“Danielle?” he said sharply.
She moistened dry lips. “I’m okay. I feel a little faint, that’s all.”
He muffled something under his breath.
“I should be fine now,” she said in a small voice, and pushed herself away from him, but was unsteady on her feet.
He swore again and slipped his arms around her waist. “Let’s get you upstairs.”
Swinging her up in his arms, he punched in the security code he’d memorized from his last visit to the luxurious penthouse and headed inside to the coolness of the building. The elevator was available and he strode over plush carpet and into it, the lump of fear in his throat almost strangling him.
It was her he should strangle, he decided, as she rested her cheek on his shoulder, the soft fragrance of her perfume surrounding his nostrils. She didn’t make a murmur.
Once inside her air-conditioned apartment, he laid her down on the leather couch in the living room, noting the faint sheen of perspiration covering her soft, almost translucent skin.
“Stay there,” he grated, and headed for the telephone.
She lifted her head off the cushion. “What are you doing?”
He began punching in the first digits of the phone number. “Calling my doctor.”
“What? Don’t you dare!” She started to sit up, and he slammed the phone down and strode back to her side.
“You need medical attention,” he growled, helping her to sit up fully. She was so light, even with the baby growing inside her.
The baby! Alarm rocketed through him again until he saw some color had returned to her cheeks.
“It was the smell of the exhaust fumes, that’s all,” she said, brushing some blond strands out of her eyes.
Powerful relief filled him, followed by a burst of irritation. How could she take this so casually? He hated to think what may have happened if he hadn’t decided to come here today. No one would have heard her screams if that thug had roughed her up a little.
Or a lot.
He straightened, then impaled her with a stare. “You were taking your life in your hands with that idiot back there.”
The pink in her cheeks reddened defensively. “His name was given to me by a friend.”
His lip curled. “Terrific. The police will know exactly where to go after they find your mutilated body in Darwin Harbor. That’s if the crocodiles don’t get you first.”
“Ever thought about writing bedtime books for children?” she mocked, sounding almost back to normal, if there even was such a thing as normal for her. She was the most ambiguous woman he’d ever met.
And he was in no mood to appreciate a sense of humor right now. “People don’t always go around with Murderer tattooed on their foreheads.”
She stirred uneasily, her beautiful face clouding over. “I wouldn’t have gone with him if I’d really felt threatened. I have my baby to protect.”
Flynn’s eyes were drawn to where her hand rested on her stomach. He swallowed tightly, his gaze moving up and resting back on her face as he squashed the urge to pull her into his arms.
“That guy wouldn’t have taken no for an answer,” he reiterated, knowing that if he got her in his arms he would shake her first. Then kiss her.
Fear came and went in her eyes. “I know that now.”
Some of the tension eased out of his shoulders but he still couldn’t let go of the suspicion that she’d do something foolish.
“Why are you here, Flynn?”
Absorbed in his angry thoughts, it was the sound of his name on her lips that broke through to him.
But it was her words that reminded him of the paperwork inside his jacket…Reminded him that she’d do almost anything to get his attention. This was all about getting her own way. She was definitely high maintenance—in more ways than one.
He smiled unpleasantly. “I’ve come to give you something.”
She blinked warily. “You have?”
He took the contract out of his jacket and tossed it onto the sofa next to her. “Consider the loan paid in full. You no longer owe me two hundred thousand dollars.”
For one moment something flashed in her eyes, before she quickly looked confused. “I don’t understand.”
He watched her with cynicism. He’d seen her eyes lit up with what he suspected was satisfaction. “Of course you do. Your letter…the checks…the run-down car…were all a bid for sympathy to get my attention and win me over. Why not just admit it?”
Her eyes flared wide. “What?”
“I’m one step ahead of you.” He glanced pointedly at the paperwork. “Go on, pick it up and take a look. It’s the contract. You can rip it up or burn it. Do what you will for all I care, but let’s just cut our losses and get on with our lives. Separately.”
Her delicious mouth opened and closed. Then, as if pretending she couldn’t believe it, she looked down at the paper next to her and slowly picked it up. Her hands shook slightly and Flynn pushed aside a stab of guilt. They shook because he knew what she was about. He was probably the first man to so quickly see through her beautiful exterior to the hard core of selfishness beneath. Pregnant or not, this beauty intended to have it all.
Suddenly her head lifted and a deep anger bounced around in her blue eyes, surprising him.
“My God! I’m doing everything in my power to pay back the loan, and not only do you throw my effort back in my face but you accuse me of subterfuge.”
Oh, she was convincing, but her actions spoke louder than words. She was angry because he’d caught her out. Her wealthy appetite was never more apparent than now, here in her expensive apartment.
He gave her a sweeping glance. “I know women.”
She made a choking sound. “What a colossal ego you have.”
“Then tell me how wrong I am about you,” he said bluntly. “Tell me how you can afford an apartment like this—” he jerked his head at their swish surroundings “—yet not a decent car?”
A look of discomfort crossed her beautiful face before she tossed him a look full of sarcasm. “What? You mean you don’t already know everything about my finances?”
She was as guilty as hell and disgust flooded through him. She cried poor yet could afford to move into this? Perhaps he needed to get a new report done on her, and not just her business affairs this time.