His for the Taking - By Ann Major Page 0,45
name is valid enough reason for me.”
“I don’t want to involve him in our messy relationship.”
“It wouldn’t be like that.”
“Really? You expect me to believe that after your caveman tactics today? You think because you’re a Coleman and I was born a nobody, you can bulldoze over me? You have zero respect for me or my job.”
“I attended a public tour. The website made it clear anybody could attend.”
“You know what I mean.”
“If you think I’m going to sit on the sidelines and let another man father my son, even if that man is a paragon, you don’t know me very well. Noah’s mine, and I intend to make sure everybody knows it. I’ll fight you—until you agree.”
She stared at him. His green eyes were as brilliant and stubborn as Noah’s. She studied his black hair with its widow’s peak and couldn’t ignore his striking resemblance to her darling, if tenacious, little boy.
Cole was so handsome. Even now when she was at loggerheads with him, his virile male presence filled the space of her tiny office in an overpowering way that made her desire him. If she quit fighting him, could a marriage between them work? They did both want what was best for their son.
Sensing that he’d scored on some level, he reached across her desk and caught her fingers in his. Even that was enough to make her sizzle. When she felt her cheeks flush, she tried to will herself to tear her hand from his, but couldn’t. So she shut her eyes and counted to ten before she reopened them and met his gaze—and felt the same overwhelming need to hold on to his hand. She’d been alone so long, fighting for Noah and herself without much help. It hadn’t been easy.
“I was jealous during the tour,” she whispered. “Of you and those women.”
“Were you really?”
“Ridiculously so,” she admitted in a raw whisper. “And I hate feeling that way…because that’s how I felt a lot of the time when I was growing up. You had all those girlfriends from good families chasing you, and I was so low in your eyes, you didn’t know I was alive.”
He smiled sheepishly and his hand tightened around hers.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “I was a beast today. So much was at stake I felt I had to come.”
At his sincere tone, she looked at him in confusion, every bit as dazzled by his dark good looks as the five women had been. Oh—she was hopeless. What did he really feel for her? “Do you really think our marriage could work long-term?”
“If we both work at it.” In his eyes, all she saw was tenderness and compassion mixed with a profound, burning need.
“I feel like I’ve built something solid at My Sister’s House,” she said.
“I was very impressed by your tour.”
She snorted. “I was awful, and you were flirting.”
“With you.”
“I feel that I might be throwing it all away if I married you.”
“Nobody’s asking you to quit your job.”
“I used to have this foolish dream of marrying someone who loved me. When I became a single mother, I knew I would have to be more practical. Greg came along, and because of our similar backgrounds, I thought our relationship could work. But you—you and I live in different worlds. You have this huge, legendary ranch, and you own oil fields. You wouldn’t be the least bit interested in me if it weren’t for Noah.”
“Then why did I drive home to Yella when I heard you’d come home?”
“I hate feeling that I wouldn’t contribute to your life in any way other than being Noah’s mother. I would be a burden.”
He leaned across the desk and whispered against her earlobe in his deep, musical baritone, both thrilling her and chilling her. “I want you in my bed. Doesn’t that count?”
He lusted after her the way every man in Yella had wanted her mother.
But for how long? she wondered, remembering how easily he’d let her go. How would he see her when he no longer felt that way? It could happen soon, if the people in his life who mattered to him refused to accept her.
“You want Noah, so you’ll take me, too?”
“If our situations were reversed, and I had him, would you marry me, to be closer to him?”
She would have married the devil to be with Noah.
He pressed her fingers and stared into her eyes. “So, enough of this. What do you say? Will you marry me?”
Before she could answer, she heard quick, determined