She’d been standing at the very edge of the garden, half concealed by dense shrubbery, nursing her single glass of champagne. He had crept up on her, unobserved, and for a few breathless seconds she was lost for words.
‘Surprised?’ Sergio asked softly.
If she was, then she couldn’t be more surprised than he was. He had had no reason to question his assumption that she came from humble origins. So she had a couple of expensive things in her flat...? Certainly not enough to make him think that she was anything but a girl venturing out in a fairly hazardous profession. He had assumed that whilst she might have moral support from her family, that was pretty much it on the support front.
In fact he had dared to question Stanley’s map-reading skills, only realising that he was, indeed, at the right place when the car drove up the lantern-lined drive.
And now here he was.
And there she was. Staring at him as though she expected him to disappear in a puff of smoke.
‘What are you doing here?’ Susie demanded.
He looked perfect. Every inch the drop-dead gorgeous, brooding alpha male who had stolen her heart.
‘I couldn’t resist the prospect of pulling you behind the bushes and having my wicked way. Something about that dress...’
‘You’re supposed to be wrapping up a deal in New York.’
‘I like breaking with the expected now and again. Where’s the radiant bride and the lucky groom? I have to say...this isn’t what I was anticipating...’
Susie flushed guiltily. She knew why she hadn’t breathed a word about her family—knew that if she had he would have seen her as just another little rich kid, all caught up in doing nothing much because she knew that she could be bailed out of her discomfort if she got bored or fed up. Why would someone like him want to go out with someone like that?
‘What did you anticipate?’
‘Why did you let me assume that you were penniless?’
‘I didn’t let you assume anything. Did you decide to come here so that you could check out my background?’
‘Comes with the terrain,’ he answered coolly. ‘We’ve been lovers for over two months. I like to know exactly what I’m getting into.’
‘And what if you’d found that you’d “got into” someone from a council house background? Or worse...a criminal background...? Would you have got out of it pronto?’
‘I don’t deal in hypothetical situations. At any rate, I never took you for someone from a long line of train robbers...’
That said it all, she thought.
Suddenly everything seemed very complicated. Her parents would adore him. He was just the kind of guy they’d been hoping she would bring home one day. But what was the point of introducing them to someone who wasn’t going to be around for very long? And when she broke the news to them that she was pregnant...
Susie blanched. They would immediately know the identity of the father. Did she want that? Would her parents make it their duty to confront him? They were very traditional.
She felt that she hadn’t thought anything through—but then how could she? She’d barely had time to digest the revelation herself.
‘You shouldn’t have come,’ she told him flatly.
Sergio looked at her through narrowed eyes. ‘Not the response I was expecting...’
‘This isn’t a normal relationship, Sergio. This is...sex—and meeting my family isn’t part of the deal...’ She had to say it because she needed to start distancing herself.
‘But I’m here now...’
‘Not because you wanted to come as my partner.’ She looked up at him steadily. ‘In a normal relationship we would have travelled here together. You would have wanted to meet my parents, wanted to take that next step into the future...a future of getting to know one another’s family and friends...’
‘Where has this come from?’
‘Does it matter? I’m just telling it like it is. You showed up here to do a background check on me... I suppose now that you’re here and my family has passed muster it’s all right for you to meet them?’
‘You’ve managed to blow all this out of proportion and I’m wondering why...’
Dark eyes that saw far too much rested on her flushed face and Susie did her best to get her breathing under control.
‘I’m a little stressed,’ she muttered, looking down. ‘It’s not every day the guy you’re going out with decides to check up on your family to make sure they’re not escaped convicts.’
‘That’s not the only reason I came.’
Sergio was willing to let this go. What they had was good—better than good. He didn’t want her to start getting ideas about his place in her life because she was at her cousin’s wedding. He didn’t need long, intense conversations about normal relationships, where boyfriends couldn’t wait to meet the family and have friends over for Sunday lunch.
‘Isn’t it? What, then?’
‘I missed you.’ He smiled slowly.
‘Why is it all about sex for you?’
She could read that smile as easily as she could read a book, and it still had the power to turn her legs to jelly even though her mind was doing its best to resist.
‘It’s not. Making money ranks highly as well. Ah. I spot curious eyes and a few people descending... Looks like you’re going to have to do a round of introductions whether you like it or not.’
So he’d wanted to show up unannounced...? He couldn’t see what the big deal was. When he had started this fling with her he had not expected it to last longer than a week or two. She didn’t fit his profile, and he was smart enough to work out that if the women who did fit his profile were done and dusted within a month or two then there was no chance that her novelty value would outlast a night in the sack, maybe two.
But she was still around, and he wasn’t sick of her yet... And, that being the case, it had made sense to see her in her own surroundings—the surroundings she had always made sure to keep quiet about. He had wanted to know exactly what he was dealing with instead of taking her at face value. That was just the man he was. Where was the problem?
She was still looking at him with wounded, accusing, angry eyes.
‘You know where I’m coming from,’ he said flatly. ‘I don’t need you getting weepy and hysterical. I came here to make sure you weren’t playing some kind of long game. But, like I said, that wasn’t the only reason. And now that I’m here there will be questions asked if you’re sour and defiant about introducing your boyfriend to your family. So relax, Susie.’
She’d forgotten just how inherently suspicious he was, but it had been brought back to her now. She had fallen in love with a man who would only ever let her get so far and no further. There would always be part of him that was locked away. He was a charming, seductive lover, but a proper relationship would always threaten his self-control so he would never allow it. She’d conveniently managed to forget that part of him, and it hurt now to have been reminded of it.
‘I’m relaxed!’
‘You could have fooled me,’ Sergio murmured. ‘I think I know how to relax you, though...’
He kissed her on her mouth, felt a whisper of protest, and then she melted into him until he drew back and looked down at her with a sexy smile.
‘Much better.’
‘Mum!