November Harlequin Presents 2(172)

There had been five messages on his answering machine when he had returned the night before. All from Georgina. Then three calls this morning, all of which he let the answering machine get. He certainly didn’t feel inclined to be civil to anyone, least of all his ex-girlfriend, who had disappeared only to resurface just when he needed no distractions.

Pregnant.

Angelo had barely been able to take it in when Jack had launched his bombshell. In fact, it had initially crossed his mind that it might have been some kind of ruse to extract money from him, even though he knew her well enough to know that that would not be her style. The self-delusion hadn’t lasted long. The man had been utterly serious. There had been no mistaking his body language and there had been no mistaking the simple truth, which was that he had not come to see him with Francesca’s permission.

Which meant that she had had no intention of telling him about the pregnancy. The treachery involved in her silence had rendered him speechless. He had listened to Jack stutter out one or two excuses on her behalf but he had barely heard them. He had left rather than be fed with further rubbish along those lines. Had returned home to find his answering machine blinking at him.

‘I wondered whether we could meet, Angelo. There’s something I have to talk to you about.’

Meeting Georgina was the last thing he wanted to do. Nor did he care for the barely hidden smugness in her voice. Had she found out about his affair with Francesca? More than likely. London was a big place but not so big in certain circles that word might not have got round. They could have been spotted at any time and the grapevine in the city was as lush and vibrant as any grapevine anywhere else.

And if she had known about the relationship, then it was also possible that she knew of its demise. Was she planning a comeback? Angelo’s mouth curved into a grim smile of contempt. He could barely remember that faraway time when he had been contemplating marriage to her, content to let common sense dictate his judgements. In fact, he could barely remember a time before Francesca had exploded once again into his life, bringing back all the confusion he had thought well left behind.

‘I have nothing to say to you, Georgina.’

‘Oh, but I have something to say to you.’ The smugness was right out in the open now and Angelo allowed his feelings to get the better of him. Damned if he was going to let her have free rein to gloat over things that were none of her business.

‘Do you now?’ he enquired coldly. ‘Well, I’m not interested and, in fact, I’m on my way out to see Francesca. So if you’ll excuse me…’ He hung up, almost expecting to hear the insistent ringing of the phone as she tried to reconnect, but the house was silent.

He left before the silence could be broken and forced himself not to drive like a madman over to her house. The situation felt almost dreamlike, surreal. With the ease of habit, he began thinking about the consequences of the situation. She would have kept this baby to herself because, at the end of the day, whatever good sex they had shared, it wasn’t enough. It hadn’t been enough three years ago and it wasn’t enough now. But she was having his baby and her feelings would have to be secondary, whether she liked it or not.

His jaw clenched in anger and he breathed in slowly and deeply, taking his time in the Saturday morning traffic.

It was mid-morning by the time he reached her place and he almost expected to find that she had gone out, but no. He rang the doorbell and heard the sound of footsteps behind the closed door.

Francesca took a deep breath, hand on the door knob. She had been dreading this moment, knowing it would come, and knowing, as well, that he wouldn’t give her any advance warning. No time for her to prepare herself. It wouldn’t have mattered at any rate. She was as prepared now as she would ever be.

She opened the door and her courage failed her at the sight of his grim, implacable face.

‘Come in.’ She turned around and began walking towards the sitting room. She only faced him when they were both in the room, at which point she had no choice, but that didn’t mean that she was any less afraid. Her heart was thumping inside her and she felt sweaty.

‘Would you like something to drink?’ she asked, clasping her hands together on her lap and leaning forward.

Angelo’s mouth twisted. ‘Bit late in the day for polite exchanges, don’t you think? Bearing in mind that you were going to disappear off the face of the earth with my baby?’

Francesca blanched. ‘I…I…wasn’t going to disappear off the face of the earth…’

‘No? Just duck out of sight? Call it whatever you want to call it, Francesca, but you had no intention of telling me, did you?’ He clenched his fists to stop himself from hitting something. ‘How dare you,’ he said coldly, ‘think that you could keep my child away from me?’