November Harlequin Presents 1(40)

‘Could be?’ Her voice was still gentle, still low, but anxiety had broken through.

‘And if you are,’ he went on, brushing aside her concerns, ‘you’ll stay with me—’

‘Is that an invitation,’ she said more firmly, ‘or are you forbidding me from leaving you, Nico?’

He was surprised by the change in her, especially after she had shown him so much tenderness. He should have expected it. And after the way she had behaved last night he should have been prepared for it. He wished he could pinpoint the moment Carrie had changed and wind back the spool to a time when she had been more accommodating. But whatever she said, there was no scope for compromise; agreement with his plan was the only course open to her.

‘I thought…I hoped,’ she amended, ‘that when I finally convinced you about our baby you would rejoice as I have done—’

‘And I am rejoicing,’ he assured her.

She remained unconvinced, and turned away from him to stare out of the window.

She wasn’t seeing the view. She couldn’t see anything from the turret except the dust and grime of neglect. The studio was an afterthought; she was an afterthought, and the only thing Nico cared about was becoming a father.

‘Obviously, I can’t know for sure if I’m the father of your child until the baby is born,’ he said, breaking the silence with harsh fact.

‘And then?’ She turned back to face him.

‘And then a simple test can be performed. The whole procedure is quick and painless…a swab inside the cheek…samples delivered for analysis…results available quickly…By return, in fact, because—’

‘Because you’re a member of the royal family?’ she supplied, staring out of the window again.

‘Don’t make this any harder than it has to be, Carrie—’

‘Harder?’ She looked at him, puzzled.

‘You don’t seem to realise what I’m offering you.’

‘You want me to take a test. I think I got that part.’

As she looked at him he saw a variety of emotions colour her gaze. There was affront and distress, but then she settled on the one he expected least, and didn’t want, and that was pity. ‘I thought this was what you wanted…’ He gestured around the room.

It was as far from what she wanted as it was possible to get. But whatever Nico said, however deeply he cut into the love she felt for him, she would never find a way to excise him from her heart. That was a fact she had to live with. And perhaps he was right, perhaps she was being unreasonable. Wasn’t this why she had come to Niroli? Nico was on the point of accepting their child, so shouldn’t she forget about how she felt about their relationship and think about the baby?

‘You wouldn’t have to stay in Niroli if the test proved negative,’ he went on, as if she had already agreed.

If the test proved negative? Was he serious? Did he think there was the remotest chance she would lie to him now? It saddened her to think how little Nico knew her. She knew him. She knew he had felt his infertility like a missing limb, and that he had wanted a child so badly it had coloured his whole life, making him court danger like a man with nothing to lose. His harsh manner was aimed at warding off anyone who might come too close to him, anyone who might discover his secret, the secret of his infertility. ‘You must decide what you want to do—’ He cut her off before she could say the rest.

‘I’m glad you understand,’ he said as if he were closing a deal. ‘And when the baby’s born there’ll be another simple test—’

Carrie held up her hand to silence him. Everything in her rebelled against the thought of some unnecessary procedure being carried out on a newborn infant.

‘It’s a simple, non-invasive test,’ Nico went on, reading her thoughts. ‘It involves blood being taken from the baby’s umbilical cord—’

She wasn’t hearing him. She wouldn’t listen.



She rounded on him then, her face contorted with passion. ‘You don’t get it, do you, Nico? It’s my baby…mine and yours! And I won’t allow our baby to be subjected to a barrage of tests just to prove something I already know!’

The strength of her reaction shocked him. She was shouting at him in a way he would never have dreamed she was capable of, and when he took a step towards her she waved her arms in his face to drive him away.

‘Don’t touch me, Nico! I’ve heard enough! I thought you wanted to talk to me because you were keen to work out the best way forward for our baby, but instead you insult me and our child with your talk of tests. You don’t believe me!’ she shouted when he tried to take hold of her. ‘You don’t believe me!’ she repeated bitterly, wrenching herself free.