The Tempting Mrs. Reilly by Maureen Child Page A

slowly, her gaze shifted to one side as if she couldn’t quite look him in the eyes. Not a good sign.
    â€œLast night,” he said, his voice low and dangerous, “when you said I didn’t have to worry about not having condoms…”
    Tina reached up and pushed her hair back from her face. With her free hand, she clutched the sheet to her chest like some ancient battle shield. “Yes?”
    â€œYou did mean that you were on the pill, right?”
    â€œNot exactly.”
    His features froze over. Some unidentifiable emotion—panic maybe, or fear—clawed at his chest. She still wouldn’t look directly at him. Oh yeah, his sixth sense was never wrong.
    â€œNot exactly ?” he repeated, remembering just how many times he’d made love to Tina during the night. How many times his little warriors had stormed her undefended beaches. The air in the room got a little thin and he had to gulp in oxygen like a drowning man. “Just what the hell does ‘not exactly’ mean?”
    â€œIt means that I’m not on the pill, but you don’t have to worry.”
    Not on the pill.
    Four words guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of men everywhere. The world shifted just a bit and he felt as though he were perched on the edge of a cliff and already sliding swiftly toward a crevasse that was going to swallow him whole. And there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.
    Don’t have to worry? he thought. What the hell kind of man did she think he was? Did she really believe he could make a child and walk away? Didn’t she know him at all?
    Oh, God.
    A baby?
    His blood pumped and the furious roaring in his ears sounded a backdrop for the bass drum beating of his heart.
    â€œAnd I shouldn’t worry because…”
    Here it comes. Tina had known all along that she’d have to tell him. That she wouldn’t be able to not tell him. But it was different, now.
    Back home in California, when she was talking to Janet, planning all of this, thinking it through, she’d done it objectively. She’d reasoned it all out and the plan had seemed fair to her. She would have the child she’d always wanted and Brian would have the opportunity to either be a part of the child’s life or not, as he chose.
    Now though, guilt was a living thing inside her.
    Now, she regretted the lie to him—though she didn’t regret her actions, not one bit. She wouldn’t trade the past several hours with Brian for anything. And hopefully, they’d created a child—and she would love it with all her heart.
    The problem was, she loved Brian, too. And loving him, she could feel badly for tricking him into this. For taking advantage of the nearly magical chemistry they’d always shared. But if she had to live with guilt to have his child, then that’s just the way it would have to be.
    She looked up at him and etched this image of him into her brain. Stern, his face set in hard planes and sharp angles, his eyes glittering with impatience and the first stirring of temper. Outside, the sun was creeping into the sky, sending the first pale rays of light reaching into the shadows of the room. Birds chirped, the wind blew softly and the day moved forward even while time seemed to click to a standstill here in Brian’s apartment.
    He reached for her, his hands coming down on her shoulders, his fingers digging into her flesh, branding her skin with heat. “Tell me what the hell you think you’re doing, Tina. I’ve got a right to know.”
    She steadied herself, taking a deep breath and blowing it out again before trying to answer him. Then tossing her hair behind her shoulders, she looked him dead in the eye and started talking. “Yes,you do. And I was going to tell you anyway, I want you to know that.”
    â€œTell me what ?”
    â€œThat I want to be pregnant.”
    He blinked, opened his mouth, then slammed it shut again,