Page 151

He frowned. ‘You didn’t think it could have been something more benign, like food poisoning?’

‘It was quite specifically related to certain foods. And…’

‘And?’ he pushed, voice sharp.

Sadness engulfed her. ‘I always remember my mum telling me that she couldn’t eat red meat when she was pregnant with me. It just felt…different.’

He nodded once, apparently accepting this.

‘I couldn’t get a pregnancy test that night—everywhere was shut until the next day. I got one as soon as I could, and the line came up straight away.’ Despite the situation they were in, she smiled as she relived that moment and the certainty she’d had that, somehow, her mother had had a hand in this. A little birthday present to Sarah, a reminder that she wasn’t so alone after all.

‘And then you came here?’

She felt the ground shift slightly, as though they were getting onto slightly less neutral terrain. But why? It wasn’t as though she’d done anything wrong.

‘No, not immediately.’

‘I see.’ Tension zapped around them. ‘You’ve known a while?’

‘A couple of weeks,’ she said with a nod.

He was quiet, and, for some reason, that made her talk quickly. ‘I decided to go home, but first I knew I needed to tell you. Or that I should tell you. And I didn’t have your phone number. Once I realised who you were, I figured I wouldn’t be able to just get your contact information off the Internet. My only choice was to come back out here.’

‘So, you once again drove into the Outback, in that car?’ he asked, disapproval etched in the lines of his face, as well as the scathing tone to his words.

‘It’s more resilient than it looks. Your mechanic gave it the all-clear,’ she added defensively.

Apparently, he chose not to fight that battle, but she couldn’t shake the sense he was judging her for her choices. She’d learned from her mistakes, anyway, and had made sure to pack a whole case of emergency supplies, including two chargers, for her car. Just in case.

‘Look, I know this is…a curveball,’ she said, trying to remember her original, prepared speech. ‘But this is happening. As I said before, I have no expectations of you. I’m not asking you to be involved or acknowledge our child. I’m not asking you for money. I’m literally just here to inform you of the situation, before I go away again. This doesn’t need to impact your life, Tate.’

He was sitting close. So close that when she stood, intending to leave again, she was very neatly trapped in the space created by his legs. So close that when he followed suit and stood, they were toe to toe, nose to nose, and any thought of walking right out of the front door evaporated in a fog of instant, sapping awareness.

‘That’s all very neat,’ he drawled, but in a way that made it obvious he was raging against everything she’d just said. But why? Shouldn’t he be glad she was letting him off the hook?

‘I should get going,’ she said, belatedly remembering he’d all but kidnapped her.

‘No.’

She wasn’t afraid. Not of Tate. She never had been. Despite his looming size and the jokes she’d made, that first day, about his being an axe murderer, it was only the strength of her awareness of him that had scared her. The sense that he was someone who could make her forget who she was, entirely. Nonetheless, at his calmly delivered objection, a frisson of something ran the length of her spine.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You heard me, Your Highness. You’re not leaving. You’re pregnant with my child; if you think I’ve got any intention of letting you walk out that door and fly to the other side of the world, think again.’

She stared at him, aghast, before her fighting spirit stirred to life. ‘And if you think I’ve got any intention of accepting you “letting” me do anything, think again. You don’t own me, Tate Carrigan, and you don’t control me. You have no right to tell me what to do. Baby or not, this is my life, and I’ll do what I damn well want with it.’

‘Your life, fine, Sarah. But you will not take this child away from me.’

The words were issued quietly, but they rang through her body with the force of a grenade. Every part of her reverberated in response.

Her lips parted in surprise, her brain struggling to keep up. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Evidently not, so let me be clear: this child will be raised right here, at Ironbark Ridge Station. This child will be raised here, by me, and I will pour every single resource I command into making sure that happens.’

Shock and fear were roiling inside her, and somehow, despite that, she was far too aware of him to breathe normally. Even when stirred to the peaks of her anger, wanting to claw at his skin and slap his face, she found she couldn’t ignore the way his chest moved with each breath he took, the way his lips were right there, at her eye height, his stubbled jaw so strong and clenched, and those hands…so big and strong when they had held her sides.

‘I…are you threatening me?’