November Harlequin Presents 1(41)
‘Calm down, Carrie! This can’t be good for the baby—’
She went instantly still, so still she frightened him. ‘Don’t you dare express concern for my child, when you’re not fit to be a father!’
He’d heard pregnancy drove emotion to fever pitch in women, but he’d never realised what it could be like. He waited as she hugged herself for her shoulders to relax before trying again. ‘I’m trying to make this easy for you, Carrie—’
‘Easy?’ she said incredulously, swinging round.
‘I have accepted the fact that you are pregnant,’ he said patiently, ‘I have also accepted the fact that you might be carrying my baby—’
‘Might?’ she interrupted. ‘Might be carrying your baby? You have accepted that? Why, that’s very good of you, Nico—’
‘I want you to be happy, Carrie—’ He was forced to stop as her eyes filled with tears. After her anger it was like a pendulum swinging too violently, first one way and then the other. And as she gazed around the room in the turret where he’d made his clumsy attempt to keep her in Niroli guilt hit him like a sledgehammer. ‘Please listen to what I have to say.’
‘No, Nico.’ She shook her head, calmer now. ‘You’ve got nothing to say that I want to hear.’
When she went to move past he dragged her close, but she remained stiff and unresponsive.
‘Let me go, Nico. We’re finished here.’
He couldn’t let her go. ‘Not until you agree to my terms.’
‘Your terms?’ She looked at him sadly.
He let her go. He released her arms and stood back. He had never used his strength against a woman in his life. ‘I’m offering you a home, Carrie—’
‘Like a stray dog?’
‘Like the woman who might be carrying my child. You don’t have a home in London, and you have very little money—’
‘Your investigations do you credit, Nico.’
‘Did you expect me to sit back and do nothing?’
She shook her head, too miserable to say a word.
‘I’ve made plans.’ He wanted to see her smile again and knew she would see the sense in them. ‘We’ll announce our engagement right away, and then be married shortly after that.’
Nico was proposing marriage to her? Carrie’s mind reeled. And then she realised he was waiting for her answer.
‘It makes sense, Carrie,’ he insisted.
‘You say marriage makes sense?’ She was vaguely aware that he was nodding his head, encouraging her on. ‘And what comes next, Nico?’ She looked at him. ‘A speedy divorce? Or, better still, an annulment? And what happens if the tests prove you are not the father of my child?’
‘Is that a possibility?’
‘If the tests are carried out in Niroli I should think anything is possible for a member of the royal family.’
He reared back at her accusation. ‘Please don’t insult me, or my country.’
‘Don’t you insult me with your shoddy suggestion of a meaningless engagement and a loveless marriage!’
‘Perhaps I should reassure you that Niroli has a state-of the-art hospital where everything will be carried out without the donors even being named. There will be no interference with the samples, I give you my word. And I would never agree to a procedure that might inflict discomfort on a baby.’
‘On our baby,’ she corrected him.
It was time for her to face facts. Nothing had changed as far as Nico was concerned. A side of him she had always believed existed had made a fleeting appearance, but she had always been in danger of believing what she wanted to believe where Nico was concerned. He had asked her to become his wife, which was a dream come true, except that dream was now a nightmare. His offer was nothing more than a tactic to hold her in place until their baby was born and Nico could find out if he was the father. ‘You don’t have to marry me,’ she assured him. ‘All I want is that you acknowledge our child—’
‘If the child is mine you can have anything you want.’
If if if! ‘I’ve told you I don’t want anything!’
‘So you don’t want royal protection for your baby?’
All the old fears returned. Everything paled in the face of her baby’s safety, and her budget would never stretch to the type of security Nico was talking about.
‘Any child of the royal family would receive protection as a matter of course,’ he went on smoothly.
Whatever she did for her child would never be enough. She needed professional help with protection and that cost more money than she had. ‘Can’t a formal agreement be drawn up between us to allow for security measures to be put in place?’