Even greater tension filled Edward, stiffening the muscles in his broad shoulders, his clean-cut strong jawline hardening at her stubborn reminder of facts he considered to be more destructive than helpful. 'If you're pregnant, we definitely have a relationship,' he contradicted.
Bella wrinkled her nose. 'Well, I am having your baby,' she conceded reluctantly. 'But we don't have to have any kind of a relationship!'
'And how do you work that out?' Edward gritted, becoming steadily more annoyed by her dismissive attitude.
'I can manage fine on my own. I'm very independent,' Bella informed him. 'I'll continue with my studies, hopefully, have the baby during the Easter term break and give it up for adoption.'
'Adoption?' Edward was thoroughly disconcerted and stunned by her solution, that being a possibility he hadn't even considered. 'You're planning to have our child adopted?'
Bella pleated her slender fingers together to conceal the fact that her hands were trembling while she battled to tamp down her distress. 'I know it won't be an easy decision to make when the time comes, Edward. I don't want to give my child up but I was brought up by a single parent until I was nine years old and my mother really did struggle to meet the demands of that role.'
'But—' Edward clamped his lips shut in an instinctive protest while he fought to master emotions he had never felt before. Of course, her reference to adoption had taken him very much by surprise. Even so, the very thought of never knowing his own child and not even having the right to see him or her genuinely appalled Edward. Even his own instinctive rejection of her proposition was a revelation that shocked him. 'I don't think I could approve that option.'
'As far as I know, you don't legally have any say in the matter,' Bella retorted in an apologetic rather than challenging tone. 'Only married fathers have those kinds of rights.'
'Then I'll marry you.'
Bella groaned at that knee-jerk reaction. 'Don't be silly, Edward. Strangers don't get married.'
Edward lifted his dark head high and surveyed her with glittering golden eyes that were mesmeric in their intensity. 'I don't care how we go about it but while you may not want our child, I do and I am prepared to raise that child, should that become necessary.'
It was Bella's turn to be thrown off balance and she paled. 'When it comes to my preferences, it's not a matter of my wanting or not wanting the baby...it's much more a matter of what I can offer my child and how best I could meet my child's needs. And the truth is that as a student with no home of my own or current earning power, I've got very little to offer.'
'While I on the other hand have a great deal to offer and could help you in any way necessary,' Edward cut in succinctly. 'And in the short term, I think it would be best if you came to live in my London apartment.'
'Your apartment?' Bella echoed in disbelief. 'Why on earth would I move into your apartment?'
'Because that's my baby you're carrying and I intend to be fully involved in giving you whatever support you need until our child is born,' Edward declared without hesitation.
'I'm perfectly comfortable here with Matt.' Bella groaned, her brow tightening with stress because Edward was saying things and offering options she had not anticipated and she had already spent several days anxiously worrying over her alternatives before coming to the conclusion that adoption was the most sensible answer to all her concerns. Now Edward was demanding a share of that responsibility and complicating the situation with his own ideas.
'Staying here with Matt is unwise,' Edward murmured drily.
'In what way? He's a very good friend.'
'But that's not all he wants to be,' Edward incised. 'Matt is in love with you.'
Bella was aghast. 'That's complete nonsense!'
'A friend would be relieved when the father of your child arrived to take an interest in your predicament. But a would-be lover feels threatened and annoyed and that's what he is,' Edward spelled out impatiently. 'You're not stupid, Bella. Your very good friend wants you to live here with him because he's in love with you.'
YOU ARE READING
GREEK HUSBAND
Romance'This was more than a little push,' Bella censured. 'I don't know why you're doing it either. You can't want me as a wife that much.' 'Why not?' 'I'm just ordinary.' 'I don't see you that way, meli mou,' Edward countered. 'I see you as different, as...
