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It made less sense that she heard herself answering. “I’ve only just started the process,” she explained. There was no harm in disclosing that, even to a virtual stranger. “Research took a while, then testing.”
“Right.” He nodded, as though approving her response.
“Why do you ask?” Then, the most logical explanation clarified in her mind. “Are you looking to undergo IVF? Well, not you personally,” she tacked on, cheeks flaming. “But your wife or partner?”
She couldn’t remember if there was anything in the dossier about his relationship status, and he didn’t wear a ring, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.
“I’m not married,” he said sharply. Her eyes narrowed, processing this. Not just his declaration, but the way he refuted it as though the very idea burned him to the core. “But I do need to…start a family,” he said, after a beat. And though his body didn’t shift, she felt the awkwardness in his stance, the feeling that he was hesitant to finish his thought.
“Well, I’m sure my clinic could help you with a surrogate,” she said, nodding her understanding.
But Hamish took a step toward her. “That’s not exactly what I had in mind.”
Tia’s lips pulled to the side. “No?”
“I’ve researched you, Miss Stallone. I admire you. What you’ve achieved is truly impressive. You’re hard working, diligent, professional, and everyone I’ve spoken to about you has described you as a woman of integrity.”
A dozen emotions cycled through her—from pride to pleasure to confusion to irritation. Hormones were the pits.
“The thing is, I need to start a family quickly.”
“Right. As I said—”
“A surrogate isn’t suitable. When I say ‘start a family’, I mean get married, and for my wife to get pregnant, as soon as possible.”
Tia’s eyes widened. “Why?”
“It’s an inheritance thing,” he said with a shake of his head and flattening of his lips that perfectly expressed his disdain for the idea. “And it’s also a family thing.”
“You’re not making sense.”
“My mother has cancer. We don’t yet know how serious, but she almost died six years ago, before being transitioned to a trial drug and making a full recovery. She’s been in remission ever since. Until now.”
“Oh.”
“And the whole issue of me not settling down brings her a lot of grief, to be frank.”
“So you want to ‘settle down’.”
“Right.”
Tia’s lips tugged to the side. “I find it hard to believe you’d struggle to find a woman who wants to marry you.”
“I’m not interested in a relationship.”
Confusion knitted Tia’s brows together. “I feel like the two generally go hand in hand.”
“Not necessarily.”
“No?” She unfastened the button of her blazer so she could cross her arms more comfortably over her chest. “Enlighten me.”
“I almost got married once and the breakup was…a disaster. Something I’d definitely prefer to avoid. It strikes me that the best kind of marriage might be one in which the couple is more like polite business partners than anything else. Particularly as co-parents.”
“That’s very…logical,” she said, thinking it was both sensible and cold.
“My married friends argue endlessly about their children. How to raise them, where they’ll go to school, if they should board or stay at home.”
“And you think the model of marriage you’re looking for avoids conflict?”
