Starting her own business would require a lot of hard work in the next six months. But if she could get it up and running, with her own savings and Eva’s investment, and schedule the events she took on either before or six months after the baby’s due date, it could work. It was a huge risk, but she couldn’t afford to let her career coast any longer. And there was no getting around the fact that Nate’s offer of a free place to stay couldn’t have come at a better time. But if she was going to be sleeping under Nate’s roof, one thing she absolutely must not do was end up sleeping in his bed too.
Quite apart from making her even more susceptible to those silly heartbumps, it would send out all the wrong signals.
She sucked in a careful breath and gripped the car’s steering wheel. So stop hyperventilating at the thought of seeing him again.
They weren’t an item. Not in any real sense. They’d had monkey sex. Twice. And made a baby. By accident. And okay, he wasn’t the cold, ruthless, irresponsible guy he’d first appeared to be. And neither his motives nor his personality nor his past were as black and white as she’d instantly assumed. There were definite shades of grey there, complexities she never would have guessed at. But that didn’t alter the fact that he was not really her kind of guy. He was arrogant, super-confident and had a bad habit of trying to tell her what to do. When they weren’t tearing each other’s clothes off, what did they really have in common, except an accidental pregnancy?
They had seven months to establish a civil and manageable relationship with one another, which should be centred on the baby growing inside her and definitely not on the highly combustible monkey sex they had already indulged in.
She chewed on her bottom lip, willing the steam to stop hissing. And felt somewhat gratified when her heartbeat slowed a little.
At a girl, Tess. All she needed to do was focus on all the things that made her and Nate completely incompatible. Then she shouldn’t have a problem dealing with the areas where they were far too compatible.
The engine wheezed painfully and Tess focused on whispering words of encouragement as the car struggled up the last rise and crested the hill. Then her jaw went slack, and every sensible thought flew right out of her head, chased away by utter astonishment. ‘Good grief!’
She peered over the dash, her stunned gaze taking in the enormous edifice of stone, wood, granite and stained glass at the bottom of the driveway.
Turrets and towers and gables decorated with rococo flourishes soared into the cloudless sky like something conjured up during Sleeping Beauty’s one-hundred-year sleep. The riotous tumble of hedgerows and flowering scrubs, awash with blooming rosebuds, hugged a wide curving staircase that led up to a giant arched doorway.
Had Nate actually described this place as a house? The man certainly knew how to do understatement.
No way was that a house. Fairy-tale castle didn’t even begin to cover it. The glorious jumble of architectural styles from bygone eras looked like the Emerald City, Prince Charming’s Palace and the Fortress of Solitude all rolled into one.
Tess’s heart began to pound against her ribcage. It was totally and utterly mad, and yet at the same time totally and utterly magnificent.
Sputtering to a stop in the circular driveway behind a huge black SUV, Tess climbed out in a trance, her breathing speeding up again.
The scent of bougainvillea and seawater perfumed the breeze as she scanned the area. Apart from the Jeep, which had to be Nate’s, there was no sign of the man himself. As she studied the sleek, discreet and defiantly masculine mode of transport, then gawped at his childhood home again, her curiosity was piqued.
How the heck could he have grown up in a place like this and become so serious and intense? The man didn’t appear to have a frivolous bone in his body—except where sex in confined spaces was concerned—and yet this place had about as much gravity as Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
Swinging round in a circle to take in the rest of the estate, and imagining how much fun she would have had running wild in a place like this as a child, she turned towards the cliffs—and let out another staggered gasp.
The estate’s landscaped gardens dipped down the hill towards a spectacular infinity pool perched on the cliff edge and shielded from the sea by a series of fanciful Grecian arches. Tess couldn’t quite contain her grin as she crossed the manicured lawn to get a better view. Thankfully, she’d worn a simple T-shirt, jeans and trainers combo for the trip so she didn’t have to worry about breaking an ankle.
As she got closer she made out a marble statue of Poseidon cavorting with a mermaid lover in the centre of the pool, their sculpted forms gloriously naked. The cerulean blue water sparkled and gleamed in the glare of the late-afternoon sunlight. Tess shielded her eyes to gaze past the cliffs towards the tumbling breakers hitting the coastline below, then stumbled to a stop, her heartbeat rising back up her throat as two hands appeared at the far side of the pool. A dark head emerged, swiftly followed by a tanned and nearly nude male body as the swimmer levered himself out of the water in one fluid movement and stood dripping on the marble tiles.