The Tempting Mrs. Reilly by Maureen Child Page B

clearly waiting for more.
    She gave it to him.
    â€œAnd I’m really hoping that we made a baby last night.”
    He let her go so suddenly, she staggered backward a step or two before regaining her balance. His eyes went wide and he looked at her as if she were a stranger who’d wandered into his room accidentally.
    â€œA baby ?”
    Tina winced slightly at the horrified tone in his voice, but she stood her ground defiantly. A Coretti didn’t hide from responsibility. “That’s right. I wanted a baby and I wanted you to be the father.”
    He reached up and shoved both hands along his skull, as if he were trying to keep his brain from exploding. “ You wanted,” he said after a long, painful moment of silence. “You didn’t think I should get a vote in that?”
    Tina’s lips quirked and her gaze slid past him to the bed and back again. “You voted yes, Brian. Many times as I recall.”
    â€œI voted for sex ,” he pointed out harshly. “Don’t remember voting for fatherhood .”
    That stung and because it was true, she only nodded. “I know. But when I said you didn’t have to worry, I meant it.”
    â€œRight. Don’t worry. Make babies, move on.”
    â€œBrian, I want this baby.”
    â€œDon’t say that,” he snapped. “We don’t know that there is a baby.”
    She slapped one hand to her abdomen, as if she could block the ears of the microscopic life that might already be forming inside her. “I hope to heaven there is.”
    â€œTina, what in the hell were you thinking?”
    â€œI just told you.”
    â€œUh-huh,” he muttered thickly and moved past her, grabbing up his jeans and tugging them on. “Your biological clock ticks and the alarm goes off on me ?”
    â€œFor God’s sake, Brian,” she said, gathering up her sheet and holding it even tighter around her body, “you don’t have to act like I pulled a gun on you and forced you to have sex with me.”
    His head snapped up and he pinned her with a look that would have terrified a lesser woman. But Tina was used to the Reilly temper. And had one of her own to match.
    â€œYou tricked me,” he said.
    â€œI tempted you,” she corrected, clinging to that distinction.
    â€œYou knew damn well what you were up to and didn’t tell me .”
    â€œOh, please,” she said, pushing her stupid hair back out of her eyes again. He was dressed now. So unfair. He had the advantage here. Hard to fight for your rights with dignity when you’re wearing a pale green toga. “Don’t act like some poor little virgin who was taken advantage of. You were more than willing, thanks to that idiotic bet you and your brothers made.”
    He stopped. “You know about the bet?”
    â€œYep.”
    He scowled. “Liam.”
    â€œYep.”
    He lifted one finger and pointed it at her like a physical accusation. “So you set this up deliberately. You caught me at a weak moment.”
    One dark eyebrow lifted. “And your point is?”
    Furious now, Brian buttoned up his jeans, planted both hands at his hips and glared at her. “You should have told me.”
    All of the air left her lungs in a rush and she almost felt like a balloon deflating in the hands of a greedy child. Hindsight was always twenty-twenty, she reassured herself. And he might have a tiny, tiny, point. “Maybe.”
    â€œNo maybe about it, babe.”
    Tina winced. Funny. He’d called her “babe” allnight and it had sounded sexy, titillating. Now it sounded cold and dismissive. “If I’d told you, you wouldn’t have cooperated.”
    â€œHah!” He grinned victoriously. “Exactly my point.”
    Sighing now, Tina felt regret pool in her stomach and spread cold tentacles throughout her body. How sad it was, she thought, that the two of them had come to this. How sad that so