Chapter Five
Shock pinned Serena to the spot as she pulled open the front door and found herself staring into a set of smoky grey eyes.
‘Caleb,’ she breathed, her heart quickening as he filled the doorway.
In another of his bespoke suits, this one a perfect match for the shade of his eyes, with a crisp white shirt beneath, he was a devastating sight. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I got the test results back a short while ago,’ he answered, his gaze heavy. ‘The DNA is a match. You’re carrying my child.’
One hand clung to the door for support because her knees had turned to water, but Serena managed to pull herself up taller and meet his eyes fearlessly, even as flickers of apprehension licked at the sides of her stomach.
Wasn’t he supposed to be on his way to the South of France?
‘You came here to tell me something I already know?’
‘No. I’m here to discuss our next steps.
Preferably not on the doorstep.’ He scowled, brushing past her, and Serena didn’t even try to stop him, stumbling as she was over his use of the word our—as though this was a situation they were in together.
Which, yes, biologically they were. But in every other way, they absolutely weren’t.
‘What exactly do you mean our next steps?’ Serena asked urgently, trailing him into the living space and scanning his face for some clue that would help her ward off her rapidly descending sense of alarm—but he was as inscrutable as ever.
‘Because I told you yesterday that I’m perfectly happy to raise this child alone…
’ she reminded him, striving to keep her voice steady even though she felt as if she was suddenly hovering over a minefield and, with any step, there would be an explosion.
‘And I’m telling you today that whatever you thought yesterday is not acceptable to me.
’ His eyes glowed down at her in a way that made her far too aware of the unfettered leaping of her heart and pulse.
‘There is no world in which any child of mine will grow up without my name, or without me being in their life. So, you and I are going to get married.’
The word detonated in Serena’s ears and it was a moment before the disorientation cleared enough for her to form words.
‘Married?’ she repeated, hoping he would tell her that she had misheard him, but that hope sank as he made a single, controlled gesture of his dark head.
She shook her head, backing away from him and from the treacherous frissons that were firing through her at the thought.
‘I don’t…no. You and I are not going to get married, Caleb. That’s insane.’
‘Actually, it’s highly pragmatic,’ he countered emotionlessly. ‘You’re pregnant with my child—it’s the logical next step. The only next step.’
‘No. No, it’s not. Because this is the twenty-first century. A pregnancy no longer mandates a ring.’
In some situations, perhaps, but definitely not theirs.
They didn’t know the first thing about one another.
That’s not entirely true though, is it? a voice in her head asked, stirring recollections of the night in Singapore, spine-tingling memories of how they had connected so quickly, so easily.
Except they hadn’t, she argued back. She only thought they had connected, wanting to believe it was more than it had been and that was a folly she had no excuse for.
She should have learned from her experience with Lucas, because she’d done the same thing with him.
Believing that they shared a special connection and that he would always be there for her.
She didn’t want to be that same stupid girl, making the same stupid mistakes, as she tried—hopelessly—to recreate the life and family she’d loved and lost. She wouldn’t be!
Because that life that she’d known was gone—and trying to bring it back would only cause more heartbreak, which wasn’t a risk she was willing to take.
‘The baby can have your name without us being married, if that’s so important to you.
And you can be involved too. I’m sure we can figure something out,’ she said, trying to keep hold of the control over her life that she’d only just regained.
But she didn’t quite manage to hide the edge of scepticism from her rush of words, because she wasn’t sure she trusted that Caleb’s commitment to being involved was quite as robust as he made out.
Not when a day ago, hell, probably even an hour ago, he hadn’t even been willing to accept his responsibility in the pregnancy.
Not when he had stated clearly and with certainty that he didn’t want any commitment in his life, and a child was the greatest commitment of all.
A lifelong relationship. Lucas hadn’t wanted that. So why would he?
‘Serena…’ Her name emerged from his full lips as part reasoning and part censure. ‘Be reasonable.’
Her mouth almost hit the floor. How could he say that to her when he was the one suggesting something as absurd as marriage? ‘You don’t even want to be a father, Caleb. You don’t want to get married.’
‘True, on both counts,’ he agreed calmly, moving in place and taking over even more of the damnably small living space with his dark, sex-edged, oozing masculinity.
There wasn’t anywhere that Serena could look and not feel him in her gaze, nowhere to stand where she could be unaffected by the power that vibrated off him.
‘But things have changed. Now I am going to be a father and that necessitates other changes and compromises. Especially if my child is to inherit all that is rightfully theirs.’ Serena must have looked as nonplussed as she felt, because he sighed.
‘The child you’re carrying is the sole heir to my billion-dollar company, and I will not have them denied any of that because they were born illegitimate. ’
‘So, you only want to get married so they can inherit and run your company in twenty-five years?’ she demanded, thinking that was hardly a sufficient reason.
‘That’s not the only reason, no,’ he responded, obviously reading her lack of enthusiasm. ‘But it is a pressing one. They are entitled to it, Serena. All of it. It’s their birthright.’
That made her mind spin because it wasn’t an aspect she had considered, or even realised was at stake, and that made her aware of just how out of her depth she was with Caleb. ‘No. I won’t do it. I can’t. I’m not marrying you.’
His expression hardened with displeasure, but also with determination. ‘Give me one good reason why not.’
‘I’ll give you two. I don’t love you and I don’t trust you.’
He dismissed her feelings with a motion of his hand. ‘That’s of no consequence. I don’t require either your love or your trust, or for us to have any substantial relationship of any kind. All I require is your hand in marriage for all the world to see.’
This time her mouth did fall open at the dearth of emotion in his words, so at odds with the determination smouldering in his eyes.
So, he was proposing a marriage in name only, with no feeling, no friendship even, between them?
How could he so blithely give his life away to someone he didn’t at least care for in some small way? And how dare he expect her to?
‘There’s no need to look so indignant. What I’m suggesting may not be to your personal taste, but it makes perfect sense.’
How did it? Marriage wasn’t a solution to a problem.
It was a solemn vow between two people who adored one another, just as her parents had.
Having watched their marriage, Serena had always believed that it should only be considered when a deep and abiding love and trust were present.
And as she’d said, she didn’t love or trust Caleb.
He was so high-handed that he’d be the last man she’d want to marry.
He’d been there less than a minute and was already trying to take over her life, and as for trusting anyone ever again…
after Lucas had stomped all over her heart in his haste to desert her, that was definitely unlikely to happen.
Why would she sign up for more heartbreak?
‘Not to me it doesn’t,’ she riposted.
In surviving all that she had, Serena had learned the valuable lesson that the one and only person she could, and should, truly rely on was herself. It was safer and smarter that way.
‘That’s because you’re thinking with your heart, and not your head,’ he said with mild condemnation, his eyes sweeping over her and rousing tingles that she fought not to feel.
He was silent a moment, as though expecting her to change her mind, and when she didn’t, his sensual lips firmed into a flat line of displeasure, a storm whipping to life in his gaze that had pulses of frenetic nervous energy zinging from one side of her body to the other.
But crossing her arms over her chest, partly to hide the merciless rhythm of her heart that hadn’t once ceased in his presence, Serena held her ground.
Was he really endowed with such arrogance that he’d expected she would jump at the chance to be his wife?
Or was he just too used to everyone he surrounded himself with falling in line with his wishes that he’d forgotten that people had minds of their own?
Both, she decided, as she watched his jaw sharpen with a fresh burst of resolve.
He moved towards her, a hard smile smoothing over his wicked mouth, a mouth she remembered all too well.
How it moved. Tasted. How it had claimed her moans again and again and again.
She fought to stay in the moment and not drift back to that night spent in his arms, but that had been a difficult enough task when he hadn’t been in London.
Now that he was here, and so tantalisingly close, it was all too easy to sink into the memories, forget how he had hurt and humiliated her and remember only the exquisite bliss he had delivered…