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Billionaire's Contract Marriage 46
Seven months later…Erin checked that she had everything ready for the meeting; jug of iced waterin the refrigerator, glasses ready on the kitchen bench, coffee percolator loaded—Jane Emerson, her agent, never drank anything else—Earl Grey tea for Richard Long, her very English editor, and a plate of assorted cookies that should please everyone. The living room was tidy, the curtains pulled back to showcase the view of Byron Bay —white sand and crystal clear turquoise water.She had bought this beach house four years ago. It suited her, right away from the bustle of major cities, especially for writing. She didn’t care if the animated film people thought she was some prima donna author, insisting that they travel to her for the consultation on how her story was to be brought to the big screen. At eight months’ pregnant, and determined on keeping that fact as private as possible, she didn’t want any fanfare about this meeting.The publicity could come afterwards, when everything had b
Billionaire's Contract Marriage 47
“So you shared with a stranger what you should have shared with me,” he slung at her in disgust.Erin stared at him helplessly, unable to offer any further defence for her decisions. She simply hadn’t realised he would care so much about a baby who was yet to be born, that he would feel so responsible when she had assured him they were having safe sex.”I was going to tell you, Peter,” she said limply, despairing that he would believe anything she said.“Were you?” His eyes glittered with biting cynicism.”If I hadn’t set up this movie deal and kept my name out of it until we met face-to-face, you could have gone on keeping me in ignorance of my child as long as you liked.”There was no use denying it. He wasn’t going to accept her word for anything.“Why did you?” she asked, needing some respite from being the accused, grabbing at the fact that he’d given no explanation of his actions.“Why did I what?” he snapped, still in a towering rage over what she’d done.“Set up this movie deal.
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A completely different fear gripped Erin as Peter gently lowered her into the chair she used for writing—fear for the baby. Something had to be wrong for it to be coming a month early. She wrapped her arms protectively around her belly, rocking it in an agony of hope that all was still well.“Try to stay calm. Panic won’t help,” Peter coolly advised.”Give me your doctor’s name and I’ll get things moving for you.”“Davis.” She nodded to the telephone on the desk.”Press six for his surgery.”Within seconds he was acting for her.”This is Peter Ramsey, calling on behalf of Erin Lavelle. I need to be connected to Dr Davis immediately. This is an emergency.”A waiting pause, then,” Yes, I am that Peter Ramsey. I’m with Erin Lavelle .Her water has broken and she’s suffering labour pain. I’d appreciate it if you’d despatch an ambulance immediately to her house on Ocean Drive, number 14, and meet us at the hospital when we get there.”Another pause.The bad pain had receded, leaving only a du
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For a moment she forgot the indomitable warrior who would fight for what he wanted, and remembered the prince, riding in to the rescue—the magnificent man he had been in her imagination.”I’m glad you were here for me. For us,” she said huskily.“I would have been all along if you’d let me, Erin,” he replied, restirring her guilt for not telling him about her pregnancy.“I’m sorry.”He shook his head.”It’s gone.” The blue eyes pierced hers with determined purpose.”We’re here now. And we have our son to consider.”“Yes,” she agreed, though her mind instantly shied away from discussing the future. Her hand curled protectively around her baby’s head as she turned her gaze from Peter and looked at their son, not wanting him torn between two worlds.“Have you thought of any names for him?”They were not fighting words. There was a smile in his voice. Erin’s inner tension eased a little. Peter wouldn’t want their son hurt by a conflict between his mother and father. Surely he’d do his utmost
Billionaire's Contract Marriage 50
Two months …two months of holding himself in check while Erin recovered from Jack’s birth and made the adjustment from her solitary life to what it meant to be a Ramsey. The waiting was almost over. Tonight she would be his wife. She would share his bed and the desire that had driven him to set up a second meeting with her could finally be freed from the constrictions he’d placed upon it.The wedding had to come first.He’d taken every care not to give Erin any cause to change her mind about their marriage, always keeping their son’s welfare as the prime reason for it. The sex, which had been so memorable to him and had to be to her, as well, was a secondary lure, promising that the commitment would not be without pleasure.However, the fact that she’d walked away from it once had made him wary of using it as a form of pressure to keep her on track. Once the marriage vows were taken, there would be no walking away.Ever again.Which was precisely how he wanted it.“You’re looking grim
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Although she had given up control of her own life, her independence, and she couldn’t help thinking that all Peter’s gifts were aimed atsweetening her surrender to this marriage.He wanted Jack.But she wasn’t sure he still wanted her.He hadn’t once tried to reignite the primal spark, not with a look, a kiss…no attempt whatsoever to establish any form of physical intimacy between them. It made Erin worry that, in his mind, she was still tainted by her lies of omission.She felt very nervous about what would happen tonight, when the wedding was over, how it would be as his wife, not just the mother of his child.“Time for us to get going, Erin,” Charlotte said.”Ready?” “Yes, I’m ready.”Ready to seal the commitment she had made, for better or for worse. From the day of their son’s birth, Peter had been driving her towards this moment.There was no turning back. Let it be done now, she thought on a wave of fateful resignation. Deal with what came after…after.They went downstairs.Her
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It made me want you all the more. I set up the movie deal in the hope that it would win you around to wanting me again.”He heaved a sigh to relieve the tightness in his chest. Her gaze was clinging to his. No anguish in her eyes now. More an urgent intensity, begging for more.“Then there was Jack. Which completely threw me. You’d so decisivelyshut me out, even when I had the right to know we’d made a child.” He leaned forward, forearms on his knees, hands gesturing futility as he shook his head.”I won’t even try to explain what I felt then. I know I shamelessly used Jack to get you, and right then I didn’t care if you wanted me or not. I was going to have both of you and I would have done anything to force that end.”“I’m glad you did, Peter,” she inserted with startling vehemence. “Glad that I invaded your life and carried you off?” he queried.“Yes. I didn’t want to be alone. I just didn’t know how to…how to fix things between us. I got it all wrong. I know I did. These past two
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Los Angeles, fourteen months later…Throngs of fans waved and screamed from the roadside as the limousine rolled slowly forward in the long queue of limousines delivering stars of the big screen to the theatre where the Academy Awards ceremony was to be held. Erin remembered the same intense excitement flowing from the crowd of spectators who had turned up at the premiere of The Mythical Horses of Mirrima, four months ago.It amazed her that so many people cared enough to wait hours to catch a glimpse of their favourite celebrities. Even children had nagged their parents into coming to see her, simply because she was the author of stories they loved.Before she’d married Peter, she’d hated feeling like a performing monkey in a zoo, but under his guidance, she’d learnt not to mind being stared at.Just be yourself. Whatever buzz other people get out of seeing you doesn’t have to touch what you are inside, Erin. Think of it as brightening their day. Like a rainbow. That’s not a bad thin
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