Restless Billionaire (17 page)

 
          
And
then when she was on the way out of the study, her head still spinning, she
spotted them.
Sitting on the edge of the desk.
A pile of glossy brochures, all detailing luxury one- and
two-bedroom apartments for sale or rent just nearby Sebastian’s apartment.
And worse … luxury apartments in Mumbai.

 
          
Hurt
lanced Aneesa so badly that she had to suck in a breath. And then she heard a
door slam, long strides coming towards the study. The door was flung open and
Sebastian stood there, resplendent in a dark suit.
Every inch
the successful and powerful titan of industry.

 
          
He
frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’ And Aneesa knew she must look pale. She shook her head
and bought time to recover.

 
          
‘What
are you doing home?’ She cursed her tongue,
as
if this was home
.

 
          
Carefully
now Sebastian said, ‘I forgot a document I need for a meeting.’

 
          
Aneesa
held the patched-up wedding invitation high in one shaky hand and said, ‘Was it
this?’

 
          
And
then with the other hand she held up the sheaf of glossy brochures. ‘Or perhaps
it was these?’ She glanced at them, and back to Sebastian. ‘I haven’t had the
chance to look through them properly yet but perhaps a penthouse apartment isn’t
the most practical place for me to live once the baby gets here.’

 
          
INARTICULATE
rage boiled upwards within Sebastian. ‘How dare you go through my personal
things!
’

 
          
Aneesa
stood before him, pale and intensely vulnerable-looking but with an
unmistakably determined glint in her eyes. Her chin came up. ‘I dare because as
your own brother just told me, I’m a part of your family now and will be for a
long time to come, thanks to
our
baby.

 
          
‘Tell
me,’ she asked conversationally, colour returning to her cheeks, ‘was last
night just a quickie before you asked me to move out, or were you planning on
taking your fill before my body becomes too rounded and repulsive to you?’

 
          
‘Stop
it,’ Sebastian said curtly, the thought of her body growing more rounded having
the complete opposite effect on his body. And before she could say anything else
he asked, ‘What did you mean about my brother?’

 
          
Aneesa
leaned back against the desk, still holding the wedding invitation and the
brochures. ‘Jacob just called. He wants to know why he hasn’t been able to get
in touch with you and if you’re coming to Nathaniel’s wedding.’

 
          
Acute
pain lanced Sebastian to hear that name. ‘I’ve already told you I’m not going
and it’s none of his business.’ He put out an imperious hand. ‘Give me the
invitation.’

 
          
Aneesa
held it to her chest. ‘No. If you want it you can come and get it. And you
could have got rid of it properly but you didn’t, so what does that say?’

 
          
Sebastian
strode towards her then, fury all over his face, but Aneesa didn’t feel scared.
He stopped a couple of feet away and she could see the agitation on his face,
in his blue eyes. His hands were fists by his sides. Tension bounced off him in
waves.

 
          
Aneesa
stood strong. ‘I’m not giving you the invitation because it’s not yours
anymore. It’s mine. Jacob has asked me to go and I’ve said yes.’

 
          
Sebastian’s
jaw clenched. ‘You can’t go. You don’t even know them.’

 
          
Aneesa
glared up at him. ‘I might not know them but apparently now that we’ve been
splashed all over the papers, they want to get to know
me
. They, unlike you, seem to be coming to terms with the fact that
I’m carrying a Wolfe heir a lot quicker than you!’

 
          
‘He
saw the papers …’ It wasn’t a question.

 
          
‘Yes.
Why didn’t you tell me?’

 
          
Sebastian
raked a hand through his hair, exasperation evident. ‘I didn’t want you to be
upset by it.’

 
          
‘Perhaps
you didn’t want me to get any notions of permanency? You’re forgetting that I’m
not the one with the issues surrounding this pregnancy,
you
are.’

 
          
She
looked at the brochures she held in her hand again and then stalked to
Sebastian, pushing them into his chest where he had to catch them or let them
fall. ‘And it’s apparent now that you’re going to do your damnedest to get rid
of all the evidence—shut your inconvenient ex-one-night stand away with her
even more inconvenient baby.’

 
          
She
walked past him to the door and turned back. ‘I won’t go to a place of your
choosing like some pregnant concubine, Sebastian. I’d prefer to take my chances
and return to India rather than endure that. And whether you like it or not, I’m
going to your brother’s wedding. I want my child to know his or her family.’

 
          
Aneesa
was shaking by the time she reached her bedroom.
Trembling
all over.
Standing up to Sebastian’s rigid stance had been a lot harder
than she’d thought, and still that awful hurt lanced her, right through her belly,
to think that he would want to shut her and the baby away like that. And yet
what else had she expected? Despair gripped her.

 
          
She
was sitting on the window seat and looking out at the view, not really seeing
it, just waiting for the inevitable sound of the front door slamming as it
heralded Sebastian’s return to work and away from her. But it didn’t come. And
when a knock sounded on her door, her nerves were so tightly wound that she
jumped.

 
          
She
stood to see the door open and Sebastian standing there, his tie ripped off,
jacket gone and shirt open. And he looked so damned gorgeous that every bone in
her body wanted to melt. But she stood firm with arms crossed, fully prepared
to tell him that she was going to return to India after the wedding if he was
going to insist that she move out.

 
          
‘Don’t
you have work or a meeting or something?

 
          
I
don’t want to be accused of disrupting your routine.’

 
          
Sebastian
closed the door behind him and smiled grimly, making Aneesa’s heart thump
unevenly. He rested against it and said without rancour, ‘I’ve cancelled my
meeting, and my routine got disrupted the moment I first saw you in Mumbai.’

 
          
Hurt
gripped Aneesa again. ‘Well, I’m sorry about that but—’

 
          
He
put up a hand. ‘I’m not.’

 
          
And
then he prowled towards her and she wished she could run but the window was at
her back. Sebastian being cold and distant and prickly was one thing, but this
more ambiguous Sebastian threatened every level of her already shaky
equilibrium.

 
          
He
stood before her, close enough to touch but not touching, eyes raking her face.
Resting on her mouth with indecent explicitness before climbing upwards again
where their heat nearly made her wobble.

 
          
He
growled out, ‘You’re a thorn in my side, Aneesa Adani, but a thorn I’m finding
impossible to ignore, no matter how much I try.

 
          
‘I
admit that I had thought of offering you a place of your own to live,
ostensibly to get out you out of my apartment … but every time I try and push
you away I find myself pulling you in again. I can’t have you near me and yet I
can’t stand the thought of you not being here….’

 
          
Aneesa’s
heart thumped crazily now. ‘That sounds messy.’

 
          
Sebastian
grimaced. ‘It is.
Very.
Especially
when my life up to now has been very clear and controlled.’

 
          
His
eyes held her mesmerised. ‘I told you that I would take more time out for you
and the baby and then I promptly went back on my word. I’m sorry.’

 
          
He
came closer then and Aneesa found it hard to breathe, her gaze slipping to his
mouth. His hands went to her waist, pulling her into him, and she could feel
his arousal, her own body rejoicing helplessly, despite all the turmoil in her
head.

 
          
Valiantly
though, she stayed rigid in his arms. She put her hands on his chest and tried
to ignore the treacherous melting in her groin. ‘Sebastian, you can’t keep
doing this, pulling me in, only to push me away again. It’s not fair.’

 
          
‘I
know,’ he said quietly. ‘I don’t think I have the strength to push you away
again.’

 
          
He
sighed heavily and she felt his chest move against her hands. A slither of
foreboding went down her spine. ‘But, Aneesa, I also can’t promise you a happy
ever after. There are dark secrets in my family, bad things happened. It’s a
long legacy of hurt and pain. And the last thing I want to do is visit that on
my own child.’

 
          
Everything
in her rejected that assertion. ‘But you wouldn’t—’

 
          
Sebastian
put a finger over her mouth, stopping her words. ‘After everything I witnessed,
I won’t commit just for the sake of propriety. My father wreaked havoc with his
inconsistency and I can’t promise to be any better.’

 
          
An
aching sadness welled inside Aneesa even though she appreciated his candour. He
was basically saying his feelings for her weren’t strong enough to risk
overcoming his fears. And was she strong enough to weather his stubbornness? To
try and make him see that history didn’t have to repeat
itself
?
What was the point if he didn’t even have feelings for her beyond physical
desire?

 
          
And
then as if he’d heard her thoughts, he said heavily, ‘If you want to return
home, then I won’t stop you, and of course I’ll come to visit when the baby is
due. But if you decide to stay in England, here with me … you have to know that
I can’t promise anything more than I’ve already given.’

 
          
Aneesa
quelled the urge to cry at Sebastian’s searing honesty. He was offering her a
no-win situation and only an extreme masochist would take the option she was
about to. ‘I can’t go home yet, especially if the news has broken there as to
who
the father is. I should call my parents.’ Her eyes
lifted from where they’d rested on a button on his shirt. ‘So I’m afraid you’re
stuck with me for now.’

 
          
‘Are
you sure about this, Aneesa?’

 
          
She
nodded her head because, at that moment, she wasn’t sure at all but she knew
that the thought of walking away from him was far harder to contemplate than
the alternative.

 
          
‘Well,
then, after you’ve called your parents we’ve got shopping to do.’

 
          
She
frowned. ‘Shopping?’

 
          
Sebastian’s
jaw clenched. ‘If you’re determined to go to this wedding, then you’re not
going on your own.’

 
          
Aneesa
held in a stunned gasp and damped down a spark of hope. Sebastian was saying
one thing, but his actions were saying something else, and despite her head
sending out warning bells, her heart couldn’t help but give a little lurch of
treacherous hope. Grimly she answered, ‘I’m determined.’

 
          
Sebastian
sighed. ‘In that case, I need to get a suit and you need to get a wedding
outfit.’

 
          
Aneesa
was not like any woman Sebastian had ever known. She was brave: brave enough to
deal with the collapse of a successful career, to deal with ostracism and cross
the other side of the world to face up to a huge personal crisis. And yet her
eyes had filled with tears only that afternoon when they’d witnessed a harried
mother clipping her small son around the ear on the street with enough violence
to make him squeal with genuine pain. Afterwards Aneesa had apologised to
Sebastian and said, ‘I’m sorry—it must be my hormones.’