Книга - Martinez’s Pregnant Wife

Martinez's Pregnant Wife
Rachael Thomas


Expecting her husband’s babyWhen Lisa Martinez last saw her estranged husband Maximiliano she was walking out on their relationship for good. Her heart and her dignity were in tatters after she had once more given in to the temptation of Max’s seduction, and she knew divorce was her only option.Except now Lisa’s heartbreaking plans are halted by unexpected nine-month consequences! Max has never wanted a family, so Lisa is appalled when he refuses to relinquish his child and demands she return to their marriage bed! For their unborn baby’s sake, Lisa agrees. Dares she hope to find more than mindless pleasure in her husband’s arms?







Expecting her husband’s baby

When Lisa Martinez last saw her estranged husband, Maximiliano, she was walking out on their relationship for good. Her heart and dignity in tatters after once more giving in to the temptation of Max’s seduction, she knew divorce was her only option. Except Lisa’s heartbreaking plans are halted by unexpected nine-month consequences!

Max never wanted a family, so Lisa is appalled when he refuses to relinquish his child and demands she return to their marriage bed! For their unborn baby’s sake, Lisa agrees. Dare she hope to find more than mindless pleasure in her husband’s arms?


‘The baby changes nothing, Max. We should never have married.’

‘But we did,’ he said, and he put down the pen and stood tall, his arms folded across his chest. Anything to stop himself from going to her, from trying to kiss some reason into her. Lisa was his wife and the thought of her moving on, meeting someone new, lashed at him like icy rain.

‘I don’t want a reluctant father for my child, Max.’

He drew in a deep breath as her words hit at his biggest insecurity. ‘Then we agree on that, at least, because I want to be there for my son or daughter all the time. Which is why I am not signing these papers—at least not until we have given our marriage another chance.’

‘We already know we don’t work. Just sign them, Max. Please.’

‘I’ll make a deal with you, Lisa. We give our marriage one last chance. We live as a married couple for the next two weeks, and if by New Year’s Eve you still feel the same I will sign the papers and we can both start our lives again.’


Introducing a sizzling and sexy new duet from Rachael Thomas

Convenient Christmas Brides

Estranged brothers Raul Valdez and Maximiliano Martinez are about to unlock some dark and hidden secrets. But with Christmas around the corner first comes seduction!

Lydia Carter-Wilson finds herself blackmailed into an engagement by Raul Valdez in

Valdez’s Bartered Bride

Maximiliano’s life is turned upside down when his estranged wife announces she is carrying his heir in

Martinez’s Pregnant Wife

Available now!


Martinez’s Pregnant Wife

Rachael Thomas






www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)


RACHAEL THOMAS has always loved reading romance, and is thrilled to be a Mills & Boon author. She lives and works on a farm in Wales—a far cry from the glamour of a Modern Romance story, but that makes slipping into her characters’ worlds all the more appealing. When she’s not writing, or working on the farm, she enjoys photography and visiting historical castles and grand houses. Visit her at rachaelthomas.co.uk (http://rachaelthomas.co.uk).

Books by Rachael Thomas

Mills & Boon Modern Romance

The Sheikh’s Last Mistress

New Year at the Boss’s Bidding

Craving Her Enemy’s Touch

Claimed by the Sheikh

A Deal Before the Altar

Convenient Christmas Brides

Valdez’s Bartered Bride

The Secret Billionaires

Di Marcello’s Secret Son

One Night With Consequences

A Child Claimed by Gold

From One Night to Wife

Brides for Billionaires

Married for the Italian’s Heir

The Billionaire’s Legacy

To Blackmail a Di Sione

Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk (http://millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.


Contents

Cover (#u129c0200-ed82-5bd4-bae3-db7e645a61f8)

Back Cover Text (#u6402ec99-b263-5642-8fad-58420f4ded3b)

Introduction (#u69532481-75db-5552-964e-25fdd8cf7034)

Conveniently Wed (#uf4612185-a2ab-507f-a359-262622693695)

Title Page (#ud4235859-c30f-5c54-942c-4a9614094e49)

About the Author (#ud71e2718-759b-5c57-9519-9c9d27d62f7a)

PROLOGUE (#ue43bcaee-0afb-5322-a011-aebe4a77b3d5)

CHAPTER ONE (#u41b0006b-56f2-5c7e-9305-0971ba81c0f1)

CHAPTER TWO (#ue033aa03-165d-5be3-92e9-cbcc6eee6743)

CHAPTER THREE (#uebe9ffdb-7f18-5e1d-ae00-2d763f4962ed)

CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)


PROLOGUE (#u42fe8f3c-6887-5ed8-93e7-46bf0027e8bd)

Two months ago...

MAXIMILIANO MARTINEZ OPENED his eyes, the uncustomary warmth of someone next to him in bed shocking him. Memories of the previous night, of talking and drinking wine with Lisa, flashed through his mind. As if roused by those same memories, she stirred and moved against him, her naked body almost too much to resist. He gritted his teeth, trying to ignore the stab of desire rocketing through him, preferring instead anger at having given into that weakness last night. It had been the same weakness that had made marriage to Lisa the only option.

To wake up with Lisa next to him each morning was what he would have had if he’d been able to honour his wedding vows, if he’d been able to let go of his past and love his wife. But he hadn’t. He’d thought he’d banished those memories from the past, thought what he and Lisa had would mean the past could be hidden, forgotten, but he was wrong. Very wrong. His past had reared up like an angry stallion, mocking him, reinforcing what he’d been trying to escape—he wasn’t capable of love. Never had been and never would be. That was why he’d set Lisa free. Just months after they’d married, he’d left.

For the last six months they had maintained a professional distance despite working together. He knew full well it was avoidance on her part but he couldn’t really blame her. He’d hurt her.

So what the hell was she doing in his bed?

Lisa put her arm across his chest, sleep still clinging to her, but the action made the contrast between his mind and body polar opposites. His body wanted her, wanted to make her his again and never let her go, but his mind knew that whatever had happened last night was already mistake enough. He might not be capable of loving his wife, but he didn’t want to hurt her. That was why he’d walked out on the marriage. To save her from the heartache a man like him would inflict on her.

He gently moved her arm from his chest, fighting against primal urges as she sighed softly and very sexily. He looked down at her, at the long lashes splayed over her pale skin, and knew he was doing the right thing, even if he hadn’t last night; now he did he would do exactly that. He slid from the tangle of Lisa’s long legs and sheets before his body won the battle of desire.

‘Where are you going?’ Lisa’s voice was husky and so damn sexy. Sleep lingered in every syllable and for a moment he froze, unable to move or speak. This wasn’t a casual one-night stand with a woman whose name he barely recalled. This was his estranged wife.

Before he’d met Lisa he’d always been strong, able to resist the lure of desire, but then she’d always affected him in a way no other woman had. How the hell had they gone from business talk to bed? It should have been a meeting about the players of the latest football club he’d bought and how he wanted her to continue working for him and be the club’s physiotherapist.

Because she’s the woman you wanted to love.

He looked at her again, the tug of desire strengthening. But so too were the ghosts of his past.

Last night they had drunk far too much wine and his head began to thump in protest. He must have been mad to have thought he could talk over dinner with Lisa and not give into the desire, the need to touch her, kiss her and make her his again.

If he didn’t remove her from his apartment, his bed, he’d be in danger of giving in once more. Whatever spark had brought them together was still there and it was past time he snuffed it out. For good.

‘I have an important meeting in an hour.’ He growled the words out as he pulled on his clothes. The only meeting he had was with several strong cups of coffee and painkillers. When he turned to look at his wife, red hair tumbling around her shoulders, he knew he was hurting her. Again. Yet the aggressive words rushed from him regardless. ‘You need to go.’

‘But...’ she began as her eyes implored him to soften his mood, to look at her without the icy spark in his eyes or the anger in every line of his body.

He wasn’t going to be drawn. ‘No buts, Lisa. Just go.’

‘But last night...’ she tried again, sitting up and clutching the white sheet against her in a show of modesty, or maybe protection. Either way, it failed as one full breast became exposed, snagging his attention. He strengthened his resolve.

‘Last night should not have happened. Hell, Lisa, we agreed. Our marriage was a mistake.’ He pushed his fingers roughly through his hair and turned away from her, not wanting to see the hurt in her eyes, the pain on her beautiful face. He swore in his native Spanish, his first language ruling the moment, despite his having lived in London since leaving Spain as a teenager.

Lisa threw aside the sheet and got out of bed, her movements fluid and graceful but also showing him how angry and hurt she was. She pressed her fingers to her forehead for a moment as she stood there, invitingly naked. He wasn’t the only one who was suffering from indulging in too much fine wine last night.

‘We agreed to keep things professional.’ He looked at her, wishing things had been different, wishing that his past didn’t haunt him, making any kind of emotional commitment impossible. When she began to dress, to hide her sexy body, his control slipped back into place. ‘We agreed we could work together. Just as we did before we were married.’

‘We are still married.’ Her frosty look couldn’t hide the hurt in her eyes as her fingers fumbled to hastily fasten the buttons on her blouse. ‘You admitted it was a mistake but you haven’t done anything about it.’

Was Lisa right? Was he too weak to admit a mistake? Or was it that he still wanted her?

But you can’t give her what she wants.

Her neat brows furrowed together and hurt showed in every pore of her delicately pale face. ‘So what was last night? A casual fling? A big mistake?’

‘Sí, a mistake. One that should not have happened.’ He stood firm. He wasn’t the man for her. Lisa wanted to be loved and to love in return and had never made a secret of that. This was his issue. He couldn’t accept her love, couldn’t take that from her when he knew, without a doubt, he could never love her. Not that he hadn’t tried. He’d even married her in an attempt to unshackle himself from the chains that cut off his emotions, that held him firmly in the past. But to no avail.

She gasped, her eyes widening, and he knew he was hurting her. He had to do it. Had to make her see they weren’t right for one another, to save her from even greater hurt. Despite the sparks of passion that had fired instantly between them last night, as if the six months apart had never happened, they weren’t suited. Surely she could see that.

‘I hate you,’ she snapped at him and he knew it was anything but. He knew she had once loved him, but he wanted her to hate him, wanted her to despise him and find someone who could give her what she needed, what she deserved. If she could say she hated him, then soon her heart would feel the same.

‘Then we are doing the right thing.’ Deep inside a small part of him withered and died at the thought of her hating him. But it had to be that way.

‘Damn right we are. Last night was a massive mistake.’ She threw the words at him like daggers, snatched her purse and jacket from the armchair where he now vaguely recalled her tossing them last night and marched to the door. ‘I want a divorce.’

The door slammed hard behind her and he stood in the heavy silence and glowered at the door, as if it were responsible for shutting her out, but he’d done that. It was for the best, but it sure as hell didn’t feel like it right now.


CHAPTER ONE (#u42fe8f3c-6887-5ed8-93e7-46bf0027e8bd)

LISA MARTINEZ TOOK a deep breath, trying to ease the nausea that had just started to become a normal part of her morning. She couldn’t put it off any longer. She had to tell him.

She was pregnant—expecting the baby of a man who wanted neither her nor any sort of commitment in his life. Icy fingers of dread slithered down her spine. What on earth was she going to do?

All she knew was that she had to tell Maximiliano, the man she’d fallen head over heels in love with from the moment their eyes had first met. The man she’d married, sure her love could bring them happiness. The man who’d walked out on her within months of exchanging vows. He was also the man she’d hurled the angry words I want a divorce at when the passion of their recent one night together had been extinguished by the cold light of day.

She knew exactly where Max would be right now. Ensconced in his office, chasing the next big deal, the next football club to drag up from the lowest league and make it great. It was his way of proving he could succeed, could still be something in the world of football despite the car accident that had cut short his career.

Lisa fought against the flurry of nerves that added to the nausea she’d been trying to shake off since she’d finally had the courage to see her doctor. There was no getting away from it now, no way she could deny it and no way to avoid telling Max. To do that would be to go against everything she believed in. She had to tell him that their night together two months ago had lasting consequences and before anyone else they worked with guessed. He might be her boss at the football club where she was a physio but he was still her husband, despite the divorce papers she knew the court had sent him. Max had to hear this from her.

She took a deep breath and then blew it out in an attempt to regain her composure, Max’s closed office door suddenly seeming more like the highest mountain on earth. She knocked and opened the door, stepping warily inside the masculine space. The room was empty. As she stood on the threshold, her hand still holding the door open, footsteps sounded in the corridor and she turned, knowing it wasn’t Max. Relief and annoyance rushed through her. She wanted to get this over and done with. Only then could she move on and leave this part of her life behind.

‘He’s not there,’ Max’s PA informed her as she slipped past her and put some files on the desk. ‘Probably gone for his usual coffee fix. Although he wasn’t in a good mood.’

‘He wasn’t?’ Lisa’s confidence began to erode like a cliff face pounded by an angry sea.

‘No. Far from it,’ his PA said as she ordered the files on his desk. ‘Very distracted.’

‘Thanks.’

Before she became further embroiled in conversation, Lisa turned and made her way out of the modern building that served as the headquarters for Max’s various business ventures. It was also the head offices of the latest struggling football club whose fortunes he was intent on turning around. The cold December air snatched her breath away as she walked toward the very place she and Max had drunk far too much wine two months ago during an evening that had been meant to be for discussing business.

That night should have been about her as the club’s physio and him as the club’s owner. Nothing more. Instead it had turned into being about each other, their marriage and the events that had led up to him walking out on her. Worse than that, it had soon become about the passion that still sparked between them, the consequences of which now linked them more closely and permanently than any marriage certificate ever could.

She stopped walking. She couldn’t do this. How could she tell the man who regretted marrying her that he was going to be a father? Maybe she should wait until after Christmas? It was tempting, but the thought of whispered gossip reaching him before she did pushed her back on course and she walked on, her boots sounding hard and loud on the pavement, tapping out a rhythm of determination she was far from feeling.

What was the worst he could do? Tell her he didn’t want anything to do with his child? That response was exactly what she expected and it certainly couldn’t be worse than his admission that he didn’t love her. The pain couldn’t be any harder to bear than that of losing the man she’d fallen in love with.

Two months ago, after doing her utmost to keep out of his way at work, at least until she’d found a new position, she’d allowed her heart to rule her head and had given into Max’s lethal charm. It had been the most foolhardy thing she’d done and now, with their baby growing inside her, she couldn’t afford to make the mistake again of fooling herself that he cared. Her head had to be well and truly in charge, keeping her heart locked away. This was not a time for sentimental dreams of love and happy ever afters. Such a thing would never be possible with Maximiliano Martinez. She knew that now.

She pushed open the door of the bar Max always favoured, the blast of warm air from the overhead heaters notching up the nausea as she walked in. The place was decked out for Christmas but at this hour of the morning it was practically deserted. She glanced into the dimness of the room and saw Max straight away, sitting with his back to her, staring ahead of him, seemingly oblivious to anything else.

His PA was right. He wasn’t in a good mood.

Her heart flipped over and tugged at the emotions she was desperate to keep under control. So much for being strong, for locking away her feelings. They were pouring from her like a torrent of rain, all jumbled up and veering from one extreme to another. She couldn’t decide if she was angry or nervous or even if she was doing the right thing as she stood looking at the man she knew she couldn’t remain married to, the man whose child she now carried.

The tension in Max’s broad shoulders was all too obvious as he sat, elbows on the table and hands clasped tightly and pressed against his chin. She walked slowly forward, coming round to his side, but still he didn’t see her, didn’t hear her. He was lost in thought.

Why was he so unreachable? She’d known he kept his emotions well-hidden even as she’d said I do, but had thought she could change that—change him. She’d thought she had love enough for them both and, after the hard upbringing she’d had, it was just another gamble in life she was prepared to take. But she couldn’t gamble any longer, not now there was a baby on the way.

Now she had to be mercenary. She didn’t want her child growing up as she had, feeling unloved, unwanted. She’d dreaded the days her father had turned up, demanding to see his little girl, not out of any kind of love, or even duty, but out of spite. She’d been the weapon he’d used to get at her mother and that would not be happening to her baby.

Planned or not, she wanted this baby, wanted to provide a happy and loving home, one free of any worries for her child, and after her childhood she knew that could only be achieved either entirely on her own or with the full support of a man who loved her and wanted the same. Max did not. He hadn’t even been able to commit to marriage so how could he possibly be there for his child? That left only one option. To get the divorce papers signed and end that chapter of her life so that she could raise her child alone. First she had to tell him. He had a right to know even if he never wanted to see his child.

‘Max.’ She put aside her past together with her future worries and focused on the present. She said his name softly as she moved toward him, but he remained still, lost in thought. She tried again, firmer this time. ‘Max.’

He turned and looked at her, his handsome features she knew and loved marred by an expression that struck dread into her heart. Had he already heard? Was it possible someone had already given away her secret?

‘What are you doing here, Lisa? Come to make sure I sign the divorce papers? Maybe you have found someone new and want to move on?’ His accent was more pronounced than she’d heard for a long time and anger glittered in his eyes. The heavier than usual shadow of stubble on a man who demanded nothing but perfection notched up her nerves. Something was seriously wrong. He must know. Was he now toying with her? Seeing how long she’d hold out on him?

Well, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. She would tell him before he could challenge her.

‘I have something to tell you.’ There was a waiver of uncertainty in her voice and, judging by the slight narrowing of his inky black eyes, he’d detected it.

‘Nothing I don’t already know. You are a bit late to the party, Lisa.’ The venom in his words sent her heart into freefall as panic raced around her. How could he be so callous about the baby? His baby. Even if he’d found out from the malicious whisperings of the club’s gossips, it was still his baby.

She lifted her chin and glared angrily at him. He wasn’t going to reduce her to a nervous wreck. She had to be strong, had to say what she needed to and then go—leave him to his foul mood. ‘I wasn’t aware such news required a party.’

He stood up, his height suddenly dominating the air she wanted to gulp down in order to remain calm. As always he wore a dark suit, tailored and very expensive, which fitted him to perfection and she couldn’t help but allow her eyes to travel down his long legs. The part of her that loved this man fought for supremacy, not wanting to freeze him out of her life. But hadn’t he already done that when he walked out on her so soon after vowing to spend the rest of his life with her? Then again the morning after that night, when he’d told her to go?

He moved closer to her. Too close. ‘Since when have you known?’ The feral growl of his voice warned her that his anger was running on a short leash, desperate to break free. The day he’d walked out on their marriage he’d made it clear he’d never wanted to be married and most certainly had never wanted to be a father. She’d been convinced it was her casual mention of children that had tipped him over the edge. Now he glared up at her, as if to reaffirm all he’d said that day. As he glared up at her she was shocked by how anger glittered dangerously in his dark eyes.

‘About two weeks.’ As soon as she’d said it she knew it was a mistake. His eyes darkened to glacial black and his lips pressed into a firm line of fury.

‘Two weeks?’ The words echoed around the empty room and he looked directly into her eyes, so intimidatingly close. She’d never seen him this angry. ‘And you thought now was the perfect time to tell me what you knew? More to the point, how the hell did you find out?’

‘Find out?’ She stumbled over the answer, not understanding the question, but stood tall before him, refusing to be intimidated by his black mood. ‘I wanted to be sure.’

‘Be sure of what?’ He sat back and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time and a flutter of doubt crossed her mind. Was it possible he didn’t know? That she’d wrongly assumed that he did? Were they talking about two entirely different subjects? If so, what was so bad it had made him this angry?

There was no escaping it now, no easy way to break this. She had to tell him—right now. The suspicion in his eyes warned her of that.

‘Be sure of what, Lisa?’ Max demanded, the tension in the air ratcheting up, almost suffocating her.

‘I...’ She tried to form the words, but his jaw clenching in anger snared her attention and her words dried up.

‘What, Lisa?’ His voice thundered and inside she jumped as he stood up, tall, powerful and demanding.

The words failed her as she looked up at him, her heart thumping hard in her chest. She tried again. ‘I’m pregnant.’

* * *

Max’s world rocked violently. Not for the first time today he was unable to utter a single word in either English or his native Spanish. He’d thought she’d come to ensure he would sign the divorce papers, to tell him she’d moved on, had a new lover, but her words still ricocheted through him. Lisa was pregnant? His estranged wife, the woman he’d turned his back on, was carrying his child? A child he hadn’t wanted, a child he wasn’t ready for, not when everything from his past was thrusting into the present with the force of a tidal wave.

He focused his attention on the woman he’d married, the woman he’d never be able to love after learning at a young age that such emotions hurt. His mother had loved his father and that had hurt her—badly. He’d loved his father and when he’d walked out it had almost ripped him apart. He could still hear his harsh parting words echoing from the past, taunting him with the one thing he’d steadfastly refused to acknowledge since that day.

Never forget you have Valdez blood in your veins.

Ever since then he’d tried to forget. He’d been resolutely determined to have nothing to do with the might of the Valdez banking family. He’d been entirely successful until a lawyer had contacted him, informing him of his father’s death. Then his half-brother had done the same and now the whole sorry mess was splashed over every damn newspaper.

He pushed his childhood memories back, but didn’t take his eyes off Lisa as she stood there, holding her nerve, those green eyes locked with his. She was more than a match for him. The only woman he’d ever known who didn’t hang on his every word, didn’t simper and giggle in an act of coyness. Lisa was real and honest. She’d grounded him, made him believe he was worthy of more than one-night stands. Then she’d told him she’d had a job offer in America and he’d known he couldn’t let her walk away, that he had to try and open up to her, to love her.

That was why he’d married her, but very quickly he’d realised that had been a mistake. A big mistake. They didn’t belong together, they should never have married and he cursed the weakness of his desire for this redhead, which had driven him to make her his wife.

Finally he found his voice. ‘Pregnant? What about the pill?’

He couldn’t be a father. He didn’t want to be a father, didn’t want to take the risk that he’d be the same as his father, that the Valdez legacy would rear its ugly head. Now it had. In more ways than he could believe possible.

Lisa was pregnant. From one careless night. How could she calmly stand there and tell him as if it were just one of those things that happened?

‘I think you have some explaining to do.’ He growled the words at her, annoyed at her reluctance to say anything else.

She pulled out a chair and sat wearily at the table and he could clearly see just how pale she was beneath her make-up. Unease and worry threatened but he pushed them savagely away, along with the fear of the past, as he sat opposite her. She clasped her hands in front of her on the table. His gaze lingered on her long slender fingers and the glitter of the diamond engagement ring and band of gold he’d placed on her third finger over a year ago. She still wore his rings? Why, when the divorce papers he hadn’t yet signed were on his desk at home? Had she put them back on once she’d realised she was carrying his child?

‘We had a lot of wine that night, Max. I guess suffering the after-effects of that had an effect.’ She paused and looked at him. ‘It wasn’t something I even considered until I realised that I could be pregnant.’

Did she seriously think he’d buy that? Too much wine? ‘A few glasses of wine?’

‘It was more than a few and you know it.’ Her hot retort fired back at him, much more like the Lisa he knew, then she blushed, the colour bringing life to her cheeks. ‘I was ill after I left.’

He narrowed his eyes as he replayed that night in his mind and then the morning after. He recalled how his head had been splitting in two, how every noise had made him wince, especially the slam of the door as Lisa had left. He’d made several cups of coffee that morning before finally being able to drink one. She was right. They had drunk far too much wine. Or had that been a cover up for the sudden defrosting of his estranged wife? After all, she hadn’t needed much persuasion to return to his bed.

Max put one elbow on the table and pressed his hand over his eyes. Could life get any worse? He’d discovered a family he’d never known of, or even had any desire to know, after his father’s death. Now it was being played out through newspaper headlines, but, worse than any of that, he’d created a new generation to add to the Valdez family. One he did not want.

He looked down at various copies of today’s newspapers spread out on the table before him. Each headline different, but saying the same thing. He looked again at the newspaper on the top. His throat tightened as he read the headlines again. Bold black words screamed from the page, hurtling him into a past he’d rather forget, colliding wildly with a future he didn’t want.

Billionaire’s Illegitimate Heir Found!

‘Max?’ Lisa’s question sounded far off and he fought to get himself back under control, to be in charge of a situation that was escalating with alarming speed.

He couldn’t speak, couldn’t say anything to her, not after the way she’d deceived him—tricking him into being a father.

‘Max? What is it?’ She reached out and slowly pulled the newspaper round so that she could read it. He looked up and watched her lashes lower as she read the headlines, annoyed that his thoughts rushed back to the times he’d watched her sleep. To the morning, just moments before she’d left him. How could such a beautiful and beguiling woman be so deceitful? How could she do this to him? And why now?

She looked up at him, her soft green eyes full of shock. ‘This is about you. You have a brother?’

He pressed his lips firmly together. ‘A half-brother.’

In the same day he’d found his connection to Raul Valdez, the billionaire banking tycoon, had been plastered everywhere, he’d been told he was to be a father. Was he in the middle of a nightmare? If he opened his eyes would it all go away?

‘And you never knew?’ Lisa looked at him and he was certain she hadn’t known any of this. He could see so many questions in her eyes but was grateful that she didn’t ask them now. Hell, he didn’t even know the answer to any of them himself. All he could think about was that he’d done exactly what his birth father had done. He’d created a child he didn’t want.

‘No, but that is not important now. We need to discuss the baby.’ Saying that word made it so real it came out in a growl of harshness and he saw her sit back away from him as if he were the devil himself. He hadn’t wanted it to sound so cruel.

‘There is nothing to discuss.’ She pushed back her chair and stood up, forcing him to look up at her. ‘I’m going to have your baby, but you needn’t worry, I won’t make any demands on you whatsoever. You made it very clear when you walked out on our marriage that any kind of commitment is very much off the agenda for you.’

‘Sit down, Lisa.’

‘No.’ She buttoned up her coat and he knew if he didn’t get this right, didn’t say the right thing she would walk out on him—again. Only this time she would take with her his child, a child that would grow up wondering where in the world its father was and why he didn’t want them in his life. He knew only too well what that was like and didn’t want that pain, that rejection for his child.

‘We need to talk about this. Sit down, Lisa.’ Anger simmered in his voice and he bit down hard, stopping himself from saying anything else. Something that would make this even worse than it already was. He needed to sort things with Lisa, then he could deal with the other avalanche that had crashed into his life. His brother.

‘Why? So that you can tell me it’s not what you want and walk away from me again?’ The truth of her words stung. Just as the truth of the headlines smarted like salt in an open wound.

He wanted to demand to know why she’d let this happen, why after living apart yet working together professionally she had agreed to have dinner with him, turning it into a date, then a one-night stand. Inwardly, he savagely cursed. He’d been the one to invite her to dinner, the one to suggest that avoiding each other wasn’t professional. After all they were both shareholders, both had a stake in the club. Neither of them could just walk away.

‘I don’t want children and this is why.’ He picked up the newspaper and shook it, anger making his movements sharp. ‘It’s all here.’

‘You are not the only one to have had a bad childhood, Max.’ His gaze snapped to hers and the one and only time they’d discussed her childhood surfaced from his memory. The way she’d told him she’d hated the family arguments, especially at Christmas.

‘My point exactly.’ His reply was swift.

‘I am having this baby, Max, and, as I said, I expect nothing from you.’ Her chin lifted and her eyes glittered with defiance.

‘So you think you can just arrive here, today of all days, and tell me I am to be a father then walk away?’

‘The timing is bad, I admit.’ Her voice softened slightly, snagging at his senses, pulling at his conscience. ‘But I am having this baby, Max.’

‘And I intend to be there for my child, no matter what. It will not grow up thinking I cared so little I walked away.’ As he spoke he knew that it was the one and only thing he was certain of at the moment. If his brother wanted nothing to do with him and Lisa hated him, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was to be a part of his child’s life. But to do that he would have to be a part of Lisa’s life. He pushed the paper at her, stabbing coldly at the image of the father he could barely remember. ‘I will not be this man.’

* * *

‘No, Max, it’s not possible, not when you have already made it clear you don’t want me in your life.’ Lisa stepped back from Max, away from the temptation of reaching out to touch him, to go to him and soothe his pain. He was dealing with two life-changing things in one morning, but, from the cold expression on his face, neither had made any great impact other than to make him angry. He didn’t want a brother or a baby.

‘There wasn’t a baby involved then. My baby.’

‘And that changes things?’

‘You’re damn right it changes things.’

He glared at her and the sensation of being in control, of being able to drive the situation how she wanted, vanished as he looked at her. Only a small distance separated them but right now it felt like an ocean. Deep and unnavigable.

‘No, it doesn’t.’ Her life-long instinct to protect herself and stand up for herself, to fight her corner, kicked in. ‘I’m doing this on my own.’

‘No.’ That one word thundered around the room and she blinked in shock. She’d never seen Max so angry. Would she have told him about the baby if she’d known his reaction would be this bad? Yes, the answer fired back into her mind. She didn’t want him turning up when the child was older as her father had done, creating hell in an already dysfunctional family and giving her false hope of being wanted, of being rescued from the latest stepfather, a spiteful older stepbrother and uncaring mother who seemed only to want to make her feel useless.

‘What do you mean, no?’ she demanded hotly, the pain of her childhood almost too much in the emotional state she was in.

‘I mean we will remain married.’ He paused as his expression hardened further and she braced herself against what was to follow. ‘And we will live as a married couple.’

‘No. I don’t want to.’ Anger made her irrational. ‘I want a divorce.’

‘Divorce is not an option now, Lisa.’ His words had calmed, become laden with iciness. His expression was severe, his eyes dark and watchful.

She lifted her chin. ‘It is the only option for me.’

‘Not for me.’ Those words were hard and forceful.

‘Why?’ The response blurted from her as if it had been catapulted across the room. He didn’t flinch at the accusation firmly loaded within it.

‘Because I will not be the man my father was.’ His mood softened and he moved toward her, the man she’d fallen in love with showing through the tough façade like an echo of a ghost. ‘I will not abandon my child because it doesn’t fit in with my life.’

All her past pain from her childhood melted away and her heart went out to him; the pain was so clear in his voice. Whatever had happened she’d loved this man, even if he’d destroyed that with his coldness that morning two months ago. She had once loved him enough to marry him and promise to be there for him in good times and bad. Didn’t that count for something?

Marriage for ever was something she’d dreamt of as a young girl, yearned for as a young woman, and then she’d met Max. He’d swept her off her feet, made her feel special, wanted and very much desired. He’d never told her he loved her, no matter how many times she’d said it to him, but when he’d asked her to be his wife, that hadn’t mattered. She’d had enough love for both of them.

Only she hadn’t, she thought as she watched him press the pads of his fingers over his eyes in an uncustomary display of inadequacy. Her heart lurched as she weakened. This was her baby’s father, the man she’d fallen in love with, the man she’d married.

‘I understand why you are saying that,’ she said more softly now as she moved closer, physically bridging the gap if not emotionally. ‘But we shouldn’t make any decisions now. Not until you have met your brother. This is too much to deal with in one go.’

‘You’re right,’ he said firmly and looked up at her. ‘First I will meet my brother and then we will sort this out.’

He made their baby sound as if it were a little mistake that could be swept to one side, but she kept her nerve, hid her pain and looked him in the eye. ‘So when are you going to meet him?’

‘He’s here now.’ The curtness of his reply shocked her as much as what he’d said.

‘Here?’

‘No, in London. We have a meeting planned for today.’

‘And he thought it would be a good idea to blast it all over the British papers on the very same day?’ Furious loyalty suddenly sprang up inside her and she couldn’t keep the spike of venom from her voice. What kind of man would do such a thing?

‘I’ve read it over several times and I don’t think he is responsible. He would be dragging his own name through the dirt too. He’s been accused of blackmailing a woman into an engagement. Maybe by meeting him I will discover just who is responsible for this.’ He picked up the newspaper again and glared at it.

‘So you are going?’ She frowned at what he’d just told her, the puzzle over who would gain from leaking such a story taking her mind from her own problems.

‘Yes, but first we have things to sort out.’

‘What things?’ She curled her fingers together; the engagement ring she’d picked out with such enthusiasm and hope for the future cut cruelly into her palm as it turned on her finger. Was that a sign they were doomed? Whatever duty and honour kept them together?

‘Our marriage. How we are going to make this work.’

‘Our marriage is over, Max.’ She didn’t dare mention that once she’d loved him so much she’d thought nothing could ever change that. If she mentioned the word love now it would push her over the edge, even if it didn’t do that to him.

‘Not until I return the signed papers saying I agree to the divorce and right now I have no intention of doing that.’


CHAPTER TWO (#u42fe8f3c-6887-5ed8-93e7-46bf0027e8bd)

‘YOU HAVE TO AGREE.’ There was a hint of panic in Lisa’s voice and Max realised how much work he would have to do. Whatever Lisa had once felt for him, it was gone. Maybe she even hated him. But what of the passion of that night two months ago? Didn’t that count for something?

‘You are expecting my child, Lisa. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t contest the divorce?’ The words were out before he’d had a chance to check them, to rationalise the deeper level they came from.

The door to the bar burst open and a group of office workers entered on a rush of cold winter air, their revelry matching the season but not his mood. He glanced one last time at the newspapers, the image of the father he hadn’t seen for years and that of the brother he’d never met staring up at him. That particular problem would have to wait.

He pulled his heavy wool coat on, his eyes meeting the question in Lisa’s green ones. ‘We can’t talk about this here.’

‘There is nothing else to talk about.’ The passionate retort fired hotly back at him as the group of men and woman laughed loudly at their private joke. This was not the place to have such a discussion.

Max moved toward her, inhaling her perfume, its light floral scent taking him far from the coldness of winter in London. The determination to do what was right by his child made his words sharper than he intended. ‘That is where you are wrong, Lisa. We have a child to talk about. Our child.’

‘A child you don’t want.’ This time her hot words were barely above a whisper.

He looked at her, the rising noise levels of the lunchtime crowd now arriving only increasing his anger, his frustration that she was so hell-bent on pushing him away, out of his child’s life. ‘A child I hadn’t planned on ever having, but that will not stop me from being a father.’

Anger at the way his father had so willingly turned his back on him rushed from the past, threatening to drag him back into the pit of hell he’d lived in as a teenager. All those doubts, the questions, the hatred and the overwhelming sense of worthlessness swirled around him. In one breath it made what he had to do completely clear and in another it clouded it completely.

‘Let’s get out of here.’ He took Lisa’s arm, ignoring the startled look she shot at him as he propelled her toward the door.

Outside the cold winter wind, as it whipped wildly around them, the hint of snow wrapped up in it, matched his mood. He sucked in a deep breath and, still holding Lisa’s elbow, marched across the car park toward his car. He pressed the remote and the orange lights flashed as the car unlocked.

‘You can’t just march me out of here and bundle me into the car like a troublesome package.’ She lifted her chin and looked at him, the wind snatching at the glorious red hair, reminding him yet again of the morning two months ago when he’d woken to find her in his bed.

Why the hell had he given into lust then? Why hadn’t he been able to control the wayward desire and walk away before things had got heated?

Because it was Lisa.

‘So you’d rather discuss our marriage, our child, against the backdrop of an office Christmas lunch?’ He let go of her arm and shoved his hand deep into his coat pocket, taking away the temptation to prevent her from leaving. If she turned and walked away, left him standing here like the young boy who’d watched his father leave, then he’d know it was all over. He’d know that there was no point.

Lisa didn’t move. She stood proudly looking up at him, a haughtiness that was born out of the hurt he’d caused her when he’d told her their marriage was over, that he didn’t love her. ‘So where are we going?’

‘My apartment.’

He saw the shadow of doubt enter her eyes, obliterating the angry spark, then her delicate brows lifted gently. ‘Your apartment? Can’t we talk here?’

‘In this freezing wind?’ He opened the passenger car door for her then stood back. ‘We need to sort things out, Lisa.’

‘Very well, but nothing is happening between us again.’

Her insistence almost made him smile. ‘I think enough has happened already, don’t you?’

As she slipped into the low sports car he tried to eradicate the memory of those long legs wrapped around him. Now was not the time to be carried away by lust, but he would have to be careful. As he manoeuvred the car out of the car park and onto the road, joining the busy afternoon traffic, he ignored the fact that Lisa was the only woman who’d made such control impossible. The only woman who had affected him like this.

* * *

Lisa looked around the apartment she hadn’t been in for months, the memories of her foolhardy expectation of love and happy ever afters almost mocking her from every corner. It felt strange to be here, to be following Max across the polished wooden floor as if the last year hadn’t happened.

But it had.

Nothing could erase those words he’d said to her, the admission that he didn’t love her, never had and never would. Just as nothing could erase the fact that after one reckless night they had created a new life. A baby that would join them together for evermore, whatever the outcome of this discussion he was so insistent on.

‘I should have thought,’ he said as he turned from hanging up his coat, waiting to take hers. ‘This maybe wasn’t the best place. I could have been a little more sensitive.’

She frowned at him, knocked off balance emotionally by the sudden show of consideration. Was it possible that he cared for her still?

‘This is far from neutral territory and not the best place to make a deal.’ The hint of his Spanish accent had deepened. It tugged at her heart, unleashed memories of happier times and she instantly went into defensive mode.

‘We are not making a deal, Max. Our child is not something that can be bartered over.’

‘I’m aware of that.’ He took her coat from her, the warmth of his fingers brushing against hers, sending a shock wave of heat through her. He’d felt it too, she was sure. His eyes had widened, the darkness of his eyes holding hers. Tension had stretched between them, only breaking when he once again spoke. ‘But this has to be settled.’

‘We both know we can’t remain married, so I don’t see any other option but divorce.’

He turned and walked away from her and she watched him, watched the rigid line of his shoulders as he looked out over the river Thames. She couldn’t move even though somewhere deep inside her she wanted to, wanted to go to him, tell him she loved him that it was enough for her. But it wasn’t. She’d tried that.

‘I grew up in Seville.’ He turned to face her and she wondered where this was going. They’d never really discussed their past, their childhood. They’d always lived for the moment, which had suited her perfectly.

‘So how—?’ She stumbled over the question that came to mind after having read the story in the newspaper. ‘Your father?’

‘How did he have two families and neither knew about the other? Because my mother and I were in Seville and his other family, his wife and legitimate son, were in Madrid. It’s only now I realise why we moved to Madrid when I was a young boy, why my mother thought it best to leave behind her family and follow him—my father.’

She blinked a few times and took a deep breath as a wave of nausea threatened. ‘I hope my child never goes through anything like that.’

The words were out before she could stop them. The pain of her childhood blending with the hint that his had been far from filled with love and happiness.

‘Then we want the same things, Lisa. A happy home for our child.’

She turned from him, frowning as questions cascaded over her like a torrent of floodwater. He made it sound as if he wanted to give them a chance, to build a happy marriage for their child, but how could that be when she knew he didn’t love her and, worse, that he didn’t want to be loved?

The heels of her boots made a soft tap as she walked away from him, excruciatingly aware of his gaze following her, taking in every move she made, as if he could read every question, every doubt she had and was preparing his answers, his arguments.

She turned and looked at him. ‘We don’t have to remain married to give a child that.’

He walked toward her, long strides that brought him far too close to her. ‘We owe it to our child to try.’

Her heart ached. He’d said nothing about them. She shook her head slowly. ‘No, Max.’

He touched her cheek, the palm of his hand warm, and she sucked in a deep breath. ‘We had something good once, Lisa, something that brought us back together and created a child—our child.’

Her heart thumped. Stupidly she thought he was referring to love and to her dismay her eyes fluttered closed, hope filling her.

‘That passion is still there, is it not?’ Her eyes flew open, not because of the heavy accent of his words, which reminded her of those intimate moments when she could easily fool herself that he loved her, but because of what he considered to be between them.

‘Passion isn’t enough.’ Her hot retort did little to deflect the charm that this man was renowned for.

‘But it’s something.’

She looked away, desperate to break the heady contact of his dark eyes. Beyond the small but well-equipped office she looked through the window and out over London lying beneath dark heavy clouds. She was about to turn back to him, to tell him that maybe he was right, when papers on his desk caught her attention.

The petition for divorce. On top of the acknowledgement form lay a pen, as if he’d been interrupted in the process of signing it.

* * *

Max followed her gaze and looked at his desk, seeing a story he knew she would quickly piece together. The pen lying where he’d dropped it as he’d answered the phone call from his half-brother, Raul, which had thrown everything into disarray—and that had only been the beginning.

Then he’d been poised ready to sign the papers, to end a marriage he’d made in haste, but even before the ringtone of his phone had slashed through his thoughts he’d been unable to do it. Unable to make it so very final.

‘You were going to sign them,’ Lisa said softly as she looked back to him, and the pain in her eyes clutched at him, stabbing his conscience.

The truth of it all was that even before the phone call his hand had hovered over the form, ready to sign but not able to. Still the shock of receiving them cut deeply. He’d failed. Just like his father, he’d been unable to be the man he’d promised to be.

‘Isn’t that what you wanted me to do?’ He deflected her question, throwing one back at her, and he knew that if he stood any chance of being in his child’s life he had to get Lisa to understand that they needed to remain married.

‘Yes,’ she said, but the hint of hesitation told him he was finally winning. ‘It was.’

‘And now that you are carrying my child? Do you still want me to sign them?’ He moved away from her, wanting to give her space to think but more importantly to take away the temptation to kiss her.

He looked out over London, the tension in the room notching up as her silence lengthened. He went to his desk, turning the papers round to face him and picked up the pen.

He looked at her, saw the way she bit at her lower lip, her focus on his hand. ‘The baby changes nothing, Max. We should never have married.’

‘But we did,’ he said as he put down the pen and stood tall, his arms folded across his chest. Anything to stop himself from going to her, from trying to kiss some reason into her. She was his wife and the thought of her moving on, of her meeting someone new, lashed at him like icy rain.

‘I don’t want a reluctant father for my child, Max.’

He drew in a deep breath as her words hit at his biggest insecurity. ‘Then we agree on that at least because I want to be there for my son or daughter all the time. Which is why I want to give our marriage another chance.’

‘We already know we don’t work.’

‘I’ll make a deal with you, Lisa. We give the marriage one last chance. We live as a married couple for the next two weeks and if by New Year’s Eve you still feel the same, I will not contest the divorce and we can both start our lives again.’

* * *

‘Why?’ she asked, her brows furrowing in suspicion. ‘You don’t love me. You told me that in no uncertain terms.’

Lisa looked at Max as his eyes met hers across the small space of his office. Her heart flipped over and her stomach fluttered just as it always had done when he’d looked at her like that. For her it was all about being in love, but for him it was something different.

‘Because we have created a child, our child, and we owe it to that child to at least try.’ His words confirmed her thoughts. This was about his conscience, about doing the right thing.

She’d never wanted a divorce. Not because she couldn’t admit they’d made a mistake, but because she still loved him. It had been his cold and cruel words after their passionate night that had prompted her to tell him that morning she wanted a divorce and the pain had stung long enough to ensure she’d eventually seen it through.

‘Our night together should never have happened.’ She turned and glared at him, pushing down her softer side, the one that wanted to fall into his arms and take anything he was offering. She might have been able to do that once, but not any more, not now she had a child to think of.

‘So why did it, Lisa?’ His voice was deep, gravelly and very sexy.

She bit down hard, keeping the truth inside. There was no way she was ever going to let him know she still loved him. She’d thought her dreams had all come true at once when she’d first met Max and giving up on her dreams was hard. Too hard.

‘Far too much wine.’ She snapped the words she’d used earlier and turned, leaving the small office and the air that was full of the scent of Max. She couldn’t stay here any more, not when every word, every look, made her remember all she’d lost.

‘Nothing else?’ He taunted her and she stopped, her breathing deep and fast as she looked steadfastly at the door of his apartment, her escape. She wouldn’t turn round, couldn’t look at him.

‘No.’ She shook her head and took the final steps to the door but before she could open it Max was in front of her. ‘Nothing.’

‘But there is something now,’ he said all too calmly. ‘Our child.’

She clutched at the first thing she could think of to change the subject. ‘What about your brother? Aren’t you intending to meet him this afternoon?’

‘I am meeting my brother...’ he paused and lifted his arm to look at his watch, the movement exposing his tanned wrist and, try as she might, she couldn’t tear her gaze away ‘...in one hour. Which means, we will have to continue this discussion later.’

‘In that case, I’ll go home.’ Her blasé reply made his brows rise in a suggestive and incredibly sexy way and she drew in a deep breath.

‘You will come with me, Lisa, and afterward, we will call at your apartment to collect all you need to move back in here while we sort things out.’

‘Are you mad?’

‘Quite possibly.’ He smiled, the kind of smile that left her in no doubt he was sure he held all the power. ‘But I am not about to allow you to walk away with my child.’

‘A child you’ve never wanted.’

‘That may have been the case once, but not any more.’


CHAPTER THREE (#u42fe8f3c-6887-5ed8-93e7-46bf0027e8bd)

MAX’S MIND HAD been a turmoil of thoughts as he and Lisa had made the journey across London to the hotel his brother had suggested for their meeting. One minute he’d been thinking of his brother and how finally meeting him would affect him, and then his thoughts had gone to the child he was now responsible for. How could he be a father when he was the son of a man who’d led a double life, effectively having two families simultaneously?

He looked at Lisa as she sat down in one of the cosy-looking armchairs in the hotel foyer. A wave of unease washed over him as he noticed she was still pale beneath the heavy make-up she nearly always wore. It was her armour, her wall to hide behind. He knew that much at least, although not why. In fact he knew very little about her past. Nothing else had mattered at first because he’d seen the real Lisa, had loved the real Lisa—at least physically.

Then he’d broken her heart because his past meant he couldn’t open his heart to hers. He couldn’t let himself love her. It was an emotion he wasn’t capable of. His father’s sudden abandonment had seen to that, not that he’d been around much before he’d walked out for good. Max had never known where he went for weeks at a time, but now, finally, he did. He’d gone to his other family, to his legitimate son and legal wife—leaving his mistress and his illegitimate son behind.

A stab of hurt pierced into him. He had been nothing more than a bad secret to be swept out of sight. A child to be avoided, forgotten, not loved and finally knowing why only intensified the pain. The shadows cast by his past reached far into the future, destroying everything. If he hadn’t been able to love Lisa, how could he love his child?

Hell, he really didn’t need this guilt now. Not on top of recent revelations and now today’s headlines, which played to the one thing he hated—being illegitimate. The bastard child of the man who’d broken his mother’s heart and wrecked their lives without so much as an apology and definitely never an explanation. He’d walked out one night and never come back. Max had tried to console his mother, but, at eight, that had been a tall order and yet another failure as far as he was concerned.

Now he had to face that man’s legitimate son. The son he must have really wanted. His true heir. His half-brother, Raul, had only said that as part of his will his father had wanted him found and brought into the family business. So what was this all about? His father’s pathetic attempts to make peace?

He moved away from Lisa and all the complications, wanting to get this meeting under way. He paused outside the restaurant, took a deep breath and then opened the doors and walked in. It was empty of anyone except a couple who were locked in a heated debate. They were lovers, of that there wasn’t any doubt, lovers who hated and loved with equal passion. Neither was he in any doubt that he was looking at his brother.

For a moment Max waivered. If he couldn’t do emotions, could he be any kind of brother? Savagely he pushed the thought aside. He’d do this to show his father he wasn’t completely cast from the same mould as him.

* * *

Lisa’s nerves were so taut she could hardly sit still, the events of the day, which had unfolded at breakneck speed, only adding to her nausea. Raised voices had come from the room and the hasty retreat of another woman had made her more anxious. It had all gone quiet now. Too quiet.

‘How did it go?’ She jumped up from her chair as Max pushed open the door. From the look on his face she already knew the answer to that. She also had so many more questions to ask, not least who was the woman who’d fled the room, almost in tears. What had happened in there?

‘As well as such a meeting can go.’ He fired the words back at her, his jaw firm and hard, and a tremor of fear slithered down her spine.

‘That’s it?’ Lisa could see the defensive wall being built around him. He was shutting her out, keeping her away from him, from his emotions, just as he always did. Her heart softened. She’d picked the wrong day to tell Max he was going to be a father.

‘For now, yes,’ he said, but from the frown on his face, the tight set of his jaw, she knew things were far from right.

‘Will you see him again?’

Finally, Max looked at her properly, as if he’d buried all the hurt that must have come from meeting a brother he’d never met. ‘I will, yes. We have agreed not to let the past cloud the future. In light of the press headlines we will present a united front, but now it’s over I can deal with other problems.’

That fear turned to ice, draining any warmth from her body. Was she just another problem to be briefly addressed then pushed aside to be forgotten? ‘What other problems?’

‘Don’t play the innocent with me, Lisa. You know as well as I do that your news this morning is a problem.’

Was he blaming her? The accusation in his dark eyes and laced into every word certainly made it feel like that. Anger fired through her, its heat chasing away the chill of fear. ‘One you no longer need to worry about.’ Sickness filled her stomach, but she remained strong as she turned to walk away from him, in disbelief as he said nothing to stop her. He thought that little of her and the baby he was letting her simply walk away. She bit down the cocktail of anger and disappointment and continued walking, each step almost killing her.

Max caught up with her and took hold of her arm, bringing her to an abrupt stop. ‘Where the hell are you going?’

She whirled round to face him, freeing herself from his grasp. ‘As far away from you as possible.’

He looked at her, a frown of worry creasing his brow. ‘That will not be possible. You are coming home with me.’

Lisa looked at him with total shock. ‘I am not going home with you.’

‘We agreed.’ His lips pressed into a firm line, but she was too angry, too irrational to care what he thought.

‘You agreed and you can’t make me.’ She knew she sounded emotionally unstable, but she couldn’t help it, not when her body was full of pregnancy hormones, which flung her from highs to lows in just a few seconds. Or was that Max? Was he the one turning everything on its head?

‘You are coming home with me. You are my wife.’ The feral growl of his voice served only to spike her mutinous anger even higher.

‘Only when it suits you, it seems.’

‘Don’t challenge me now, Lisa. You have just told me you are expecting my child. And that changes everything. We are married and will remain married—living under the same roof.’

Like an angry lion he stood and almost snarled out his demands and instantly she became the defensive woman she’d grown up to be. The need to fight her corner, to stand up for herself and be heard, dominated all her thoughts and she lashed out verbally.

‘You might have watched your father walk away but I will not allow that to happen to my child, not when I know what it’s like to be despised by my own father and then stepfathers.’ She hadn’t meant to let the past creep out, but as he took a step toward her, towering over her, she stood steadfast, refusing to be dominated. Ever. Not by anyone, least of all the man she’d married.

‘I’m not the only one with a past to hide, or hide behind, am I, Lisa?’

‘No, you’re not,’ she raged against him and the past she’d been trying to escape all her life. She’d thought marrying Max had finally meant that she could put all that behind her, that she could finally settle and make a home, but how wrong she’d been. The situation she had been plunged into meant she had to face that head-on. ‘But I’m not the one still running.’

The barb, laced with recrimination, hit its mark. His eyes glittered with anger but she matched his with her own. Being brought up on the wrong side of town had made her always ready to leap to her defence with anger. She didn’t need him—or any man. She was more than able to look after herself and now she would do the same for her baby, just as her mother had had to do. But with one difference. She would not be inflicting a constant stream of father figures on her son or daughter. She’d rather do this alone than risk that.

‘You think coming here today, meeting a brother I never knew I had, is running away? You think saying we will remain married—living together for the sake of our child—is running away?’ He moved closer to her, his intoxicating presence making her head swim, increasing the nausea, but she remained, tall and strong.

‘It is not a physical presence that counts. It’s more than that and it’s something you have already proved you are unable to do when you walked out on our marriage. I’m not going anywhere with you.’

As the words flew like accusing bullets from her lips the nausea took over, weakening her body. The luxury of the hotel foyer blurred and the last thing she could focus on was the Christmas tree, resplendent in gold, its lights twinkling like a thousand stars. She couldn’t hold on any longer and slipped into the bliss of soft darkness and the sanctuary it offered.

* * *

‘Lisa.’ She heard Max say her name and smiled weakly. She’d always loved the way his accent lengthened her name, made it sound so exotic and sensual, but this time there was a hint of panic.

In the depths of darkness, she was aware of her body beginning to fall but before she reached the floor Max’s arms were around her, his strong and muscled chest now a cushion for her head. She leaned against him, finally finding the will to fight the blackness as she inhaled the scent of the man she loved. The only man she would ever love. A man, by his own admission, incapable of love.

That last thought lingered in her mind like the frost that had covered the ground this morning; its chill revived her mind, her body, bringing everything once more into stinging focus.

‘I’m okay.’ She pushed against him, but his arms held her tightly. Weariness and confusion muddled her mind.

‘Is she all right?’ Another male voice, one as strong and commanding as Max’s, forced her to open her eyes.

She looked into a handsome face, one so familiar to that of the man whose strong arms now carried her to the chair she’d been sitting in only a short time ago. His brother. Her mind processed the information slowly but she knew that there could never be any doubt about that fact.

‘This is my wife, Lisa.’ She looked up at Max as his arms slipped from her, allowing her to sit in the chair again, but he stayed, crouched low, at her side, lines of anger on his face, and she wished he could look as concerned for her as his brother did. ‘Pregnancy is not agreeing with her.’

Not agreeing with her. How very dared he? He was the one who found this pregnancy disagreeable.

‘You should take her home. Call the doctor.’ The dominating male voice of Max’s brother spoke again and she looked up at him, standing over them like a demon.





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