Free His Convenient Virgin Bride by Barbara Dunlop Page A

he’d forgone the tie.
    “Swimming?” he asked conversationally.
    “No. Riding a bike.”
    “You think sarcasm’s going to help?”
    “I don’t think anything’s going to help.”
    “Right.” He shifted. “So, your long-term plan is to wallow in self-pity?”
    Stephanie refused to answer. Instead she swung her legs back and forth in the water.
    She heard a rustle, then he stepped onto the ledge to sit. He’d stripped down to a pair of black boxers, and she quickly shifted her gaze to the other direction.
    “You’ve seen me naked,” he rumbled, amusement clear in his tone.
    She might have seen him that way once, but she didn’tintend to see him that way again. She scrambled to put her feet under her.
    His hand came down on her shoulder. “Oh, no you’re not.”
    “You’re going to hold me prisoner?”
    “If I have to.” The hand remained firmly in place.
    Stephanie gave an angry sigh.
    “I was thinking a garden wedding would be nice.”
    “What part of no didn’t you—”
    “We could do it here, if you like. Or in Chicago.”
    “Alec, we can’t—”
    “There’s a ring in my pocket. Simple, but a couple of carats. It should impress your friends.” He glanced across the shiny surface of the pool. “Probably not a good idea to give it to you here.”
    Despite herself, she turned to look at him. “You bought me a diamond?”
    “Of course I bought you a diamond. We’re getting married.”
    “You can’t bribe me with jewelry, Alec.”
    “I’m bribing you with a name for our baby.”
    “I’m hardly a fallen woman.”
    “This isn’t about you, Stephanie.”
    “Of course it’s about—” She almost said me, but she clamped down her jaw instead. Her jumping career was ruined, and that was that. The baby was her priority now.
    He smiled. “Ah. A glimmer of responsibility.”
    “Of course I’ll do what’s best for the baby.” Beneath the water, her hand moved subconsciously to her abdomen.
    “Marrying me is best for the baby.”
    She didn’t answer.
    “I’m under no illusions that we can ‘make it work,’” Alec continued.
    “Ah. A glimmer of reality,” she mocked.
    He frowned at her. “We barely know each other.”
    “You got that right.”
    “This isn’t my first choice, either.”
    She stifled a cold laugh, but he ignored her silent sarcasm.
    “I’ll be honest with you, Stephanie. When it comes to women, I’m not a long-term kind of guy. And I don’t see that changing.”
    Wow. This proposal just kept getting better and better.
    Did he mean he’d continue dating? She supposed there was nothing to stop him from doing just that. He had an apartment in Chicago, and he traveled on business most of the time.
    She shouldn’t care. She had no right to care. Though it would be embarrassing if he was seen in public by someone she knew.
    “Will you be discreet?” she asked him.
    “Excuse me?”
    “With the other women. Will you be discreet?”
    His brows knit together. “What other women?”
    “You just said your lifestyle wouldn’t change.”
    “I didn’t—”
    “I assume that means I’m free to see other men,” she added defiantly. “Although it would be more complicated for me to—”
    “Whoa,” he roared. “You are not going to be seeing other men.”
    “Isn’t that a double standard?”
    “Double standard? ”
    “I’m trying to understand how this will work.”
    Perhaps refusing Alec had been the wrong strategy. Maybe agreeing to marry him and pressing on the detailswould be more effective. She’d bet it wouldn’t take him long to back out.
    “Well, one way it will work, is that my pregnant wife won’t be sleeping with other men.”
    “So, I’ll be celibate then?”
    “Damn straight.”
    “For how long?”
    “For as long as it takes. It worked just fine for the first twenty-two years of your life.”
    “That was before.”
    “Before what?”
    Frustration goaded her. “Before I knew how much fun it was to have sex.”
    Alec’s eyes