Volkan snapped at her. “Go for a coffee, Janie, and lock up behind you. I don’t want anyone in the office for the next half hour. I want some privacy while I show my bride around the building.” The way he said the word bride, with a hard edge, sent a shudder down her spine.

Yasmin could feel her cheeks burn with humiliation as the woman gathered her purse and cast a look Yasmin’s way.

As soon as Janie hurried away, her heels clicking on the tiles as she went, Volkan shoved open the door of his office and pushed Yasmin inside.

She stumbled and reached for the back of a chair, then turned to look nervously at him. He towered over her, his chest heaving in anger, the veins on his forehead throbbing.

“You said I could speak my mind to you, and I did!” She was trying to defend herself, but it came out sounding defiant. Darn it, why couldn’t she just do humble while attempting to talk to the beast?

“You dared to say that you would abort my baby,” he snarled, reaching for her. He gripped her by the neck and shoved her back until her hip hit his desk. She gasped and clutched the wood, trying unsuccessfully to slide away from him. “Do you have any idea what this means?”

“No,” she whispered, panic sending her pulse into overdrive. She’d seen him angry before, but this was different. This was on a whole other level, and she feared he really might hurt her.

“It means that you’ll have to be watched and protected at all times, even from yourself. It means your narrow world has narrowed to an even smaller cage because I can’t trust you not to hurt yourself or our baby.”

“But there is no baby!” She tried to reason with him, bringing her hands up to push on his chest. Of course, he didn’t budge.

“There will be a baby, Yasmin,” he said, his voice deepening and his eyes dropping down the front of the red wraparound dress she’d chosen to wear that day. “There will be a baby very soon.”

“No, Volkan, please,” she begged as he dropped his hand to her waist and yanked on the belt holding the halves together. It fell apart and he slid his hand into the material, covering her belly with his palm.

“You will carry our child and you will raise it with the love you refuse to show me.” He leaned toward her, his lips hovering so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her face. “If you refuse, then I will kill you with my own hands.”

A shudder ripped through her and she jerked against the cage of his arms. She couldn’t believe he was threatening to kill her, but the fury vibrating through his body was unmistakable. He meant what he said.