He could tell his question had surprised her. “No.”
His frown deepened. “There’s only one reason I can think of for a woman to let a man come inside her. Are you going to deny that sleeping with me this time around…as well as the last time…has nothing to do with you wanting a Westmoreland baby?”
He saw her throat tighten. “The last?”
“Yes,” he said between clenched teeth. “I know all about your little visit that night when I was drugged up on pain medication.”
She blinked. “You know?”
“Yes, and I couldn’t figure out why you, a virgin, would get into my bed and take advantage of me. And, yes, I do remember you were a virgin even if I couldn’t recall your identity.”
She angrily reared up on her haunches. “I did not take advantage of you! I was helping you back into bed after you fell. If anything, you’re the one who took advantage of me.”
“So you say.” He could see fury consume her body. and smoke was all but coming out her ears, but he didn’t care.
She rolled off the bed and stood in front of him, almost nose to nose. “Are you insinuating I slept with you that night to deliberately get pregnant? And that I only slept with you last night and this morning for the same reason?”
“What am I supposed to think?”
She threw her hair over her shoulders. “That maybe I am different from all those other women you spend your time with, and that I would not have an ulterior motive like that,” she all but screamed at him.
“You said you had your reasons.”
“Yes, I have my reasons and they have nothing to do with getting pregnant by you, but everything to do with being in love with you. Do you have any idea how it is to fall in love with a man knowing full damn well he won’t ever love you back?”
“In love with me,” he said in a shocked stupor. “Since when?”
“Since I was sixteen.”
“Sixteen!” He shook his head. “Hell, I didn’t know.”
She placed her hands on her hips and her eyes sparked with fire. “And you weren’t supposed to know. It was a secret I had planned to take to my grave. Then like a fool I rushed over to your place when I heard you’d gotten hurt. And when you fell, I rushed up the stairs to help you back into bed and you wouldn’t get off me.”
He lifted a brow. His head was still reeling from her admission of love. “Are you saying I forced myself on you?”
“No, but I would not have gotten into bed with you if you hadn’t fallen on top of me. And then, when you began kissing me, I—”
“Didn’t want me to stop,” he finished for her. Her cheeks darkened and he knew he’d embarrassed her. “Look, Lucia, I—”
“No, you look, Derringer. You’re right. The thought of pushing you off me only entered my mind for a quick second, but I didn’t set out to get pregnant by you that night or any other night.”
“But you let me make love to you without any protection.” He remembered all too well that he hadn’t used a condom this time either.
“Then I can accuse you of the same thing. Trying to get me pregnant,” she all but snarled.
“And why would I do something like that?”
“I don’t know, but if you’re willing to think the worst of me, then I can certainly do the same thing with you. You had taken the condom out of your wallet last night, why didn’t you put it on?”
Derringer tensed. To say he’d been too carried away with making love to her would be to admit a weakness for her that he didn’t want to own up to. “I think this conversation has gotten out of hand.”
“You’re right. I want you to leave.”
He arched his brow. “Leave?”
“Yes. And my front door is that way,” she said as she pointed to the door.