Baby for the Billionaire - By Maxine Sullivan Page 0,90
whisper of them on each exhalation of her breath. And yet, they remained unspoken.
It was time to take matters into his own hands.
“I want to change the parameters of our agreement,” he stated bluntly.
Confusion clouded her gaze and a wariness settled over her. “You what?”
“I want to fire you.”
She shoved at his chest and sat up, snatching the sheet to her chest. “Fire me,” she repeated in patent disbelief. “Have you lost your mind? What about Isabella? What about CPS?”
His mouth set into a stubborn line. He reached beneath the covers and caught one silken bare leg. He gave it a sharp tug, sending her sliding back under him. “I want our marriage to be real. I want a wife. A permanent one, not a temp who’s going to leave us in two years. Isabella needs a mother, and not any mother. She needs you.”
For a brief instant she burned with happiness. The next instant it winked out of existence. “I can’t promise you that,” she stated categorically.
Had he misread her feelings? A rare panic swept through him and he clamped down on it, replacing it with every bit of strength and business acumen that he typically brought to the table whenever a deal threatened to go sour. He could handle Annalise. He’d handle her the same way he handled an unruly business transaction. He’d devastate her defenses with logic, boxing her in until she had nowhere to go other than straight into his arms.
“What’s wrong with making our marriage a real one?” he demanded. “Aren’t you happy?”
“I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life,” she conceded. “But our relationship is still new and untested. You don’t know everything about me.”
He settled on top of her, pressing her into the mattress. “That’s the nice part about marriage. You have all those years to spend unwrapping each and every layer.”
If anything his comment alarmed her even more. So much for boxing her in. One glimpse of the opening and she shied away. “What if you don’t like what you find when all the wrapping paper’s off?”
Was she kidding? “That’s not possible,” he stated quite definitely.
“Yes, Jack. It is.” She moistened her lips and he could see her agile mind marshalling her counterarguments. What he didn’t understand was why she found it necessary. “What happens if CPS decides to remove Isabella?”
Did she have any doubt? “We fight to get her back,” he answered promptly. “To prove to them—no matter how long it takes—that we love her and will do whatever we must to give her the best possible home.”
A small frown formed between her brows. “I mean … What happens to us? The entire reason we married was to provide your niece with a stable home. But what happens to our marriage if Isabella isn’t in the picture?”
“Do you think I’ll stop wanting you?”
“Yes,” she replied bluntly.
He shook his head. “That won’t happen.”
Her breath caught and she searched his face. “Are you serious? If they took Isabella away, you’d want our marriage to continue?”
“Isn’t that what you want, too?”
He could see the naked longing in her gaze, but it was tempered with caution … and something else. Something that had haunted her from the first time they’d met. Before she could reply, the door banged open and Isabella charged into the room with Madam. A tumble of puppies followed close behind. Jack glanced over his shoulder and stopped the entire menagerie in their tracks.
“That is not the proper way to enter a bedroom,” he informed her in no uncertain terms. “Please take Madam and the puppies and go outside. Knock on the door and wait until you’re invited in before opening the door. Got it?”
His niece stood there, debating whether to turn stubborn or to obey. To his relief, she spun around and shoved at Madam until the dog trotted out of the room. Then she herded the puppies. The instant the door shut behind them, Jack escaped the bed and tossed a nightgown in Annalise’s direction while he donned a pair of drawstring pants.
“I believe you still owe me an answer to my question,” he reminded his wife.
“There’s no time to discuss it right now,” she informed him.
“Tonight, then?”
She worried at that for a minute before releasing a gusty sigh and nodding. “Okay, fine. We’ll talk about it again tonight.”
For some reason, she didn’t look happy about it, and a wintry coldness swept through him. He didn’t know what secrets she kept, but he refused to lose the world she’d