Carrying Her Millionaire's Baby

The thought brushed through his mind like the sea breeze, stopping Ash halfway through the motion of folding a T-shirt.

It was tempting, he had to admit. The idea of letting Zoey into his life as more than a friend. Of being what she needed.

Except he couldn’t.

She wanted true love, and he’d already given his heart away. Apparently death had a no returns policy.

He was too sad, too broken for Zoey’s exuberant search for love.

As long as there were no consequences to their night together...

He needed to talk to her about it. But how was he supposed to bring it up?

Hey, Zo, you know I’m an idiot who hasn’t had sex in two years and really only with my dead wife before that? Totally forgot about the existence of contraceptives as a thing. Appreciate that’s totally on me but still... Kind of hoping it’s one of those things you have covered...?

Given that he was dealing with a woman whose back-up plan to escape a wedding was climbing out of a window that was far too small for her, he wasn’t sure what the odds were on that one.

Still. They definitely had to talk.

‘What are your plans now?’ he asked awkwardly.

‘For dating?’ Zoey asked, looking confused.

Right. He’d moved on mentally from their previous conversation, but not verbally. ‘No. Well, yes, if you want to talk about that. But I meant more...now you’re not getting married today. You’re supposed to be having your honeymoon here, right? So, are you going to stay?’

Zoey shook her head so hard that her hair whipped round and caught him in the face as he sat down beside her on the bed. ‘Definitely not. David will, apparently—he’s paid for it, after all. So it’s probably best if I was somewhere else. You know, like the other side of the world. At least until he’s calmed down a bit. Besides, it’ll give me a chance to clear out my stuff from his flat.’

‘Where are you going to stay?’ Ash wanted to offer her his spare room, but he wasn’t sure she’d accept. And maybe she was right. Maybe they did need some distance between them for a little while.

‘With my parents.’ She said it like someone else might say, In hell, and Ash decided distance was overrated anyway.

‘You could have my spare room.’

She gave him a small sad smile. ‘Thanks. But I’ll try Mum and Dad’s first, at least. If they’re still talking to me by the time they get home. It shouldn’t take me long to find a new flat anyway.’

It all felt wrong to Ash. ‘Want me to sort a flight home to London for you at least?’ What was the point of being heir to a luxury travel business if you couldn’t fix something like this for a friend?

But Zoey shook her head again, less violently this time. ‘I appreciate the offer, but I’ll sort it. This is my screw-up. I need to fix it myself.’

Ash frowned. ‘Hey, you didn’t screw up.’

She flashed him a disbelieving look. ‘I really did, Ash.’

‘You made the right decision for you and your future happiness,’ Ash corrected her. ‘Your timing might suck, but you still did the right thing in the end.’

‘I know,’ Zoey replied. ‘I mean, I knew it for sure when David told me all the reasons I should have gone through with the wedding anyway. He was the wrong man for me.’

‘I’d argue he’s the wrong man for anybody,’ Ash said. ‘But yeah, you’re definitely better off without him.’

‘Which is why I’m going to go and find someone to take me to the airport and get on the next plane back to London that my credit card can stand.’

‘You’re sure you won’t let me sort it for you?’ He couldn’t fix anything else in her world, but this one he could. If she’d let him.

‘Thank you, but no.’ She sighed as she got to her feet. ‘You know, I realised something. My whole life I’ve been looking for someone else to fix my life for me. Grace would take me in so I could escape my parents rowing. Then the two of you would support me every time I screwed up another relationship—relationships I was only in because I was looking for some man to give me my happily-ever-after. Hell, I even needed you to help me escape my own wedding. Not just to get me off the island, but to prove to myself I was right to leave by—’ She broke off, her cheeks pink, and Ash knew exactly what she wasn’t saying.