Free Unwrapping the Playboy by Marie Ferrarella Page A

as if trying to fathom the secret behind Kullen’s words. Finally, she asked, “Why what?”
    â€œWhy you’re so against this when obviously, at one point, you must have been all for it. To hitch your star to the Dalton fortune.” She opened her mouth to speak but he talked louder and faster. The cynicism was impossible to miss. “I mean, the lure of all that money, the comfort it could bring—hard to imagine turning your back on all that. It had to be a whole different world for you. For anyone. The kind of money the Daltons have is the stuff that fairy tales are made of.”
    Oh, God.
    She pressed her hand against her abdomen, certain she was going to be sick. “They got to you, didn’t they?”
    Kullen’s dark blue eyes were cold. Flat. And accusing. “Not to me.”
    There was an allegation in his voice, and it didn’t take much for her to get his drift. She began to protest. “But I don’t—”
    He cut her short, not wanting her to lie. “Oh, come on, Lilli. I’m your lawyer. If I’m going to be of any useto you, you have to level with me,” he insisted sharply. Angrily. “Tell me everything.” His mouth curved cynically. “Why aren’t you still part of the Dalton’s happy little family?”
    How could he say that to her? Did he think she was some kind of gold digger? The one person, aside from her mother, who she thought knew her, accused her of being this awful person. It hurt more than she thought possible.
    Lilli pushed her chair away from the table and stood up. She had to get out of here. “I’m sorry, coming to you was a mistake.” She picked up her manila envelope. He wouldn’t be needing them anymore. “This has been a waste of time for both of us—”
    Kullen told himself that he should just let her walk out. It was in his best interest. Another man would have sat back and watched this little drama unfold, feeling a sense of vindication. Payback, as the old saying went, was a bitch. And she had earned her payback.
    But he wasn’t another man. For better or for worse, he was who and what he was: The man who had once loved Lilli McCall with his entire heart and soul. Even now, he couldn’t avenge himself by leaving her to twist in the wind. She had come to him looking for help.
    Kullen was on his feet, rounding the table and blocking her exit from the room. “I need the truth from you, Lilli. I need to know why someone like you would have gotten mixed up with someone like Erik Dalton in the first place. He had a reputation as the biggest womanizer around. I thought you were different—”
    â€œI was,” she insisted. Which was why she was sohaunt ed by what had happened. Why it had been so hard for her to get past it in the first place.
    His eyes narrowed as he looked right into her. Aware that he was still holding her in place, Kullen dropped his hands from her shoulders. “Convince me.”
    For a long moment, she said nothing and he thought she would walk out after all. But then she sighed as she pressed her lips together. He wanted to shake her, to shout at her and demand to know why she’d slept with a man like Erik Dalton when he’d had to work so hard to get her to trust him. To get her not to freeze up when he touched her.
    That look in her eyes was back. That look that echoed an unfathomable sadness.
    Kullen wanted to hold her more than anything in the world.
    But he didn’t.
    His hands remained at his sides. He waited for the explanation he felt he had coming to him.
    There was a slight tremor in her voice as she said, “I suppose I have this coming.”
    â€œWe’ll talk about that later. Answer my question, Lilli.”
    Every word ached. “I didn’t leave because I wanted to, Kullen.”
    â€œLeave who?” he demanded. Was she talking about the father of her baby? Had he pushed her away when she told