Chapter Six
JADE WOKE IN a bed bigger than her studio flat in London. The sheets were a crisp yet luxurious sensation against her skin. The room was shadowed, the drapes closed, but they gleamed gold along their edges, telling her it was morning.
There was an indent in the other pillow.
She sat up, vaguely remembering Luca walking her in here last night, saying, “I’ll join you later, in case you need anything in the night.”
“I can take care of myself,” she had said peevishly. “Isn’t there a guest room?”
“Upstairs, but you’re fainting and having panic attacks. At this rate, you’ll be falling out a window after a nightmare. Turn off your phone. Sleep as long as you need.”
He had brought her to his villa in Catania because he wanted her to meet his grandmother before they went to Milan.
The flight had only been three hours but after such a long day, and feeling so very far from Mum, Jade had been on her last reserves.
Rather than fight him, she had brushed her teeth and hadn’t even looked for a nightgown.
She had stripped to her bra and knickers and crawled into bed.
And slept hard.
It was nine thirty, she noted, unable to remember the last time she had slept until her body woke her, rather than an alarm.
It left her limbs feeling soggy and her brain full of feathers.
The indulgence provoked a habitual twinge of guilt.
There was always something more important she could be doing with her time, rather than taking care of herself.
Luca had left a banana on the nightstand along with water, plain biscuits and what looked like a meal replacement drink.
She had a few tentative bites and sips, then stepped into the shower where the quiet opulence of Luca’s home began to fully wash over her.
There were six nozzles of spray. The shampoo and conditioner were silky and smelled like jasmine.
The towels were so thick and downy she wanted to live in them.
The marble floor held subtle warmth, and the view.
She walked back to the bedroom and found a panel behind the fall of the drapes, one with illustrations so she was able to press the right button to draw the curtains, revealing a wall that was a row of three glass doors.
Another button had them silently gliding upward so the bedroom walked out to the terrace surrounding the pool.
The sweet scent of a warm summer morning wrapped around her. The water on the pool was still as glass, reflecting the clear sky and surrounding orange trees. Terraced hills covered in vineyards surrounded the villa, and in the distance, the sea gleamed silvery blue.
Eager to see the rest of the house, she moved inside and was fighting her way into her dress, a classic A-line in silver-sage, when Luca came in.
“She lives.” He wore only a pair of drawstring shorts and a sheen of sweat. His muscles were steely and defined, his tanned skin taut, his chest hair lying in damp whorls as it formed an arrow down to his waistband.
She swallowed, voice notched one note too high as she said, “Good morning.”
“The test result came. The baby is mine.” He gave a small nod and his gaze seemed to loop out and snare her, causing a lurching sensation in her chest and belly and loins.
“I told you.” She didn’t know what else to say to that mixture of satisfaction and possessiveness. She had wanted that look yesterday, when she had agreed to come here with him, but had only gotten it when it was about the baby.
She looked for the dress zip under her arm, trying again to tug it closed.
“Is that what you’re wearing to meet my grandmother?”
“Yes, but it’s not cooperating. It fit perfectly last week. Can you— What?” She glanced up to see his dismay. “I know my chest is inflating like a balloon. I can’t help that.”
“Your chest is spectacular.” He met her gaze, one dark eyebrow lifting to emphasize his observation. “That dress is the color of plumber’s putty. It doesn’t suit you at all. My assistant arranged a delivery yesterday.” He walked into the closet. “Here.”
If she hadn’t been holding this dress closed with her elbow, she would have told him what he could do with his assistant’s wardrobe choices, but necessity forced her to follow.
He raked a few suit coats to the side, exposing a half dozen dresses in jewel tones.
She wrinkled her nose, never comfortable in anything too bright or showy.
“How do you feel this morning?” he asked, staying right there so she could smell his deodorant overlaying the tang of perspiration as she flicked through the dresses.
“As though I’m paddling upstream using a stick of sugar for an oar.”
“What about morning sickness?”
“No worse than usual.” She was anxious and adrift, but not as bedraggled as yesterday. Being well-rested went a long way to helping her handle the nausea.
“I’ll shower while you finish dressing.” He peeled off his shorts, taking his underwear with them.
“Excuse me!” She turned her back on him, heart nearly flying out of her mouth.
“You’ve seen what I’m working with,” he said on a snort of amusement.
She hadn’t, actually. They’d been in such a hurry that night, he’d barely opened his fly before he’d been closing it again.
“Well, I’m not watching you drop trou today.” She heard him throw his things in the hamper and close the lid.
“Your loss.” He brushed past her. A moment later, she heard the shower come on.
Seriously.
She drew a breath and took a closer look at the dresses. They were all maternity wear in simple, elegant styles. There was an empire waist, a couple of wrap dresses, and a plain indigo sheath with cap sleeves that seemed understated enough to provide the muted profile she preferred.
The lightweight knit was comfortable as a T-shirt after the pinch of the more structured “putty” dress, but the low scoop of the neckline exposed the tops of her breasts. It clung everywhere else, revealing the hint of bump that had seemingly arrived with her sized-up breasts.
Maybe the one with the empire waist was the better choice, even though it was a bright robin’s-egg blue and had an even deeper neckline.
“Better,” Luca pronounced as he walked into the closet wearing only a towel.
She snatched her hand away from the blue dress, self-consciously smoothing the purple down her hips. “It’s too tight. I look like a sausage.”
“You look beautiful. You should leave your hair down.” He touched a spiral sitting against her shoulder. “It’s pretty against this dark purple.”
She gathered it all behind her neck and let it fall, then crossed her arms, reminding herself that his charm had gotten her into this position.
Even so, she was pleased. Aside from her mother and Kandili, she was more used to criticism than compliments.
“Do you need to eat before we go?” He pulled fresh briefs from a drawer. “My housekeeper can make you something, but I usually have a meal with my grandmother when I visit her. I’ve arranged brunch.”
The towel hit the floor and she hurried out of the closet.
“I can wait,” she called back while she finished the banana she’d been nibbling.
She didn’t want to test her stomach with anything too heavy when she was feeling so nervous.
She could tell that his grandmother was very important to him.
She wanted to make a good impression, not wilt into cold sweats or have no appetite at all.
While he dressed, she applied a light touch of makeup, mostly giving her red-gold eyelashes a touch of mascara and her eyelids a swipe of pale mauve.
“This is for you,” Luca said as he came out of the closet in crisp bone-colored trousers and a striped button shirt. His sleeves were rolled, his collar open, his feet in polished loafers.
She was so impacted by his smashing good looks, it took her a moment to notice he was offering an open ring box. The platinum setting held a massive oval diamond with three smaller diamonds on either side of it.
“How…?”
“They delivered it this morning. I kept it simple so it could be resized later. For now, it has this insert.” He showed her the small fitting inside the band. “Since your fingers might swell.”
She stared at the ring, panicked at the commitment it represented.
“You don’t like it?” His expression stiffened, reminding her he’d had an engagement end badly once before.
“No, it’s beautiful. I’m just freaked out by all of this.
” Wasn’t he? “I haven’t fully accepted that I’m going to be responsible for another life in a few months.
I’ve been too busy worrying about how it affects Mum and managing things with His Lordship.
I was supposed to wake up married to someone else this morning.
” Someone she wouldn’t have slept beside.
“You have completely overturned my life and you expect me to pledge myself to you for all eternity?”
“I expect you to consider it. And wear this while you do.” He picked up her hand and worked the ring into place. “My grandmother will expect you to wear one.”
Was that all this was? A prop?
Her pulse dipped and skidded under the weight of the ring. Sparks of color glinted within the stone, dazzling her eyes.
He used his crooked finger to lift her chin, forcing her gaze to his.
“You have overturned my life, too.”
“No.” She jerked away from his disturbing touch, looking to the ring as she shifted it on her finger.
“I gave you options that would have kept your life exactly as it was. You chose not to take them so that’s on you.
” She dropped her hands to her sides and made herself meet his hard stare.
“From the second this happened, everyone has been acting as though I did this to them. As though I disrupted a day of work on purpose, and reached out to Reggie to involve him. Mum didn’t say anything like that, but the last thing my father wanted was a grandchild through her.
He threw blame on her and that made me feel guilty for putting her in the position of defending me. ”
His cheek ticked.
She pressed her lips together, frowning with aggravated helplessness.