The Italian's Secretary Bride (16 page)

She was too miserable to take any pleasure from his confounded, furious expression.

‘We managed to recreate the
mood
pretty successfully once. Or were you
disappointed
?'

Her teeth clenched. She would have loved to wipe that smug, self-satisfied expression from his face. ‘You know I wasn't,' she admitted with painful honesty. ‘But please don't run away with the idea you could
recreate
anything again with me.'

‘Actually I didn't come here to recreate any mood.'

The anger in his face extinguished any unrealistic hopes she had been nursing that this scene was going to follow the same format as one of her romantic fantasies. The ones that ended up with him telling her he had realised she was the only woman for him.

She gave a small derisive sniff. ‘Well, why don't you tell me why you came before I lose the will to live?'

‘I said I
didn't
, not that I
couldn't
. We both know that I could.'

‘God knows what I ever saw in you!' she yelled.

‘My incredible modesty?' There was a redeeming hint of self-mockery in his arrogant suggestion. ‘Or my giving nature?'

‘Will you take your giving nature and go away? I'm trying very hard to be polite. I can't guarantee I'll stay polite,' she warned him darkly. ‘You know, I think I'd quite enjoy a scene right now.'

He folded his arms across his chest and trained his glittering gaze on her angry face. Alice's rigid spine felt as though it would snap. ‘Bring it on, girl. Conflict is mother's milk to me—my mother's Latin and my father's Irish. Communication is always loud and dramatic in our house…especially loud.'

‘That sounds tiring,' she said, almost as distracted by the picture his words conjured as she was by trying not to breathe in the musky scent of the fragrance he used. ‘I hate arguments. I didn't know your parents' marriage wasn't…'

'Solid?'
he suggested, looking amused. ‘It remains a beacon of hope in these days of disposable marriages. Some people thrive on conflict, but, yes, I agree it's not relaxing. But Dad's heart attack means they have calmed things down. These days they count to ten before they let rip with the four-letter words. But I didn't come here,' he said grimly, ‘to talk about my parents.'

‘For heaven's sake, you keep saying what you didn't come for! Why did you come here?'

‘I'm getting to that…'he promised, dragging a hand through his hair. A spasm of irritation crossed his face. ‘Will you come in here and close that damned door? Maybe you don't mind sharing your business with the world but I do.'

Alice's expression hardened at his brusque demand. If it hadn't been for the maid outside her room who had dusted the same spot six times she would have ignored him.

‘Door closed.' She flashed him an insincere smile. ‘Now say your piece…not that I can imagine anything you say will be of interest to me,' she observed.

Luca studied the floor, tracing a pattern with the toe of his shiny boot in the deep pile of the carpet. Exhaling deeply, he lifted his eyes. ‘I've been thinking about this situation and I think it would be the best solution all around if we got married.'

Not interested?
Oh, boy, when I'm wrong about something I'm
really
wrong!

The seconds ticked away while she stared at him in open-mouthed disbelief.

‘You think that we should get married?' The fact Alice's voice held no emotion was a reasonably fair reflection of her feelings; she was simply too numb to feel anything.

Luca's mouth twisted impatiently as he gave a curt nod. ‘Isn't that what I just said?'

The knife-edged steely stare that accompanied this testy reply had very little of the desperate lover and a hell of a lot of anger. Even if you allowed for the fact Luca might not be a man particularly in touch with his feminine side, his attitude was not that generally expected of a man proposing.

Alice braced her shoulders against the wall as a wave of desolation of breathtaking intensity washed over her. She reached out blindly and her hand closed over the back of a chair; she was grateful for the support.

‘Is this some sort of joke?' For one brief, blissful moment she had thought his proposal was for real…that he was here to tell her that he loved her. How much of a fool does that make me? she asked herself. ‘Or have you discovered you can't live without me?'

Ironically that was exactly what he had discovered. In fact after three days he had accepted that bringing up another man's child as his own was preferable to living without this woman. His nostrils flared as his eyes ran over the ripe curves of her body. The fact he had no control whatever over the primitive response of his own body brought an angry rasp to his voice.

'Hardly…'

‘So, the living without me you can manage, but you want to marry me? Curiouser and curiouser…' In stark contrast to her amused tone Alice felt physically sick when she realised how close she had come to making a total idiot of herself.

She cringed when she imagined what Luca's reaction would have been if she had followed her first impetuous instincts and flung herself at him. Now that would have been embarrassing!

‘This is so unexpected,' sheer nerves made her flippantly trill.

‘I'm sure some people appreciate your infantile sense of humour, but I am not one of them.'

‘In that case I definitely can't marry you. The man I marry will definitely have to laugh at my jokes.'

‘Shall we be serious?'

‘Not easy…'

‘This is not a decision I make lightly. Marrying me would solve a lot of problems for you.'

‘You being the matrimonial catch of the century?' she suggested.

‘You being an unmarried mother.'

Alice eyes widened.
Mother!
Slowly she shook her head. She held up her hand and hoarsely protested, ‘Back up there! You think I'm pregnant?' I'd have to eat an awful lot of cheese to get a nightmare this surreal.

‘We could waste time pretending, but this seems pointless. I'm assuming the father doesn't want to know? Have you told him or anyone else? I know you haven't told Roman. Presumably you'd planned to tell your family face to face?' He looked at her expectantly.

Alice stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. ‘You told Roman I'm pregnant?' she said blankly.

‘Of course I didn't tell him,' Luca responded with an irritated frown. ‘I just asked a few leading questions and it was obvious he didn't have a clue, but he did confirm that you're not in a relationship.' For the first time Luca's rigid poise showed signs of cracking. ‘It was also clear from what he said that you do have plenty of offers.'

A choking sound escaped Alice's white lips. ‘How dare you discuss me with your brother?'

‘Now listen, this is important. Alice, are you paying attention?' he rapped.

Alice's bloodless lips parted, then closed again. She shook her head. ‘Oh, you have my full attention,' she promised hollowly.

Luca, his expression grave, nodded and ran a hand over the dark growth that covered his lean cheek. ‘Does anyone but me know that you're pregnant?'

She shook her head. ‘Not a soul,' she told him truthfully.

Some of the tension went out of his shoulders as he began to pace the room. ‘Right, and it can stay that way.' He flashed her a look as if he expected her to protest. When she didn't he inclined his head. ‘I'm glad you're going to be sensible about this.'

‘You are?'

‘As far as the world is concerned this baby is mine.'

‘Why would you want people to think that?'

‘I suppose you know my father had a heart attack some years ago?' Alice nodded. ‘And it's important he doesn't subject himself to undue stress?'

‘I really don't see what this has to do with—'

‘My father is an old-fashioned man in many ways, deeply religious and proud of the family name,' Luca revealed gravely.

Alice, who had gathered as much from things that Roman had let drop, nodded cautiously.

‘He has this thing, bordering on obsession actually, about continuing the line…the pride of the family name and all that. You probably know that Roman had a near miss marriage-wise. That broke Da's heart,' he admitted. ‘He's been getting really worked up about the unmarried-sons-no-grandchild situation lately. So much so that Ma is seriously concerned about his health.'

Luca saw no need to explain that Natalia's concern hadn't prevented her expressing her opinion with fiery Latin bluntness that, the more her husband nagged, the less likely it became that she would ever have a grandchild because
his
sons were just as pigheaded and stubborn as their father.

‘I'm sorry about your father, but I—'

Luca's expression became grave. ‘His last check-up was not what anyone was expecting.' The consultant had been so amazed that he had taken his patient off almost all his medication.

‘That's sad, but—'

‘The fact is one of us has to get married.' Alice's eyes widened at this drastic solution. ‘With his history, Roman is out; that leaves me.'

‘You plan to get married to—'

‘If you could make some small sacrifice that would save your father's life, wouldn't you make it?'

‘Of course I would but—'

‘Then why shouldn't I do the same?' he asked. ‘I need a wife and baby, you are having a baby that needs a father. You must see the advantages of marrying me. Obviously we will draw up a pre-nup that protects your interests.'

‘What more could I want?'

‘You mean sex.'

‘No, I damned well don't!' she rebutted furiously. ‘Sex is all you ever think about.'

‘I think that's what people in the trade call transference.'

‘My God, get over yourself!' she advised with a caustic laugh. ‘The person that is in urgent need of psychiatric care around here isn't me. I'm very sorry your father is ill, but your idea is totally crazy.'

‘I'm assuming that mood swings and irrational behaviour are to be expected when you're pregnant. Let's calm down and deal in realities.'

‘I'm perfectly calm!' she gritted through clenched teeth.

‘It's tough bringing up a baby alone and my wife would lead a very comfortable life.'

‘Pretty poor compensation for having to see you every day.'

‘There will be no need for us to live in each other's pockets. There are many successful marriages where the partners lead separate lives.' His sensual lips curled. ‘In fact they might actually be the most successful ones.'

Her hands clenched into fists as she listened to him outline what he obviously imagined were selling points of this proposed union…or should it be merger? she wondered bitterly.

‘Gosh! When you put it
that
way how can I say no?' Her expression of brainless adoration morphed into one of hard-eyed anger.

‘I really don't think you're in any position to cut off your nose to spite your face.'

‘Thank you for the reminder.'

‘There are not just your feelings to consider,' he reproached.

‘Yes, but maybe I'm terminally selfish. Or maybe I don't like moral blackmail. You know, the longer I'm in your company, the more attractive being a single parent seems.' Suddenly Alice had had enough of this farce. ‘You stupid man, there is no child!' She pressed her hands flat against her belly. ‘I may look pregnant compared to those rakes you normally see naked, but I'm just fat and if I was having a baby I wouldn't lumber it with a father like you!'

Luca gave a derisive snort. ‘For God's sake, woman, stop lying. I was standing outside the door when you rang for the test results.'

‘Test results, but not
my
test results. You heard me ringing the clinic for my sister-in-law. The only thing I'm expecting is a niece or nephew. And for your information you're the only man I've slept with other than my husband and we actually waited until our wedding night. I'd like to say it was worth the wait, but we were both pretty clueless and it took us a couple of months to get the hang of things.' She stopped, appalled by what she had said.

Luca was staring at her, a hand pressed to the side of his head; he looked like a man who had just received a blow to the head. His eyes dropped to her middle.
'You're not pregnant?'

‘Finally…' she breathed.

‘And you've not had any other lovers?'

‘No.' She gave a bitter smile.