“And,” he continued, “once we’re married, I’ll take you back to Los Angeles. Buy you a big house in Beverly Hills.”
That gave her a start. For all her idle dreams of proposals, she’d never once considered leaving the home she loved. But of course he wouldn’t want to stay here. He had a life and a business in the States. She suddenly felt bereft for a dream that hadn’t had a chance to come true in the first place. “I’ve a home right here.”
“You can sell the farm,” he said offhandedly. “You won’t have to work so hard anymore. You can sleep in instead of running out in all weather taking care of sheep. You can have a life of luxury. Do whatever you want to do. Travel. Shop.”
He seemed so pleased with himself. Didn’t he hear how empty the life he described sounded? If she didn’t have her farm, her work, who would she be?
“So I’m to give up my home,” she said, her voice low, soft, barely making more than a hush in the quiet. “Sell the land my family’s worked for generations. And then I’m to go off to Hollywood and spend your money. Is that it? Is that the life you’ve planned for me?”
Something in her tone warned him. Wary now, Jefferson watched her as she gently set the lamb down in the pen beside her and just as carefully picked up the last one. Her features were blank, but her eyes were glittering darkly.
Jefferson didn’t see the problem. He was offering her the kind of life thousands of women would kill for. But maybe it would just take her a minute to see the beauty of it. So he gave her an easy smile and painted an even rosier—to his mind—picture than he had before. “Think about it, Maura. Lazy days sitting by a pool. Going out to lunch with your friends. Having time to play with the baby as much as you want. As my wife, you won’t be expected to work every day. You can take it easy for the first time in your life.”
“Take it easy. Just live to serve you, is that it?” she asked, tenderly stroking the head of the lamb suckling at the bottle she held.
In the glare of the lights, her features were in sharp relief. She looked calm, which Jefferson knew was a lie. Her eyes were bright and a flush of color filled her cheeks. No matter how tranquil she might appear, she was reining in a temper he’d seen in full force before, up close and personal.
“I don’t know what you’re getting all worked up over. You’re not going to be serving me, for God’s sake,” he said, wondering why she couldn’t see the simple beauty in his plan. “Maura, you’re deliberately putting words in my mouth and making this harder than it has to be.”
“Oh, am I? So selling my farm, my home should be easy? Leaving the life I love, my friends, my family, my country, should be a lark?” She shook her head and kept her voice low, not for his sake, he knew, but for the sake of the baby animal she held in her arms. “I’m sorry to tell you, but I’ve no interest at all in moving to Hollywood, with you or without you. And I can tell you now, you won’t be after changing my mind about this no matter what you have your assistant ‘arrange.’”
He put a lid on the frustration beginning to churn inside him. It wouldn’t help a thing to just hammer back at her. Instead, he had to try to smooth her into seeing things his way. “Just think about it, all right? Before you dismiss it out of hand. You can pick out whichever house you want. It doesn’t have to be in the city. We can buy something in the mountains. With some land. Whatever you want. I’ll even buy you some sheep if you want and you can hire someone to do the work. I can make your life a hell of a lot easier than it’s been so far. What’s so wrong with that?”
Silently, he congratulated himself on being able to lay the facts out so tidily. Surely she’d see now exactly what kind of life he could offer her.
“This is how you think to convince me?” she asked, shaking her head in disappointment as she looked at him. “Am I supposed to be impressed with your station?”
“My what?” Confusion bloomed in his mind.
“You use your money so easily. Are people so eager to be purchased by you that you expect it from everyone?”
“Purchased?” he echoed. “I’m not trying to buy you, Maura, I’m trying to give you—”
“Is your life so much better than mine?” she demanded, interrupting him as she put the lamb back in the pen and stood up. “Is this the prince offering the pauper a peek at the finer things in life? Should I be awed? Grateful? Is that it?”
“Prince? Where’d you get that?” This really wasn’t going at all well and damned if he could figure out how he’d blown it. But looking into dark blue eyes that were flashing with insult and anger, he knew he had.
“You’re speaking to me as you would to a child you’re offering a special treat. You with your money and your fine houses and your jets. Did you really think I’d be pleased to have you swoop in and throw money at me?” She lifted the lamb from his arms, returned it to the pen with the others, then snatched the empty baby bottle from him. “Well, I’m not. My life is just exactly that. My life. I don’t care two spits about your money, just so you know. If you put a torch to it, I wouldn’t so much as warm myself by the blaze.”
Completely baffled, he only stared at her. “How did this get to be about money?”
“You started it, with your list of temptations, thinking to seduce me away from the home I love.” Her eyes were wide and bright and her mouth was set into a furious line. “You with your fine education, pretty suits and private jets. Like all rich men, you wield power however it suits you no matter who is in the way. You’ve no idea at all how real people live, do you?”
“Real people?” That was enough. He stood up and looked down at her. “I don’t have a damn clue what you’re talking about. I’m trying to do the right thing here. The right thing for you and the baby.”
“And I’m to fall in line, am I?”
“This is crazy,” he said and grabbed her shoulders, holding her still when she would have bolted. “You’re not going to make me feel guilty for offering to give you and my child a better life.”
“And who’s to say which life is better? You, I suppose?”
“Not better,” he corrected. “Easier.”
“The easy way isn’t always the best way. When I marry, if I marry, it’ll be for love, Jefferson King—and I’ve not heard that word out of you.”