“I did.” His solemn expression swiped the smile from her face.
“You—you can’t be serious. People don’t get married nowadays because they’re having a baby.”
“In case you didn’t notice, I’m not ‘people.’ No kid of mine is going to grow up without knowing me.”
“I agree, but I don’t see why we have to get married to ensure it.”
“Because I’m not satisfied with occasional visits. I want my son or daughter in my house, and I want to see them every day—not when it’s convenient for you.”
Eva stepped back, putting her hands up in a defensive motion against him. “Wait a minute. You’re serious about this?”
“I’ve had plenty of time to think, and it could work.”
“No, it can’t!” She swallowed to calm her frayed nerves. She sounded hysterical, while he remained as cool as a tall glass of iced tea. Before she would have welcomed a proposal—such that it was—but a wedding because of her pregnancy was the last option she’d ever considered.
Lowering her voice, she said, “We don’t have to get married. Besides, we don’t even—” She stopped, finding it difficult to say the words, but managing to muddle through. “We don’t love each other. We were already broken up when I told you I was pregnant. I don’t want to marry you, and you don’t want to marry me. Having a baby is not a good enough reason.” She took a deep breath and gradually released it. “We need to come to another arrangement.”
“All right,” he said, which only unsettled her nerves even more. She had a feeling she wouldn’t like his next words. “Then would you be willing to let me have the baby after it’s born?”
Her eyes widened, and she recoiled from him. “You really are insane, aren’t you?”
“What’s so insane about a man wanting his child?”
“Nothing, but—”
“Let me guess, a father’s not as important as a mother, right?”
“I never said that. I know how you feel because I never knew my father, either.” A common thread between the two of them, but whereas she’d seen it as a pain they could share, he never wanted to discuss it. “But a child needs its mother.”
“And its father.”
His implacable expression worried her, and she tried to mollify him. “And you’ll have all the access you want.”
“I don’t want access.”
“Well, if you think I’m going to hand my daughter over to you after she’s born, you are sadly mistaken.”
He froze, staring at her. “Daughter? You know for sure it’s a girl?”
Eva paused and nodded. “Yes. This week I found out I’m having a girl.” She’d chosen to get a 3-D ultrasound done to determine the gender of the baby.
His gaze lowered to her stomach. “A girl.”
He seemed stunned, as if hearing the sex of the baby really brought home the fact that a life was growing inside her. He ran his hand down the back of his head, across the black silk of his hair—hair she’d lovingly caressed with her own fingertips. She could almost feel the texture of it.
Eva’s voice gentled. “Derrick, I know why you’re saying these things, but you never have to worry about me cutting you out of your daughter’s life. She’ll know you love her. The relationship you didn’t have with your biological father has no bearing on your relationship with our daughter.”
He lifted his cool gaze to her face. “How much?” He pulled out his phone.
She frowned. “How much what?”
“How much will it take for you to give her up once she’s born? I can be very generous. I have my accountant on speed dial, and with one phone call, I can have any dollar amount you request transferred into the account you choose within minutes.”
He couldn’t be serious. “Wait, what?” Eva shook her head in confusion. “Did I hear you correctly? Did you just offer to buy my baby?”
Chapter Two
He didn’t seem a bit perturbed, as if she’d overreacted—as if he’d offered to purchase a cup of coffee instead of a human being.
“I wouldn’t use those words.”