The Italian Boss's Secret Child(24)

'I thought you said you didn't do family.'

'I don't. Normally. But you can't bring up my baby here and you wouldn't  come as my mistress. I had no choice. Now you have no choice.'

She let his slur on her house and what she could provide for a child  slide away. She couldn't tackle everything at once. 'Did you tell my  mother about the baby?'

His hands left the railing as he turned fully to face her. 'No, but I  was left to wonder why you wouldn't. So now you don't have to worry  about having an illegitimate child. Now your child will have a name and  your baby will have a father. You could thank me for taking care of your  problem.'

'Thank you? My problem? Tell me, where does your particular brand of  arrogance come from? Did you make it yourself or did you take it over,  like just another one of your corporate acquisitions?'

It was his turn to bristle, she noted with considerable satisfaction as  he shifted his stance. 'Do you seriously think I haven't told my mother  yet because I'm worried that she'll be devastated about me being an  unmarried mother?'                       
       
           



       

'What else? You don't seem to realise how much a baby would mean to your mother. How could you not tell her such news?'

'Don't you think I know what my own mother needs? You're the last person  who needs to tell me how much she would love to see another  grandchild.'

'So now it's not an issue. Now you have nothing to be ashamed of.'

'I never had anything to be ashamed of. For your information, I haven't  told my mother yet because I'm little more than six weeks' pregnant. Do  you understand that?'

'You mean,' he interrupted, his face a tight frown, 'there's a chance you could be wrong?'

'No. The pregnancy has been confirmed. But that doesn't mean things can't still happen. What if I lose the baby?'

'Is that likely?'

'Not likely. But not impossible either. This is still very early days in  the pregnancy. The last thing I need is for my mother to get her hopes  up and then have them dashed once more. That's why I haven't told her  yet-not because of some stupid idea that she won't be happy unless I  have someone's ring on my finger.'

His silence lasted for barely a second and then he shrugged. 'It's of no  consequence. We're getting married anyway-it's all decided. You can  hardly let your mother down now.'

'And if something happens to the baby?'

'We'll have another.'

She shook her head. 'Damien, you're not listening to me. I never said I'd marry you.'

'You don't want marriage? You surprise me. That seemed to be exactly  what you wanted this morning. You weren't satisfied with just my house,  my servants, my income. It was clear to me you wanted more.'

'You can't just waltz in here and take over this house and this family  like it's one of your business deals. Those kind of tactics might work  in the boardroom, but they certainly don't wash here.'

Immediately she'd mentioned it she wished she could take it back. There  was no way she could think about boardrooms without thinking of that  night, of the night that had started it all, and with the memories came  the heat, heat that was all the more raw after their lovemaking of  today. She didn't need to remember such things now, especially not now,  when she was trying to put distance between them, when she was trying to  make him see sense.

Her eyes sought his. Damn. They narrowed, a predatory gleam infusing  them, and she saw that he'd made the connection. With two quick steps  he'd forced her backwards until his arms dropped either side of her and  she was trapped.

'I'm not the only one around here who engages in boardroom tactics-or have you forgotten that first little episode?'

She shook her head as she backed up hard against the railing, fighting  the sheer magnetism of his body, the pull of his body increasing with  his proximity. 'No. But it's not relevant. You can't just make people do  what you want. You can't just decide for them their future without a  thought for their own needs and desires. You can't-'

Her words were cut off as his arms crushed her to him and his mouth  found her throat, sending bold heat suffusing her veins, washing through  her on a torrid tide that threatened to blow her resolve, if not her  sanity.

His head forced hers back, leaving her neck and throat exposed to his  mouth, his lips and tongue working together immediately finding all of  those special places-that spot on her neck just below her ear lobe, the  line where her skin disappeared under the neckline of her dress. All of  her skin, anywhere his mouth touched, came alive and it was impossible  to stop her body responding to his assault.

'You see … ' His head lifted just a fraction so his lips skidded over her  skin, a dance of breathy heat and liquid movement. 'See how much you  want me,' he said. 'I could take you here, on the deck, and you would be  powerless to stop me.'

She tried to breathe, to clear her mind. Yes, she wanted him. No matter  how much she wished she could refute his claims her body would not be  denied. Her heart would not be denied. She wanted him body and soul. But  that still didn't make what he was doing right. It was one thing for  her to give herself freely. It was another for him to take it.

'But that's the way you always operate, Damien. You take what you want.'

'You don't fool me. You want this too.'

'So why not take me then? Take me now, right here, while my mother  sleeps inside. And what exactly will that prove? Do you for one moment  imagine I will be so blown away by your love-making that I will be  desperate enough to rush down the aisle for more?'                       
       
           



       

The change in his breathing told her that her words had hit their mark.  His head twisted to rest on her shoulder as his arms relaxed their grip.  He surged away towards the house without looking at her, one hand on  his hip, the other sweeping back through his hair all the way down to  his neck.

She was driving him crazy. He must be crazy, to want to attack her on her own back step, her mother sleeping inside the house.

But he wanted her-so much. Why did she continue to frustrate him? She'd  fled from him that first night, hidden her identity and kept it  concealed. And she still made out she was an innocent in all this when  she'd held all the cards right from the beginning.

'You seem to take a great deal of satisfaction in pointing out my  failings, but do you think your own behaviour is beyond reproach?' She  looked up at him, startled, as if not expecting him to go on the attack  so soon.

'What do you mean?'

'You're the one who ran away the night of the masquerade ball. You're  the one who kept your identity a secret. If you hadn't told me today  about the baby-' He stopped, reeling back the hours to that time.

She hadn't told him.

He'd intervened in her dispute with that loser, Bryce, and Bryce hadn't  been the only one who'd believed him. In her fragile state she'd thought  he was telling the truth. She'd thought he really did know the baby was  his.

He looked up at her, his eyes open for what seemed the first time as the layers of her deceit peeled away.

'You weren't going to tell me, were you.'

It wasn't a question, it was an accusation. 'You were never going to tell me.'

'No, Damien, that's not true.'

'You were going to keep this baby a secret. You never intended to let me  in on it. If I hadn't come to your rescue and you hadn't taken me  seriously, I never would have known.'

'No! I was going to tell you today.'

'But you didn't.'

'I didn't have a chance. I was about to tell you, in your office, but Bryce-'

'Bryce nothing. I don't believe you. You've hidden the truth from me all along. Why should today be any different?'

'Because it's the truth.'

'No. You were going to keep it your secret. Another little secret. Like  making love to me that night. That was your secret. You didn't want me  to know who you were-that's what that mask was all about-why you  wouldn't take it off. You never wanted me to find out.'

'Damien, listen to me-'

'Why should I listen to you? You've hidden the truth all along. You hid  your face that night so I wouldn't know who you were. Then you let me  believe you were never at that Christmas party. Why would you do that  and then suddenly decide to tell me you're pregnant and it's my baby?'

'Because it is your baby. You have a right to know.'

'You care about my rights?' he scoffed. 'I very much doubt that. But  this isn't about rights. I believe you never had any intention of  admitting you were in that boardroom let alone advising me that I was  the father of this baby. If it hadn't been for that blunder you made  when I threw Bryce out, you would never have told me.'

'Damien, that's simply not true.'

'Isn't it? You can honestly say you never once considered hiding the  truth about this baby from me? You never once considered the possibility  of bringing this child up on your own?'

Her eyes slid sideways before they slowly meandered their way back to  his. His own narrowed in response. What did that mean if not an  acknowledgement of his claims? She'd planned to keep this baby secret  from him. Blood rushed to his temples in a flush of heat and anger. Just  as well she had no way out of this arrangement. She'd never escape him  again.