Lindy appreciated his honesty, but it hurt. She didn’t know what she expected from him any more. In his swift acceptance of her condition and his paternity he had exceeded her expectations, but nothing could stop her reflecting that her revelation was already threatening to turn his life upside down. He insisted that he wanted a role in their child’s life. He had said that he couldn’t marry Krista now…
Was that because he knew his gorgeous girlfriend would not accept a husband who came with the baggage of an acknowledged illegitimate child? How did he really feel inside? Was he in love with Krista? And would their relationship continue even though they didn’t marry? Recognising that she wanted answers to questions that were really no longer any of her business, Lindy suppressed her teeming thoughts. One problem that she did fully acknowledge was that she was still too vulnerable to Atreus. She needed to guard against that weakness and learn how to keep her distance—mentally and physically.
CHAPTER EIGHT
FORTY-EIGHT hours later, Atreus was shown out of Krista’s apartment by her maid. His lean, darkly handsome face was grim with suppressed emotion. He was angry with everything and everyone, himself included. He thought he was very probably angry with the whole world, and it was not a mood he wanted to inflict on Lindy. Drawing out his mobile phone, he rearranged their meeting for the following morning.
‘Are you all right?’ Lindy heard herself ask, catching an odd note in his deep voice that disturbed her.
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ Atreus suppressed a groan at that query and compressed his handsome mouth hard. ‘I’m sorry for the last-minute change of plan.’
Grimacing at her slip in asking such a personal question, and with her cheeks burning, Lindy hastened to say as casually as she could, ‘It’s not a problem.’
At her end of the phone she glanced in the hall mirror and winced. Hair tamed within an inch of its life: check. Full make-up: check. New outfit calculated to make the most of what shape she retained: check. Did she never learn? Why was she doing this to herself?
She walked back into the living room, where the remnants of a light lunch remained on the dining table and exchanged a rueful smile with her guest. ‘Atreus just cancelled,’ she shared.
‘Oh, dear…’ Princess Elinor of Quaram, a willowy redhead who had been on the brink of leaving, sat down again and occupied herself by brushing her younger son’s hair off his brow. Tarif, a cute-as-a-button toddler with his father’s black hair and his mother’s light eyes, returned to the toys he had been playing with. ‘That’s unfortunate.’
‘It’s not like him. Something must have come up,’ Lindy declared, watching her friend’s older boy, Sami, and her daughter, Mariyah, flying a kite in the paddock with the help of their tall, athletic father. ‘But I’m not bothered. I’m being sensible now, and I’m over Atreus.’
Her companion gave her a doubtful appraisal.
‘No, seriously—I am over him,’ Lindy emphasised.
‘If you say so,’ Elinor said mildly. ‘But I think you’ve had a traumatic time over the last few months. Don’t rush into making any big decisions.’
Lindy struggled to stay calm while she waited for Atreus’s arrival the next morning. He was the father of her baby and otherwise no big deal, she told herself earnestly. All right, so he was gorgeous, but he was with another woman now, and her only remaining connection with him was an inconvenient pregnancy. She watched him pull up outside in a gleaming black Bugatti Veyron and she made herself hang back and count slowly to ten before she went to open the front door.
Atreus thrust a bouquet of roses into her arms. Startled by that almost awkward gesture from a man who had never given her flowers even when they were lovers, Lindy muttered her thanks. Flustered, she abandoned him to go off and put the flowers in water.
Curiously untroubled by the scent of lavender in the cottage, Atreus paced the wood floor, impatient for her return.
In full polite hostess mode, Lindy reappeared with a tray of coffee and biscuits for him, and homemade lemonade for herself. ‘My business is doing very well at present,’ she told him proudly.
Atreus tensed. ‘There’s a lot of physical labour involved in your business. I’d like to hire someone to take care of that side of your work.’
‘I don’t need any help. I’m not sick or delicate, just pregnant.’
‘ talked to a friend who’s a doctor. He said that heavy work is not a good idea at this point in your pregnancy.’
Her teeth closed together with a snap. ‘I think that’s my affair.’