Wanted by Her Lost Love - By Maya Banks Page 0,28

is yours, will you believe me?”

He went still against her and then he let all his breath out. He cupped his hand to the side of her face and held her against his chest.

“I’ll believe you, Kell.”

Slowly she pushed against his chest until she was eye level with him. How it hurt that he was willing to believe her now about their child, but he hadn’t been willing to believe her then when it came to his brother.

“She’s yours,” she said in a quiet voice.

Satisfaction was a savage light in his eyes. He framed her face tightly in his hands and then lowered his mouth to take hers in a possessive, fierce sweep.

Her lips were swollen when she managed to tear her mouth away. Her pulse raced and they stared at each other in silence. She was afraid to believe in him. So afraid she was nearly paralyzed with it.

“Do you believe me? I have to know, Ryan. We can’t go forward unless you believe me.”

His hand drifted down to the bulge of her belly and he slid his palm over the curve, splaying his fingers out until he covered a wide area.

“I believe you.”

She bit her lip to keep from asking him if he’d believe her about everything else. She knew he didn’t, he hadn’t. And maybe it was too late. Wasn’t it?

“Kelly?” His soft entreaty broke through her musings. He stroked her cheek with the tip of one finger. “I believe you. Okay? Jarrod said he wore a condom and the timing was right for us. I won’t believe you slept with anyone else. It was just that one time with Jarrod, wasn’t it?”

The soft plea froze her to the bone. Hurt crashed through her heart—a heart she thought was already irreparably shattered. She was wrong. She hadn’t thought there was anything Ryan could do to hurt her further. She’d been wrong about that too.

“Why does that make you cry?”

Ryan wiped at the tear that trailed down her cheek, his expression one of complete bewilderment. Then he leaned in and kissed the moisture away.

She braced her hands on his arms, her mind a chaotic twist of anger and wretched grief. It took every bit of her strength to gather her shattered composure and speak to him when what she wanted to do was flee.

“If this has any hope of working, you’ll never breathe his name to me again. You were the one who wanted this. One week. No past. Forget the past. It’s what you said. I’m holding you to it. You bring him up ever again, and I walk—no, I run. Are we clear?”

He looked shocked by her vehemence. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to push further, but she shook her head and started to slide from his lap.

He made a grab for her, pulling her close to him again. “All right. No past. I won’t bring it up again. I promise. Will you stay, Kelly? Will you work with me?”

She closed her eyes again and the fight left her. Her head dropped down and exhaustion crept in, gripping the back of her neck, squeezing until her entire head ached vilely.

His fingers slid around her neck, rubbing and caressing with gentle pressure. Had she been that obvious?

“I still care about you, Kelly.”

She leaned her forehead against his. His onslaught was relentless and he didn’t play fair.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered.

“So am I.”

Surprised by his admission, she retreated a few inches and flicked her gaze up and down, searching for the truth in his eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that. You aren’t the only one hurting. I… Damn it, I promised we wouldn’t bring the past up. I’m not going to. But you aren’t the only one who got hurt in all this. I cared about you. I wanted to marry you. I…”

He dragged a hand through his hair. He suddenly looked haggard and tired, worn down by the dark emotion that flowed between the two of them.

“I still want to marry you,” he quietly admitted.

Eight

The admission was stark, so plainly and painfully laid out. Almost as if he wasn’t happy with the truth of the words but said them all the same. He stared at her, his discomfort growing by the second.

She stared back, baffled and unable to form a single-word response to his declaration.

He didn’t love her. Didn’t trust her. He believed the absolute worse about her. All he seemed willing to accept was that her child was his—and only because his brother had