Sara Orwig - The Ransomes - Matt, Nick and Katherine

“Hell, yes,” he snapped. “You could sue me for divorce and half of everything I own.”

“You said we’d have a contract. We’ll have a prenuptial agreement that will list terms as both of us want them. You can have your lawyer draw it up.”

Matt was impressed. She was taking charge of part of their bargain, making some shrewd demands and she once again surprised him. He rubbed the back of his head. She had him in a corner and she knew it. He didn’t want to marry her, not even a fake, paper marriage of convenience because that would be legally binding.

But if he backed out on marriage, she might refuse his deal and the baby would go out of the Ransome family.

“And you still want all the rest I’ve offered—the education, the cash, the trust fund for the baby?”

“I want the education and the trust fund. I’d like some cash so I can go to school full time, but if I live at the Ransome ranch, I think you could cut the amount of money in half or even less if you want. As soon as I finish my education, we can dissolve the union. I don’t intend for it to be permanent.”

“I’ve got to think about it. I hadn’t planned on marriage,” he said and watched her let out her breath and unclench her hands. She raised her chin.

“I didn’t think you’d do it.” She stood and sighed. “You were better than your brother, but it’s not good enough. Since you’re not interested in my terms, I’ll keep my independence and move on.”

“You’ll be walking out on a fabulous future that’s a whole hell of a lot better than you’re doing now or can do. You’re selling your baby short by turning down my offer.”

“Perhaps, but I’m not the one who wants something here,” she said. “If you’re willing to commit to this baby, I want the whole deal—I want support and legitimacy and some of the things your brother should have given me.” She shrugged. “I’m accustomed to tough times. You can take it or leave it.”

He gazed into green eyes that were fiery and unyielding and he was certain she wasn’t bluffing about turning down his offer. He believed every word she said and it increased his anger that she was being so foolish, yet at the same time, he couldn’t keep from appreciating her determination to get more for her child. And deep down, Matt knew she was right. He might have done the same thing himself, had he been in her place.

“Sit down,” he ordered quietly, his anger growing. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. I simply want to think about it like you wanted to consider my offer last night.”

She sat and he stared hard at her. She stared right back at him and he felt tension coil.

“I’ll talk to my attorney about it,” Matt finally replied, buying some time before he made any kind of commitment. “In the meantime, call and quit your job and settle in. I’ll introduce you to people who live and work on the ranch.”

“Until you come to a decision, I’m not leaving a job that pays better than most around here. I’m going to my room to get ready to go to work.”

Matt stood and watched her walk away. He wanted to grab her and shake her and he had never felt that way with a woman before. Not even Margo before she walked out on him. Olivia Brennan got to him as no one ever had.

What was worse, was that steady, fiery sexual awareness of her, a hot attraction that kept his nerves on edge. Marry her!

His whole being wanted to yell never, but then he thought about what he would be tossing aside. He was certain she would walk right out of his life and at any point in time, she could move far from Texas. She had no roots, no ties except going to college and right now she was between semesters. Right now, she could move away without much disruption in her life. Her college credits would transfer.

“Dammit!” He pushed back his chair with a scrape and crossed the room to call the family attorney.

He presented the problem swiftly, asking questions about a prenuptial agreement, keeping his eye on the clock. While part of him listened to the lawyer speaking, part of Matt’s attention was focused on hearing Olivia return.

Matt finally replaced the receiver and stared at the phone. As he suspected, marriage, even a paper-only union, would be far more binding than the bargain Matt had intended to strike with Olivia. But it could be dissolved, and he could put stipulations to try to protect himself from later demands. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t sue or take him to court and he would have to fight her later. On the other hand, the baby would legally be a Ransome.

Matt rubbed the back of his neck and swore under his breath. He didn’t want to get bound to her. Not Olivia or any other woman.

He heard her in the hall and he crossed the family room in quick long strides. In the kitchen he caught up with her and she glanced at him as he strode into the room.

“Wait a minute!” he snapped.

Her brows lifted in question as he crossed the room to stand with only inches separating them. “I called our attorney and talked to him,” Matt declared. “Marriage is a hell of a lot more commitment than you’re asking me to make.”

“You are the one who wants my baby in your family, remember?”

“I’m considering what you want. Call in sick tonight. You can miss one night and still keep your job.”

“I can, but I don’t see any reason to. I’m going to work. I need every dollar I can earn.”

“I’ve offered you a damn good deal.”

“Indeed, you have, but I told you that I want it all,” she said softly. She had on her tight red T-shirt and short cutoffs.

“Hell, I’ll pay your salary for tonight, but you take sick leave,” he ordered, annoyed that she was uncooperative. He was as angered by her demands and stubborn will as he was by his own heated response to her.

She stared at him a moment and he thought she was going to still refuse. Instead, she nodded and crossed the room to the phone, hanging her red vinyl purse on a hook by the door.

She asked for another woman and spoke softly, turning her back to Matt, but he heard her tell her friend that something had come up and she wouldn’t be there tonight.

“You could have told her you were sick,” Matt said as soon as she replaced the receiver and turned around.

“I’m not sick. Kira will think of some excuse for me, no doubt. I don’t think you have a very high opinion of me,” she remarked. “I’m sure you think I’m cheap and easy and not too bright.”

“I’ll admit that I might have thought that at one time, but the P.I.’s report changed my opinion. You don’t have any men in your life now. Your grades are top-notch. My opinion of you changes almost hourly. You constantly surprise me.”

“The same as you astound me. So did your brother. To my misfortune, I misjudged him in too many ways. I’ll never trust a Ransome again like I did Jeff.”

“You want to marry a Ransome,” Matt reminded her.

“That is purely a business arrangement for both of us.” She took her purse off the hook. “I’m going to unpack my things, shower and change before you show me around. I’d just as soon not meet people dressed like this.”

He nodded and watched her start out of the room. At the door she turned back to look at him. “Unlike Jeff Ransome, you can trust me. If I give you my word, I’ll keep it.” She left, and he heard the soft slap of her sneakers in the hall.

“I’ll be in my office,” he called after her and headed down the hall, wanting to talk to his attorney again.

Olivia closed the door to her new bedroom, walking around the room and touching the furniture lightly. She shook from pent-up nerves and her proposal to Matt Ransome. To demand that the man who owned this mansion marry her—it took her breath with its presumptuousness. How could she be that brash and calculating? Yet it would give the world to her baby.