Her Secret Pregnancy. Sharon Kendrick
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cool as she had ever seen them. ‘So tell me—is this whole enterprise of yours some naive plan for revenge?’
Donna blinked at him in genuine astonishment. ‘Revenge?’
‘It’s a natural progression, if you stop to think about it,’ he mused. ‘You striking out, in a primitive kind of way, to make me pay for what happened between us.’
For a moment she was dumbfounded, and it took a few incredulous seconds before she could speak. ‘Marcus—please credit me with a little more intelligence than that. I’m not stupid enough to set myself up to be miserable—and pursuing some sort of vendetta against you would make anyone miserable.’
‘Maybe being miserable is a price worth paying.’ He shrugged. ‘Depends how badly you want to pay me back!’
She gave him a look of undiluted amazement, realising that maybe he didn’t know her at all. ‘What a disgustingly over-inflated ego you have, Marcus! Do you really think that I would stake everything I own on a venture like this unless I thought I could make some kind of success of it?’
‘I have no idea. Maybe I’ve misjudged you,’ he said, sounding as though he didn’t think he had at all. ‘But in that case—how did you manage to keep it so quiet for so long?’ he mused. ‘And why?’
‘How?’ She smiled. ‘I hired a good lawyer. You said yourself that Tony Paxman was expensive. Well, he’s good—and you always get what you pay for—that’s something else I’ve learnt. As for why…’ She met his gaze steadily. ‘I suspected that you might try and block the sale if you knew who was behind it.’
And she was right—damn her! Not because he feared competition—he’d always been able to deal with that. No, it was more to do with the effect she had on him…Marcus was silent as he dragged oxygen into his body and fought to swamp his instincts. He felt unwelcome heat invade him. She always made him want what he didn’t need…
Seconds ticked by as his heart thundered and the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stung like pin-pricks. He didn’t speak. Didn’t dare to. Not until he was sure that his feelings were under control once more. Only then did he speak, lacing his words with sarcasm. ‘So, it’s open warfare, is it, Donna?’ he drawled.
‘Of course not! I’m sure there’s room for both of us,’ she said mock-generously. ‘People will choose where they want to eat.’
‘As you did today,’ he remarked obscurely. ‘But maybe you had your own special reasons for wanting to eat here.’
Donna held her breath. ‘Like what?’
‘Like me.’
‘You?’
‘Mmm. Me. There are plenty of other places you could have taken your lawyer to. Maybe you just couldn’t wait to see me again.’
It was partly true—but not for the reasons he was implying, that she was still vulnerable where he was concerned. Seeing Marcus again had been intended to be the final proof that not only had she turned her life around, but she had succeeded in forgetting the man who had brought her nothing but heartache.
Donna opened her mouth without thinking, and the words came fizzing out before she could take them back. ‘And why would I want to see you again, Marcus? Why would I want to re-acquaint myself with a man who gave me nothing but grief? The man who strode in and took exactly what he wanted and found he couldn’t handle it afterwards! Was that the real reason you sacked me, Marcus—not because I’d lied to you, but because I re-minded you of what you’d done? Were you feeling guilty that you’d seduced a poor little virgin?’
‘You’re talking like a victim, Donna—and I can assure you that you were nothing of the kind. For an innocent you certainly knew how to be provocative.’ His mouth tightened as he lowered his voice. ‘As for seduction—that’s too fine a word to describe what was a very regrettable incident all round.’
‘A “very regrettable incident”?’ she repeated in disbelief. ‘My God—I’m going to enjoy becoming the most popular eaterie in town! I hope all your clients come flocking to me!’
He gave a sad shake of his head as he rose to his feet. ‘Oh, Donna,’ he sighed. ‘You may be older—but you don’t seem to have acquired a lot of wisdom along the way. Your hare-brained scheme won’t work. Believe me.’
‘Only time will tell!’
His smile was wry. ‘I’ll try very hard not to gloat when my prediction comes true.’
‘And I’ll be laughing all the way to the bank when it doesn’t!’
‘We’ll see.’ He tore his eyes away from that riveting glimpse of her breasts and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Donna and just about every other female in the room staring wide-eyed after him.
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