“Tamara—”
“It’s over.”
Sawyer’s tawny eyes kindled, and his stony facade finally cracked. “The devil it is.”
“Are you worried about your precious merger falling through?” she demanded accusingly.
“No, damn it,” Sawyer said with quiet force.
“I guess this is what they call a Pyrrhic victory,” she tossed back, and then spun on her heel and made for the door.
Sawyer didn’t attempt to stop her, though some tiny irrational part of her hoped he would.
We’ll work it out.
As she hurried to the elevator, she knew there wasn’t any way to fix this situation.
Or her heart, either.
Thirteen
Tamara knew that returning to the town house wasn’t an option. Instead, telling Lloyd, who was waiting for her outside Sawyer’s offices, that she wouldn’t need to be chauffeured, she hailed a cab and went straight from Sawyer’s building to her SoHo loft.
Once there, she loosened the reins on her hurt and humiliation. Tears pricked her eyes.
What was she going to do?
She stared at the four walls around her. What had she given up to keep this? She’d made a devil’s bargain, and now she was alone and pregnant.
She dropped her purse on the glass-topped table and covered her face with her hands.
She took several deep, steadying breaths.
She could handle this. She could handle Sawyer. She’d forged her own path in the world.
Dropping her hands, she waited a moment and then picked up the phone. Pia and Belinda had always been there for her, and she knew they’d lend moral support now.
She tried Pia’s number first, and felt some of her tension ebb when her friend picked up.
“Are you in Atlanta?” she asked after an exchange of greetings.
“No, back in New York,” Pia responded. “The Atlanta wedding was last weekend.”
“Well, I have some news to tell you, but first I’m going to conference in Belinda.”
“Okay,” Pia said, her tone suddenly curious.
When Tamara reached Belinda, she asked, “Where are you?”
“I’m at the airport. Newark, to be precise. I’m flying out to appraise some artwork.”
“I hope you and Pia are sitting down, because I have some news.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I’m pregnant.”
Pia and Belinda gasped.
“I knew this marriage of convenience with Sawyer was a bad idea!” Belinda said.
Tamara could only silently second that judgment.
“I should have known,” Belinda said darkly. “Sawyer is Colin’s friend. Those aristocratic types make a woman do what she never dreamed of doing.”
Tamara wasn’t sure which situation Belinda was talking about—hers or Tamara’s own. Maybe both.
“At least I got off with an ill-advised elopement. But pregnancy!” Belinda sighed. “Oh, Tamara.”
Tamara imagined her friend chewing her lip, her brow puckered with concern—though Belinda was always warning that frowning caused wrinkles.
“What does Sawyer think?” Pia asked.
“I haven’t told him.”
“You haven’t told him?” Pia repeated.
“It’s a good thing I don’t often cross paths with Sawyer,” Belinda said. “I’d hate to be in the position of keeping this from him.”
“Are you going to tell Sawyer?” Pia asked, going to the point. “Or should I say, when are you going to tell Sawyer?”
“I’d like to keep this news under wraps until there’s no denying the obvious,” Tamara announced. “Aren’t there celebrities who’ve hidden their pregnancies until the ninth month?”
She knew that despite everything, she was going to raise this baby. Her hurt and anger right now hadn’t altered her feelings about the pregnancy.
“Wow,” Pia remarked. “How are you going to keep this, uh, development from Sawyer while you live with him?”
“Simple. I won’t have to because I’ve left him.”
“What? Why?”
“Apparently, our marriage of convenience wasn’t merely convenient,” she elaborated. “I was kept in the dark about the fact that Sawyer agreed to my father’s condition of a grandchild, or at least a pregnancy, before the merger of Melton Media and Kincaid went through.”
For her friends benefit, she quickly outlined what had happened when she’d unexpectedly arrived at Sawyer’s offices. Humiliating though it was, she divulged her discovery that Sawyer had agreed to seduce her for his own gain.
“You should have his head on a platter,” Belinda declared unequivocally when Tamara was done recounting what had happened.
Tamara couldn’t agree more. “If only.”
“Maybe you and Sawyer can work it out,” Pia surprised her by saying. “You know, for the sake of the baby.”
“Stay married, you mean?” Tamara asked incredulously. “Are you joking?”
“I’ve see you two socialize since you’ve been married. You glow when you’re around him.”
Pia’s bald statement gave Tamara momentary pause, but everything inside her right now—anger, hurt, pain—made her rebel against it.
“Of course I glow,” Tamara responded. “It’s what happens when my temper has been lit.”
“He can’t take his eyes off you,” Pia said with quiet certainty. “Trust me. I’ve observed many couples.”
Pia was a romantic, Tamara reminded herself. “Sexual attraction, nothing more,” she said succinctly. “Where did I read about how much men think about sex?”
“Probably Cosmo.”
“Well, on at least one occasion, Sawyer more than thought about it,” Belinda quipped.
Tamara felt herself flush. “Yes, well…I’m swearing you both to secrecy.”
“Of course,” Belinda said. “And if there’s anything I can do to help, all you have to do is ask. You know I’d help you and the baby any way I can.”
“I second that,” Pia said. “But Tamara, what are you going to do?”
It was, Tamara thought, the question of the hour. “Well, for starters, I refuse to be under the same roof as Sawyer,” she said. “I’m at the loft, and I’ll be staying here for the time being.”
“And then?” Pia prompted.
And then…
She hadn’t let herself think about it. Though after Sawyer’s betrayal, they obviously couldn’t continue on together.