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marriages. He’d been angry and stunned when she’d suddenly insisted on discussing their future. Having his sweet, generous-hearted, passionate Prudence turn into a willful, demanding woman who dared to threaten him with an ultimatum had infuriated him. He had immediately decided that the most effective way of teaching her that he would not be manipulated by a woman was to call her bluff.
    But she’d meant every word of her ultimatum.
    For the first full day after Pru had walked out, McCord had told himself she would be back. She loved him – he was sure of it. When the burst of feminine temperament had died away, he was certain she would come flying back to him.
    He’d still been reeling from the shock of having her carry out her threat when the bill from the women’s clinic had arrived. The moment he’d torn it open and examined the contents, a great deal had suddenly become excruciatingly clear. On her own, Pru might very well have come back to her lover. But she was no longer on her own. She was pregnant.
    She was carrying McCord’s baby; the baby of a man who had arrogantly claimed he had no interest in marriage. Belatedly McCord had realized exactly what was behind Pru’s decision to leave. She’d been forced to assume that if he couldn’t abide the thought of marriage, he would be even more unwilling to accept the fact that he was a father. Still, she’d gathered her nerve and taken the risk of pushing for marriage. When he’d rejected her, she’d done the only thing she’d thought she could do under the circumstances. She’d left.
    Tonight he would have to woo her all over again, soothe her uncertainties and fears until she felt safe in surrendering to him once more. Because there really was no option now. The instant he had realized she was pregnant, McCord’s whole world had realigned itself.
    No longer could he allow his past to shape his present.
    McCord stood alone on the sun-warmed tiles of the patio and thought of the past. For three years now he had cut himself off from everything and everyone he had known from cradle to young manhood. He had told himself he could live without those things and those people, even pretend they didn’t exist. He had walked away from the stubborn, proud man who was his father, from the raw memories of his dead fiancée and the unborn child who had died with her. He’d also walked away from his inheritance.
    But now he was going to marry and have a baby. Everything had changed.

THREE
    Pru ordered fruit juice instead of her customary glass of wine when the cocktail waitress came by to take the order. McCord glanced at her with an amused expression.
    „Have you decided to live up to your name tonight? Afraid to let your brain get cluttered with alcohol?“
    „Under the circumstances, I think a measure of prudence makes sense.“ She had recovered her equilibrium now. As she sat across from him in the cozy bar that adjoined the dining room of the expensive restaurant McCord had chosen, Pru felt she was finally able to regard him in a rational, cautious manner.
    It was much too soon to confess that she was pregnant and that she was avoiding alcohol for that reason only. She had to take this slowly and carefully. McCord, as usual, was moving very fast. The last time he had moved this fast, she had found herself agreeing to live with him.
    McCord reached across the small table and covered her hand with his own. His eyes were hooded in the shadows, but the dark fire in them was quite evident to someone who knew him as well as Pru thought she did.
    „You don’t have to worry, honey. If we wind up in bed tonight, it will be because you want to be there, not because I got you drunk and seduced you. Give me some credit. I’ve never used that tactic on you.“
    „You never had to,“ she heard herself admit ruefully. The fruit juice and McCord’s whiskey arrived before he could respond. When the waitress left, Pru studied her drink.
    „Does that bother you, Pru?“