The Italian's One-Night Baby(16)

Ellie pushed her stiff shoulders back into her comfortable seat and inclined her head. ‘Oh, I guessed that,’ she admitted. ‘I assumed you wouldn’t have double-booked yourself.’

The faintest colour scored Rio’s hard cheekbones. ‘You can’t blame me for what they chose to do—’

‘No, but what they did and what they assumed was acceptable said a great deal about the nature of your prior relationship with them,’ Ellie pointed out with hot cheeks.

Rio swore long and low in Italian and finished his wine to set the glass down with a jarring snap on the table. ‘I didn’t have a relationship with either of them!’ he fired back. ‘I had sex with them on one drunken night years before the wedding. I admit that I did stuff when I was younger that I wouldn’t do now—’

Her face stiff as she struggled not to betray any reaction, Ellie nodded.

‘Just because you never felt the urge to experiment doesn’t mean we’re all the same...or that you’re better than me!’ Rio raked back at her.

‘I don’t think I’m better than you in any way. But that kind of experimentation doesn’t appeal to me,’ she confided.

‘I can’t lie and say I’m surprised,’ Rio breathed, watching her like a hawk. ‘Now we’ve got that out of the way and I can disclose that I have no plans to involve you in any form of sexual deviancy, can we concentrate on the marriage proposal?’

Ellie stiffened. ‘Why would you want me to marry you?’

‘If you do turn out to be pregnant I would have been asking you anyway,’ Rio advanced. ‘There is no way I would allow any woman to raise my child without me—’

‘Rio... These days, single and separated parents are common—’

‘I want my child to have everything I didn’t have. A home, a solid background, two caring parents, security,’ Rio extended almost argumentatively. ‘It’s only when you don’t have those advantages that you realise how very important they are.’

‘I understand that and I understand how you feel,’ Ellie assured him, relieved that she knew more about his background than she had. ‘But there’s a reasonable chance that I won’t be pregnant—’

‘I don’t want to wait and take the risk that you are because Beppe will judge me for that, as well, and regard me as an unwilling husband and a very bad bet. It would be much easier just to tell him that we have fallen in love and wish to get married as soon as possible,’ Rio argued. ‘He will understand that and he will see nothing wrong with it.’

‘I’m here on holiday,’ Ellie reminded him helplessly. ‘In a little over three weeks, I have to go home and return to work—’

‘I will not come between you and your medical career. I own property in England and if you have to be there to complete your training, I will make that possible, whether you are pregnant or not,’ he asserted.

That argument taken from her, Ellie slowly shook her buzzing head because he had taken her so much by surprise that she could barely think straight. ‘So, you want to marry me to help take care of any child we might have and to keep Beppe content... Am I correct?’

‘Sometimes you have the tongue of a viper,’ Rio condemned in a harsh undertone. ‘I want you for myself and for my own reasons and you know that! You know it every time you see me look at you, every time I touch you and struggle to stop touching you...’

Her pale skin flamed red at the dark liquid intensity of his deep voice. She lowered her head, finally acknowledging that she was equally out of control around him. In that they were equals. One kiss, one touch, one moment of madness wasn’t enough to sate the craving. But marriage, marriage was something else entirely, wasn’t it? It was forging a future together as partners, trusting each other.

‘You don’t trust me,’ she reminded him. ‘How can you marry a woman you don’t trust?’

‘With care,’ Rio fielded. ‘You don’t trust me either. Time and better understanding would take care of that. I’m sure we would both try to make the marriage a success—’

‘People try that all the time with marriage and fail.’

‘But there is honour in the trying,’ Rio declared without hesitation. ‘At least we would be doing the best we could to give our child a brighter future.’

‘What if there is no child?’

‘Then we eventually divorce and blame your long hours as a doctor and my business trips for keeping us apart too much,’ Rio told her smoothly. ‘Getting married now is a precaution for our potential child’s benefit. The right start, the right environment—’

Ellie held up a hand to silence him. ‘Yes, I get it but living with you would be a little like living on the side of a volcano waiting on the next eruption. You’re very volatile—’

‘And you’re not?’ Rio tossed back, watching her closely as her fine-boned hand closed round her orange juice to raise it to her peach-coloured mouth. ‘If I had you in my bed every night I would be a lot less volatile—’

Ellie almost choked on her drink and, spluttering, set it down, her face flushing.

Rio shrugged and dealt her an amused look. ‘Well, it’s true. Having Beppe warn me off you doesn’t improve my mood and makes it almost impossible for me to be with you.’

‘We don’t even have a relationship—’

‘Then what do we have? You’re splitting hairs, being too cautious. Take a risk on me,’ Rio invited.

And she so wanted to do that, Ellie realised in astonishment. She had never done a reckless thing in her life but Rio tempted her to the edge of foolishness. What if she was pregnant? It would upset Beppe and mess up his relationship with Rio. It would be virtually impossible for her to manage to work and care properly for a child without a partner and a settled home. But to make that decision now when she had no idea whether or not she had conceived? She glanced up at him, at the strong face that sent her heart racing and turned her resolve to mush. Was it wise to give into that side of herself? Or would she live to regret it?

‘Ellie...’ Rio prodded impatiently.

‘I don’t rush major decisions!’ Ellie responded.

Rio shot her a wicked smile. ‘We could go to bed and think about it—’

‘Another version of angry sex?’

‘But you’re not angry with me right now. You’re attempting to work me out,’ Rio surmised, uncoiling with fluid grace from the pillar he had been lounging back up against. ‘But I’m really quite basic. If I didn’t want you I wouldn’t be suggesting this.’

The silence smouldered with unspoken undertones. In the interim, Rio’s housekeeper reappeared with a tray. A plate of delicate and ridiculously enticing little sandwiches and a pot of tea were set down in front of Ellie.

‘Think of how simple all this could be...if we do it my way,’ Rio urged silkily. ‘We say we’re in love. We marry in haste. Beppe tries to dissuade us but is secretly delighted... And a baby, if there is one...would be the icing on the cake for him.’

Ellie snatched up another sandwich, registering that listening to Rio weave his arguments with such panache and conviction improved her appetite. He had drawn an attractive picture. If she didn’t marry him and then discovered she was pregnant, how much damage would she do to her new relationship with Beppe? And could she really stand by while Rio took the blame when she knew she was just as much to blame? In addition, if she was pregnant, she would definitely be seriously considering Rio’s marriage proposal because no one knew better than Ellie that raising a child alone was hard. In the course of her work she had met a lot of exhausted single parents struggling to keep work and family afloat. Her grandmother had struggled with that burden, as well, and both Polly and Ellie had been made thoroughly aware of that fact.

‘I’m thinking about it,’ she told Rio, who was emanating a wave of silent impatience. ‘I won’t give up work, you know. I’ll never be a trophy wife. I don’t like shopping or fussing with my appearance either,’ she warned him.

‘I’ll shop for you,’ Rio countered smoothly.

‘Stop being so reasonable!’ Ellie exclaimed in frustration. ‘I’m not used to it—’

Rio stole the last sandwich and grinned at her. ‘Stop being so sensible and so negative in your outlook.’

Ellie breathed in slow and deep. ‘All right... I’ll do it. I’ll marry you. Are you happy now?’

Rio treated her to an approving appraisal. ‘Finally. We’ll go and tell Beppe straight away and I’ll get my staff on to organising the wedding—’

‘I have to phone my sister first...and I want to do it in private,’ Ellie told him squarely, sounding a great deal more sure of herself than she actually felt.

‘And then we go and buy a ring,’ Rio informed her. ‘We’ll go the traditional route—’

‘Will we?’ Ellie looked at him uncertainly, for she certainly hadn’t expected to be offered what she assumed to be the equivalent of an engagement ring.

Was the ring to impress Beppe with the reality of them as a couple? Or was it supposed to please her? And what was she going to say to Beppe? And how was she going to explain to Polly that she was suddenly rushing into marriage with a guy she had said she loathed?