Leanne Banks - Expecting His Child

“Thanks for helping with the groceries, Rodney,” Martina said as she pushed the key into her front door.

“No problem,” her neighbor said. “I—Excuse me, who?”

“I’m the father of her baby,” a familiar voice said from behind her, heating her to the core with the simple statement.

Martina’s stomach dipped. She had thought he wouldn’t be back for at least a week or two. Wishful thinking. She turned quickly and met Noah’s gaze, noting the fact that he, instead of Rodney, was carrying her grocery bags.

“What a surprise,” she finally managed.

Rodney eyed Noah with suspicion.

“Rodney, this is Noah.” She took a deep breath. She rebelled at using Noah’s words. They were primal, possessive, and emphasized the connection between them, a connection Martina preferred to diminish. “He, uh, contributed genetic material,” she said, and forced a smile. “Thanks again for helping.”

“Any time,” Rodney said with a nod and curious glance at Noah.

“What brings you here?” she asked Noah after Rodney left.

“You.” Noah caught the door for her and followed her into the kitchen. “You missed me,” he said, his voice holding a mix of sexy humor.

Martina’s lips twitched and she put her bag on the counter. “Like I miss morning sickness.”

“Did you have much of it?” he asked more seriously.

“About three weeks when I lived on saltines, soda and vitamins.”

“And now?”

She turned to face him. “Now I’m just really big.”

His gaze fell over her, lingering on her breasts, tummy and legs. “Just in a few places,” he said. “Pregnancy looks good on you.”

The way he looked at her reminded her of the passion they’d shared and the way he had taken her body. The way he looked at her reminded her of how much she had wanted him. Martina pushed the thought from her mind and turned back around to put away the groceries. “You didn’t really say what you wanted.”

“Yes, I did,” he said. “You.”

Her heart jumped and she nearly dropped a carton of eggs. “You wanted to talk to me about something,” she quickly corrected for his benefit and hers.

“Have you thought any more about my proposal?”

She mentally put on her armor as she put away the groceries. “I don’t recall any proposals.”

“For you to marry me,” he told her calmly.

“You didn’t ever really ask,” she said. “You ordered.”

“Will you marry me?”

“No,” she said as quickly as he’d asked.

He sighed and she reluctantly met his gaze. “Do you think you are doing the best thing for the baby to not have me involved at all?”

She opened her mouth to say yes, but a strong inner integrity defeated her. She closed her mouth.

“Do you think the best thing for this baby is to have two parents married to each other living in the same home?”

Martina had admired his insight before. Now it got under her skin. “In general, yes, but we have a special circumstance. Our families have held a grudge against each other for over a hundred years.”

“What’s more important? A grudge or the welfare of our child?”

Martina shook her head. “There’s more involved and you know it. You and I wanted each other temporarily. We knew we weren’t looking for anything permanent. There’s a big difference between what is good on a temporary basis and what is good forever.”

Noah walked toward her, his eyes glinting. “Are you saying I’m not good husband material?”

Each step he took closer packed a wallop on her nerve endings. His intensity, his confidence, his personality, his aura had been and still were entirely too sexy for her own good. She lifted her chin. “Yes, I am. There’s a big difference between a lover and a husband. As a husband, I can already tell you’ll pull the same kind of caveman routines my brothers do. You’ll order me around and tell me what to do and expect me to be a good, submissive wife. I’m too independent for that. While you may have been an—” she took a breath and wished for a fan “—incredible lover, you wouldn’t work for me as a husband,” she said, “at all.”

She needed to make that clear to him, to her, to the entire free world, all Third World countries and any planets inhabited by intelligent life.

He put his hands on the counter on either side of her, crowding her. “You’re assuming I’ll act that way. You don’t know that I will. You really only have your experience to judge me. So tell me, what did I do wrong?”

Martina stared into his eyes and bit her lip to keep from repeating the words that flooded her brain. You were too sexy. You made me melt. You made me feel more like a woman than I’ve ever felt in my life. You made me feel like the most desirable woman in the world. You made me fall so hard I almost couldn’t get back up. You made me feel so much for you so fast. You terrified me.

She tore her gaze from his and stared down at his boots. “You have the wrong last name. And you have given signs that you would try to rule me,” she told him. “You tried to order me to marry you and come live with you.”

“What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant?”

Martina remembered the bloodcurdling scream she’d let out once she’d left the doctor’s office and closed herself in her car. “Okay, I’ll admit it wasn’t a quiet, rational response.”

“How many decibels?”

She frowned at him. “I don’t know. I just remember wondering if I’d permanently broken my larynx.” She smiled. “But as you can see, I didn’t.”

“The point is, your first response wasn’t the most rational. My first instinct was and is to protect.” His gaze drifted over her body, warming her. “What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing, as long as you don’t go overboard.”

“And you don’t think you’ll go overboard protecting our baby?”

Martina’s chest tightened. She was already feeling overprotective of the precious life inside her. “It’s my job to protect.”

“Mine, too,” he said, lifting his hand to cup her chin. “I won’t forget it,” he told her, and everything about him, his voice, his determined eyes, his posture, made an oath.

Martina felt a sinking sensation. This was why she hadn’t wanted to tell him. She had known Noah wouldn’t abandon his child, and her life would be intertwined with his for the rest of her days. She just wasn’t sure she could see him on a regular basis and keep her good sense intact. Lifting her head away, she steeled her mind against him. “That’s nice, but—”

“And it’s part of the reason I’m here,” he said, dropping his hand to his hip, but still crowding her. “There’s a lot I don’t know about you, and there’s a lot you don’t know about me. You may not want to marry me, but we’re still having a baby together. In that case, we’ve got a lot to learn about each other.”

Martina hadn’t thought her stomach could sink any lower. “What are you saying?”

“We need to get to know each other. We need to spend some time together.”

No, no, no, no, no. Sliding past him would have been much easier if she hadn’t been seven months pregnant. Martina gently nudged him away. “I hate for you to have to drive so far for something that shouldn’t take much time. Don’t you think a résumé would work just as well?”

“No.”

“We could write each other. E-mail,” she said enthusiastically. “Everyone keeps in touch through e-mail these days.”

He shook his head. “If this were the Old West, I could haul you off and carry you home. Sadly, in this case, those days are gone,” he muttered under his breath. “I know you as a lover. I know what makes you—” his eyes darkened in remembrance “—go,” he finished. “But I need to know more than that. I need to know the mother of my child.”