Дженни Лукас – Pregnant By The Ceo: Sensible Housekeeper, Scandalously Pregnant / She's Having the Boss's Baby / The Baby Who Saved Dr Cynical (страница 21)
“I was on the Pill in Paris, like I told you,” she whispered, then shook her head. “The whole staff ate some bad fish from the market. I threw up for days. I never thought that it might make the Pill useless, but then,” her cheeks colored, “I never paid much attention to the birth control aspects of the medication. I never expected you to seduce me!”
Silence fell. Through the sheer curtains at the large sash window, with its brightly painted open shutters, he could see clouds trailing across the blue sky, above the distant turquoise sea. He took a deep breath.
“Perhaps you’re not lying,” he said quietly. “For if you were truly a gold digger, you would have jumped at the chance to marry me. The pregnancy must have been an accident.” He set his jaw as he looked down at his son. “But your lie to me for the last year and a half was not.”
“You’re not being fair!” she cried. “You told me you never wanted a child. If I’d told you I was pregnant, you’d have insisted I was a gold digger who’d purposefully set out to ‘trap’ you!”
“Like the devil, you twist my own words against me,” he said, then gave a low laugh. “You are the most cold, heartless woman I have ever known. Which is a high mark indeed.”
“I’m not,” she whispered.
“You looked into my face and lied to me.
She went pale. “I would never do that to you.”
“You already have.”
Pain racked his body. Louisa had hurt him in the most devastating way possible.
And when he thought of how, just a half hour ago, they’d walked along the beach, he’d humbly held his heart in his hands and asked her to be his lover…
He shuddered with humiliation and fury. Then, still holding the baby, he turned without a word.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m taking my son home.”
“No!” she shrieked. Racing ahead of them, she blocked the door. “You can’t take my baby away from me—you can’t!”
“We’ll come to a custody arrangement.” He had the satisfaction of seeing her shoulders sag with relief before he mercilessly continued, “You’ve had Noah for the last eight months. I will take him for the next eight months.” Cradling his baby son against his shirt, he turned to go. “You will hear from my lawyers sometime before next Christmas.”
“No!” she screamed, pulling on his arm. “You can’t take him from me—his mother! Not for eight months!”
He glanced back at her coldly. “Can I not? But that is what you have done to me. You’ve had your time. I will have mine. Is that not ‘fair’ enough for you?” he said mockingly.
“No,” she wept freely. “Please. It would kill me.”
Rafael looked down at her. Somehow, in her abject grief and surrender, even with her nose red and tears streaking down her cheeks, she was still beautiful. He still wanted her. It infuriated him.
He heard the baby start to cry, his loud wailing mingling with Louisa’s. Rafael awkwardly tried to comfort the baby, but could not. He had no experience with babies and no idea how to comfort Noah. He did not know his own son. The injustice of it raged in his heart as, setting his jaw, he gently handed the baby to Louisa.
“Noah. Oh, Noah.” Louisa’s weeping only intensified as she cradled her baby against her, whispering words of love, kissing his chubby cheeks again and again. “Oh, my sweet baby.”
Rafael stared down at them. He took a deep breath. And came to a sudden decision.
“Thank you,” Louisa whispered.
He stared at her coldly. “It’s for my son’s sake. Not yours.”
She rocked the baby in her arms, her breath still uneven between sobs and hiccups. Rafael looked at her, then looked slowly around the room, from the sheer curtains over the window to the giraffe on the wall above the crib.
She was, he thought grudgingly, a decent mother. What she would not be—what she could never be again—was a woman he could trust.
But that didn’t stop Rafael from wanting her.
Who was the man? Rafael’s hands clenched. How many lovers had been in Louisa’s bed over the last year, while he’d tossed and turned, tormented by longing for his fantasy of her as he’d believed her to be—honest, loving, chaste?
For all these years, Louisa Grey was the one woman he’d never been able to completely possess.
Now, he wanted to punish her. To break down her elusiveness. To own her.
An idea occurred to him. A cruel, perfect idea.
It would be a neat, tidy, perfect revenge.
He smiled grimly. Walking across the nursery, he placed his hand on her shoulder.
“There is just one condition,” he said brutally.
“Anything,” she whispered. “Just don’t separate me from my son.”
Lowering his head, Rafael gave her a seductive kiss. He possessed her mouth with his, luring her with his tongue. He felt her shiver in his arms. He felt her sigh, then surrender.
When he pulled away, he saw the haze of longing in her eyes, and hid a smile.
She thought she’d beaten him, but he would make her pay. He was the master of the coldhearted seduction. Soon, his possession of her would be complete.
“You will be completely mine,” he whispered. He stroked her cheek as he looked down at her, his eyes glittering in the shadowy room. “You will marry me, Louisa.”
“WELCOME to Buenos Aires, Señora Cruz.”
As the doorman greeted her, Louisa barely had time to wonder how he already knew about the marriage before bodyguards hustled her inside the
Tall, hulking men clustered all around her, making Louisa feel small as she cradled her baby nervously in her arms. Worst of all: the tallest and most powerful of the men around her was Rafael.
When she’d woken up in Key West that morning, Louisa had never imagined she could find herself taken to Buenos Aires as the wife of a man who hated her. He kissed her so well that she almost imagined, in his arms, that he could forgive her. But when he pulled away from her, he could not hide the coldness in his slate eyes.
Within minutes after he’d demanded marriage, he’d dragged her to the courthouse. He’d somehow managed to convince the clerk Louisa was not a Florida resident and to skip the three-day waiting period. Before they’d even left Key West, Louisa had been his lawfully married wife. He’d spent the long flight on his private jet working. Ignoring her.
Now, in the elevator, Rafael’s dark eyes gleamed at her malevolently. What did he intend to do to her?
At least she still had her baby in her arms, she comforted herself. That was what mattered. When she’d thought Rafael meant to take their son away, she’d been so frightened, she’d known she would do anything—
Katie had been ecstatic for her. “We’ll be fine with the bakery until you get back,” she’d said joyfully. “Have a wonderful time!”
If only her sister knew the truth. Louisa feared she was never going back to that warm, loving home in Key West. Rafael would never let her go.
When the elevator reached the top floor, Rafael pushed open the double doors.
“Welcome home,” he said sardonically.
“Home?” Louisa looked around her in dismay. The old luxury apartment was old, musty and desperately in need of cleaning and refurbishment. All the furniture was covered with white sheets, which gave it a ghostly appearance. But in spite of her anger and fear, she could not help but observe the space with a professional eye and see the loveliness beneath the neglect. It had high Edwardian plaster ceilings and a view of the city through wide windows. Against her will, she could almost see how to make this apartment beautiful again. How to make it a home.
“I had no idea it was in such disarray,” she whispered.
He shrugged. “I’m not here often.”
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “I could make it nice,” she offered.
“Don’t bother,” he said shortly. “We won’t be here for long.”
Louisa shivered. Now that she was his bride, now that they shared a child, he had more power over her than ever before. After five years of obeying his orders as his housekeeper, it would have been easy to return to the habit of trying to please him. But her time living in Key West had changed her. She had finally found her voice.
“This house could be so lovely,” she said softly.
His lips twisted. “Do not fall in love. We will be here only a few days.” He pushed open a door. “You will sleep in here.”
This bedroom, at least, had been neatly tended. A small crib had been set up in the darkest corner near the large, modern bed.