The Italian Boss's Secret Child(29)

But she didn't look familiar.

'It's not Philly.' He sagged on a breath that brought relief, just as  quickly replaced by a savage new fear. He turned to the officers behind  him.

'So where's my wife?'





CHAPTER FOURTEEN





IT WAS so cold. Two minutes in the driving rain had been enough to soak  her to the skin. Now she was out of the weather but there was no way she  could warm up here. She'd found what had to be an old picnic rug that  smelt as if it had seen more dogs' breakfasts than picnic lunches, but  it was at least something to drag over her shoulders and it helped to  break up the otherwise wall-to-wall motor oil smell.

She was cramped, uncomfortable, and had no idea of the time, only that  it must be still dark and she was so tired but way too cold to sleep. It  hurt to move. It hurt not to move. But what hurt more was that she  wouldn't even be missed for hours. Damien was at the apartment, most  likely, and at the house no one would question her absence before lunch  time.

Every time she'd heard a car approach, she'd banged and yelled till she  was hoarse. But no one had heard her and the cars had just kept on  driving.

She was stuck here, shivering, until the sun rose. How long until  sunrise? But how hot was it expected to be today? Right now the idea of  warmth was attractive but how long would it take before she cooked  inside here?

They had to find her first. Damien had to find her first. Before she died …

Before their baby died.

She hugged her abdomen gently, marginally relieved that right now the  discomfort she was feeling down there had more to do with a pressing  bladder than a sign that anything was wrong with her pregnancy, and she  tried to rock in the cramped, airless space, crooning softly as if  calming her tiny child.                       
       
           



       

How long could she hang on to both her bladder and her sanity? Hopefully long enough.





The police had said they'd contact him as soon as they found her, but if  they thought there was any way he could sit and wait by a phone while  his wife was missing they had him all wrong. Even if they had reason to  wonder.

Tactfully they'd asked why it was that a man who'd just married had  spent the night in his apartment in town, while his pregnant wife was  left somewhere else.

It wasn't easy to explain-a stupid argument-a misunderstanding. In the light of what had ensued, it all seemed so pointless.

By the time he'd started his own search dawn was lightening the sky,  tingeing the few remaining clouds pink in an otherwise grey-blue sky. He  set out, confident that if she'd been on the highway someone would have  found her by now. She had to be somewhere between the house and the  highway.

How the woman had stolen the car, he was too scared to think. The only  thing he could hang on to was that she was alive somewhere, alive and  waiting to be found. She had to be.

He almost missed the car, only the perfect circles of its tail-lights  looking too regular amongst the shrubs along the side of the road.  Someone had tried to hide it-why else park it like that?

His heart raced as he pulled up nearby, watching for any indication that  anyone was about, but all he could hear was the morning cries of  magpies and crows high up in the trees. Until something thumped and  thumped again, dull and repetitive and totally at odds with the sounds  of a bush morning and hope sprang wild and unfettered in his chest. He  heard a cry, muffled and weak, but he heard it all the same and he  rushed to the car.

It had to be.

'Philly,' he yelled, his face up close to the metal. 'Is that you? Can you hear me?'

He wasn't sure if it was a squeal of relief or of delight that he heard  in response, but it sure was the best sound he'd ever heard.

She was alive.

He checked the boot but there was no external release mechanism. Without  a key he'd need to break it open. Unless …  The car was old but there was  a chance. He pulled open the driver's side door and sent up a silent  prayer of thanks when he saw the boot release lever. He flicked it up  and heard the satisfying click as the catch was released.

A fraction of a second later he pulled open the boot lid and scooped her  out of the small space, holding her in his arms and hugging her tightly  to him.

Her gown was torn and grease-stained, an old rag hung off her shoulders;  she smelled more of car and oil than her familiar apricot scent and  tears had left tracks down her grimy face but she'd never looked more  beautiful to him than right now.

'Philly.' He held her close, his lips brushing her brow as she sobbed gently against him.

'You found me,' she said, her voice shuddering on a sob.

'I was afraid I'd lost you for ever. Are you all right? Did they hurt you?'

'I'm stiff and sore and cold. But I think I'm okay. A woman took the  car; she had a gun. She made me get in the boot and then drove it into  the bushes.'

She'd had a gun.

Breath hissed through his teeth. What might have happened? What was he thinking, to lead her into danger like this?

He carried her to his car and sat inside with her cradled on his lap to  pass on his warmth. He pulled the smelly rag from her shoulders and  replaced it with the mohair rug from his car. She snuggled closer,  enjoying the warmth both his body and the rug lent as he pulled out his  mobile phone and made a quick call to the police.

'How did you find me?' she asked when he'd finished the call.

'The police found your car. You weren't in it.' He didn't tell her about  the driver; there were some things that could wait. And some things  that were more important and couldn't.

'I'm so sorry,' she said, her voice quivering. 'I didn't mean to cause you so much fuss.'

'Shh,' he said. 'It's not your fault. I shouldn't have left like that. You were following me, weren't you?'

'I had to talk to you. You wouldn't believe me. I couldn't let you go, thinking what you did.'

He smoothed her tangled hair with his fingers. 'I was wrong to think all those things. I was wrong.'

'But Damien-' she sniffed, rubbing her nose with her hand '-in a way you were right.'

'No,' he said, interrupting her. 'You don't have to do this now.'

'Please, I have to. I was crazy with wanting a baby; that much was  right. I'd asked about IVF but they wouldn't take me on because I wasn't  married. I'd even thought about picking someone up, a one-night stand.'                       
       
           



       

He stiffened, not sure he wanted to hear this.

She looked up at him, her eyes earnest. 'I thought about it but I  couldn't do it. I'd all but given up hope of having a baby by the time  the masquerade ball happened and it didn't even occur to me that night.  Because of you. You made me feel so good, you felt so wonderful, that  nothing else mattered. It was only afterwards that I realised what we'd  done. I panicked.'

'You really thought I would have sacked you?'

'I didn't know and I was too scared to find out. But as soon as I  discovered I was pregnant, I knew you had to be told. I couldn't keep it  a secret any longer. I'm sorry now I even waited that long. It made it  harder for you to believe me.'

He sighed and squeezed her tight against him. 'I made it hard to believe  you. I didn't want to be close to anyone. But I couldn't stop wanting  you. Not believing you became my way of pushing you away. If I couldn't  trust you, I couldn't feel anything for you.

'But I was mad,' he said, cocking his ear to the wail of an approaching  siren. 'Mad to think I could shut you out. It was only when I thought  I'd lost you that I realised just how much you meant to me.'

She looked up at him, her expression hopeful. 'I do?'

He raised her in his lap and brushed his lips against hers. 'Oh, you  do.' His lips moved over hers and he felt the tremor that passed through  her and the depth it added to her kiss. 'Did I tell you lately,' he  said, raising his lips just a fraction, 'that I love you?'

This time she pulled her mouth away completely, her tired eyes blinking, bright and beautiful. 'You've never told me that.'

'Then it's time I did. I love you, Philly. It took almost losing you to  realise that, but I do. I love you and I'm proud, even honoured, that  you are now part of my family and you will be part of my family for  ever, if you still want me after all I've done to you.'

Her eyes shone up at him, her teeth gripping her bottom lip. Tears  welled in her bright eyes, as if she was afraid to believe what he was  saying.

'Oh, Damien,' she managed to say when the bubble of happiness had  cleared from her throat enough to speak. 'I love you so much. I can't  imagine being anywhere else. You saved my life.'

'Fair payback,' he said. 'You've given me back mine.'

She opened her mouth as if to argue the point and he shushed her with a finger to her lips as the sirens screamed closer.

'Don't argue with me; any minute now we're going to be surrounded by  emergency services and I have much more important things right now to be  doing with my time.' And she smiled under his finger, her eyes  sparkling as he slanted his mouth over hers, his lips warm and gentle,  his breath and his final words moving her soul.