The Unexpected Baby

At her quick frown he drawled, ‘Check with my secretary if you don’t believe me. I phoned in yesterday afternoon and heard that a gem dealer from Amsterdam is in town. I got her to set up a meeting. A deal with him, provided the terms are right, would be important enough to convince even Catherine that I needed to break into my wonderful honeymoon. I’ll get in touch with Simms and he can pick me up when I’m ready to go back to Netherhaye.’

He was already at the door, on his way, but he told her in the same breath, ‘As you appear to be—amazingly—worried about living a lie, I’ll give you something to think about. I refuse to lie to Catherine about the true parentage of her coming grandchild. Sam was her whole world, so she’ll be delighted to know she’ll be able to hold his child one day. So who’s going to break the news? And how do we square that within the framework of our blissful marriage? Because that is what it will appear to be on the surface—not for your sake, and God knows not for mine. But for hers, and the child’s.’

He looked at her with withering scorn. ‘A tough one, isn’t it? I think I’ll leave it all to you. With your devious mind you should be able to come up with something to convince her!’

She’d had enough—taken too much! She knew her pregnancy had hurt him, and her heart bled for him. But, dammit, he wouldn’t believe her side of the story—just closed his mind to everything but hatred!

Colour flamed on her face, and he was part-way out of the door when she grated at him, ‘I’ll tell her the truth. It will be a relief to speak to someone who’ll do me the courtesy of really listening and believing me, because you dam well won’t. If you had ever loved me you would!’

And she fled into her room, locking the door, flinging herself face-down on the bed, taking her rage, frustration and pain out on the pillows. She heard him knocking but shrieked at him to go away, and eventually he must have done, because when she finally pulled herself together the suite was achingly silent.

Drained of all emotion now, she sluiced her face in the bathroom and tied back her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw defeat.

He had the truth, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t believe it. Her pregnancy meant he didn’t want to.

Quickly, before she could sink herself in a mire of misery, she checked her room. Time to go.

She wasn’t looking forward to the drive. City streets were a nightmare, the roads out of town would probably be crowded, and she’d never driven anything so powerful as that Jaguar.

And the thought of having to act all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for her mother-in-law’s benefit when she finally made it back to Netherhaye made her feel positively ill.

Her mouth firmed. She had to get a grip. Stop being such a wimp. It wasn’t like her to get hysterical, throw childish tantrums, lose all her backbone. She thought of Jed, sitting in that meeting, negotiating yet another dazzling deal, putting her out of his mind quite easily because why think about his devious tramp of a wife when he didn’t actually have to?

It helped. If he could block her out and get on with his life then she could do the same.

Picking up her bag, she went through to the sitting room to collect the car keys, and Jed, sprawled out in one of the armchairs, drawled, ‘Tantrum over?’

Elena felt as if she was coming unstitched. Just when she thought she’d got herself together again, he popped up and undid all her work. She swallowed thickly. ‘You’ll be late for your precious meeting.’

‘I’ve rescheduled it for this evening—a working dinner.’ He shrugged impressively broad shoulders and hauled himself to his feet. He took her overnight bag and told her, ‘I never knew you could get hysterical if you didn’t get your own way. One of the joys of being newly wed? Learning something different about one’s partner every day?’

She hated it when he was sarcastic. It made her hurt so badly she couldn’t think of a snappy come-back, and simply stared at him when he said, ‘I’ll take you home, then drive back in for that meeting. Shall we go?’

‘There’s no need. I’m—’

‘The state you’re in, do you think I’d have a moment’s peace if you were behind the wheel of a potentially lethal weapon?’

He held the door open for her and all she could do was follow. She’d been perfectly capable of driving—if not exactly looking forward to the city traffic—before he’d popped up where she hadn’t expected him to be and ruined everything.

She didn’t suppose he’d altered his arrangement out of concern for her well-being. He wouldn’t have a moment’s peace if he thought she was likely to put a dent in his prestigious car!

As he held the passenger door open for her five minutes later he gave her a narrow-eyed stare. ‘When we’ve cleared the traffic you can tell me more about this story you’ve concocted to convince Catherine that you and I can live happily ever after, despite the little hiccup of your being pregnant with my brother’s child. Fasten your seat belt.’

He closed the door and paced round the front of the gleaming silver car. She closed her eyes defeatedly.

Of course he didn’t believe her. Had she really expected he would? There was too much going on inside his head as far as Sam was concerned to let him accept the truth.

The silence between them was intense, building up to scary proportions as the sleek car edged forward in the inevitable traffic snarl-ups. Jed’s long fingers drummed impotently on the steering wheel, his profile grim. Despite the warmth of the early summer day Elena shivered. She couldn’t wait until they got out of this and hit the open road. Maybe then this twisting tension would ease off just a little, allow her racing heartbeats to settle down.

But when they did she wished they hadn’t, because he said, ‘Congratulations. When you came up with this fairy tale—nothing between you and Sam but a clinical procedure—I thought it was to placate me. But it wasn’t, was it? It was a way of getting Catherine on your side. Our marriage ends in divorce—which is what you want—you come out of it smelling of roses and I’m the big, bad ogre. Bully for you! Who else but you could have come up with such a story? It’s too incredible not to be believed.’

‘Except by you, of course,’ she said through her teeth, staring out of the window at her side, uninterestedly watching the stockbroker belt slip by.

‘Of course,’ he concurred, uncharacteristically slowing down a touch to keep within the speed limit. Elena gave a mental shrug. She had expected him to really put his foot down, deliver her back to Netherhaye in record time, not prolong the agony of being cocooned here together, physically close but mentally and emotionally at opposite ends of the galaxy.

‘Whether you believe it or not, it’s the truth,’ she told him bitterly.

Jed gave a derisive snort. ‘Lady, you slay me! Do you actually believe I’m green enough to fall for su