And the child she carried…
Emotion knifed through him, but he would not let himself feel it. He was cauterised. He had to be.
He took a deep breath. Right down to the bottom of his lungs. It seared like a pyroclastic inhalation, scorching him.
‘Is it mine?’
The words fell from him starkly, without volition. Brief and to the point.
She didn’t move. Not a muscle, not a finger. Nothing.
‘Is what yours?’ she said.
His face flashed. How could she stonewall him at such a time?
‘The baby,’ he ground out. ‘A simple yes or no will suffice.’
Her eyes were resting on him, but he could not read them. They were expressionless.
Something in them still hurt him, though.
Finally she spoke.
‘The baby is mine, Markos. If that’s what you came all this way to ask, you have your answer. Now, please go. I don’t want to see you again. I don’t want you turning up here again. It’s over.’
‘Am I the father?’
He saw her mouth press tight. ‘I told you—the baby is mine. You’re off the hook. Every man in the world is off the hook.’
‘Don’t be so bloody facetious!’
Anger flashed in her face. But even as she opened her mouth to bite back at him he rolled in, not letting her.
‘No, Vanessa—don’t do this! Look, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I made those accusations. I understand why you let me think it was another man’s. You thought I was getting married to someone else. But I’m not. I made that clear enough the last time I was here! So there’s no need to pretend any more. Just tell me if the baby is mine. That’s all I need to know. Though why—’
He ran his hands through his hair. ‘God, I don’t understand any of this! I asked you outright if you were pregnant—and that was before that manipulative bitch Constantia Dimistris did her number on you! When I asked, you didn’t have any idea in your head about my getting married—and still you told me categorically that you weren’t pregnant. Were you lying? Or didn’t you know? Or wasn’t it even true at that stage?’ He was thinking out loud. ‘Because if you weren’t pregnant then, it can’t be mine—whatever Leo’s damned wife says. But Anna insists that if you look pregnant now, then you must have been pregnant when you were with me—’
‘Anna? Leo’s wife? Anna Delane married Leo? Your cousin Leo? I don’t believe it. She couldn’t stand him!’
‘Well, he obviously changed her mind for her,’ said Markos impatiently. ‘I’m not interested. There is only one thing I’m interested in, and that’s if you are carrying my child.’ His teeth gritted. ‘So, are you or aren’t you? Anna told me to ask you your due date.’
‘Oh, did she?’ Anger sharpened in her voice. ‘Well, please inform her that my pregnancy is my business, and mine alone. And that includes my due date! Markos—go away. This has nothing whatsoever to do with you. I’ll sign any papers you want. I’ll certify to any child maintenance judge in the land that you are not the father of my baby. Will that damn well do? Get your lawyers, draw up whatever you want me to sign, and I’ll sign it! But just get out of here and leave me alone!’
He just looked at her.
‘I can’t,’ he said. ‘Not if the child is mine.’
For one long, level moment she returned his gaze. Finally she said, ‘Why not?’
It was said in such an offhand manner. As if it were a matter of supreme indifference to her.
His brows snapped together. ‘Why not? You can stand there and say. Why not?’
‘Yes,’ she answered, tight-lipped. ‘I can. I’ve told you—this baby is my baby. No one else’s. Mine.’
Disbelief swelled through him. Disbelief, frustration, incredulity.
‘Don’t be absurd! Every child has a father! And if the child you are carrying is mine, then I damn well want to know!’