Princess's Secret Baby(23)

                ‘I did not,’ Leila said. ‘I was on the pill.’

                ‘Please...’ He looked at her, remembered her very deliberately removing the condom, and then he tried not to remember that.

                Leila stood with her heart hammering in her chest as James took a seat in a leather chair.

                ‘We’re going to talk.’

                ‘I need to get dressed.’

                He stood, lifted the chair and moved it to the bedroom doors, which he left open. He turned the chair around, so he faced outwards. ‘Get dressed then, but I’ll hear if you open a window,’ James said. ‘And, once dressed, you and I are going to have a very long talk.’

                The phone rang and Leila looked at it, but James, who knew hotels better than most, told her who it would be.

                ‘That will be reception checking to see if you’re okay and if you want me removed from your suite.’

                ‘I want you removed,’ Leila said.

                ‘Well, you’d better tell them to send the police then, because the only way they’ll take me out is cuffed. Like it or not we are going to talk, Leila. It might as well be now.’

                She answered the phone and looked at the back of his head. Leila could see the tense set of his shoulders, yet she didn’t really fear him as such.

                She just feared the conversation ahead.

                Leila let out a breath and chose to face it. ‘I’m fine,’ she said to the worried receptionist. ‘You don’t need to send anyone.’

                ‘Tell them to send afternoon tea because we’re going to be here some time.’ James turned his head but she ignored that request and put down the phone.

                ‘Get dressed,’ he said.

                Leila went to her closet and tried to decide what to wear. She found western clothes very confusing and longed for robes, but she had only brought one with her.

                Oh, what to wear?

                ‘Leila...’ James warned as she took her time.

                He was here to discuss the business of their child so Leila selected a black linen suit that she had seen the beautiful businesswomen wearing as she sat in Central Park and watched the world go by.

                She laid it out on the bed and then opened a drawer and looked for underwear and a top that would go with the suit. She could hear him tapping his foot in impatience but Leila refused to be rushed.

                It was more than impatience; he knew she had undone her robe and he was fighting instinct not to turn around.

                Leila felt strange having him here in the room as she dressed, for she remembered the heat of their undress.

                She pulled on panties that she had bought in Macy’s when her card had still been working. Then she pulled on a little silver top that she had bought there too.

                ‘How long does it take to get dressed, Leila?’

                ‘It takes me a considerable time,’ Leila answered. ‘I’m not used to dressing myself and neither am I used to buttons.’

                He tried not to smile and then he grimaced as he remembered her tearing off his shirt.