The Fall Of Jacob Del Garda (22 page)

His father would understand his need to be with the woman he loved.

In the back of the car on their way home Sophie nestled, all warm and cosy, under Tobin's arm.

Home.

It felt strange to call the fabulous cottage nestling in the hills above Ludlow Hall home, but to Sophie that was exactly what it felt like. Man, she was tired. Every single bone in her body ached. Especially her toes.

With a hiss, she slid her feet out of her fabulous shoes.

"Where did Ella and Jacob disappear to?" She wanted to know and snuggled closer.

Neither of them had got too hot and heavy.

They were more than happy to cuddle.

Probably due to shellshock.

He'd told her what had happened to him in a way that had impacted both.

Sophie had accepted the truth of his words without question.

And that was because the truth made
sense
.

The love they'd shared had been so very special. Her head had believed what her eyes had seen, but her heart had refused to accept what appeared to be the fact that her boyfriend was a cheater.

Every time she imagined what Tobin had gone through with Gina Gregory her anger spiked again.

But now, this minute, all she wanted to do was to hold him tight and enjoy the feeling of his big body against hers and his strong arm holding her close.

She took a breath.

Man, he smelled amazing.

His mouth nuzzled the top of her head.

Then he inhaled in a way that made her smile.

"Jacob's taken her back to his apartment at Ludlow Hall. They need one-on-one time, without distractions."

She raised her head to take a lazy sample of that exceptional mouth.

Through her eyelashes, she watched his face. "Did you just call me a distraction?"

His wonderful mouth kicked. "Oh, yeah. A beautiful distraction."

Then his head dipped to taste and to take.

Her pulse skipped as his tongue slid along hers.

The car gliding to a stop broke the moment.

They were home.

He carried her shoes as Sophie skipped up the steps and into the cottage.

And she stopped dead as she took in the scene.

Up lights under huge plant pots filled with glossy green assortments of
ficus
glowed against the walls and ceiling.

A huge bowl of fresh fruit sat on the kitchen top made of gleaming black granite.

"Wow, the Ludlow Hall elves have been in to deliver all this, and light the log burner." She dipped her head to sniff a vast clear bowl filled with fresh flowers. "Gorgeous."

Since there was no response she turned to look at Tobin.

He was leaning against the huge oak door, simply staring at her with a hunger that brought a lump to her throat.

Her brow creased.

"What's up?"

"I need you in my bed," he said in a voice that was a deep groan, filled to the brim with need. Her eyes dropped to trousers straining across solid thighs.

The tingle of excitement that raced up her spine thrilled her.

She couldn't help the big grin that split her face.

But she knew that before they made love, there must be no secrets between them.

"I want to be in your bed, too. But I need to shower. And I wanna hot chocolate. You always make
the
best hot chocolate."

He walked straight up to her, tipped up her chin and stared into her eyes in a way that made her shiver.

"You," he said. "Are stalling."

Her hand slid up his arms, over those amazingly wide shoulders that she loved, and into his hair.

"I am stalling, a little." She bit down hard on her bottom lip. Her eyes searched his. "Tobin, we need to talk."

His forehead touched hers.

The big sigh sounded mighty frustrated.

And she knew the feeling.

However, it was time she came clean.

It was time she told him exactly what had happened to her after their split.

It was time she was honest.

Those four little words,
“we need to talk
,” were enough to make a grown man cry.

They were certainly enough to douse his arousal.

Unease tickled Tobin's gut as he stripped and showered.

He couldn't think of a time when those words were not a prelude to bad news.

What he wanted, what he'd expected, after their kisses and cuddles in the car, was hours and hours of love making with his woman in his bed.

But it didn't appear that was going to happen anytime soon.

Dressed in ancient jogging bottoms he used for the gym, he tugged a black T-shirt over his head as he padded into the kitchen to make Her Highness her hot chocolate.

Settling down to wait and wondering what on earth she was going to hit him with this time, Tobin stretched out on a sofa watching logs flicker in the burner and tried to calm the unease fisting in his belly.

Minutes later, Sophie returned to the sitting room, picked up her mug of hot chocolate, and took a sofa opposite him.

He had to admit she scrubbed up well. Her face was squeaky clean, pink from the shower, and she smelled of soap and warm, warm woman. She'd teamed soft grey yoga pants with a matching sweater and thick woollen socks the colour of clotted cream. She looked fucking gorgeous.

His groin tightened so fast, he nearly groaned. And cursed the fact he hadn't worn jeans, because the soft fabric did nothing to hide his arousal.

Thankfully, Sophie hadn't noticed, she was too busy inhaling her hot chocolate.

"Mmm," she said. The sound reminded him forcibly of how she sounded during orgasm, and sent another jolt to his groin.

"You do that again and I'm gonna come over there and make wild passionate love to you," he said in a tone that made it a threat rather than a promise.

Big hazel eyes, dancing with sheer wickedness, held his.

Then those eyes went too serious as she carefully placed the mug on the huge glass coffee table that sat between them.

This wasn't going to be easy, Sophie realised.

There was a glint of menace in those grey eyes that warned her his patience with her was hanging by a thread. The old Tobin wouldn't have waited for her. He'd have had her panties at her ankles and taken her right up against the door as soon as they'd walked in.

He looked wary now as he stared at her.

It was time to put them both out of their misery.

Nerves jittered horribly in her belly, made her hands damp.

She stood.

Then she began to move around the room, touching the soft fabric of the vast sofa, the cashmere throw placed with care on the armrest. It was the colour of lilacs in full bloom.

He moved now to sit.

She could read the tension in his wide shoulders, in his face, as he stared hard at her.

Waiting.

She blew out a long breath.

"I'll never forget that day. I'd skipped class because I was feeling unwell," her eyes met his. His brow creased. "Anyway, I was so terribly happy, so excited to see you, to tell you... the news." She paused as the room swam and the awful scene in his bedroom spun into her mind again. And so did the feelings of hurt, of betrayal. "I wanted to give you the surprise of your life, but it was me who received the surprise."

Her voice broke.

Now he stood and moved to go to her, but she shook her head.

He remained utterly still, hands fisted at his side.

"What news? What surprise?"

Those grey eyes burned into hers with an intensity that made the ache in her chest tighten.

"I was pregnant."

Stunned, he sat down hard.

Pregnant?

His heart was roaring in his ears, thudding against his ribs.

Tobin felt as if he'd been sucker punched.

Sophie had been carrying his child? But what had happened to the baby? His mind leaped to a single conclusion that made the blood drain from his face.

And she read him like a book.

Very slowly she shook her head.

A fat tear tipped over and ran down her cheek.

"I would never kill our child, Tobin. I lost it three months after I left you. I was scared. I was alone. And my heart was broken."

Between one heartbeat and another, he was on his feet and holding her close.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" he murmured into her hair.

"Because I was hurt. Because I was too stupid to live. Because I too young to cope with losing you and then losing our baby."

Her voice broke as she sobbed her heart out into his chest.

He could only hold her.

Dismay replaced shock.

Anger that she hadn't told him, hadn't let him share the burden, replaced dismay.

Now he shook her like a ragdoll.

"What would you have done if you hadn't lost the baby? Kept it from me? I had a right to know, Soph."

She winced.

And he realised that the way he was gripping her, his hands were too hard on her slim shoulders.

Christ, he'd rather have his hands cut off at the wrists than hurt her.

He let her go and took a step back.

She was so white he thought she was going to pass out.

"You're right," she whispered.

Big hazel eyes held his and he read the truth.

"You didn't trust me?"

For an endless moment she didn't respond.

Then she shook her head.

"I'd just seen you orgasm into that woman's mouth. And for the next few weeks your fun and games were blazed across the gossip columns." She stopped, bit down hard on her bottom lip, then her eyes met his. "I didn't think you were good enough to be the father of my child. But I know I would have told you eventually, because of Gabriella."

It hurt.

It hurt a lot that she hadn't told him.

It hurt a helluva lot that she truly believed, because of the actions of an evil bitch, that he had not been good enough to be the father of their baby.

Now another thought wormed its way into his brain.

"Did Gabriella know?"

Because if she did, then she was about to have a come-to-Jesus moment.

If anything Sophie went even paler.

"I've never told her."

Her voice wobbled in a way that fucking killed him.

But he was too angry with her to deal with it.

Was she shitting him?

The twins never kept secrets from each other.

Never.

"Why the hell not?" he yelled.

She flinched as if he'd slapped her, and took a step back.

Then she wrapped her arms around her belly in a protective move that made him feel like a complete bastard.

Huge hazel eyes stayed on his.

"Because I didn't want what had happened between us to negatively impact Ella's career, or her relationship with you. She loves you. And you love her. If she'd known about Gina, about our baby, then she would have walked away from the agency. She'd worked so hard and just had her big break. Because of her sacrifice I don't have college loans. I owe her so much. And when I miscarried..." She shook her head. "I knew I couldn't do it to her."

He simply could not believe that the woman who was standing right in front of him had kept such a secret. Not only from him, but from the person she was closest to in the whole world, her twin. His heart twisted in his chest. And for the first time Tobin wondered if he really knew her, right deep down, where it really mattered. Because the Sophie Dolman that he loved with his whole heart would
never
have done such a thing.

She must have seen something in his face, because she held out her hand, took a step forward.

He took a step back.

And her hand dropped to her side.

Pressing his fingertips into tired eyelids, he shook his head.

One minute he was the happiest he'd been in years.

The next he was hurting so bad he could hardly take a breath with the pain of it.

"I can't deal with this tonight," he said.

For an unremitting moment they simply stared at each other.

Sophie nodded.

"Okay. I just want to say that I'm sorry for not telling you. I was wrong."

Too fucking right she was wrong.

The memory of how upset he'd been when she'd left him, the confusion, the sense of loss, roared back into his brain.

"I dropped everything, flew to London to talk to you. You stood there, right in front of me... pregnant with
my
child. And you didn't say a single word. I don't know if I'll ever forgive you for that, Soph."