Her turn to be bewildered. ‘Doesn’t it?’
‘Not a bit,’ he answered, his eyes glowing warm assurance at her. ‘Just means we’ve got to get our heads around being parents now instead of in the future.’
‘Future?’ she echoed.
He reached out and curled his hands around her shoulders, his thumbs fanning her collar-bones as his gaze locked onto hers with commanding intensity, searing away any doubts she might be nursing.
‘You surely didn’t imagine I was going to let you move out of my life.’ His voice purred into her mind and stroked her heart. ‘A partner like you?’ He smiled, projecting all the confidence in the world. ‘We were made for each other, Lucy.’
Still she couldn’t quite take in what was happening. ‘You don’t mind…about the baby?’
‘You and I…we make the best kind of magic, Lucy. Why shouldn’t we expect miraculous things to occur when we’re together?’ His eyes sparkled, seeming to dance with happy thoughts. ‘However we did it, we’ve made a baby and I think it’s great.’
‘You do?’
‘I sure do,’ he replied with resounding certainty. ‘And since we’re here with your mother—’ he shot the judge of this situation a hard, challenging look, then softened his expression for Lucy ‘—we can start planning the wedding right now.’
‘Wedding?’ Lucy was beginning to feel like a fish out of water, gaping and gasping.
‘We are definitely getting married before our baby is born,’ he declared with determined intent.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Lucy instantly protested, casting an agonised look at her mother. ‘It…it didn’t work for Mum, getting married because she fell pregnant with me.’
‘Ah!’ James said as though suddenly enlightened with a wealth of understanding. He shot a venomous look at her mother, then increased the pressure of his hands as his eyes bored into Lucy’s. ‘It didn’t work for me, not having a father I could call my own,’ he said forcefully. ‘I will not be shunted off, Lucy. And I won’t let you take my mother’s path.’
‘I don’t want to,’ she cried, suddenly seeing where he was coming from. Concern for his child was the focus here, not her. ‘But there’s more to marriage than getting tied together because of a baby, James.’
‘We’re tied together now,’ he argued. ‘As intimately as two people could be.’
‘It’s only been a month. What if…’
‘A month? What do you call all the time you were with me before that—almost a year—fitting together like hand and glove in our work…’
‘While you went to bed with other women,’ she accused hotly.
‘I didn’t want to lose you. If I’d laid a hand on you at work…or even made suggestive remarks…how was I supposed to know you wouldn’t have accused me of sexual harassment and walked out in high dudgeon?’
‘You went with those women because of me? Is that what you’re saying?’
‘Distraction. I told you that.’
‘How can I believe you? How can I know I’m not just the latest on the scoreboard? What if I risked marrying you, only to find you seeking distraction afterwards?’
‘Dammit, Lucy! You’re the total count. The perfect number for me. Why would I even look anywhere else?’
‘You’ve never said that before.’
‘Well, I’m saying it now.’
‘Because of the baby…’
‘No! I’m saying it because it’s true.’ He heaved an exasperated sigh. ‘Why are you going on like this? You know we’re perfect together. Nothing could be better. Don’t you feel that?’
He looked as if he wanted to shake her until she admitted it. Lucy bit her lips. He was talking about sex and work, but there’d been no mention made of love.
‘There’s no risk, Lucy,’ he declared emphatically.
She made a decision. ‘If you still want to marry me after I have the baby…’
‘Oh, no you don’t!’ He glowered at her through narrowed eyes. ‘You’re not stringing me along like you did Josh Rogan—now I want you, now I don’t.’
‘What?’ her mother squawked. ‘Josh?’ her voice climbed incredulously.
‘That’s past history!’ James shot at her. ‘And not to be nagged over.’
‘But…’ she looked at Lucy.
There was no time for explanations. James was focused back on her, compelling her undivided attention, pouring out vehement passion.
‘I’m here to stay, Lucy, and you’d better get used to it. You’re my woman, and this is my child, and we’re going to stick together because nothing else makes sense, and you ought to know that!’
It sounded good, weakening her doubts and bolstering her hopes. She heaved a rueful sigh as she confessed, ‘Josh has never been more than a friend to me. He’s gay. He was just doing me a favour, going to the ball with me because you thought I’d bring someone boring.’
James frowned disbelief. ‘That guy…gay?’
‘Yes.’
He let out his breath in a whoosh and relaxed into a wry smile. ‘Lucy, boring I might have been able to deal with, but that guy tipped me over the edge. Be damned if I was going to let any other man have you!’
He released her shoulders and cupped her face, searching her eyes for the response he wanted. ‘I love you, Lucy Worthington.’ His voice was soft and tender. ‘I love you through and through. There’s not one bit about you I don’t love. I drove up here today because I was worried about you. You seemed so stressed on Friday and I thought you must have some problem with your mother. I wanted to fix it for you. I want to make everything right for you. Don’t you see? I love you.’
She was utterly transfixed by the words he spoke, words that seemed to be pulled from his heart and reflected in the deep blue pools of his eyes. Before she could form any reply there was a loud throat-clearing by her mother. James reacted instantly, an arm shooting around Lucy’s shoulders to hug her to his side as he turned them both to face the woman he saw as his opponent.
‘Mrs Worthington, this is our life…mine and Lucy’s. And our child’s,’ he declared with ringing conviction. ‘Whatever your own experience was, this is different and I’d be obliged if you keep right out of it.’