Ruthlessly Bedded, Forcibly Wedded

Arrogant derision marked his features. ‘But undoubtedly you would have informed me of my impending fatherhood sooner or later?’

Cara went very still inside as she had to question herself. What would she have done if he hadn’t come to Dublin? She looked into the middle distance and spoke faintly, almost to herself, as if she couldn’t deny the deep-felt instinct within her. ‘Yes…I would have told you.’

Vicenzo’s eyes glittered fiercely. ‘Of course you would.’

She focused on him again, and saw from his expression that his interpretation of her words was the polar opposite of what she had meant. She would have told him because—again—she felt that no matter what had happened he had a right to know. Not because she wanted to profit from his largesse. But he wouldn’t believe that, so she said nothing and hitched up her chin.

Vicenzo regarded her, saw the determined tilt to her small chin and the steely glint in her dark green eyes. She was not going to back down, and not going to admit that this baby was anyone else’s but his. It left him with no option. As much as he hated to say it, he had to. ‘Well, then, we have no choice. I cannot leave here without you.’

Cara looked at Vicenzo warily. A muscle pulsed in his jaw, which she’d just noticed was dark with stubble. His raw masculine virility reached out to grab her and she had to fight it.

‘What do you mean?’

Why couldn’t he just walk out of here right now? Cara wished again for a desperate moment that she could pretend that she’d lied, that the baby wasn’t his. But she couldn’t. Her moral backbone and her respect for her unborn child wouldn’t let her.

‘What I mean is this.’

An icy finger of apprehension traced its way down Cara’s spine.

‘You could have slept with someone after me, but let’s assume that you are pregnant with my child. That changes everything. I won’t have you attempt to threaten or blackmail me with this.’

Cara’s fists clenched and she gritted out, ‘It is your baby. And you can walk away. I’m sorry I even told you.’

Vicenzo laughed harshly, belying the fact that her assertion again that the baby was his had struck home like an unwelcome arrow.

‘Walk away? Oh, I just bet I can. And the minute you’re left to your own devices your story will be sold and splashed all over the tabloids in an attempt to manipulate me into a corner. If I’m not seen to acknowledge you or the baby you can sue me for millions and drag my family name into the gutter.’ He shook his head grimly. ‘No way, no how.’

Cara flinched minutely, and her hands tightened on the back of the chair which was offering little protection against the man in front of her. Fear trickled through her veins. A felling of déjà vu gripped her. It was like the moment when he’d revealed his full name.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘My father has seen the news reports. He is from old stock—traditional.’ Vicenzo’s mouth twisted in distaste. ‘He wants to meet the mother of my child—the woman who managed to make his son change his ways. He is recovering from a stroke; you and your brother have caused enough chaos and heartache in his life. I won’t have you cause even more by not granting him his wish to meet you. Needless to say he is unaware that the woman who was instrumental in causing his daughter’s death is now purporting to be the mother of his grandchild.’

His words flayed Cara, but she stood strong even when he flicked a searing glance up and down her body. ‘If you carry my child, as you state emphatically that you do, there is only one course of action. In half an hour we will leave for Rome, and as soon as possible we will be married. Much as the thought of marrying you turns my insides, it’s not an institution I’ve ever held in any esteem. So it won’t cost me any emotion. It’ll ensure legitimacy from the outset for the Valentini heir, and I can keep an eye on your every move. It’ll also save my reputation; our shares have already been dropping in value on the back of this potential scandal.’

Cara felt the colour draining from her face as she struggled to take this in. ‘Never. I’d never marry someone like you,’ she breathed with horror.

Vicenzo went ominously still and said silkily, ‘Then are you willing to sign a legal document to renounce all claims that this child is mine, and to vow that you will have no further contact with me for the rest of your life? Because that is the only alternative to marriage.’

Cara’s mouth opened and closed ineffectually as the full weight of this man’s power sank in. The lengths he would go to. She longed to be able to say yes so badly. But in an instant she saw a future in which she would be denying her child the right to know its father and she couldn’t do that. Grimly, she shook her head, knowing that she was sealing her fate.

A look of intense cynicism crossed Vicenzo’s face. He’d expected that response. ‘I didn’t think so.’ His voice became brisk. ‘You will be recompensed for bearing a Valentini heir, and in due course you will be sent on your way. I will take full custody of the child.’

Cara’s legs nearly buckled. She forced out through numb lips, ‘But…you can’t do that. I’m having this baby. It’s my baby.’ She put her hand on her belly, as if to protect the child within. The true catastrophe of inviting him back into her life struck home like a wrecking ball.

Vicenzo gave a small half smile. ‘I think you’ll find that I can do whatever I want, Miss Brosnan. I don’t doubt that with the right incentive you can be persuaded to walk away when the time comes.’

Vicenzo watched as the colour left Cara’s cheeks. Saw out of the corner of his eyes the way her hands tightened on the back of the chair. Inwardly he had to hand it to her. She used her expressive features well, no doubt aware of how she could manipulate people with them. But not him.

‘I’ll allow you half an hour to pack up your things and walk out of here with me as if we’re happily reconciled and embarking on the rest of our lives together.’

The way his mouth thinned at that left Cara in no doubt as to how he felt about that image. Her head throbbed unmercifully as she tried to take in everything that had just happened. She’d had no idea what confronting him would amount to.

The fact that he didn’t know the full truth of her life with Cormac was neither here nor there. He probably never would. Something had died in Cara that morning when she’d discovered how far this man was prepared to go to seek vengeance. She knew now that she could never, ever be vulnerable in any way in front of him again.

She took in the way he stood in that wide-legged stance, feet planted firmly on the ground. He was an opponent she didn’t have the strength or resources to fight. She knew that with sickening inevitability. She also knew for certain that if she refused to go with him now he wouldn’t hesitate to cart her out of here bodily. The fact that his father was ill pulled on her heartstrings. The last thing she wanted was to be responsible for bringing more pain into that man’s life. She could only imagine how awful it had been for him to bury his daughter—the natural order of life and death out of sync.

A moment of intensely unwelcome vulnerability washed over Cara as she had to face how precarious her situation was, how ill equipped she was to be dealing with this pregnancy on her own. That sense of maternal responsibility flooded her. Whichever way she looked at this, right now she had no choice.