‘Well, I didn’t.’ Shaking her elbow free, Lottie defiantly glared back at him. ‘And for your information I actually managed perfectly fine until you started interfering.’
‘Right.’ Rafael matched her stare. ‘So it’s my fault, is it? My fault that you were hurtling towards the shore at sixty knots per hour?’
‘Yes—yes, it was.’ Lottie wasn’t going to back down. ‘You made me lose my concentration.’
‘Well, all I can say is it’s a good job I did. Your “concentration” was going to end up taking you to the bottom of the lake—along with a pile of fibreglass that had once been my boat.’
‘Don’t exaggerate.’ Tossing her head, Lottie turned to retrieve her bag from the seat of the damaged boat.
‘Where have you been, anyway?’
‘Just to do a little shopping.’
‘Why didn’t you answer my calls?’
Retrieving her phone from the bag, Lottie registered the seven missed calls. ‘I was driving, remember? Surely you know you shouldn’t use your phone when you are driving?’
She raised her eyebrows at him, all too aware, but not caring in the least, that she was seriously winding him up.
‘So, where is this shopping?’ Not that it mattered. But, needing the distraction, Rafael looked around and could see no evidence of it.
‘Here.’
Their eyes met over the chemist’s bag that Lottie slowly withdrew from her handbag and the world around them suddenly skidded to a halt.
‘Ah. I see.’
Silence hung heavily between them.
‘You are going to do it now?’ His voice seemed to come from a long way away, his eyes remaining fixed on the unremarkable bag.
Lottie nodded. ‘I guess so.’ She gave a throwaway laugh. ‘Now’s as good a time as any.’
There was another brief silence.
‘Buono.’
Brisk now, businesslike, Rafael took a step towards her and attempted to put an arm around her shoulder. But Lottie refused to respond and it ended up more like a manly pat on the back. Awkwardness pushed them apart again.
‘Come on, then.’ Clearing his throat, he tried again. ‘Let’s do this.’
* * *
Rafael was standing by the window, his back to her, when Lottie emerged from the bathroom. She was delicately holding the tester stick in front of her, as if it was made of plutonium, or something capable of destroying their lives.
‘How long?’ Turning, Rafael looked at her, then at it, the catch in his voice betraying his tension along with his shoulders, which were hitched unnaturally high.
‘It says up to three minutes.’
Lottie could barely speak. Sinking down on the bed, she tried to regulate her breathing—to breathe at all, in fact. She felt dizzy, her hands shaky and clammy as they gripped the plastic time bomb.
Crossing over to the bed, Rafael gently took the tester stick from her and placed it face-down on the table. He squatted beside her, taking her hands between his own, his warm strength pumping into her.
‘I want to say something to you, Lottie.’
Lottie didn’t want to hear it—not now, not ever, actually. She couldn’t face any more emotional trauma. This waiting was threatening to kill her, literally. She realised she couldn’t breathe any more and the room was starting to spin.
‘Lottie.’ Giving her hands a shake, Rafael halted her panic attack enough to make her suck in a breath and look at him. ‘I want to say thank you for doing this.’
‘There’s no need...’
‘Yes—yes, there is. Whatever the outcome, I truly appreciate that you were prepared to at least try to give me my last chance of being a father.’
Why was he talking like this? As if he already knew the result was going to be negative? He who had always been so convinced that this time it would work. Did he know something she didn’t?
Lottie looked at him with fear in her eyes.
‘I know this is the last thing you expected when I asked you to come to Palazzo Monterrato. That you actually thought you had come to sign divorce papers.’ A tightness pulled at the corners of his mouth as he spoke. ‘And if there is no baby you will, of course, have your wish. I will put divorce proceedings into place straight away and you will have your freedom. But either way I want you to know you have my heartfelt thanks.’