Page 32 of His Secretary's Nine-Month Notice
‘I don’t think so.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, this business of your forgetting to eat because you’ve been busy has shown me that you can’t be trusted to look after yourself. Don’t get me wrong, I never banked on this happening, but now that it has I intend, like I said to you, to be committed the whole way through. If you can’t look after yourself, then you’re going to need someone to look after you, and from where I’m standing I’m the only candidate for the job.’
‘It won’t happen again and, if it does, I’m perfectly capable of handling it.’
‘Don’t fight me on this.’
Violet looked at him for a long while. She thought about the way he had reacted to news that would turn his orderly life upside down. No complaints, no accusations, no ranting and railing and tearing his hair out. No, he had risen to the occasion and had not hesitated to utter those words which for him would have been the biggest of personal sacrifices. He had proposed marriage. He didn’t love her but, as he had said, he wanted to be given the chance of loving his baby on a full-time basis, and who could feel aggrieved at that?
She thought of those dark warnings as well. He was a fair guy, and she didn’t think that he would really drag her through the courts to claim his rights as a father, but could she be sure? These were exceptional circumstances, and Matt Falconer was nothing if not unpredictable when it came to handling exceptional circumstances. How ruthless would he be prepared to be, and would she be able to fight him? Would she want to? Would that benefit the baby she was carrying? Her heart sped up because no one rose to the dizzy heights that he had without having his fair streak of ruthlessness.
You sometimes had to fight dirty to win wars and he’d won a lot.
‘Are you threatening me?’ she asked weakly.
‘I seldom threaten,’ Matt returned neutrally, his navy eyes never leaving her face. ‘I rely on everyone else seeing sense.’
She was tempted to smile at a remark that was so typicallyhim.‘I can look after myself, Matt. I’ve spent a lifetime doing that.’
‘But was that something you chose to do, or something that circumstance chose for you?’ He allowed that to sink in before continuing. ‘All good things come to an end and, while you’re waxing lyrical about the joys of single parenting and the nightmare of being harnessed to someone for the sake of a child, I think you should contemplate what it might feel like when you try to explain to our son or daughter down the line that they were denied the stability of two parents because you wanted to be free to find the perfect guy.’
Violet whitened. ‘That’s below the belt—and whoever said anything about a perfect guy?’
‘And I’m very sorry that I have to bring it up, but bring it up I shall—you won’t be returning to Melbourne. In your condition, long haul travel can’t be a good idea.’
‘You can’tkidnapme, Matt!’
‘Kidnap?’ He smiled slowly and she felt that familiar warmth spread through her body, felt the tingle between her thighs that was a sharp reminder of how much power this man had over her. ‘You have a very colourful image of the sort of man I’m capable of being. I draw the line at many things. Kidnapping is one of them.’ He paused and their eyes locked, his stunning navy gaze pinned to her face so that even blinking felt like an effort.
‘You act as though doing the right thing is somehow a crime,’ Matt told her softly. ‘When it comes to children, they should be put first, because they’re the ones who end up bearing the scars from selfish, self-serving parents. When your father was showing me those pictures of you in his photo albums, what I saw was a guy who might have gone off the rails when it came to drink and drugs but who, when it came to the things that count, was right there. Am I wrong?’
Violet shifted uncomfortably. ‘I get what you’re saying, but that doesn’t mean that we have to get married, Matt. We can both be here for our child even if we live apart.’
‘And have separate relationships?’
‘I...I hadn’t thought that far ahead.’ She stumbled over her words. The picture he was painting was rolling towards her with the inexorability of a tank, crushing all her fine intentions and her conviction that a union born from convenience was beyond the pale. She wanted to marry for love. What was wrong with that?
‘I have no intention of letting any man bring up a child of mine,’ he said bluntly. ‘You can talk as much as you like about sanitised, modern caring, and sharing partnerships where all sorts of extended family members chip in, but that doesn’t work for me.’
Violet shook her head in pure amazement at the tangent his thoughts had taken but, then again, Matt Falconer was not averse to dramatic exaggeration if he thought that it suited his purpose, as it did now.
That said...
Her mind drifted. What was good for the goose was good for the gander...
As if he had a direct hotline to her thoughts, he tilted his head back at a proud angle and arrowed searching eyes to her face. ‘And tell me how you’re going to feel if and when I find myself a doting mother figure for our child.’
‘I didn’t think you went for the kind of women who doted on little kids,’ Violet muttered, for want of anything better to say, and he gave an eloquent shrug of his broad shoulders.
‘Needs must,’ he stated succinctly. ‘I would hardly be interested in continuing my current lifestyle, given the circumstances. As a father, I would want to introduce moral standards that would serve as an example to my child as he or she got older. I hadn’t foreseen the necessity for getting serious with any woman but then, face it, I also hadn’t foreseen that I would be in this position at this point in time.’
Violet was beginning to get a headache and the nausea was creeping up again. She lay back against the pillows and closed her eyes for a few moments.
‘We can carry on this conversation at a later date,’ Matt said gruffly. He turned away, and she was only aware of him talking again to the doctor he had previously called when he spun back round to face her and said without preamble, ‘You’re sick and my guy is coming over right now to examine you.’
‘You havea guy?’ Relief washed over her. It felt treacherously good to have someone take charge. She’d taken charge all her life. For the first time, it was great letting go! She didn’t want to have any more uncomfortable conversations. She didn’t want to think about that question he had posed, didn’t want to project to a time when she might have to look at him with another woman—a woman wearing his ring who would be trying hard to bond with their child. ‘You have a random person who drops whatever he’s doing to rush over if you get a headache?’
