Chapter Four #3
“I can see that,” Jade murmured. “Having a baby is life-changing enough. Feeling forced to be with its father is another level of stress.”
Silence.
She lifted her gaze and met his piercing stare. He had turned to face her, arms folded across his powerful chest.
She covered the swoop of her heart by notching her chin up in challenge. “I presume she eventually did it?”
“Sì. It was his. They married and, as far as I know, are living on his family vineyard in Bologna.”
Had it broken his heart to lose the baby he had anticipated?
His face was too rigid to decipher how he felt, other than bitter.
“I promise there won’t be any nasty surprise,” she said quietly. “Not as far as paternity goes, anyway.”
That last was a lame joke that came out as her phone trilled with another call from her father’s assistant.
With a pained noise, she accepted the call and brought it to her ear. “Cyril, I’m not feeling well. Can I call you back—”
“His Lordship is right here, Miss Denison,” Cyril said firmly.
She barely had time to brace herself before her father’s voice barked in her ear.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me who he was?”
Luca’s hand appeared in front of her. “Let me speak to him.”
“I—” She bit back saying, Um. Her father hated that nonword.
“Put him on,” her father said in her ear.
She handed over the phone, stomach roiling with uncertainty.
“Cardillo here. Jade and I are still discussing our options. Have your assistant reach out to mine. We’ll keep you informed.”
He ended the call. Ended it.
“Put it on silent,” he said as he handed back the phone.
“But—” She nearly fumbled it to the floor, she was so distressed by how furious her father must be right now. Her phone was already trilling with a fresh call from Cyril. “What is your assistant’s number? I’ll send it to Cyril.”
“Why? What is he paid for if not to do his job?”
“Luca.” She clicked the button to silent, but held the still vibrating phone between her hands. “Do you understand that you are harming my very complicated relationship with my father?”
“Do you understand that he is a bully who is abusing you? He ought to be supporting you because he made you.” There was a flash of something behind his eyes before he looked away, profile sharp as a blade.
“Well, he doesn’t. And there’s nothing I can do about it.” She stood, needing distance as her chest began to hurt over that very old, incessant rejection.
Her foot bumped the leg of the stool. She had to catch her balance by gripping the edge of the island.
“Be careful.” He steadied her with a hand clasping her arm. “Sit. Finish eating.”
“I’m not a child. I’m not yours to bully.
” She brushed his hand off her and moved to the inside of the island, where she rubbed the tension from her temples.
“I appreciate that you don’t want to roll over for my father.
I don’t. But you and I are in very different positions.
For my mother’s sake, I have to walk more carefully around him. ”
“Did I not make clear that I will look after your mother if he refuses to? The only reason I wouldn’t is if that baby isn’t mine, so…” He waved a hand. “If you’re telling the truth, you have nothing to worry about.”
“That’s very nice of you to say, but I do not count chickens. What if something happens and I lose the baby? Will you still look after my mother? Still give me a home in Milan?” she challenged.
“You said everything was normal.” His thick brows bunched with concern. His gaze dropped to her middle. “The doctor said everything seemed fine.”
“Bad things still happen! Look at today. I had everything mapped out to my advantage and you came in like a wrecking ball. You know nothing about me, but you’re making promises to underwrite my life.
What do I do if you get hit by a bus? What if you decide I’m a liability?
That you don’t want to be the father of my child no matter what the test says?
What if you call me an unfit mother and try to take this baby from me?
Which, by the way, is the reason I am not going to Milan. ” She pointed a finger at him.
“Wow.” He rocked on his heels. “I consider myself an expert on analyzing risk, but you really have a gift for scaring the hell out of yourself.”
“And nothing reassures me more than a patronizing comment dismissing my fears.”
The ironic twist on his mouth faded into a flat, tense line.
“Let’s reset,” he said crisply. “I hear your concerns. I’m not dismissing them.”
She snorted. He just had.
“What do you need from me right now, Jade. Hmm? Do you need to hear that I believe you?” He drew a breath and let it out on a frustrated exhale.
“You’re too fearful of your father’s reaction to involve me unless I’m actually the baby’s father, but you still want to go through with the arrangement with Reggie.
Why? What does he offer that I don’t? You said you would gain the respectability of marriage, the costs of your mother’s care and your father’s good opinion.
I can offer the first two.” He held up two fingertips.
“I’m not interested in what your father thinks of me. ”
She had gotten that memo. But as she processed everything else he’d said, she crossed her arms to cover the hairline fracture he’d just cracked in her well-protected heart.
“Was that a proposal?” she asked, trying to keep her voice offhand when there was a dry ache in the back of her throat. “It’s true what they say about Italians, isn’t it? So romantic.”
He let her sarcasm roll off him without a blink. “Do you want marriage?”
“To you? I don’t even know you.”
“That didn’t stop you today.”
“Mean.” But fair, she supposed. “Reggie would have been in name only. Is that what you’re suggesting? Do you want to get married?”
“I’m in a position where respectability matters. So, yes. We will have to marry.”