‘Carrie?’
Clutching the countertop for support, she slowly turned around. ‘How…’ Her voice faded before she could say anything else. It must have been Nico’s strength reaching out to her that stopped her sliding to the floor. He was dripping wet from the rain and had his collar turned up. He needed a shave and his jeans were soaked through. He looked exhausted, but…
‘At last.’ He gave her one of his crooked half-mocking smiles, stuffing the photograph he was carrying back in his pocket.
‘How did you find me?’ She felt as if she were suspended in a net above the action, watching it, not taking part in it. She wanted to pinch herself to prove she wasn’t dreaming, but didn’t dare to move in case he disappeared.
‘Your painting…’ He sighed, exhaling long and slow with relief.
His voice strummed a long lost chord deep inside her that made her want to laugh and cry all at the same time.
His eyes were bright with triumph, with humour, and with something more she refused to see. ‘But there are dozens of art shops in London….’
‘Hundreds,’ Nico assured her softly.
Carrie paid over her money in a trance. Nothing seemed real. Even taking hold of the bag with the tubes of paint and a bottle of linseed oil inside assumed a surreal quality.
‘Let me take that for you—’
‘No.’ As Nico reached out to help her she clutched the paper bag to her chest. ‘No, thank you, I can manage…’ Manage? She could hardly exist in this strange situation. She wanted to get out of the shop and feel the rain on her face and still see Nico. Then she might believe he was here. His eyes were as bright as steel as he looked down at her, but it was impossible to read his thoughts. She could feel his aura…She could feel the energy coming off him and wrapping round her. She had to fight through it to get her own thoughts in order. Was he genuinely pleased to see her, or was it just the end of the chase? He had tried to blackmail her and she had eluded him. He hadn’t changed that much. Nico would never let that pass…
And she didn’t want any more pain in her life. That was her overriding feeling as they walked out of the shop. She couldn’t go back to the constant humiliation and uncertainty. She didn’t want to go back into a one-sided relationship. But neither could she bear to lose Nico again, Carrie thought, glancing up at him.
But what if his agenda hadn’t changed? What if he still thought she was malleable and would do anything he asked…anything he ordered? But she couldn’t keep running for ever. She wanted a happy life for her baby, and that meant a life with stability. She was going to settle down and call some place home, even if that home was a tiny apartment….
And then Nico sneezed, presenting her with a more immediate problem. ‘You’d better come back to my place and dry off before you catch pneumonia.’ Aware of how this might sound to him, she quickly modified, ‘Or we could have a hot coffee somewhere?’ But her cheeks were already on fire, giving away how much she loved him, how much she’d missed him, how much she cared for him.
‘Good thinking,’ he said lightly.
Crossing the road, he steered her towards the restaurant district where she took him to a local café, thinking the noise and bustle would cover any awkward silences between them. Beneath her excitement she was still wary, still vulnerable and she was frightened to read too much into his visit. Yes, he had gone to a lot of trouble finding her, but that didn’t mean that Nico had suddenly developed a caring side to his nature. Nico simply couldn’t accept defeat.
Buying two coffees for them, he secured seats by the window.
‘I need you to come back to Niroli with me, Carrie.’
She was stunned. She couldn’t believe Nico had launched straight in with that. He was acting as if they had never been apart. She was equally decisive with her answer. She told him no.
His gaze held hers. How could she have forgotten what it was like to be up against Nico’s will when his engines were running on maximum revs? ‘You tried to blackmail me into staying with you,’ she reminded him. ‘You can’t do that, Nico, and you can’t force me to come with you now.’
His gaze didn’t waver. ‘I’m here because we need to discuss the future of a baby.’
He had always known how to reach in and grab her heart. She would always put her baby first, and he knew that. ‘Then, we’ll talk here, in London.’
‘No…’ He shook his head, frowning as he straightened up. ‘Something’s come up. I have to get back to Niroli straight away—’