Chapter Two
JADE DIDN’T KNOW what to do.
Her father’s disapproving steps marched purposefully toward her, tightening her abdomen in a brace against more scolding. Against a threat that Noel Atbridge was too well bred to state frankly.
He never openly threatened to pull his financial support of her mother, but it was heavily implied when he said, “Your mother expects better of you, Jade. She relies on you to behave yourself.”
In her line of vision, Luca’s hand closed into a fist.
This was the knife’s edge that Jade walked with her father.
It wasn’t Noel’s fault her mother had a debilitating condition.
He didn’t have to look after a woman he’d had an affair with twenty-five years ago.
Mum had said more than once that they could make do on whatever the government programs might offer.
Jade wanted her mother to have the best care, though. Her own comfort—or lack thereof—didn’t matter if it meant Mum had access to specialists and a chance at a longer life expectancy.
Of course, she now had this baby to worry about, but that milksop Reggie was easy enough to deal with. Not like—
She flickered a gaze at the intimidating Luca as she forced her weak legs to take her weight.
Luca tried to cup her elbow, but she gently removed herself from his support. She reached a steadying hand to the back of the pew, making herself face her father with a smooth, polite expression even though her head swam and her stomach rolled.
“I’m very sorry for the interruption.” She strove for a calm, sincere tone. She might not be an Atbridge by name, but she’d been schooled in how to behave as one. Civility in the face of calamity. Never embarrass him. Ever. “Please let me introduce you to Luca. May I have your full name?”
Luca’s jaw was already a hard line and seemed to condense even more. There was a piercing gleam in his eye as he met her gaze, trying to delve past her mask of gentility to understand what was really going on.
“Luca Cardillo. You’re Jade’s father?” He snapped a look at him.
Ouch.
“His Lordship is the Earl of Beaston,” Jade said in well-practiced correction. He was “His Lordship” or “sir.” Never “my father” or “Daddy.” Not out loud. Not when it came out of her mouth.
“Cardillo,” Noel repeated as he ran the name through his mental database and took in the bespoke cut of Luca’s suit. Could this man be any use to him? he was wondering.
Neither offered to shake hands.
“I didn’t know how to reach Luca,” Jade explained. “But I’m sure we can come to a quiet arrangement.”
Luca might have charged in here like a rampaging warrior, wanting to know if this baby was his, but he’d also disappeared on her the night they had conceived this baby.
He had obviously concluded he was out of her league—something she had recognized innately on sight. He didn’t even want to be a father, so…
“Nothing needs to change.” She wasn’t about to throw away the deal she’d made, not when it set her and her mother up so well. “You’ve gone to a lot of trouble, so if Reggie comes back in, we can proceed—”
“The hell you will.” Luca’s voice wasn’t raised, but his words resounded off the rafters and stone walls of the church.
Her father’s spine stiffened.
“Luca.” Jade clawed for patience. “I’ve made promises that must be kept.”
“If that is my baby—” He pointed at her middle. “I won’t have it call anyone ‘Papa’ but me. So no. You are not getting married until I know one way or the other.”
“I’m losing patience with you, Cardillo,” Noel warned in a tone that made every muscle in Jade’s body draw taut. She was very familiar with that supercilious tone. He was trying to put Luca in his place and she instinctually knew it wouldn’t work.
She didn’t know much about Luca, but she knew he was in a class of his own.
“My patience is gone,” Luca said flatly. “Go,” he ordered Jade with a nod toward the door “Or I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the nearest testing clinic.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Jade had never been a high-stakes gambler. Luca was obviously a very wealthy, powerful man, but so what? Her father was, too. That didn’t make him someone she could trust to have her best interest at heart. At least her father was the devil she knew.
“You’re too late, Luca. I’ve decided—”
He didn’t throw her over his shoulder, but he lunged and gathered her up like a bundle of laundry, catching her so off guard, she could only squeak out a noise of alarm and cling around his neck in reflexive reaction.
She had forgotten all these muscles hidden beneath his clothes, but became aware of his strength and physique as he carried her up the aisle, seemingly without effort, neck stiff inside the circle of her arms. The faint fragrance of his aftershave cloaked her, reminding her sharply of the way she’d buried her face in his throat while an orgasm had torn through her.
Erotic heat began simmering within her, enticing her to behave as rashly and uninhibitedly as she had the night of the party.
“Luca.” She kicked in small panic, seeking release without being fully dropped.
The vicar entered as they arrived at the door.
“Oh!” He pulled up short. “I came to say the groom has gone to the pub. What—?”
Luca shouldered past, stepping outside with Jade still clutched to his chest.
“Jade?” Her mother and Kandili were in the shade cast by the wall of the church.
“Mum! Put me down,” Jade insisted, squirming with more determination.
Luca allowed her to find her feet, but followed as she hurried toward her mother.
“Everything all right, love?” Anxiety shadowed her mother’s eyes as she looked warily at Luca. “Is this…?”
“Yes. Luca Cardillo. Patricia Denison,” Jade provided. “My mother. And her caregiver, Kandili Lim.”
“Piacere.” Luca nodded politely. “Forgive me, Patricia, but Jade and I must talk. I’m taking her to my town house in London. You can reach me through my assistant.” He handed her a card.
“Oh. I…” Her mother looked up from the card, dazzled. Who wasn’t? Jade had fallen for his ferocious good looks and air of power herself.
Her father slammed out of the church and cast their group a scathing glance as he strode toward his town car—which was blocked by another just like it.
“Oh.” Her mother’s brow pleated.
“Don’t worry, Mum. I’ll fix it,” Jade promised. She had no idea how, but she had no choice. Her father wasn’t wrong. One way or another, her mother did rely on her.
“I’ll get your mother home,” Kandili said with her reassuring smile. “Take your bag from our car, so you have something to change into.”
Bless Kandili, she was always thinking of the practicalities, but Kandili also knew who paid her salary. Jade couldn’t afford to keep her on if His Lordship decided to expunge them from his life.
“Which car?” Luca blithely ignored the honk from her father’s driver.
“The blue one.” Kandili blipped a fob.
Luca strode out the gate to take the clamshell suitcase from the popped boot and grabbed the tote Jade had set alongside it. He handed them to his own driver.
“It will be fine, Mum.” Jade stooped to kiss her mother’s cheek, feeling like the world’s biggest liar. “I’ll call you in a bit.”
She picked up her flowing skirts and averted her gaze from the glare she sensed emanating from her father’s car, allowing Luca to bustle her into the back seat of his own before they drove away.
They were ten minutes into the hour-long drive to London when Jade reached for a packet of multigrain crackers from the caddy in the console. Her hands shook as she opened the crinkly packaging and extracted a square, nibbling the edge.
“Have you not eaten?” Luca finished texting his assistant that his afternoon needed clearing and lowered his phone. “Is that why you fainted?”
“Morning sickness,” she said tersely.
“That’s all? Otherwise, your health is fine? The baby?”
“That’s all?” she repeated. “You sound like my doctor.” She reached for a bottle of water and cracked it open to sip. “Yes. According to him, I’m perfectly fine.”
“But you’re unhappy,” he noted. “You don’t want the baby?”
“Of course I want the baby.” She tossed a filthy look at him. “I don’t want to feel sick every single hour of the day which is, by the way, a totally normal thing for people to prefer.” She brushed a crumb off the lace of her gown.
“You want the baby, but you didn’t want to tell me. Why?”
“We’re doing this here?” She glanced at his driver.
“Edoa has been with me for years. He doesn’t speak much English and he’s wearing earbuds. All you had to do was ask Giselle for my number.”
“Have you met her? She’s a horrible gossip.” She nibbled again, then washed it down with water. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant until I fainted in front of her. By the time I came around, she had told the entire office I was likely pregnant. Everyone knew before I did.”
“When was this?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“You didn’t suspect sooner?” They’d had sex three months ago.
“Feeling sick and exhausted at work is nothing new,” she said with a dismissive twist of her lips.
“Then she kept badgering me to cough up the father’s identity.
How was I supposed to ask her about a specific man from her party?
She would have figured out why I wanted to know before I’d had a chance to tell you.
I tried finding your name on the guest list, but loads of people were there who weren’t invited.
It was pointless.” She rubbed between her eyebrows.
“Yardley brought me.” And had taught Luca a valuable lesson about leaving his driver in London.
He’d been waiting for Edoa to come get him when Jade had caught his eye—all legs and braless breasts in a shimmering dress that barely covered any of it.
Her hair had been a trail of flames down her back.
The way her gaze had held his through the spinning lights of the pop-up dance club had tightened every muscle in his body.
When she’d walked away with Giselle, he’d thought they were leaving. He’d gone in search of better scotch and a quiet room where he could make some calls, so the evening wouldn’t be a complete waste of his time.