The Ransomes: Matt, Nick and Katherine. Sara Orwig

He pushed back his chair with a scrape and crossed the room to call the family attorney.

      He presented the problem swiftly, asking questions about a prenuptial agreement, keeping his eye on the clock. While part of him listened to the lawyer speaking, part of Matt’s attention was focused on hearing Olivia return.

      Matt finally replaced the receiver and stared at the phone. As he suspected, marriage, even a paper-only union, would be far more binding than the bargain Matt had intended to strike with Olivia. But it could be dissolved, and he could put stipulations to try to protect himself from later demands. It didn’t mean she wouldn’t sue or take him to court and he would have to fight her later. On the other hand, the baby would legally be a Ransome.

      Matt rubbed the back of his neck and swore under his breath. He didn’t want to get bound to her. Not Olivia or any other woman.

      He heard her in the hall and he crossed the family room in quick long strides. In the kitchen he caught up with her and she glanced at him as he strode into the room.

      “Wait a minute!” he snapped.

      Her brows lifted in question as he crossed the room to stand with only inches separating them. “I called our attorney and talked to him,” Matt declared. “Marriage is a hell of a lot more commitment than you’re asking me to make.”

      “You are the one who wants my baby in your family, remember?”

      “I’m considering what you want. Call in sick tonight. You can miss one night and still keep your job.”

      “I can, but I don’t see any reason to. I’m going to work. I need every dollar I can earn.”

      “I’ve offered you a damn good deal.”

      “Indeed, you have, but I told you that I want it all,” she said softly. She had on her tight red T-shirt and short cutoffs.

      “Hell, I’ll pay your salary for tonight, but you take sick leave,” he ordered, annoyed that she was uncooperative. He was as angered by her demands and stubborn will as he was by his own heated response to her.

      She stared at him a moment and he thought she was going to still refuse. Instead, she nodded and crossed the room to the phone, hanging her red vinyl purse on a hook by the door.

      She asked for another woman and spoke softly, turning her back to Matt, but he heard her tell her friend that something had come up and she wouldn’t be there tonight.

      “You could have told her you were sick,” Matt said as soon as she replaced the receiver and turned around.

      “I’m not sick. Kira will think of some excuse for me, no doubt. I don’t think you have a very high opinion of me,” she remarked. “I’m sure you think I’m cheap and easy and not too bright.”

      “I’ll admit that I might have thought that at one time, but the P.I.’s report changed my opinion. You don’t have any men in your life now. Your grades are top-notch. My opinion of you changes almost hourly. You constantly surprise me.”

      “The same as you astound me. So did your brother. To my misfortune, I misjudged him in too many ways. I’ll never trust a Ransome again like I did Jeff.”

      “You want to marry a Ransome,” Matt reminded her.

      “That is purely a business arrangement for both of us.” She took her purse off the hook. “I’m going to unpack my things, shower and change before you show me around. I’d just as soon not meet people dressed like this.”

      He nodded and watched her start out of the room. At the door she turned back to look at him. “Unlike Jeff Ransome, you can trust me. If I give you my word, I’ll keep it.” She left, and he heard the soft slap of her sneakers in the hall.

      “I’ll be in my office,” he called after her and headed down the hall, wanting to talk to his attorney again.

      Olivia closed the door to her new bedroom, walking around the room and touching the furniture lightly. She shook from pent-up nerves and her proposal to Matt Ransome. To demand that the man who owned this mansion marry her—it took her breath with its presumptuousness. How could she be that brash and calculating? Yet it would give the world to her baby.

      Her proposal of marriage had jarred Matt. It wasn’t what he had expected or wanted, yet he was considering it. She could detect a grudging respect growing in him.

      She paused in front of an elegant rosewood-framed mirror and looked at herself. Her riot of red hair always gave the impression of a wanton woman. Her breasts were full, adding to the attraction to males. She ought to cut her hair and buy fake glasses. With the money—if she made a deal with Matt—she would be able to afford to get her hair fixed and buy new clothes.

      She frowned at her image. She shouldn’t think about where or how she would spend one nickel of his money. She didn’t have a deal yet with Matt, and they might not ever have one.

      With her proposal, had she opened it up for Matt to take control of her child? That question nagged at her. If they married, he would legally have rights and she was certain he would have all sorts of opinions on how Jeff’s baby should be raised and what schools it should attend. Never would she be able to pack, divorce Matt and walk away as easily as she would if she simply accepted Matt’s money offer.

      At the thought of relinquishing control of all decisions concerning her child, her stomach knotted. On the other hand, giving her baby the Ransome name and making him or her an heir would offset letting Matt into their lives. And from what she could see, Matt seemed to truly want what was best for her child.

      She had never had a decent home life. She glanced around the splendid bedroom and knew she would be giving her offspring the best.

      And Matt? How long could they resist the sizzling physical attraction? She didn’t want to ever love another Ransome, another untrustworthy male and in this case, an arrogant, controlling one. Yet even now when Matt was away from her, she was hot and breathless merely thinking about him. It was a volatile chemistry she didn’t have with other men and it might make living under the same roof with him a challenge. Seduction was unwanted, but would she be strong enough to resist the attraction, she wondered.

      Could she be uncompromising and walk away if he rejected her proposal?

      She couldn’t answer her own question. She thought of the money he offered, the chance for her to get through school quickly, then care for herself and the baby. How could she walk away from all that? Would it be horribly unfair to her child to turn her back on Matt’s offer?

      Yet she suspected if she didn’t walk away, he would never come back with acceptance of her proposal. And she wanted the Ransome name and all that went with it.

      Her gaze drifted around the room again and the thought of her baby being part of the fortune of this family took her breath! She strolled to the window and looked out at grounds that were well tended. Beyond them acres of range land stretched to the horizon. The wealth of the place was so foreign to her, she might as well have been in another country. Would Matt consider running the risk of letting her lay claim to some of what he owned?

      Matt wrote out a hasty prenuptial agreement, trying to think of all the things he wanted to put into the document so he would be prepared when he saw his attorney.

      His mind kept jumping to Olivia, remembering watching her and touching her. He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. He had known her less than twenty-four hours and he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

      Disgusted with himself that he couldn’t stop thinking about her, Matt went to look in the desk in his bedroom for a copy of the prenuptial agreement he’d had with Margo. They had married young and both had come from wealthy families so they had drawn up a prenup agreement, but when they parted, there had been no hassle over money. With her tremendous salary and her family’s money, she cared nothing about demands on Matt. She simply wanted out of the marriage to pursue her career.

      In