Luccy stared up at him exasperatedly. ‘Of course you don’t like me! You can’t possibly like someone you don’t trust.’
Sin didn’t answer her in words, his hand dropping back to his side before he slowly lowered his head and captured her lips with his own, not touching her in any other way now as he sipped and tasted their pouting softness and he felt her quiver in response beneath the gentle onslaught.
Sin knew when a woman responded to his kisses. Just as he knew that Luccy’s response to him the night they had made love had been completely genuine. As had his own response to her.
Even if they never felt more for each other than that physical desire, surely, for the sake of their child, it would be enough to sustain a marriage?
Sin raised his head slightly to look directly into the dark blue of her eyes. ‘Now do you believe me when I say I don’t dislike you?’ he prompted gruffly.
Luccy didn’t know what to believe any more!
But she couldn’t marry a man who didn’t love her just because he physically aroused her every time he so much as touched her. That sort of heated passion didn’t last, and once that had died what would they have left? The same disastrous mess as Abby and Rory’s marriage had been.
She drew in a ragged breath. ‘I believe that at the moment, because of the baby, you think that marriage is what you want,’ she conceded huskily. ‘But—’ Sin placed silencing fingertips over her lips.
‘I want our baby to grow up with two parents, Luccy,’ he told her emotionally. ‘The same way that I did. The same way that you did.’
‘And once this baby has grown up, where would that leave the two of us?’
‘As grandparents, possibly?’
He really was serious about her marrying him!
It was tempting, oh-so-tempting, to accept his offer of marriage and to hell with what happened later. To lay down the mantle of responsibility and let Sin take charge.
But even for the sake of the baby she carried Luccy knew that without that magic ingredient of a shared love—something Sin would never, ever feel for her!—they didn’t stand a chance of making a marriage between them succeed.
Sin had watched the flickering emotions on Luccy’s expressive face, had seen that brief flare of doubt quickly followed by one of firm resolve. ‘Let’s just forget about the whole idea of marriage for the moment and concentrate on getting to know each other, instead,’ he suggested. ‘I doubt it’s good for you, or the baby, if you continue to upset yourself in this way.’
‘You aren’t going to be one of those overprotective prospective fathers who attempts to wrap the pregnant woman in cotton wool until after the birth, are you?’ she challenged. ‘Because if you are I think I should tell you right now that I’m pregnant, not ill. I also intend to continue working until the moment they wheel me into the delivery-room!’ Her eyes sparkled like twin sapphires as she glared at him rebelliously.
‘Sinclair wives don’t work,’ Sin told her arrogantly. ‘And especially not when they’re pregnant,’ he added firmly.
‘This one will!’
Sin knew that there would have to be a lot of adjusting, by both of them, over the next seven months and beyond, but he was determined not to be goaded into arguing with Luccy before they had even begun.
He took a deep breath. ‘If you insist, I’ll just come along and carry your equipment for you.’
Luccy eyed him frustratedly. ‘Sin, I don’t think you’re taking what I have to say seriously.’
‘Sure I am,’ he said briskly. ‘Is your luggage downstairs in your room?’
‘How did you know—? How long have you known it was this hotel I’ve been staying at?’
Sin’s smile was wicked. ‘I made it my business to know once I realised you couldn’t be relied upon to keep our luncheon appointment. Reception had strict instructions to let me know if you tried to book out.’
Luccy should have known. He was a Sinclair, after all. Besides, he owned the damned hotel!
‘Your luggage, Luccy?’ he prompted.
‘Yes, of course it’s in my room, ready for when I book out,’ she said. ‘But—where are we going?’ she demanded as he opened the door out into the corridor before waiting for her to precede him out of the suite.
‘First to get your luggage, and then home,’ he informed her.
‘Home?’ she echoed sharply, her eyes widening. ‘Your home?’
‘Well, of course my home,’ Sin said.
‘But—I thought—’
‘Yes?’
She shook her head. ‘I thought you lived here…’
‘In a hotel?’ Sin raised dark brows. ‘Hardly.’
Luccy still hung back. ‘You don’t live with your grandfather, do you?’
Luccy had been apprehensive and, yes, a little scared, when only she knew of her pregnancy, as she’d wondered how she was going to continue working once the baby was born, amongst other things. But having Sin just step in and take over in this way was even more frustrating. She certainly didn’t intend going to stay with his grandfather!
Sin shot her a mocking glance. ‘I’m thirty-five, Luccy, not five! I’ve had my own home for fifteen years or so,’ he added dryly.
Luccy continued to protest at Sin’s high-handedness even as she followed him down to her room, scowling at him as he stood to one side to allow her to unlock the door.
‘This is unbelievable,’ she complained, having no choice but to continue following him as he strode off to the lift with her two bags. One of them only had her clothes in, but the other one contained her camera and other equipment, expensive equipment she wasn’t willing to let out of her sight. ‘You can’t just kidnap someone against their will!’ she muttered even as she stepped into the lift beside him.
Sin glanced at her. ‘I’m not kidnapping you, Luccy—I’m kidnapping your camera!’ he teased.
Her eyes narrowed in warning. ‘I could always call the police.’
‘And tell them what, precisely? That I’ve stolen your camera? Yeah, they’re really going to believe that!’ Sin gave her an evil grin.
Of course the police wouldn’t believe her if she said Sin had stolen her camera and equipment; Sin was rich enough to buy himself a thousand—a million!—cameras like hers. She doubted the accusation of kidnapping would be believed, either…