‘So you do believe the baby is yours?’
He closed his eyes before inclining his head. ‘Yes, cucciola mia. I believe the baby is mine.’
Pepe waited for a beat, just in case the world did come crashing down.
‘Forgive me. Not trusting people is so hardwired into me that when you told me you were pregnant I went into denial. I think maybe I lost my head a little.’
‘Make that a lot,’ she said with a smile that lightened her features and lifted his spirits.
Cara was not Luisa. If there was one thing he knew about his flame-haired lover it was that she didn’t have a selfish bone in her body. He could not in all good conscience make her continue to pay for Luisa’s sins. And nor could he allow his child to pay.
His child.
He really was going to be a father.
His chest swelled with an emotion so pure it pushed all the oxygen from his lungs.
His child.
Their child.
‘I think we should both promise to give this...thing a minimum of a fortnight to at least try and make it work.’
‘No more being kept as a prisoner?’
‘You are free to come and go as you please—I’ll even give you your own set of keys. See, I am trying.’
‘Very,’ she agreed with a straight face.
He tapped her snub nose playfully, his spirits lifting even further. This could really work...
‘If you give me your bank details I will deposit a sum of money into it which should go some way to recompensing you for your future loss of earnings with the auction house.’
‘You do believe I’m not after your money?’ she asked, suddenly looking anxious. ‘All I want is for our child to be provided for.’
‘And it will be,’ he promised. Now that he had openly acknowledged his paternity it felt as if a great weight had lifted from him.
Deep inside, he had always known the truth. Cara was too...straight to tell anything but the most innocuous of lies. It was his own damaged pride that had refused to believe it.
A wave of something that felt suspiciously like guilt rolled into his guts.
He’d done the best he could, he told himself defiantly. Anyone who walked in his shoes would have reacted in the same way.
All the same, he knew he would have to go a long way to make it up to her.
And he knew the best way to start.
Reaching for her hips, he pulled her so she was sitting astride him.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked with a gasp.
‘Celebrating our agreement.’ Thus said, he tilted his head and kissed her.
‘So this is how we celebrate?’ she said when they finally came up for air.
He nuzzled into her neck, marvelling at the softness and the oh-so-heady scent. He was reminded of the way she had tasted on his tongue, could almost taste it anew. ‘Can you think of a better way?’