Expectant Bride

'No, I promised Mr. Barry that I'd come in as soon as possible... any way, I need a change of clothes,' she muttered uncertainly.

As the lights changed, Dio released her hand. ‘I’d prefer you to remain at the apartment. I have to fly over to Paris this afternoon,' he imparted rather grimly. 'I doubt if I'll make it back before tomorrow evening.'

Dismayed by that unexpected news, Ellie stole an anxious glance at him from below her lashes. His lean, hard profile was taut. But then he had frankly admitted that he was shat¬tered, and he was distinctly pale beneath his Mediterranean dark skin. If she was in shock at the idea of having a baby, why shouldn't he be in shock too?

'I think I'd be more comfortable at home,' she said more firmly.

'When you're my wife, I'll expect you to do exactly as you're told at all times,' Dio murmured without any expres¬sion at all.

A stark little silence fell. Ellie's eyes had widened to their fullest extent. She couldn't believe that he had said what he had just said.

'Most especially when I am considering your welfare,' he added gently.

Ellie trembled and compressed her bloodless lips. 'You're not seriously asking me to...marry you?'

'Very seriously,' Dio asserted.

'But we hardly know each other—'

'We know enough. I like you. I respect you. I desire you. What more is there?'

'What about...love?' she prompted, striving for a detached tone.

'What about our child?'

Ellie lost colour.

'I want to marry you,' Dio told her with quiet emphasis.

'Not really, you don't. People don't get married these days just because of an accidental pregnancy,' Ellie protested un¬steadily, her heart beating very fast.

'People like me do.'

Ellie swallowed hard. 'Dio, I—'

'You know it makes sense.'

'Yes, but—'

'We'll get married as soon as I can arrange it,' Dio incised with finality.

‘I’ll think about it,' she returned unevenly.

Dio shot the Ferrari to a halt in front of the bookshop. Unsnapping her seatbelt, he reached for her, black eyes glit¬tering. 'You should be ashamed of yourself, yineka mou,' he told her. 'Just think about it? Yet only last night you couldn't wait to—'

'Dio!' Ellie gasped, with a sound between an embarrassed laugh and a shaken reproach.

'So either you're a wanton hussy who shamelessly used me for sex...or a decent woman with a delightful inability to resist me.'

Ellie went pink, but she was wholly mesmerised by his proximity. Involuntarily, she raised a hand, and with her fore¬finger traced the surprisingly forbidding curve of his wide, sensual mouth. 'I can't...you know it too,' she acknowl¬edged, utterly desperate for him to kiss her.

But, in spite of their proximity, Dio held back. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow.'

As he freed her again, Ellie blinked in a daze. Dio wanted to marry her? Dio was willing to marry her, she rephrased. 'I can't let you marry me!' she said abruptly.

'I won't marry an argumentative woman.'

'Don't tease about something so serious,' she pleaded.

His strong bone structure set hard. 'You and I...it would work,' Dio intoned, his accent thickening.

'Yes...but could you be happy?' Ellie pressed, her whole being centred on the awful wounding necessity of asking that question when all she really wanted to do was drag him off to the nearest church.

Dio groaned in frustration. 'Obviously I should have pro¬posed over a romantic dinner, with flowers and a ring—'

Ellie winced. 'No, that sort of stuff isn't important.'

"Then my proposal must've been excessively clumsy.' Gleaming black eyes rested on her taut, anxious face. 'I want to marry you, Ellie. The only word I need to hear now is yes.'

'Yes...' Agreement escaped from Ellie before she could bite it back.

'Now that wasn't difficult, was it?' His shadowy smile rocked her heart on its axis, and then he turned away and glanced at his watch. 'Now I'm afraid I have to head straight for the airport. I'll be in touch tomorrow.'

'What's wrong with tonight?' Ellie heard herself ask as she climbed out of the car.

‘I’ll be tied up all evening.'

Hot-cheeked, Ellie nodded, closed her hands together to stop them reaching out to him and forced a smile. 'OK...I understand,' she said, when she didn't really.

His departure seemed so incredibly low-key that she could not quite believe that he had asked her to marry him and that she had agreed.

Concentrating with a mind in a giddy whirl was far too much of a challenge that afternoon. In the space of an hour she had learned that she was expecting a baby and she had gained a bridegroom. It was too much to take in all at once...

Dio wanted to marry her. Did fairy tales come true? All right, so her father had been a creep, and on that basis she had judged the whole male sex. Only not Dio. Dio had taken her by storm. He didn't love her. But love could grow, she told herself urgently, determined not to pick holes in her own happiness. Happiness was a fragile thing, and Ellie hadn't known much of it. Dio liked, respected and desired her, she reminded herself. All that plus their baby would be enough to build on. She would make him happy. Whatever it took, she would make him the very best wife he could imagine...