pray Liam didn’t appreciate the revealing nature of her remark. Trouble was, Liam was too sharp by half to miss much.
‘I’m not going to marry you, Liam, and one day you’ll thank me for it. Don’t do that!’ she groaned, closing her eyes tightly. The melting was like a chain reaction she had no control over; it started in the pit of her belly and spread—
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t like having my ear slobbered over,’ she lied wildly. There was nothing even faintly slobber-like about the delicate, agonising things he was doing to her. The fine, downy hairs on her body stood erect as the tingle surged all the way down to her toes.
She opened her eyes to see if this slur had had the desired effect. It swiftly became apparent that his ego had emerged unscathed from this insult. His confident smile was deeply disturbing. As her eyes slid from his face his forefinger on the tip of her chin gently forced her head farther upwards.
‘Why are you scared of enjoying yourself?’
‘I. . . I’m not,’ she stammered.
‘Not enjoying yourself, or not scared?’ The warmth in his face almost made it hard to remember why she mustn’t let her guard drop.
‘Both. . . neither.’
‘Marry me, Jo,’ he said, his voice deep with sudden urgency. His fingers moved to cup her face. ‘I know it’s not what either of us planned, but it makes sense. We could have fun.’
‘Fun?’ she echoed. She didn’t want sense, she wanted glorious, irrational love! She ought to be glad he couldn’t see this but his ignorance of her true feelings made her angry and resentful.
‘Sure, why not? Haven’t we always? You’re the only female I know I could contemplate living with and staying sane.’
‘Then it’s just coincidence you’re only proposing now when I’m pregnant. It was your plan all along.’ Her lips twisted in a bitter, ironic little smile as she tried to shake her head, but Liam’s grip held her immobile. He wouldn’t let her look away. It was as if he felt he could convince her of the truth of his claims by the sheer intensity of his conviction.
‘You didn’t plan to get pregnant, I didn’t plan to get married.’ His wide shoulders lifted fractionally. ‘So what? You are and I can.’
He could, but that didn’t mean he wanted to—not deep down. ‘You make it sound so simple.’
‘It is, Jo.’ His eyes drilled into her.
‘We’d be getting married for all the wrong reasons.’ She could tell from the brief flare of satisfaction in his eyes—and was there some relief there too?—that Liam sensed her struggles were weakening.
‘The divorce courts are filled with people who got married for the right reasons. We’ve got a lot going for us.’
‘If people in love fail, what chance do we stand?’ She felt her eyes fill with tears. The image of his dark, dear familiar face grew misty.
‘In love,’ he repeated derisively. ‘What the hell does that mean? You laugh at my jokes, that’s a lot more important than some generic term to cover animal attraction. Love has been hyped out of all recognition by popular fiction and teenage girls’ magazines. Your old granny couldn’t say she was getting married because that was the only way she could respectably have sex—it was much more proper to say she was in love.’
His cynicism shocked her. When had he grown so jaundiced in his outlook? Or had he always been that way and she hadn’t noticed?
‘I think we should leave my granny out of this, Liam. Say for the sake of argument what you say is true. Why, in an age when virginity is no longer rated so highly, do people still get married?’
‘Probably for the same reasons we are, even if they don’t realise it. To form a secure family unit. Also it gives both partners an often erroneous belief that they have exclusive rights over their partner.’
She couldn’t help but notice that Liam wasn’t offering her even an illusion of exclusivity and he wasn’t asking for it either.
‘I
‘I’m not going to marry you, Liam, and one day you’ll thank me for it. Don’t do that!’ she groaned, closing her eyes tightly. The melting was like a chain reaction she had no control over; it started in the pit of her belly and spread—
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t like having my ear slobbered over,’ she lied wildly. There was nothing even faintly slobber-like about the delicate, agonising things he was doing to her. The fine, downy hairs on her body stood erect as the tingle surged all the way down to her toes.
She opened her eyes to see if this slur had had the desired effect. It swiftly became apparent that his ego had emerged unscathed from this insult. His confident smile was deeply disturbing. As her eyes slid from his face his forefinger on the tip of her chin gently forced her head farther upwards.
‘Why are you scared of enjoying yourself?’
‘I. . . I’m not,’ she stammered.
‘Not enjoying yourself, or not scared?’ The warmth in his face almost made it hard to remember why she mustn’t let her guard drop.
‘Both. . . neither.’
‘Marry me, Jo,’ he said, his voice deep with sudden urgency. His fingers moved to cup her face. ‘I know it’s not what either of us planned, but it makes sense. We could have fun.’
‘Fun?’ she echoed. She didn’t want sense, she wanted glorious, irrational love! She ought to be glad he couldn’t see this but his ignorance of her true feelings made her angry and resentful.
‘Sure, why not? Haven’t we always? You’re the only female I know I could contemplate living with and staying sane.’
‘Then it’s just coincidence you’re only proposing now when I’m pregnant. It was your plan all along.’ Her lips twisted in a bitter, ironic little smile as she tried to shake her head, but Liam’s grip held her immobile. He wouldn’t let her look away. It was as if he felt he could convince her of the truth of his claims by the sheer intensity of his conviction.
‘You didn’t plan to get pregnant, I didn’t plan to get married.’ His wide shoulders lifted fractionally. ‘So what? You are and I can.’
He could, but that didn’t mean he wanted to—not deep down. ‘You make it sound so simple.’
‘It is, Jo.’ His eyes drilled into her.
‘We’d be getting married for all the wrong reasons.’ She could tell from the brief flare of satisfaction in his eyes—and was there some relief there too?—that Liam sensed her struggles were weakening.
‘The divorce courts are filled with people who got married for the right reasons. We’ve got a lot going for us.’
‘If people in love fail, what chance do we stand?’ She felt her eyes fill with tears. The image of his dark, dear familiar face grew misty.
‘In love,’ he repeated derisively. ‘What the hell does that mean? You laugh at my jokes, that’s a lot more important than some generic term to cover animal attraction. Love has been hyped out of all recognition by popular fiction and teenage girls’ magazines. Your old granny couldn’t say she was getting married because that was the only way she could respectably have sex—it was much more proper to say she was in love.’
His cynicism shocked her. When had he grown so jaundiced in his outlook? Or had he always been that way and she hadn’t noticed?
‘I think we should leave my granny out of this, Liam. Say for the sake of argument what you say is true. Why, in an age when virginity is no longer rated so highly, do people still get married?’
‘Probably for the same reasons we are, even if they don’t realise it. To form a secure family unit. Also it gives both partners an often erroneous belief that they have exclusive rights over their partner.’
She couldn’t help but notice that Liam wasn’t offering her even an illusion of exclusivity and he wasn’t asking for it either.
‘I
Similar Books
