His unexpectedly searing admission ate at her.
Archie began to speak, then hesitated. She had to choose her words very, very carefully. She reached out to touch his chest, steeling herself for the jolt of awareness that charged through her even before she made contact. Even prepared for it, even now, she couldn’t make herself immune to him.
That was another thing she was going to work on.
‘We’re not your parents. If we both want to be with this baby, we’ll find a solution. It...he...will know he’s wanted. We don’t have to be in the same country but we do have to work it out carefully and fairly.’
‘I want to be in my child’s life. Every day.’ He covered her hand with his, but didn’t even seem to notice what he was doing. Still, it stole her breath away.
‘It doesn’t have to be that way,’ she began, but he cut her off.
‘You’ll move in with me, Archie. For all intents and purposes, this child will have a proper family.’
Without warning, her heart flip-flopped in her chest. It was worrying how much the notion appealed to her. How close she was to agreeing to such a ridiculous idea. But as much as she tried to back up both physically and mentally, she could no more remove her hand from the compelling heat of his body than she could refuse outright.
‘But we won’t be a proper family, will we?’ It was meant to be a demand, but her voice was far breathier than she would have liked. Sadness and regret still lined his face.
‘Of course not,’ he scoffed, oblivious to the fact that he found it so easy to slam all her pitiable dreams away with those three words. ‘But our child will at least have a mother and father around who don’t want to kill each other on a daily basis. And that’s more than I ever had.’
‘I don’t want to settle for that.’ She barely recognised her own shaky voice. ‘I want so much more. I want love. I want to be cherished. I want what my father always told me he and my mother had before she died, but which I was too young to remember.’
He shut her down, clearly not listening to her.
‘This subject isn’t up for discussion, Archana. You’re coming home with me and we’ll work out the rest from there.’
And before she could respond any further Kaspar was gone and she was alone. In the middle of an empty corridor.
CHAPTER SEVEN
KASPAR’S HOME WAS everything she should have expected and so much...well, less.
It was stunning. Modern glass, sleek design and cool granite perched atop a slight hillside overlooking a private, tantalising beach. As if he was showing her all he could offer their child that she never could.
Archie stared up into the double-height ceiling space of the main living area. All gleaming white and black metal, framing enormous windows that offered breathtaking views across the sea and off into the horizon.
Gorgeous.
It was also completely and utterly soulless. As if no one lived here at all. The perfect show home. Which only proved to her that it wasn’t all about money. She cradled her belly protectively. It was about love, and stability, both of which she could provide.
Strong foundations. Dependable.
Could Kaspar?
She doubted it. Or perhaps that was just her own bias since everything he did left her wound too tightly to even think straight. It hadn’t escaped her that ever since he had walked out into that corridor when she’d been trying to pluck up the courage to knock on the door, her body had filled with a low, faint humming. Desire. Need.
One afternoon with the man was all it had taken to convince her that she wasn’t over anything. That a part of her still hankered for him. Even now. That realisation alone should have told her that she needed to stay as far away from Kaspar as possible. Certainly not spend even one night at his home.
But he
’d terrified her by taking her to see Dr Jarvis. Reinforcing every last fear she’d spent five months telling herself was simply in her head. That what had happened with Faith wouldn’t happen again.
For all her earlier arguing, the car journey home had given her time to calm down. Time to acknowledge that she would stay with Kaspar as long as she needed to if it meant her baby would be all right. In many ways she was more grateful to Kaspar than she could ever have anticipated. He didn’t have to help her, there’d been nothing compelling him to get her in to see his colleague. He’d always made it clear to the media that he didn’t have any intention of settling down or having a family. He could have thanked her for telling him and let her return to the UK.
But that wasn’t Kaspar.
It was reassuring to know she hadn’t misjudged him five months ago.
‘There’s a guest suite through those doors over there.’ Kaspar cut across her thoughts as he headed back down across the hallway to a different set of doors. ‘I’ll be through that way.’