Read His Wedding-Night Heir for Free Online Page A

serious. This is a question of
    inheritance, Cally. I want an heir— someone to come after
    me. Son or daughter. I don't mind,' he added with a curt shrug.
    'And that's good and sufficient reason...?' She choked over the
    words.
    'I inherited Wylstone Hall because I was Ranald Tempest's
    only relative,' he said. 'But we were almost complete strangers
    to each other. 'Whatever I leave will damned well go to my
    own flesh and blood. Not some distant relation —someone
    I've barely met.'
    He paused. 'Achieve this one thing for me, Cally, and then I'll
    release you from the marriage. I won't fight the divorce. In
    Money, she thought. He means money. I'd probably never
    have to work again unless I wished it.
    'And afterwards?' she asked, her voice shaking. 'If I should—
    have a child, what happens then?'
    'That's open lo negotiation,' he told her curtly. 'But I suggest
    that in principle we share joint custody. At first, anyway.'
    She stared back at him. She said faintly, 'You must be—
    insane.'
    'Why? Because I want my wife to have my baby? It seems a
    fairly normal course of events to me.'
    'But we don't have a normal marriage.'
    'Not at this moment, perhaps,' he said softly. 'But all that
    could change very soon.'
    She said in a low voice, 'Is that— why you married me?
    Because you thought I was young and strong, and you could
    breed from me?'
    Nick shrugged. 'We all have our own priorities,' he said. 'But
    rest assured that I also found you— highly desirable.'
    Her arms went round her body in an involuntary gesture of
    self-protection, and she saw his mouth twist
    She said hurriedly, 'But surely there are other women...' She
    paused, swallowing. Trying to blot certain images from her
    mind. 'I mean— you could divorce me quickly and find
    someone else. Someone who'd make you happy. Want to give
    you..’
    'Let me be blunt,' he said. 'I've had lime lo think during our—
    separation, and I've discovered I've no real taste for being a
    husband. One unlucky foray into matrimony is quite enough,
    and I have no plans to replace you." Hi e was cynical. 'Don't
    they say, "Better the devil you know"?'
    'Yes,' she said numbly. 'Sometimes—they do.' But it doesn't
    have to be true.
    'Besides, you clearly can't wait to get away from me,' he
    added. 'So there's no threat of you wanting t on a permanent
    basis."
    She said tautly, 'Cramping your style?'
    'Precisely, darling,' he drawled. 'How well you're getting to
    know me.'
    'Then think about this instead,' Cally pressed on, with a touch
    of desperation. "There's no certainty about these things.
    Pregnancy and the rest of it. For all we know I might not—
    one of us might not—be able to have children."
    Nick shrugged. 'That's a risk I'm prepared to take.' His eyes
    met hers. 'Are you on the Pill?'
    Mutely, she shook her head. A celibate life, she thought, didn't
    need that kind of protection.
    "Then I'd need you to guarantee to stay off it,' he said curtly.
    'But the final decision, as I've made clear, rests entirely with
    you. You either co-operate—come back to me as my wife—or
    you don't. A simple choice.'
    Simple? Cally thought, a bubble of hysteria forming in her
    chest. Simple? Was that what he really believed?
    'It's revenge—isn't it?' Her voice was torn—ragged. 'You want
    to punish me—humiliate me. It's payback time.'
    'If so, you're heavily in arrears, sweetheart,' he told her un-
    smilingly. 'Tell me something, Cally, why accept my marriage
    proposal in the first place— if it was so degrading to you?'
    She hesitated warily. 'I—I suppose I was grateful. It was all a
    hell of a mess and you rescued us. Although you had no
    reason to do so. And if I never said it before, I'll say it now.
    Thank you for that—for everything you did for my
    grandfather—and for me.'
    His glance was cynical. 'I want more than words, Cally.'
    Her voice trembled. 'But I have nothing else to give. I could
    try and repay you in other ways eventually, but I won't—do
    what you