It was no doubt pointless, but she had no option other than to plough on. ‘And when every attempt I made to tell you backfired,’ she whispered, ‘I wasn’t really sorry at all—and yet I knew that the longer my masquerade continued the worse it had to get. Then I found out I was pregnant…’
‘So who’s the unlucky man?’
Shock exploded like a bomb blast inside her, horror following in its wake.
‘You can’t mean that,’ she whispered, her whole body trembling, her voice quaking as instinctively she placed a hand low over her belly to protect her unborn child from its father’s cruel words. ‘I can’t believe you even have the audacity to ask.’
He made a sound like a low laugh. ‘With your track record, what do you expect?’
‘We’ve been having an affair for something like six weeks now, and still you have to ask me how I happen to be pregnant? Can’t you work it out? There’s been no one else, before or during this relationship. This is your baby, Maverick. Your baby growing inside me. And, heaven help the poor child, but it’s yours whether you believe it or not.’
‘I used protection!’
‘Which obviously failed to protect!’
His jaw was set like stone, his eyes glittering like dark stars.
‘How long have you known?’
‘I found out when you were in Milan,’ she admitted softly, her nerves tangled and snarled like plant roots wound tightly around the confines of a too-small pot.
‘You’ve known for two weeks?’
She flinched at the harshness of his tone, only managing a nod in response.
‘And, even when you discovered you were carrying what you say is my child, you chose to keep me in the dark.’
‘It is your child!’
‘That you obviously decided I didn’t need to know about.’
‘No,’ she conceded. ‘As its father you have every right to know.’
‘A right that you were more than happy to deny me!’
‘I was going to tell you. Today!’
He shook his head. ‘If I hadn’t turned up today I’d still be in the dark. And you’d still be lying and pretending.’
She dragged in air, her gut churning anew, her brain churning in sympathy. ‘Look, I did try to tell you about the baby—that day I picked you up from the airport—but Nell phoned, and the next thing I know you expect me to be at this lunch today.’
‘You could have said no and kept on talking.’
‘I didn’t want to come! I told you that. But you insisted, because I was part of the team, because Nell wanted me there. So I put it off. For Nell.’
‘For Nell,’ he repeated, his words as deadpan as his eyes. ‘You apparently do things for other people all the time. You do things for your sister—you lied for her. You were forced to maintain the deception—for Rogerson. You neglected to tell me you’re pregnant in deference to Nell’s wishes for Christmas. You’re a very noble person, it seems. Or is it that you just like to blame everyone else for the bad decisions you make? To see if you can make circumstances work out better for you?’
‘Stop twisting things! I was going to tell you! I tried to tell you, but it was you who insisted I come to lunch today because Nell was expecting me to be there. That’s the only reason I agreed.’
‘Is it? Are you absolutely sure there isn’t another reason you decided to hold back?’
She pulled back, stunned by his certainty, terrified of the implications. Surely he couldn’t know! If he had any idea that she loved him, that the promise of living as his mistress for just two more weeks had been too great a temptation for her to resist, then she would not have a shred of pride left to add to her already non-existent self-respect.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I think that when you heard about this lunch you dreamed up a much more creative way of exploiting the news.’
Cold fingernails scraped down her spine. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘No? So you weren’t planning on dropping news of your little secret into the lunch conversation, then?’
She frowned and shook her head. ‘With everyone there? Of course not. I told you, I was going to tell you afterwards. Why would I do anything else?’
‘Because it’s Christmas,’ he stated, ignoring her protests. ‘And I think you saw the perfect trap. You figured that if you announced your pregnancy during lunch, with everyone including my grandmother in attendance, that I’d be forced into doing the honourable thing and marry you to keep her and everyone else happy.’
‘What? That’s crazy!’