Secret Heirs: Baby Bargain. Эбби Грин

who didn’t actually love you back. A sick, empty feeling, as if you were spinning in a black abyss, not knowing how to get out.

      But there was no point getting all worked up in the face of his reaction.

      ‘I’ve worked out that it happened that first time,’ she said, gathering herself. ‘Yes, we were careful all the other times—but there you go. I don’t see the point of wasting time trying to blame one another...’

      ‘Who said that I was apportioning blame?’

      ‘I wish you’d sit down, Sergio. You’re not making this any easier for me. I...I’m having to take all this in myself...’

      ‘You knew the entire time we were at the wedding?’

      She nodded.

      ‘And you said nothing to me?’

      ‘I hardly expected you to turn up unannounced, Sergio! Besides, this isn’t the sort of conversation to be had over some bubbly and canapés.’

      ‘You were taken aback when I showed up...’

      His brain cranked slowly back into gear. He sat down, and hunkered forward, forearms resting lightly on his thighs.

      ‘You didn’t want me to meet your parents because if I was in the picture it would be hard to eliminate me as the father. Were you planning on telling them that you were pregnant by some guy you’d met by chance?’ His mouth twisted sardonically. ‘Some mustard-wearing creep you met on a misguided online date, maybe?’

      ‘No! But if you want the truth,’ she told him bluntly, ‘I knew it would complicate things if you were around. It’s going to be horrendous enough getting through this...explaining to everyone that I’m pregnant...’

      Except maybe he was right... Maybe they weren’t going to be as disappointed as she had imagined—maybe they would accept it the way they perhaps, possibly, had accepted her—and she hadn’t even seen that because she’d always been so busy comparing herself to Alex and to her high-achieving, brilliant parents...

      ‘And our unmarried state is going to be hard for them to swallow, given their traditional views on life,’ he said acidly. ‘Erasing me would have made a hell of a lot more sense. You’re right. Maybe you could even have made me out to be some kind of bastard who got you pregnant and did a runner...? The possibilities are endless, aren’t they, when it comes to disposing of an inconvenient lover...?’

      ‘You’re not being fair...’

      ‘No?’ he mocked.

      ‘No. You can hardly blame me for not wanting to shout it from the rooftops. You’ve made it crystal clear to me how you feel about long-term relationships and how you feel about me.’

      ‘And how do I feel about you?’

      ‘We have great sex and that’s it. I get it—of course I do. I mean...it works both ways... We’ve...um... Well, I’m not about to start dumping this on you and expecting you to do anything about it.’

      Sergio banked down explosive rage.

      ‘When you say that you don’t expect me to “do anything about it”, what exactly do you mean?’

      Her eyes flicked nervously across to him. What was he thinking? What was going through his head? His world had been turned upside down but at least he hadn’t shouted, or accused her of deliberately trying to pin him down. Given his experiences with his father’s second wife, he might have.

      ‘I mean this isn’t part of your life plan,’ she said. She stared down at her clasped fingers but could still feel his eyes pinned to her. ‘And you don’t have to think that you’re going to be lumbered with...with taking responsibilities you hadn’t banked on. As you may have noticed, my parents are pretty well off... I’ll manage financially...’

      ‘I’m going to pretend that I didn’t hear what you just said,’ Sergio told her evenly. ‘And I’m going to get this back on track by pointing out a few things. The first is that you don’t know me at all if you think that I am the kind of man who sleeps with a woman and then walks away from a situation like this. The second is that my baby is my responsibility. I have no intention of handing that responsibility to your parents or any other member of your sprawling family, for that matter. Am I making myself clear on this?’

      ‘That’s fine,’ Susie whispered. ‘If you want to contribute financially, then I won’t say no. I just think it’s important for you to understand that—’

       ‘You’re not hearing me!’

      Susie started, and stared at him nervously. ‘You want to...to help out with money. I understand.’

      ‘This is not just your deal. Whether I wanted this explosion in my life or not, it’s happened—and I intend to be a fully committed player in the game. I’m not just going to set up a direct debit to your account and visit as and when I can... Oh, no. And if you’re thinking along those lines, then you’ve completely misread the situation, Susie. Start the countdown, my darling. Whether either of us wants it or not, you’re about to become Mrs Burzi...’