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His parents’ e had been the dark canker at the heart of his life, whose poison had spilled over into so many places The unionbetween a cruel man and a woman he despised so much that he couldn’t even bear to say her name His mouth hardened Why the hell would he ever want to marry?

Alek’s success had been public, but he’d ed to keep his life private He had locked himself within an emotional shell in order to protect hiet close And hadn’t that been another reason for his anger with Ellie? Not just because her indiscretion had tarnished his hard-won business reputation, but because she’d broken his foolishly misplaced trust in her

‘Maybe I’reat husband material,’ he told her ‘Ask any of the women I’ve dated and I’s I’m selfish I’m intolerant I work too hard and have a low boredom threshold—especially where women are concerned’ He raised his eyebrows ‘Shall I continue?’

She shook her head, so that her ponytail swung froe I’al contract with a finite time limit’

His eyes narrowed ‘Because?’

‘Because I don’t want itimate myself But neither do I want to spend the rest of my life with someone who doesn’t even seem to like me I’m not a complete masochist—’

‘Just a partial one?’ he put in ly

‘I must have been,’ she said bitterly, ‘to have had sex with you’

‘Pretty ah,’ he said, almost as an aside

Deliberately, Ellie pushed that thought away, even though just theYes, it had been aer but it had turned into so, which had completely blown her away Had he felt it, too—that incredible connection? Or was she doing that thing wo to be true because you wanted it to be true

‘It doesn’t matter nohat the sex was like,’ she said slowly ‘Because the only thing that matters now is the baby’

He flinched as she said the word She could see his jaw harden so that it looked as if it were carved froranite