“The message from your doctor. I gather he found you well.”
“She found me well,” Aimee said, with a lift of her chin.
Could a man laugh at such a moment? Nicolo found that at least he could smile.
“I stand corrected. And this—this OP?”
“OB-GYN. And we’re not going to have this conversation.”
“This is a specialist?”
“Damn it, Barbieri—”
“I see I am no longer that magnificent creature, the prince,” he said dryly.
“You are an intruder. And I want you to out of my home immediately.”
“What is this OB-GYN?”
“An obstetrician. Must I phone the police to get rid of you?”
“And tell them what, cara? That it annoys you to discuss your pregnancy with the man responsible for it?” He flashed a thin smile. “I suspect the officers who respond to your call would enjoy something to lighten their day.”
“Nicolo.” Her voice was weary. “Why are you doing this?”
He strode to her and cupped her elbows. “I am doing it,” he said sharply, “because you claim my child lies in your belly.”
“You asked for the truth. Don’t blame me if…” Aimee gasped and tried to catch his hands. “What are you doing?”
“Opening your robe,” he said calmly, as he undid the sash. “I want to see this pregnancy of yours.”
“I told you, it’s not…” Her breath caught as he spread the lapels of her robe wide. “Damn you, Nicolo—”
“It is my right,” he said coldly.
It was. Wasn’t it? The right of a man to see the body of a woman who claimed she carried his baby?
Dio, he had almost forgotten how beautiful she was.
The night they met, she’d worn something wickedly sexy under that incredible crimson dress. A black bra. A black thong. Both silky and small enough to hold in the palm of his hand.
Now, she wore sensible white cotton. A bra and panties. And it didn’t matter. She had the kind of body that didn’t need black silk to make it sexy.
Was it too soon to see the changes his child would bring? Her belly was still flat. Her breasts…were they already a little fuller?
“Nicolo.” Her voice was husky. “Nicolo…”
“I’m just curious, cara.” His voice was husky, too. And rough. As rough as the sudden pounding of his heart. He reached out, placed his hand over her belly again. “Still flat,” he said, as if it didn’t matter that he could feel the heat of her skin through the plain white cotton panties.
“Nicolo.”
He looked up, his eyes dark as they met hers. She was trembling; her lips were slightly parted and he remembered how they had parted for him that night. How greedily he had tasted her mouth. Her ineffable sweetness.
“What of your breasts?” he said in a low voice. Eyes locked to hers, he cupped one delicate mound of flesh. She gave a little moan; her eyes went from violet to black. “Have they changed yet?”
He felt her nipple engorge behind the cotton of her bra. She moaned again as he moved his thumb across the swollen tip and he knew he could have her. Take her again and again, until he’d rid himself of this need to possess her….
Dio, perhaps he had lost his mind! Quickly he stepped back.