An Irresistible Bachelor by J. R. Ward Page B

her to be happy, and besides, he’d begun to think about settling down with her anyway.
    Since he’d made the commitment, he’d had plenty of opportunity to fall back into old habits with the ladies. Just last week he’d had another offer, as a matter of fact. Down in New York, at the Hall Gala, Candace Hanson had cornered him and suggested they put an elevator to good use. Take a little trip up the building while she went down on him.
    It was curious, he thought. Candace was beautiful in a very made-up, carefully tended kind of way. And she’d obviously been interested and willing. Able too, no doubt, considering all the men she’d been with. Yet he’d found turning her down ridiculously easy.
    There had been a lot of Candaces. Lovely women with a variety of angles and agendas, all willing to give him whatever he wanted. The fact that he’d walked away from them had been a testament, he’d assumed, to his relationship with Blair. But maybe he just hadn’t been truly tempted. Except he just couldn’t understand it. After a year of saying no to obvious offers, he found it a little hard to believe that he’d blown his perfect record on a woman who was at best ambivalent about him.
    No, ambivalent was the wrong word. Callie was quite clear about what she thought of him and absolutely right to be wary, he thought. Because he didn’t feel all that honorable when he was around her.
    As Jack stared at the clouds rolling by, he really wished he hadn’t lived up to his reputation back there.
    Maybe the whole engagement was a mistake. An exercise of good planning over emotions. He heard Blair telling him he didn’t love her and thought he could have made a major miscalculation.
    He had been rather laissez-faire about the engagement from the very beginning. He’d asked her in front of Grace and her bodyguard, for Christ’s sake, which was neither private nor particularly romantic. And he hadn’t been very enthusiastic when she’d asked him when they should have the ceremony. Or where.
    When Blair had questioned him that night at the Plaza, he’d gotten defensive, presumably because he felt so sure of it all. But maybe he just didn’t want to look at what was going on between them for fear of seeing everything that was not.
    And Blair was right to be surprised that he’d asked at all. When they’d first gotten together, he’d given her his antimarriage speech, the whole thing about the trip down the aisle being nothing more than the first step toward divorce, and therefore, a financially unattractive proposition for him. He’d had no interest in getting hosed by an ex-wife, not after working so hard for his money.
    Had his fundamental opinion of married life changed? He supposed it really hadn’t. But his father’s death had made him start to think about the future. About children. For the sake of his unborn sons and daughters, he was willing to take a shot at the flawed institution and he knew no other woman who’d make him a better wife. Hell, maybe he and Blair could beat the odds and stay together for the long term.
    Maybe he’d eventually fall in love with her.
    The problem was, as he thought of Blair now, he could feel nothing but guilt in his chest. There was no spark, no wild passion, just deep fondness.
    Although surely the remorse meant something, he thought.
    But then again, you could feel like an absolute ass and regret something you’ve done without being in love with the person.
    And what about Callie? Jack’s conscience forced him to consider whether her elusiveness was her appeal. If it was, he hardly had a reason to make any big changes in his life. Or hers. Or Blair’s. If everything with Callie came down to his love of a good chase, there could be one and only one outcome. He was known for getting what he wanted, and once he reached his goal, it was only a matter of time before he moved on to