The Italian's Love-Child

He opened the passenger door, but she shook off his arm as he attempted to guide her into the seat.

‘I am not an invalid! Just pregnant!’ And then, terrified that someone from the crew might be lurking around, she cast her eyes around anxiously, but there was no one except for them, and she expelled a sigh of relief.

He noted her reaction and it told him a great deal. So no one knew; of that he was certain. She had kept the pregnancy hidden. Why?

He started the engine. ‘Where do you want to go?’

‘Home.’ She leaned her head back against the rest and closed her eyes, daring him to talk to her, to accuse her and harangue her, but to her surprise he didn’t. The warmth and movement of the car lulled her, reminding her of just how tired she was. But tiredness came in great strong and powerful waves these days.

He glanced over at her, watching as her breathing became deeper and steadier. She was asleep. Around the steering wheel of the car, his leather-covered hands relaxed a little.

The sheepskin coat

had fallen open, and her thighs were indolently apart and relaxed in sleep and he felt an unexpected and unwelcome shaft of arousal. Damn her! he thought. Damn her and her unstudied sensuality. He fixed his eyes on the road ahead.

The car drew to a halt and Eve snapped her eyes open, momentarily disorientated. She was outside her cottage, with Luca in the driving seat beside her.

She fumbled for the handle. ‘Thank you for the lift.’

‘I’m coming in.’

‘No, you’re—’ But she heard the note of determination in his voice and knew that she was fighting a losing battle. And besides, had she really thought that he would come all this way, drop her off and then just go off again with a little wave goodbye? She would hear what he had to say, and then he could go.

The cottage felt cold. Stiffly, Eve took her coat off and didn’t protest when he took it from her fingers and hung it up in the hall. She shivered. ‘I’m going to light a fire.’

‘Let me do it.’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘Do you know how?’

He actually laughed. ‘Of course I do. There are many things you do not know about me, cara.’

‘I’m going to make some tea,’ she said. Anything to get away from his presence, which, in the small, dim hall, seemed to overwhelm her.

When she returned with the tray he had managed to produce a roaring blaze. She put the tray down on a small table and watched him. ‘I wouldn’t have thought there would be much cause for fire-making in your fancy apartment.’

‘No,’ he agreed as he threw a final log on. ‘But we had a place out in the country where we used to holiday when I was a little boy. Very basic. That’s where I learned.’

It was odd to think of this assured, arrogant man as a little boy. Would she have a boy, she wondered, and, if she did, would he look like Luca? A beautifully handsome little boy, a permanent reminder of passion and its folly.

He moved from the fire to the tea-tray and poured them both a cup, and while part of her felt slightly resentful that he had walked into her house and now seemed to be taking over, the other part was so tired that she was glad to let him.

But it was dangerous to be passive. He had told her quite clearly what he thought of her and she could not and should not forget that. ‘You’d better say what it is that you want to say, and then go—I’m very tired.’

Yes, he could see that for himself. Beneath her fine grey-green eyes were the blue-dark traces of shadows.

‘Are you sleeping?’

‘In fits and starts. And, of course, I have to get up very early.’

His mouth thinned. She should have handed her notice in immediately! ‘You didn’t contact my lawyer,’ he observed slowly.

‘Did you really expect me to?’

What would she say if he told her yes, of course he had expected her to. A lifetime of experience had made him cynical. His vast wealth had set him apart from the moment he had attained it. And that he would have considered it perfectly normal for her to have attempted to make a huge claim on his fortune. She, above all others, was surely entitled to?

‘Yes,’ he said simply. ‘I did.’

‘Well, rest assured—I didn’t and I don’t intend to. Your money is safe. Was there anything else?’