“Of course not. I knew I was married.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Julian leaned back in his seat, his fingers drumming on the steering wheel. “We really did have bad cell service. That was the last way I wanted to tell you if you didn’t know already.”
“Where are you going? You missed my apartment.”
“My house is done. It’s nice. We can go there.”
“I don’t even have a change of clothes. I need to go home, Julian.”
“We are going home. And I had my assistant stock my place with new clothes for you.”
“I can’t live with you.” Jesus! Kristin pondered once again if he was completely coherent. He was driving fine, and he seemed to be oriented.
“You’re forgetting something very important,” he mentioned in a concerned tone.
“What? That we got married and I don’t even know if it was Elvis who tied our knot or a quickie Vegas minister?”
“No,” he denied calmly. “But we did have hot, sweaty sex without birth control. That’s probably why I couldn’t help coming so fast. That and the fact that I’d been wanting to nail you since the minute you opened your sassy mouth.”
“I know we did. I remember the sex part.”
“Then you realize that there is every possibility that you could be pregnant?”
Kristin was silent and put her hand on her abdomen, knowing that particular possibility had never crossed her mind.
CHAPTER 11
“Is that what you’re worried about?” she asked quietly.
“For your sake, yes. I don’t know if you’re ready for a kid. But otherwise, no. I’m not worried. I think I can support any number of children, and I’d like to have a child. Maybe not now, but someday.”
She wanted to ask him what he’d do if she was knocked up, but she had to let him off the hook. “I’m not. I never went off birth control after my last boyfriend several years ago. It helps regulate my periods, so I just stayed on it. I’ve already had my period. I’m not pregnant.”
Kristin rubbed her belly subconsciously, almost mourning something that had never even begun.
“You sure?” he answered, sounding almost disappointed.
“Positive.” She couldn’t help the note of sadness in her voice.
“Sweetheart, do you want a baby?”
She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. “More than anything. But I don’t think I have much that I can give a child. Hell, I’m struggling just to survive.”
“Not anymore,” he told her calmly. “You have a husband. You have me.” He pulled onto a newly paved road, then turned into a driveway that was lit up by lanterns on posts, spaced out perfectly to line and light the way to Julian’s house. “We’re home.”
Kristin gasped when she saw the well-lit home with brick exterior. Not only was it grand, but it was an elegant design. “You’re going to live here all by yourself?” The home was enormous, an executive-type mansion. Not that she expected anything less from a Sinclair, but it was still pretty damn impressive.
“No. I’m going to live here with you,” he answered with a chuckle as the garage door opened and he pulled his vehicle into the nearly empty space.
“Not. Happening,” she told him stiffly. “I’m going home.”
Julian shrugged. “We are home.”
“I have my own place, and I’d like you to take me back into town.”
He closed the garage door once he’d parked, then got out of the vehicle. “Why? We’re married.”
Kristin gritted her teeth, knowing he was being deliberately obtuse. The only thing she didn’t understand was why. “We need to get a divorce,” she told him irritably as she exited the vehicle to talk to him, following him through the door in the garage. “I know we had sex before we went out and got married. But are you sure we did it after the wedding? Do you remember?”
“Not the details. But knowing me and how much I want to nail you every time I look at you, I think we did,” he answered vaguely.
So no annulment. She couldn’t take the chance that it wouldn’t be legal.
As expected, the home was enormous, but it had a homey feeling nevertheless. Kicking off her shoes in the mudroom, she trailed behind Julian as he strode silently into the house.
With vaulted ceilings and a chef’s kitchen, the place was inviting and warm; a gas fireplace that was already lit stood between the kitchen and what looked like a large family room. “This kitchen is amazing,” she couldn’t keep herself from murmuring as she ran her hand over the granite countertops in appreciation.
“I wouldn’t know. I only use the microwave,” Julian told her with a grin as he removed his coat and took hers. “Want a tour?”