Shadows and Silk by Liliana Hart Page B

had burst open.
    “And sometimes it all comes down to fate,” he whispered , feeling the stickiness of his come between her thighs.
    “ Wha —” Darcy said, barely coherent. Her face was pale and she struggled to get her eyes open. He thought she would have slept just where she was if he hadn’t pulled out of her body.
    “Are you on birth control?” he asked.
    Her eyes opened a little wider at that and she looked down to the shredded condom
     he was discarding.
    “I—um—I’m on a light dose. To keep my periods regular.”
    “If you get pregnant, you’ll marry me. I mean it, Darcy. That’s not something I’ll
     budge on. My child will have a father around.”
    “Fine, but you don’t have anything to worry about. The timing’s off, and you’ll have
     to ask fate to lend you a helping hand some other time. Or maybe I should buy the condoms
     next time,” she said, pushing him back so she could slide off the counter.
    He moved back and shook his head at her denial. Her hands trembled as she retied the
     sarong and tried to cover the fact she no longer had on a bathing suit bottom, and
     he knew the sudden show of nerves was because she knew as well as he did how powerful
     that release was. She couldn’t not be pregnant after that. And she knew it as well as he did, timing be damned.
    He adjusted his pants and left his shirt hanging open since it no longer had buttons,
     and he waited patiently as she wet some paper towels and tried to clean away the evidence
     of their passion.
    “So you agree?” he asked just to make sure. “If you’re pregnant you’ll marry me?”
    She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Yes,” she finally answered. “But
     if I’m not, I want you to agree that both of us will walk away after a certain amount
     of time. We’ll walk away forever with no hard feelings and no regrets. I want a life with a man who can give me everything I need. ”
    “And how long is a certain amount of time?” he asked incredulously.
    “I figure a month should be long enough for us to fuck ourselves into oblivion and be ready to move
     on.”
    “ A year ,” he heard himself say, his back teeth clenched so hard he was surprised they didn’t turn to dust.
    She walked past him and unlocked the bathroom door herself, but he kept her from going
     out until he’d looked to make sure there were no threats. She turned to look at him,
     her hands on her hips as if she were thinking through the positives and negatives
     of their negotiation.
    “Six months,” she countered. “With the option that if either of us decides it’s not
     working then we can move on.”
    She’d be pregnant before the month was out. He’d make damned sure of it. That was
     a loophole he was going to make sure wasn’t covered.
    “Fine,” he said, smiling. “Six months. But our time doesn’t start until after this mission is over. I want six months of undivided attention. I’ve got a lot of vacation time saved up,
     and we’re going to spend all of it naked. ”
    “That ought to give my family a cheap thrill,” she said, raising a brow. “The holidays
     are just around the corner, though I’m almost positive your idea of a Thanksgiving
     spread and mine are completely different.”
    He cracked out a laugh before he could help it and felt some of the tension ease inside
     him. Six months was plenty of time to convince Darcy that the sweeping love she believed
     in was nothing more than contentment between two satisfied people. And he planned
     to make her very satisfied.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Six months was going to have to be enough time to convince Brant that he loved her.
     If her plan failed, she’d have no choice but to move on. She was making a gamble, and it was all or nothing.
    Darcy had made a decision after she’d thought on Declan’s words that morning. She
     could fight or she could let go. It was really that simple. And she wasn’t ready to
     let go. The plan that came to mind had