Consequences of a Hot Havana Night

‘And that’s why you wanted to marry me?’ Kitty swallowed, tears forming behind her eyes. ‘Not just to tie up loose ends?’

He nodded. ‘It seemed like the perfect solution. I was never going to marry anyone for love, but I could be a husband to you, a father to our child, and give my parents what they want.’

Kitty swallowed past the lump in her throat. To be young and in love was beautiful, and she’d been so lucky with Jimmy. He’d been sweet and straightforward. But César had been betrayed and hurt so badly that he’d retreated behind a mask.

Only now the mask was gone.

But the scars hadn’t. And she wasn’t talking about the ones she could see.

‘You’re a good person,’ she said softly. ‘A good son.’

He looked pensive. ‘I shouldn’t have told you. I’m supposed to be supporting you, not the other way around.’

‘I’m glad you did.’ Reaching up, she stroked his face. ‘We’re here to support each other.’ She took a breath. ‘And that’s what we’re going to tell our families. That we’re having a baby and we’re taking our relationship one step at a time.’

He gazed down at her in silence, and then he pulled her against him and she felt the tension seep out of him.

‘One step at a time,’ he repeated. ‘That sounds perfect.’

CHAPTER NINE

CLOSING HER LAPTOP, Kitty smiled slowly. Her heart was beating softly. Finally, after weeks of circling through her notes, she was finally making some progress. The characters of the two rums she’d been hired to create were taking form in her head, at least, and she had that same humming in her blood she’d had when she’d been making Blackstrap.

Of course she’d have to do some tastings back in Havana, and run it past César.

She glanced guiltily over her shoulder. True to his word, he had taken a step back from the business, so it seemed unfair of her to be working sneakily, but just like last time she was unstoppable.

Leaning over, she pushed the laptop underneath her lounger. She was lying on the veranda. Above her, an apricot sun was inching lazily across a completely cloudless blue sky. She felt drowsy with heat, and thirsty too, only moving felt like such an effort—and besides, she just wanted to lie there a little longer and keep thinking.

And thinking was really only possible when César wasn’t around.

It felt as if he was always around now, even when he wasn’t. She thought back to the moment when she’d woken that morning. They’d woken early and made love, and then he had got up to go for a run and she had dozed, her body enveloped in the heat he’d left behind so that it had felt as though he was still pressing against her, his arm wrapping her tightly in the growing light.

Frowning, she shook her head. Up until yesterday her feelings for him had been neatly filed into categories. For her boss, she felt a mixture of admiration and awe. Alongside that, her body resonated with a fierce, sexual hunger for César her lover, but there was also a feeling of reassurance from the man who was the father of her baby. In some ways it had felt as if she was dealing with three different men.

But since opening up to her about his relationship with Celia and his guilt over his impulsive youthful behaviour he had changed, and now it was as though part of an invisible weight had been lifted. He seemed easier in himself, so that now she was seeing him as a whole p

erson.

Only for some reason getting to know him better hadn’t simplified her response, instead her feelings were now a swirl of confusion.

Her heart ached when she thought of how he must have felt when he’d found his fiancée in bed with another man. He had been young and alone in a foreign country, and he’d given his heart to a woman he’d thought felt the same way, only to learn that she’d betrayed him.

Remembering how he’d talked about hanging around on beaches with his mates, she felt a surge of anger. Now that she knew the full story, it was easy to imagine the younger César with his easy smile, messing around with his friends. No wonder he’d been driven to suppress that side of his character. He’d done it to protect himself from further pain, and to spare his family from being hurt and disappointed again. But in doing so he’d had to close himself off from the people he loved most.

Only not any more.

Her heart contracted. They had spoken to her family first. Of course her mum had cried a little, but her happiness had been obvious. She’d sensed that Bill was desperate to engage César with rum-related topics, so it hadn’t been a long call, but she’d had a separate, private and more tearful conversation with Lizzie.

It had been so good to talk to her sister. Lizzie was so candid and certain about everything. ‘You can’t just marry anyone, Kitty,’ she’d said firmly. I mean, why would you want to marry a jaw-droppingly handsome Cuban billionaire with a string of homes anyway?’

They had both burst out laughing.

‘Seriously, though, there’s only one reason to ever get married,’ Lizzie had said, when finally they’d both calmed down enough to speak again. ‘And when you feel it you know where to find a bridesmaid.’

Telling César’s parents had actually been easier than she’d expected. They were delighted by news of their forthcoming grandchild, clearly devoted to their son, and prepared to embrace his unconventional relationship with Kitty.

And she’d seen how much their reaction had mattered to César. The tension which she had always taken to be a part of him, like the greenness of his eyes or the clean curve of his jaw, had eased a little. It felt as if together they’d begun to erase their pasts, and she was meeting him for the first time.