Read Online An Heir for the Millionaire by Julia James - Free Book Online

‘It’s insane to think so!’
    Xander’s eyes darkened. ‘If it is the prenuptial agreement you object to—tough. That is not negotiable. You’ve hardly proved trustworthy’
    She gave a laugh. It had a note of hysteria in it. It made Xander’s eyes focus on her even more narrowly. She rubbed a hand over her brow.
    â€˜This is insane,’ she said heavily. ‘It’s mad that you should even think of marrying me like this.’ She lifted her eyes to him. ‘I never wanted you to know about Joey. Never!’ She saw his eyes darken malevolently at her words, but ploughed on, ignoring his reaction. ‘I wish you had never found out,’ she said bleakly. ‘I wish I had never set eyes on you again. But it’s too late now. Too late.’ Her voice was heavy. Then she looked at him, her shoulders squaring. ‘I won’t marry you—it’s insane even to think it!’
    Something moved in his eyes. Something that made her feelfaint. Then there was a caustic etching of lines around his mouth as he replied.
    â€˜You are saying you prefer this —’he gestured with his hand, his eyes sweeping the room, which was furnished with old-fashioned furniture from Vi’s younger days, worn now, as were the carpet and the curtains ‘—to the life you would lead as my wife?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Clare. ‘If all I cared about was your money, Xander, don’t you think I’d have told you I was pregnant—even if you had just thrown me out like garbage?’
    His eyes flashed again. ‘I did not “throw you out like garbage”! I made suitable alternative arrangements for your accommodation. I gave you a suitable token of my apprec—’
    â€˜ Don’t say that word! If you say it one more time to me, I swear to God I will…I will…’
    She sat down heavily on the bed, and the springs creaked. Her legs would not hold her up any more.
    She looked across at him. He was standing stiffly, rigid.
    â€˜Oh, go to hell,’ she mumbled. ‘Just go to hell, Xander. I know the law will let you have some visiting rights to Joey, and if you really insist on them I know I can’t stop you. But don’t ever think you’re going to get any more. I don’t want you in my life again.’
    His face stilled. It sent a shiver of foreboding through her.
    â€˜But I,’ he said, ‘have every intention of being in my son’s life. I have every intention of being his father.’
    She gave a twisted laugh, cut short.
    â€˜Father? You don’t know the slightest thing about being a father.’
    For a moment there was a silence that could have been cut with a knife.
    â€˜Thanks to you,’ said Xander, softly and sibilantly. ‘Because of you, I am a stranger to my own son. I did not even know his name when I spoke to him!’
    Clare’s mouth tightened. She would not let him make her feel guilty. She would not. She stood up, forcing herself upright, folding her arms tightly across her chest. Her chin lifted.
    â€˜Well, if you’re so keen to be a father, come and learn to be one. But listen to me—and listen to me well!’ Her expressiongrew fierce. ‘Fatherhood is for life, Xander! It’s not some novelty that you can amuse yourself with or get off on self-righteously because I dared to object to the way you treated me and never told you about Joey. Don’t think that being stinking rich means you can just have the easy bits and dump the rest on your paid minions! And above all—’ she bit each word out ‘—it is not something you do without committing to it for the rest of your life. Because if you hurt my son—if you cause a single tear to fall from his eyes because you get bored with him, or put yourself first, or put making money first or, God help you, play with your mistresses first!—then you won’t be fit to be his