‘Then don’t.’
‘I won’t,’ she said and put down her cutlery.
Jeremy leaned forward and shot a questioning glance down the table. ‘You don’t want your dessert?’
‘I’m full,’ Harriet answered.
‘Pass it along to me. I need added fortification for the night ahead.’
‘Don’t even ask,’ Alex informed her drily as he passed along her dessert.
* * *
‘He really is very naughty,’ Harriet said after Jeremy had dropped them back at the hotel in Sergio’s speedboat. The happy couple had by then departed, and Alex wasted no time in getting Jeremy to drive them across the lake. The hire car he’d booked was due to pick them up in less than an hour.
‘But you can’t help liking him,’ she added as they hurried up the steps towards the hotel entrance.
‘You don’t fancy him, do you?’ Alex said, his voice sharp.
‘Don’t be silly. He’s not my type at all.’
‘Why not?’
‘He just isn’t. You’re my type, Alex, as you very well know. There’s no need to be jealous.’
‘I’m not jealous,’ he denied. But he was. Fiercely jealous. The thought of Harriet even fancying another man brought a sour taste to his mouth. The thought of her having sex with another man didn’t bear thinking about. The only man allowed to have sex with her was him!
‘How long will it take you to pack?’ he asked her.
‘Not long. Why?’
He gave her a look which spoke a thousand words. Less than a minute later, Harriet was up against the bedroom door, her panties in tatters on the floor, her legs wrapped around Alex’s waist while he pumped up into her with primal passion. As they both came, Alex thanked his lucky stars that he’d had enough foresight to put a condom in his jacket pocket that morning, perhaps anticipating a moment such as this. He shuddered at the thought of what he might have done if he hadn’t.
Alex held her close, not wanting to let her go. But he really had to. Time was moving on.
Slowly, gently, he eased out of her, then headed for the bathroom. What he saw there brought a groan of dismay to his lips. Talk about life being cruel. After flushing the toilet, he adjusted his clothes, washed his hands and walked slowly back into the bedroom. Harriet was sitting on the side of the bed, looking slightly dishevelled.
‘What is it?’ she asked straight away on seeing worry stamped on his face.
‘I hate having to tell you this,’ he said, his heart sinking, ‘but the condom broke.’
‘Oh,’ she said, then just sat there, silent and thoughtful.
‘Is it a dangerous time of the month for you?’
Chapter Twenty-three
HARRIET DIDN’T HAVE to think too long to know that it was. Extremely dangerous.
Her first reaction to the possibility of falling pregnant by Alex was despair. If it had been anyone else, she might have had a chance of being happy about having a baby. She’d always wanted to be a mother by the time she was thirty. But she knew having a child would be the last thing he wanted.
It took a while for Harriet to see the situation with a calmer mind, but she eventually came to a decision. If she had been unlucky enough to fall pregnant—or lucky enough, depending on how you looked at it—then the problem would be hers.
Finally, she looked up. ‘I won’t lie to you,’ she said. ‘There is a chance that I might fall pregnant. It’s close to the middle of my cycle. But I also might not. Pregnancies don’t always happen, even when people are trying to have a baby. We’ll just have to wait and see.’ She’d already decided not to tell him if she did. Still, whether she did or not, she was going to resign. She simply could not go on having wildly passionate sex with Alex and pretending it was just lust. She loved the man. But if she told him so, he would dump her cold. Even if it turned out that she wasn’t pregnant, how could she continue to work for him under such circumstances? It had all become impossible. Going to Venice with him was impossible, too.
She smothered a sigh and made the hardest decision of her life.
‘I’m sorry, Alex, but I can’t go to Venice with you. Not now. I just want to go home.’
‘But there’s no need to do that. We could go buy you one of those morning-after pills. Then you won’t have to worry.’
You mean you won’t have to worry, Harriet thought unhappily. Still, she supposed it was a sensible suggestion and one which she hadn’t thought of. Silly, really. It would solve the problem. Though not all of her problems.
‘I still want to go home, Alex,’ she said, the stark reality of their affair having finally sunk in. She simply could not go on pretending that she didn’t love him; that all she cared about was fun and games. ‘Look, I’ll buy a morning-after pill at the airport. They always have pharmacies at airports. Then neither of us will have to worry. Now, please...just take me home.’