Робин Грейди – The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement / Man from Stallion Country: The Billionaire’s Fake Engagement / Man from Stallion Country (страница 5)
She was alluding to Davidson’s barb about his grandfather being a mobster. Or was the inference closer to real time?
“You mean, am I afraid for my life?”
“Powerful men tend to have powerful enemies.”
The lift doors parted and they moved out into the hotel foyer, which was relatively quiet but for a group of vocal Canadians checking in.
“I’m not concerned about Davidson, if that’s what you mean. Besides there’s other duties a bright man like Paul can perform.”
Outside, a silver Bentley pulled up with Paul at the helm and Natalie grinned. “You mean like chauffeur?”
Placing a guiding hand on her back, Alex ushered Natalie out into an opulent sandstone forecourt, which was fringed by rustling palm trees and the hum of late-night traffic. “Paul wouldn’t like anyone else driving the Bentley.”
“It’s his baby, then?”
He stopped, quizzed her eyes. The B word hadn’t been mentioned since Teresa’s gaffe earlier. Now he had the biggest feeling Natalie would drive herself crazy with worry over the weekend when nothing could be done.
He waved off the hotel’s uniformed doorman then held her dainty hand in his. “I thought we agreed. I’ll speak with my people, but until then…”
“You really don’t think the child is yours.”
His jaw shifted and they began to walk again. He’d assure her as best he could. “I don’t. But I’m not so arrogant as to rule it out completely.”
That night Bridget had said she was protected. He certainly had been, but he could think of only one form of contraception that was infallible, and it was too late to talk about abstinence now.
They moved farther out into the cool night air at the same time Paul opened the Bentley’s back passenger door. Alex thought nothing of the man dressed in a rumpled jacket and jeans approaching. But when the man stopped and reached for something from beneath his jacket, Alex’s protective instincts flew into action.
“Can we get a statement, Mr. Ramirez?” the man said, revealing his notepad at the exact moment Alex stepped in front of Natalie and Paul shot forward to seize the man’s shoulders. The man stumbled back, the camera case slung over his shoulder swinging as his voice rose. “Is it true you’re denying the paternity of a child conceived six months ago?”
Alex served the reporter a withering look as Paul tussled him away.
But the man only raised his notepad higher. “How does Bridget Davidson feel about you abandoning her for another woman?”
With a parting shove, Paul rounded the hood as Alex helped Natalie into the backseat.
But the jerk wasn’t giving up. Someone had dropped him a tasty lead. Now he fought for the story like a rat after cheese.
Near the back window, the man dipped his ginger head and peered inside the car. “Are you Natalie Wilder?”
Alex caught the notepad and flung it in the gutter. “No comment.”
Perhaps a broken jaw would convince this guy to quit.
Either suicidal or just plain dumb, the reporter slung off another question. “Is it true you plan to marry Ms. Wilder?”
His face hot with temper, he slid into the seat beside Natalie as Paul revved the engine. Before closing the door, Alex gave his unequivocal answer.
“Yes. It’s true.”
Chapter Three
Natalie’s mouth dropped open as her heart back flipped then bounced to her throat.
She’d heard wrong. She
Alexander Lucio Ramirez planned to marry her?
Absurd!
She pressed herself into the far corner of the Bentley’s sumptuous backseat. “What in the world were you thinking?”
Alex yanked on his black bow tie. “Foremost I was thinking how much I despise the media.”
Her cheeks burned. “So you throw fuel on their fire?”
Inclining his Hollywood square jaw, he flicked open his collar at the same time he flicked her a glance. “My life is my business.”
“Except now you’ve brought me into it.”
“You were already in my life.”
“Not posing as your fiancée!”
Exhaling, he pinched the bridge of his aquiline nose and clamped shut his eyes. “This afternoon everything was as it should be. I’d all but wrapped up a deal, was looking forward to tonight. Tomorrow we were spending the day together.” His hand dropped heavily onto his lap. “Then Joe Davidson waltzes in and detonates a bomb.”
Natalie bristled. Surely he was forgetting something, or more precisely,
He edged over a look. “I don’t need to be reminded of my responsibilities should I be the father of that child.”
She shivered at the deep, determined timbre of his voice, but she wouldn’t let his irritation at the situation—at that reporter—stop her from getting answers.
She tipped toward him. “Why did you tell that man we’re getting married?”
He pressed a button and the transparent privacy screen between driver and passengers slid into place. “Maybe I did it for the hell of it.”
“Then you need to retract it. In fact—” She swallowed against the clot of nerves jumping high in her chest and forced herself to say the words.
Seemed the time had come.
“I don’t think we should continue to see each other right now.”
Alex didn’t speak. Merely turned his head with great purpose, his eyes sparkling like black diamonds as they flashed in a passing sidewalk light.
She siphoned in a shaky breath.
Clearly this situation called for a break. Maybe temporary. More likely for good. She’d always known it would come to this. Hadn’t they both agreed this wasn’t forever? Unfortunately goodbyes had come sooner than planned.
She held her trembling hands firmly in her lap. “This is getting way too complicated.”
“So you’re hopping on the first lifeboat out?”
She recoiled. The sting was as sharp as a physical slap. God help her, she wanted to shake him for turning this around.
“You’re acting as though this is
His chin went up. “I only know if you needed my support I’d give it to you.”
Would he? Would he really?
Confused—
“I like your independent spirit but that’s taking autonomy a little too far.”
“Because I’m a woman?” The weaker sex?
“Because that statement makes you sound cold and you’re the furthermost thing from an ice queen I know.”
She pressed her lips together as regret stung behind her nose.
She was saying goodbye for Alex’s own good. Yes, for her sake, too. Two years ago a Sydney specialist had confirmed what the Constance Plains doctor predicted. Although the severity of the condition she’d acquired, Asherman’s Syndrome, was mild, he advised she not attempt to fall pregnant. If she happened to conceive, the risks to a foetus were grave and many.
She didn’t want to see anyone hurt, including Bridget’s unborn babe. She refused to stand in the way. Refused to hang on to silly Cinderella dreams that had zip chance of coming true.
An image of a tiny newborn’s hand flashed into her mind, and the light outside smudged as moisture blurred her vision.
Holding her roiling stomach, she concentrated to school her features and summon a level tone. “I would like to be dropped at my apartment, please.”