‘Rebelling, what else?’ Andreo rested riveting dark golden eyes on her and vented a rueful laugh. ‘I fell in love with a model. Her name was Fia and she was five years older. My father was incapable of waiting for the affair to run its course. He demanded that I give her up and he threatened me with disinheritance in time-honoured style. Fia and I came to France to set up home together. But…before I could buy the priory, she accepted a lucrative cash offer from my father to ditch me instead.’
Pippa winced and learned that even though she was inexcusably jealous of any woman he had ever been involved with she still could not bear the idea of him being hurt. And she could well imagine how open and trusting he had been as a teenager.
‘I stayed on here to lick my wounds. I wasn’t destitute. I had a trust fund from my grandparents. It might not have been sufficient to tempt Fia but it was enough to live on.’ His handsome mouth quirked.
He was making light of the hurt he had suffered but she knew him well enough to guess how devastated he would have been by that betrayal. In those days he had been a romantic ready to make sacrifices to be with the woman he loved. The cruellest blow of all for a male of his pride and intelligence must have been the reality that the object of his affections should have proved to be so unworthy, not to mention being fonder of money than she was of him.
‘Andreo…’ she began, feeling ridiculously tearful again.
‘Get some sleep.’ Six feet five inches of lean muscular masculinity, he
vaulted upright.
‘You don’t have to marry me just because I’m pregnant.’
‘I do…you may be very clever but you haven’t the survival instincts of a flea,’ Andreo informed her equably.
Any desire to be tearful evaporated. Colour flying into her cheeks, Pippa thrust herself up against the pillows. ‘How can you justify saying that?’
‘You turn down a job that’s yours and abandon a promising career. You run out on a good relationship,’ he enumerated without hesitation. ‘You’re so stubborn you won’t even sit down when you’re on the brink of fainting. I think that last says it all, amore. You may think you can go it alone, but I’m not impressed.’
‘When I get up, I’ll be feeling well enough to leave,’ Pippa asserted tightly, refusing to listen to him. ‘I’d be grateful if you’d book a taxi to pick me up here at three.’
Andreo had gone very still. ‘No.’
‘I intend to have this baby. Right now, that is all you need to know. If I need your help in any way, I’ll contact you.’ Turning her head away, Pippa hunched under the sheet.
Leaving was the right thing to do, she reminded herself with stubborn determination. If he wanted to take an interest in their baby after the birth, she would allow him to do so. He did not know how lucky he was that she had turned him down. She might have been a gold-digger willing to marry him just to take advantage of his wealth! He was gorgeous, wonderful company and fantastic in bed. Whether he appreciated it or not, her refusal to be impressed by his attack of gallantry was evidence of just how much she loved him. If only they had had another few days together before he had found out that she was pregnant, she reflected miserably.
Andreo tossed something on the bed and her eyes flew open and lodged on her fluffy pink diary. ‘I haven’t read a word of it,’ he assured her.
Pippa flushed and bent her head. ‘I know that.’
‘I’m supposed to be meeting with my notaire this afternoon to discuss the purchase of some land but I’ll cancel.’
Pippa did not trust herself to look near him. ‘Don’t be daft,’ she told him with fake casualness. ‘All I intend to do is catch up on my sleep while you’re out.’
Andreo dropped down into an athletic crouch to establish the visual connection that she was denying him. ‘I’ll ask Berthe to keep an eye on you…’
‘Don’t embarrass me like that,’ Pippa urged unevenly, bright blue eyes clinging involuntarily to his lean, powerful face.
Andreo reached for her hand. ‘OK, but you have to promise to be sensible and sit down at the very first sign of dizziness—’
‘OK…’
He bent his arrogant dark head and let his tongue delve provocatively between her lips. He set up a quivering, delicious tightness low in her pelvis. ‘You also have to promise to eat everything Berthe puts in front of you—’
‘No problem,’ she mumbled, tipping up her mouth to the sexy onslaught of his again with all the self-discipline of a rag doll.
‘And if you’re really good, you get chocolate croissants as an afternoon snack. Get loads and loads of sleep so that I can make passionate love to you when I get back,’ he husked between teasing expert kisses that left her literally begging for more, her fingers biting into his forearms. ‘But if I still think you’re tired, I won’t…’
Detaching himself from her hold, he strode across the room to pull the shutters closed on the bright morning sunlight. She stared at him and then recalled in sudden dismay that she had not taken a single photo of him since her arrival. ‘Hold on…’ she urged, panicking at the threat of having to get by in the future without any photos of him.
Andreo watched in astonishment while she scrambled out of bed and dug a camera he had never seen before out of her bag.
‘Smile…’ she instructed in a slightly wobbly voice and fiddled with the shutters to let in more light.
‘You’re supposed to be in bed,’ Andreo censured.