“I will later.”

He didn’t know if the word later was good or bad. Whether it meant later when he was here or later after he was gone. “I want to apologize for anything and everything, for all I did and didn’t do,” he said quietly. “For the things I said that hurt you.”

She was briefly silenced by the haunted look in his eyes. “I said my share of hurtful things too. Come on,” she said, tugging on his hand and moving down the hallway. “Talk to me.”

He’d never been so happy to hear those words. In the past if a woman said she wanted to talk, he’d always headed for the door. “Thanks,” he said again, really meaning it.

Kate gave him a sideways glance as they moved down the hallway. “You might change your mind about that. I’m going to ask you a lot of questions.”

“That’s okay.”

“Really?” Her surprise showed.

“Look, baby, I’m just so happy you’re letting me in, I don’t care what you do. I’ve been in hell the last few months. Like the last time you were gone. So read me the riot act, I don’t care. I’m just going to say yes to everything you want.”

She stopped, looked up at him, her brows slightly drawn. “You’re freaking me out a little.”

He smiled. “Too polite?”

“Just a little bit.”

A hint of amusement flickered in his eyes. “Maybe I’ll piss you off later when I tell you about our wedding plans.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, her nostrils flaring. “That’ll do it. Maybe I don’t want to marry you.”

“I’d really like you to, but just a second.” He dropped her hand, walked back to the packages, and pulled out a small shopping bag tied with a large white bow and a yellow-ribboned package. Coming back, he took her hand again, smiled with tantalizing languor, and said softly, “Where would you like to talk?”

“Don’t look at me like that.” She frowned. “This is a serious discussion.”

“The reception room then?” He was on his very best behavior.

“I call it a living room.”

“Perfect,” he said with a diplomatic smile. “Do I get to touch you or is this a separate chairs situation?”

“Separate chairs.” It was too easy to fall under his spell, to respond to that soft voice and warm smile, when she was teetering on the edge already. “You have a lot of explaining to do,” she said quickly, as if her treacherous senses needed a reminder of her vast suffering the last months.

“Ask anything. Really.” Except for Gora. Openness had its limits.

But once they were seated across from each other, Dominic leaned forward, his gaze direct and animated. “Tell me about the baby first. I promise I’ll answer your questions afterward.” He held out his hand, twitched his fingers, and smiled. “I’m a bundle of nerves and excitement.”

Seeing him like that with a smile lighting up his face stirred up a cloud of butterflies in her stomach. But loving him wasn’t enough. She couldn’t forget that; every woman he’d ever smiled at wanted him. “I can’t tell you anything because I don’t know anything,” she said evenly, but her heart rate was rising despite her silent lecture. “This is going to be a steep learning curve for me.”

“Let me help you. Let me do whatever you need done.” He forced himself to stay seated when he wanted to get up, lift her up into his arms, and hold her for a decade or longer. “You shouldn’t have to do anything but sleep and eat and stay healthy. I’ll do the rest.”

“Please, Dominic.” She swallowed hard. “Slow down. We have to back up a little first.”

He took a small breath. “Okay.”

“Melanie called,” she began, watching him take that small breath, seeing the almost invisible flinch.

“I know.”

“She told me that Matt knows why you got married.”

“He does.” These would have to be minimum answers.

“But you can’t tell me.” She clasped her hands in her lap and went very still. “Or you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s just that I’d rather you didn’t know.” This was the scariest conversation of his life. He couldn’t lose her again. “Mainly,” he said, picking his words with great care, “I don’t want you frightened.”

“Maybe I’m not that easily frightened.”

He set his hands on his knees and studied them for a moment before he looked up. “I think you would be. Please, it’s almost over. I know how clichéd this sounds but please trust me on this.”

“Melanie said you sometimes deal with unsavory characters, that Matt does too. Is that what this is about?”

He nodded. “In your business, you see corruption too. Criminals, thieves, cons, large and small. Matt and I deal with corruption at a personal level, not once or twice removed, and not from behind a computer screen. Since you can’t help me on this, you’d only worry unnecessarily.” He leaned back, stretched out his legs, and stared at his sandaled feet for a moment. “Now that you’re pregnant,” he said quietly, “I want to protect you even more. In two more weeks this all goes away. Talk to Melanie. She’ll tell you to leave this kind of bullshit to Matt and me.”

“Two weeks? For sure?” She didn’t want to feel such relief or want him with such helpless longing. But then her insurgent psyche spoke up. He wants to protect you, you idiot. How can that be bad? She felt better, like chivalry might still exist, like maybe Dominic had some Prince Charming in him after all. “After two weeks, then things go back to normal?”