‘Surprised?’ Sergio asked softly.
If she was, then she couldn’t be more surprised than he was. He had had no reason to question his assumption that she came from humble origins. So she had a couple of expensive things in her flat...? Certainly not enough to make him think that she was anything but a girl venturing out in a fairly hazardous profession. He had assumed that whilst she might have moral support from her family, that was pretty much it on the support front.
In fact he had dared to question Stanley’s map-reading skills, only realising that he was, indeed, at the right place when the car drove up the lantern-lined drive.
And now here he was.
And there she was. Staring at him as though she expected him to disappear in a puff of smoke.
‘What are you doing here?’ Susie demanded.
He looked perfect. Every inch the drop-dead gorgeous, brooding alpha male who had stolen her heart.
‘I couldn’t resist the prospect of pulling you behind the bushes and having my wicked way. Something about that dress...’
‘You’re supposed to be wrapping up a deal in New York.’
‘I like breaking with the expected now and again. Where’s the radiant bride and the lucky groom? I have to say...this isn’t what I was anticipating...’
Susie flushed guiltily. She knew why she hadn’t breathed a word about her family—knew that if she had he would have seen her as just another little rich kid, all caught up in doing nothing much because she knew that she could be bailed out of her discomfort if she got bored or fed up. Why would someone like him want to go out with someone like that?
‘What did you anticipate?’
‘Why did you let me assume that you were penniless?’
‘I didn’t let you assume anything. Did you decide to come here so that you could check out my background?’
‘Comes with the terrain,’ he answered coolly. ‘We’ve been lovers for over two months. I like to know exactly what I’m getting into.’
‘And what if you’d found that you’d “got into” someone from a council house background? Or worse...a criminal background...? Would you have got out of it pronto?’
‘I don’t deal in hypothetical situations. At any rate, I never took you for someone from a long line of train robbers...’
That said it all, she thought.
Suddenly everything seemed very complicated. Her parents would adore him. He was just the kind of guy they’d been hoping she would bring home one day. But what was the point of introducing them to someone who wasn’t going to be around for very long? And when she broke the news to them that she was pregnant...
Susie blanched. They would immediately know the identity of the father. Did she want that? Would her parents make it their duty to confront him? They were very traditional.
She felt that she hadn’t thought anything through—but then how could she? She’d barely had time to digest the revelation herself.
‘You shouldn’t have come,’ she told him flatly.
Sergio looked at her through narrowed eyes. ‘Not the response I was expecting...’
‘This isn’t a normal relationship, Sergio. This is...sex—and meeting my family isn’t part of the deal...’ She had to say it because she needed to start distancing herself.
‘But I’m here now...’
‘Not because you wanted to come as my partner.’ She looked up at him steadily. ‘In a normal relationship we would have travelled here together. You would have wanted to meet my parents, wanted to take that next step into the future...a future of getting to know one another’s family and friends...’
‘Where has this come from?’
‘Does it matter? I’m just telling it like it is. You showed up here to do a background check on me... I suppose now that you’re here and my family has passed muster it’s all right for you to meet them?’
‘You’ve managed to blow all this out of proportion and I’m wondering why...’
Dark eyes that saw far too much rested on her flushed face and Susie did her best to get her breathing under control.
‘I’m a little stressed,’ she muttered, looking down. ‘It’s not every day the guy you’re going out with decides to check up on your family to make sure they’re not escaped convicts.’