The Vasquez Baby

‘I would not have done that. Despite what you think, I do have a sense of decency.’

‘Decency? Where was your sense of decency when you said it was a good thing I’d lost the baby?’

He stiffened, his handsome face pale despite his tan. ‘You are taking my words out of context.’

‘I wish I was, but I’m not. And frankly, I would have preferred you to have broken it off, than to find myself married to a cold, insensitive bastard.’

He inhaled sharply. ‘I’ve never heard you use language like that before.’

‘Well, if you stick around, you’ll be hearing more of it.’

Raul ran a hand

over his face. ‘You are extremely upset—’

‘Yes. Funny that, really. I lose a baby, discover that my husband is a cold-hearted, ruthless pig, get run over—’ Her heart was pounding so rapidly that she felt dizzy. ‘I can’t imagine why I’d be upset.’

‘You need to calm down. The doctors said you shouldn’t be subjected to any more stress.’ Raul lifted a hand in what presumably was a gesture of conciliation. ‘Why are we going over this again? No me importa. I don’t care. It’s history now. We have to move on.’

‘Where to, Raul?’ Faith choked, holding it together by a thread. ‘You’re relieved, but that isn’t how I feel. I feel terrible. You have no idea. Our relationship is dead and so is—’ She broke off with a whimper of pain, unable to finish the sentence. ‘I wish there had been a baby.’

‘I know you do.’ Raul’s tone was grim and his face was white with the strain. ‘Which is why you should have left me six months ago for some homely, domesticated male whose sole desire was to reproduce and spread his seed. You should have ended it instead of forcing me into something I didn’t want.’

‘It was an accident.’ She covered her face with her hands to hide the tears but clearly she was less than successful because she heard Raul swear and then felt his thigh brush against hers as he sat down next to her.

‘Stop crying. I’ve never seen you cry before. You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met.’ His strong fingers closed around her wrists and he pulled her hands away from her face, as if he could ease her distress simply by the force of his will. ‘And you wonder why I am so against marriage as an institution! Until we exchanged vows, we were happy together.’

She sniffed. ‘It isn’t marriage. It’s you—the way you are—’

‘And you always knew the way I was. We both knew it, Faith.’ Raul’s tone was rough. ‘There was never any future for us. Eventually you would have wanted marriage and babies. It was inevitable.’

‘I hadn’t even thought about it.’ Furious with herself for crying, Faith wiped her eyes with the palm of her hand. ‘I had a career when I met you. The last thing I was thinking of was playing happy families.’

‘When you discovered how badly you wanted a baby, you should have left.’

‘How are you so successful at negotiation when you don’t even listen to the other person?’ Faith bit back a hysterical laugh. ‘That wasn’t how it happened! I did not plan it. I had a whole career ahead of me. Plans! When I discovered that I was pregnant, I was in shock. But then I realised how much I wanted our baby.’ And him. She’d realised how much she wanted him.

‘And the fact that I didn’t wasn’t of importance to you?’

‘You asked me to marry you!’

‘Because you left me no choice.’

His blunt admission sliced through her control and brought the tears to the surface. ‘Well, that’s romantic. And having admitted that you married me because I “forced” you, you now want to continue this relationship? Are you mad, or what?’ The tears trickled down her face and Raul’s sensual mouth tightened.

‘Don’t cry.’

‘Why?’ The tears fell harder. ‘Because it makes you feel bad? Well, good. At the moment, I want you to feel bad.’ The utter desolation echoed in her voice and she saw his emotional turmoil.

After a moment’s hesitation he reached out a hand towards her but she shrank away from him and he let it fall to his side. ‘How did our relationship reach this point?’

‘I don’t know. I was so in love with you.’ Her voice was thick with tears. ‘I didn’t think anything could ever damage what we had. I thought we were invincible.’

‘And presumably that’s why you did it.’ His voice grew several degrees colder and she knew that she would never convince him that she hadn’t become pregnant on purpose.

‘So just divorce me,’ she whispered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Divorce me for unreasonable behaviour.’

‘There won’t be a divorce.’ His tone was hard and icy cold. ‘You chose this path, cariño. Now walk it. I have some calls to make. Make sure you rest before dinner.’