Dante's Marriage Pact by Day Leclaire Page A

her concern because he leaned forward to give the driver directions to his house, then engaged the privacy screen. “It’s soundproof,” he reassured before picking up the conversational thread again. “I assume you mean, does my family know about you? No, not yet. I didn’t want to say anything until we’ve had time to discuss our options and make decisions about the future.”
    â€œI guess you won’t be able to keep me hidden for long.” She touched her belly to include the existence of their baby. “Not if your family is as close-knit as you say.”
    He appeared remarkably unconcerned. “I’m hoping it won’t take us long to decide what’s best for the three of us.”
    â€œYou think that’s marriage.” No question there. He’d made that fact abundantly clear.
    He lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug. “What can I say? It’s how I was raised.”
    She glanced out the tinted window. She couldn’t argue the point. It was how she’d been raised, too. “There’s one serious problem with your plan.”
    â€œName it and I’ll see if I can’t solve it,” he replied promptly.
    â€œSolve it,” she repeated. She swiveled to face him. “Fixing problems. Finding a way to make sure the roadblocks are removed so you can get from Point A to Point B. That’s a core part of your personality, isn’t it?”
    He didn’t deny it. “It’s one aspect, yes. I also protect what’s mine and do whatever is necessary to recover what’s taken from me, whether that takes months…” A darkness flitted through his gaze. “Or years.”
    She shivered, his expression shooting a chill of dread down her spine. “Is that what I am to you? A possession to be recovered?”
    His voice deepened, roughened. “Recovering you is likerecovering a missing piece of myself. Without you, I’m empty. And I suspect you are, as well.”
    Her throat closed over and she stared at him mutely.
    He cupped her face and feathered a kiss across her mouth. “More important, I’ll do everything within my power to protect you and our baby. To protect you, provide for you, to try to make you happy.”
    Shayla snatched a deep breath. “And what about the roadblocks that are in our way?” To her relief, her voice sounded fairly normal, not revealing a trace of the hunger and longing that shot through her.
    â€œWhat roadblocks?”
    â€œMarriage, for one.” She steeled herself, then gave it to him straight. “How do you clear the roadblocks so that we fall in love with each other? Because that’s the only reason I’ll marry you.”
    He froze, every scrap of emotion wiped from his expression. He didn’t reply. He simply reached for her hand and interlaced it with his, allowing The Inferno to speak for him. And speak it did.
    The want roared through her, blistering hot and filled with urgent demand. It didn’t matter that she was heavy with his child or that they’d been parted since last summer. Whatever connected them, whether lust or something more, something she couldn’t bring herself to recognize, it hadn’t dimmed over time. She longed for him on every level, felt the tug at her heart and fought against the emotions that threatened to entrap it. Whatever this feeling, it wasn’t love. After so short a time together that would be impossible.
    â€œIt’s just physical,” she insisted beneath her breath. “It isn’t real.”
    â€œIt’s a start,” Draco replied implacably. “For the sake of our child, we should give it a chance.”
    She closed her eyes, exhaustion and worry sapping her energy. “You don’t understand.”
    â€œThen explain it to me.”
    She hated to strip bare the more painful details of her life, to allow someone to poke and prod indiscriminately at what she