November Harlequin Presents 2(39)

Maybe…

Then he took her high again, to that place where rhyme and reason no longer existed, and she abandoned all concerns about the future as she went with him, spinning into a world of sensation where there existed nothing but the two of them and a blanket of a million stars to wrap around them.



‘Here we go.’ Maverick placed glasses and an ice bucket down on a side table. Inside the ice bucket the neck of a bottle of Dom Perignon leaned jauntily to one side. Outside the light was fading, and night would soon close around them.

Tegan lay on her stomach and watched him dispense with the foil and wire and release the cork, a feeling of sadness swamping the joy she’d felt in the hours since they’d come back from the airport. She’d known ever since she’d picked him up that she could no longer put off the truth, but here he was presenting her with the perfect opportunity to admit her pregnancy.

He handed her a flute filled with the pale strawcoloured liquid and she watched the tiny bubbles sparkle to the surface. ‘What are you celebrating? Having the deal signed off?’

‘Why not?’ he said. He sat down alongside her. ‘Or maybe just celebrating the beautiful woman in my bed.’ Then he handed her a package that screamed Bulgari.

She just looked at it. ‘You don’t have to buy me things.’

‘I wanted to. Open it.’

She removed the lid, gasping when she saw the magnificent diamond bracelet sparkling inside. She just sat there shaking her head.

‘Don’t you like it?’

‘It’s beautiful,’ she said, her heart breaking. ‘I don’t deserve this.’

‘I think you do,’ he said, removing it from the box and fixing it around her wrist, its diamonds dazzling as they played in the light. He picked up his glass and toasted her. ‘Here’s to you,’ he said before taking a deep sip, his eyes not leaving hers.

He wound an arm around her neck and reeled her in, pressing his mouth to hers. Fine wine seasoned with fine man; his taste was on her lips, his musky male scent curling warmly into her senses, creating a mix that melted her from the bones out and left her weak in his arms. And planted a spark of hope in her heart. A kiss like that had to mean something, surely? A gift like that must mean something.

Just maybe, if he felt something for her, they might find a way through the mess she’d created.

‘You don’t like the wine?’ he asked when he’d released her and moved to top up his own glass.

She contemplated her flute solemnly and stumbled over her next breath. The moment had finally come. ‘Maverick,’ she said, ‘I need to tell you something.’

His eyebrows lifted and she caught a fleeting shadow skate across his eyes. ‘That sounds ominous,’ he said as he returned the bottle to the ice bucket without refilling his glass. ‘What’s on your mind?’

‘There’s a couple of things,’ she began uncertainly, damning herself for her inability to come right out and say it—I’m pregnant!—and be done with it. But her mouth refused to form the words. Instead she had to find out what if anything she meant to him, before she sprung the surprise news that not only was she having his baby but she’d been living a lie these past weeks. She was probably just prolonging her torture, but if she learnt that he had felt something for her during their time together it would be something to cherish in her heart for ever.

‘When we started this…’ she searched for the right word ‘…liaison, you said it would burn out. Two or three weeks maximum, you said.’

He shrugged. ‘You’re complaining because we’re good together?’

‘No. I like the way we, er, fit.’ She could feel the heat in her face building up, but there was no choice now but to press on. ‘But I just don’t understand what’s going on.’

He leaned over and lifted her chin, pressing his lips to hers, all the while his eyes regarding her coolly. ‘What’s to understand? We’re having an affair. And we’re having great sex. Why should there be any more to it than that? Why complicate things?’

She shook her head sadly as his cold words snuffed out the tiny flame of hope she’d nurtured during their day of passion. ‘No. No reason,’ she agreed, with what she hoped was a smile. It was just as he’d told her it would be. He still expected this thing between them to burn out, and then he’d go back to acting as if it had never happened. It was just taking longer to burn out than he’d expected. ‘I was just surprised it had lasted this long. You seemed so sure.’

‘I’m as surprised as you are. But why knock it?’