Skye nodded, and said defensively, ‘It’s not that bad. One of the houses is actually being renovated now.’
Lazaro wasn’t impressed. ‘So it’s turning from a drug pick-up corner into a construction site?’
She didn’t answer.
Just then Lazaro’s phone rang and he took the call. It was something about a building he was investing in, in Venice.
They were pulling up outside the hotel again when he terminated the call and got out, coming around to open her door for her.
When they were back in the penthouse apartment he led her into the living area and turned to face her, his hands in his pockets.
‘So, are you telling me you plan on living out your pregnancy in that hovel? And is that where you would bring the baby home to?’
Skye felt cornered and defensive. ‘Not everyone is lucky enough to grow up living a mile above the streets, Lazaro. People have babies all around where I live and they survive and thrive. It’s not a ghetto.’
He looked grim. ‘I didn’t grow up living “a mile above the streets”. Far from it, actually. I know exactly what those kind of areas are like, and what goes on there, and there is no way any child of mine is being brought into the world in a place like that.’
Skye was caught by what he said, but now was not the time to be distracted. She fought to retain her composure. She’d already missed her flight. ‘Well, I’m sorry, but that’s all I can afford. It’s good enough for me and I’ll make sure it’s good enough for my baby.’
‘Our baby.’
Her heart thudded against her breastbone. ‘You believe me, then?’
The doctor had informed them that her ultrasound confirmed her due date, and it tallied with the date they had spent the night together. Pretty irrefutable proof of Lazaro’s paternity. But he’d been totally expressionless when the doctor had said that, so she wasn’t even sure if he’d heard.
Lazaro sighed heavily. ‘Well, apart from what Dr Rubén said about the due date, there were two of us there that night and I had no protection with me. It was my responsibility more than yours.’
Skye was a little taken aback at this admission. ‘I really did think it would be okay...but I was wrong.’
‘When the baby is born we’ll do a DNA test to confirm paternity, but until then I’m treating this as my child.’
Skye flinched minutely at that. He was prepared to believe her and take responsibility, but he wouldn’t totally trust her until he could prove it emphatically. She guessed that in his shoes, with his vast wealth, it made sense. Still, as someone who took people as they came and trusted her gut judgement about them, she found it stung not to be trusted.
‘I’ve missed my flight. I called work earlier, and they’ve excused me for today, but I have to be back tomorrow or I’ll lose my job. I need to buy another flight back today. I know you don’t like where I live, Lazaro, but all I can do is try and find somewhere else when I go home.’
With a housing crisis in the country Skye didn’t hold out much hope of finding anywhere else she could afford, but there wasn’t much more she could do.
She’d turned away to go and get her things from her bedroom when Lazaro spoke from behind her.
‘Have you listened to a word I’ve said?’
Skye stopped, and turned around. Lazaro looked incredulous.
‘Going back to that flat and that job is not an option. Not now. I have a responsibility to you and to this baby.’
Skye put a hand on her belly, as if to protect it. ‘But you’ve said you won’t believe it’s yours until we do a DNA test.’
Lazaro waved a hand. ‘That’ll just be a formality.’
He shook his head and moved towards her. Skye’s body tensed against her inevitable reaction. How galling that she should still want him when he was probably looking at her and wondering how on earth he’d lost his mind that one night in Dublin?
‘I have to go down to my estate in Andalucía tomorrow, to take care of some business. You’ll come with me and stay there for a while, until we figure out a long-term solution. Everything has changed now, Skye. You’re pregnant with my child and I’m going to be involved one hundred per cent.’
* * *
Lazaro watched the expressions flit across her expressive face. It was fascinating. It was one of the things that had drawn him to her in the first place—every emotion laid bare for the world to see. Not a usual occurrence in women of his acquaintance. Leonora had been like a sphinx...
Right now Skye’s emotions were running through anger, fr