely know each other. We were together for one night, and I think we can both agree that it was...out of the ordinary. It can only make sense to hammer out an agreement that protects us both. Don’t you think?”

“I do,” Lillie shot back at him, with enough ferocity that he blinked. But she didn’t walk it back. He was doing a job, butshewas fighting for something. For her baby, for herself. She wastaking charge of her life, for once. “But you can’t imagine it makes sense that all that hammering out is being done by your attorneys. Who’s looking out for me? And don’t say you.” She made herself smile, despite the quick clatter of her pulse. Especially when he looked as if it troubled him that she would make such an accusation, when she hadn’t even properly made it yet. “Even if you’re the kindest, most self-sacrificing person in the world, it would make sense for me to verify that, wouldn’t it? Not simply trust you blindly.”

“Lillie,” he said in that quiet, intense way of his. “I want you to marry me. Today.”

And she knew, at once, that she was lying to herself. That for all her noble intentions of doing this, that, or the otherthing for the child, what it all came down to was this.

The way her heart beat even faster when he said that. The way she reacted when she was near him. Her nipples stood at attention. Between her legs, she could feel his voice the way she’d once felt his tongue, licking into her.

The truth of the matter, whether she wished to admit it to herself or not, was that she was a right fool where this man was concerned.

Or she would have sent him a letter, as he’d said. An email. She could have called. She wouldn’t have turned up in his office, kitted out in a nice dress and her best boots, would she?

“I want you to marry me,” he told her again, his blue-green gaze even more intense. “But I also need it. Tell me what I have to do to get you to sign this agreement. Name your terms and I will make them happen. That’s how important it is to me that we secure our child’s future. Today.”

She thought about the phone call she’d had with her parents the day after he’d announced they would marry and how overjoyed they’d been that she was attempting to work things out with the father of the baby.

Is he a good sort?her father had asked, obviously doubtful from the get-go, given the last they’d talked.

He’s not abadsort, if that’s what you mean, she’d replied.Though it’s early days.

Women have been handling the fathers of their unexpected babies since the dawn of time,her mother had said with a laugh.All it takes is as much honey as vinegar, darling. And a little bit of backbone while you’re at it.

Lillie did not ask her mother how she knew that, since she and Lillie’s dad had met in primary school and had been inseparable ever since.It was always a matter of when, not if, we’d have you, love,they’d told her.

But the important thing about her parents’ marriage was that it was a very, very good one. It was clear to anyone who encountered them that they doted on each other. That they were fond of each other, day in and day out. They had always laughed more than her friends’ parents did. They held hands, still. Her father brought her mother cups of tea every morning. She cooked him his favorite meals every night. They sat at the kitchen table and talked well into the night at least once a week. They locked their bedroom door when they were in it, still.

They would have been embarrassed to call what they hada great love, but Lillie knew that was what it was. She had felt it. She waspartof it.

Maybe it didn’t matter how a thing started. Maybe what mattered was how it went along.

Or maybe, Lillie countered herself in her head,you’re just delusional enough to imagine that no matter what this man thinks he feels, you can change it.

But when she looked at him across from her, she wondered about that, too.

Maybeshe wasn’t delusional at all. Because Tiago could talk all he liked about business this and no touching that, and all the rest of it besides, but he hadn’t kissed her as if he cared about any of those things.