Contract with Consequences. Miranda Lee

would imagine so. She quite likes me, you know. Has done ever since I promised to look after you on the school bus.’

      Scarlet rolled her eyes at him. ‘I seem to recall you weren’t thrilled at the time.’

      ‘I didn’t mind.’

      ‘Rubbish! Come now, John, you’ve never been the Good Samaritan type. Which makes your offering to be my sperm donor all the more puzzling. Heavens, I don’t know what to think or what to say.’

      ‘Just say yes, Scarlet.’

      ‘But it’s such a difficult decision. I mean … it’s a big thing to have a child together. Different if we were in love.’

      John snorted. ‘As we both know, being in love is no guarantee of future happiness. People fall out of love all the time.’

      ‘It’s still important for parents to like and respect each other.’

      ‘You think I don’t like and respect you?’

      ‘We haven’t exactly been the best of friends over the years.’

      ‘But that’s all in the past, when we were just stupid kids. We got along very well today, didn’t we?’

      ‘Yes,’ she agreed reluctantly. ‘Yes, we did. Oh Lord, I still don’t know. If we go ahead and do this, what on earth are we going to tell everyone?’

      ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Your priority at this point is becoming pregnant. Your body obviously isn’t clicking with the sperm donor you chose,’ he went on with cool, corrupting logic. ‘You need to try someone different.’

      Scarlet knew that, if she failed to get pregnant again with her chosen sperm donor, she’d regret not accepting John’s offer. It was a case of do now, or possibly die childless!

      ‘Okay. Okay. I’m going to throw caution to the winds and just say yes.’

      ‘Great,’ John said, feeling more excited than when he’d found oil. ‘So what’s the plan?’

      ‘I’ll contact the clinic first thing tomorrow morning and arrange for a time for you to go in and give them a sperm sample. Then, when—’

      ‘Hang on!’ John interrupted immediately. ‘That’s not how it’s going to be done at all!’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘I mean I have no intention of becoming a father via a turkey baster. Or a syringe. Or whatever they use these days. If we’re doing this, let’s do it right.’

      ‘You mean you … you want to have sex with me?’