He felt the hope bursting and hurt and anger surfacing. "Which means what exactly?"
"It means what you think it means. This happens to be my body and ultimately I get to make the decision. So, you can jump off your high horse and chill. I know how you and your family think. Your parents are not satisfied with the dozens of grandchildren they already have..."
"Actually, it's just six." His calm interruption just angered her even more.
"Whatever. The first time I was introduced to your dad, he specifically told me that he expected me to start having children as soon as possible. We'd just started seeing each other. I will not tolerate any interference from any member of your family and will not be bullied into making a decision."
"What the hell do you want from me, Leanne?" Her attitude was rubbing him the wrong way. "Permission to get rid of my baby?"
"It's my baby!" She slapped a hand on her stomach. "My body that will be going through the tortures of hell for nine months. You will not be feeling anything except pride that you've planted your seed. I'll be doing all the damn work."
"All right." He lifted his hands and tried for calm. "All right. I don't know what it is to carry a human being inside you, but I'm here and whatever it takes, I will be."
She glared at him, suddenly irrationally angry. "I love my job and will not give it up."
"Who's asking you to?"
"Your parents will. All of your sisters-in-law are stay at home mothers. Good for them. I'm not the type to sit around and crochet and have tea parties."
He raised a brow at the incredible insult to the three women who work their butts off in the charitable arm of the company.
"That's not all they do."
"I don't care." She paced to the window to look out, her shoulders tight with tension. This was not going well, and it was all on her.
Turning back to him, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweats.
"Look, I'm not in a very good place right now. Like I said, I've been ill. Sick to my stomach. I shouldn't have gotten involved with you. That was careless of me. You're my boss..."
"Technically..." His voice petered off at the heated look she shot at him. Spreading his hands wide, he gave her an appealing look. "What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing." She paced back to the window and then back again. "I'm just telling you like it is. I will go to the appointment tomorrow and hear what the doctor has to say."
"And then?"
She plopped down on the chair next to the fireplace. "And then I go on from there. I would like to ask that you do not tell your family yet, but that's not going to happen."
"No."
Shaking her head, she leaned back and closed her eyes. "I don't think your mother likes me very much."
His lips quirked in wry amusement. "That's because you called my family loud and boisterous. That might have something to do with it."
Her eyes popped open. "I was simply stating the obvious."
Crossing to her, he pulled up the ottoman and sat. "This is a good thing."
"For you it is. Your family is big on children. I never gave motherhood a thought. I have an exciting career and was just getting started."
"Having a child does not have to curtail that. I would never ask you to give up your job."
She arched a brow at him. "What on earth will your family have to say about that?"
His mouth tightened at her sarcastic tone. "I am my own person, and this is between us. Look..." He paused a little. "We could always get married..."
"No. We're living in the twenty-first century, where thank God, no one's going to stone me for being an unwed mother. I refuse to run to the altar just because I'm knocked up. That's not going to happen."
He had to force himself not to lash out at her. He was in love with her and it was a first for him. He had fallen hard, but to her it had been just a fling, and he hated her for it. Resented her for making him want to beg.
