Secret Heirs And A Forever Family

Even though it meant living in a cramped, disgusting hovel. He could only admire her tenacity.

‘You might think that you sister has it all, but she envies you…did you know that?’

Susie swung to look at him, although in the darkness she could barely make out his expression. ‘Did she tell you that?’

‘She didn’t have to. I could decipher it from the way she described you…free-spirited…taking each day as it comes…’

‘Alex enjoys her life. She’s so clever you wouldn’t believe it.’

‘She’s also the eldest. There’s a lot riding on her shoulders.’

‘I never thought about it from that point of view. Maybe you’re right.’ She sighed. ‘Who cares anyway?’

‘You do.’

‘I’m tired.’ She made herself yawn. ‘It’s been a big day. I’d quite like to get some sleep now.’

Sergio cupped her breast, liking the feel of its heaviness in the palm of his big hand. He rubbed her nipple with the abrasive pad of his thumb and felt it stiffen.

‘You wanted to tell me something,’ he murmured. ‘What was it?’

Susie stilled. This was not the right time. When she detonated that bomb she knew that she would have to take cover.

‘In the morning,’ she mumbled. ‘I’m way too tired to string a sentence together now…’

‘Too tired to touch me?’ He guided her hand to his erection and felt her whole body soften and yearn towards him.

They made love slowly, like two people dancing underwater. When she came it was a long, deep climax, and she fell asleep almost immediately, her body curled into his.

Light was streaming through the windows when she next woke, and the bed was empty. She surfaced groggily and for the first five seconds was blissfully forgetful of the daunting task that lay ahead.

Her peace of mind didn’t last long and she sat up, rubbed her eyes and spotted him at the desk, working.

‘What time is it?’

‘After ten.’

Susie yelped and flung herself out of bed. Shower. Get cleaned up. Put her dress back on—which was going to look ridiculous at ten in the morning. And of course she had no make-up with her…not even a hairbrush.

She couldn’t face having this talk until she was fully dressed. Being naked and in his bed made her vulnerable.

She locked the bathroom door. For the first time. No sexy, steamy shared shower. No touching. She wasn’t even sure she would be able to look him squarely in the face, never mind having his hands on her, exploring her body, turning her brain to mush.

‘Why the big rush?’

He looked at her as she emerged fully clothed from the bathroom. As jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof. Suddenly that vague feeling was back with him—the feeling that something wasn’t quite right. And yet…they had spent another incredible night together. What could be wrong? She had recovered from her little fit of pique at the thought that he had gatecrashed the wedding so that he could see for himself where she came from.

He shot her a slow, deliberate smile and it took all the will power in her repertoire not to fold.

‘I’m going to call a taxi to…er…take me back to London.’

She stuck out her chin and looked at him challengingly and Sergio frowned.

‘Why? Stanley’s waiting. My very lucky chauffeur was treated to a night in one of the finest hotels in the county so that he could be on standby for when I was ready to leave.’ He relaxed back in the chair, folded his arms on his chest and gazed at her.

‘I’m going to have to detour via the bed and breakfast I was booked into…get the stuff that I left in the room…change clothes…that sort of thing…’

Sergio didn’t say anything and silence filled the room, as heavy as a lead weight.

‘This is beginning to get on my nerves, Susie. What exactly is it that you want to say? If it’s a little speech about our future, then I’ll spare you the trauma of initiating the subject. You know how I feel on the matter.’

Sudden tension lent his voice a sharp edge that made her flinch back, as if she had been struck.

‘Of course I know!’ she snapped tensely. ‘You’ve made it perfectly clear from day one and you haven’t let up since!’

Startled at her own outburst, because it was so unlike her, she felt tears prick the back of her eyes. She blinked rapidly and took a few deep breaths. She’d been snapping at him since he had arrived and she would continue until she got what she had to say off her chest.

Sergio’s jaw hardened. ‘The reason I’m repeating myself,’ he drawled, with just the right level of boredom to induce in her another jag of misery, ‘is because weddings can sometimes do things to a girl. She sees her best friend, or in your case her cousin, walking up the aisle and suddenly she starts thinking that it’s about time her turn came along.’

‘I wasn’t thinking that.’

‘No? Because your father happened to mention in passing that a big white wedding is the only thing you’ve ever really wanted. Apparently you used to spend your childhood days dressing up your dolls in big wedding dresses and marrying them off to whatever stuffed toy was handy.’

Susie’s cheeks flamed. She’d forgotten about that. She’d certainly never thought that her father had paid the slightest bit of attention to that phase of her life.

‘I had no idea you’d been having such in-depth conversations with my parents. What else did they happen to mention “in passing”?’

‘That you insisted on that secretarial course which had only ever been a suggestion. You clung to it and stuck it out—even though it was obvious from day one that you were allergic to all things technological and got bored the second you stepped foot inside an office.’

Shaking, Susie slithered towards the chaise longue and sat down, giving her wobbly legs a rest.

He had no right to just turn up and then to burrow his way into her past via her parents. Not now. Not when everything was changing.

‘That’s not the way I remember it…’ she said, distracted. ‘Alex was always the golden girl.’

‘Memories can get a little distorted. The truth usually lies somewhere in the middle.’

‘Well, it doesn’t matter. The truth is your showing up uninvited to Clarissa’s wedding…meeting my parents…wasn’t a good idea.’

‘Because they might get the wrong impression and think that this is more serious than it actually is…? Your mother might start shopping for a hat…? Your father will begin to prepare his father-of-the-bride speech…? You’ve already mentioned that. This conversation is beginning to go round in circles.’

‘It’s okay for you to sit there and smirk!’ she said in a high-pitched voice. ‘But you don’t know what it’s like!’

‘And maybe you’re overplaying how you think your family might respond to the fact that you’re going out with me. They might, actually, be a little more pragmatic than you give them credit for… They might be just a little more realistic…’ He shifted, looked at her with cool, assessing eyes. ‘And since when have you taken to shouting?’

‘I wasn’t shouting. I was trying to make a point.’ She sighed and ran her fingers through her tumbling hair. ‘Maybe this is just a side to me that you haven’t seen before. The shouting side.’

She wiped her perspiring hands on her dress and flopped back on the chaise longue, because her legs were beginning to come over all weak and wobbly again.

‘Look…I just want you to know that I don’t expect anything from you. Nothing at all.’

Sergio’s eyes narrowed. He tilted his head to one side, as though listening for something only he would be able to hear.

‘I’m not following you.’

Tense as a bowstring, Susie sprang to her feet and began pacing the room, her movements agitated. Every so often her eyes slid across to him—and the closed expression on his beautiful face didn’t exactly fill her with confidence.

She fought against the temptation to put off this awkward conversation for another day. When she was feeling a little stronger. After she had absorbed all the ramifications of her situation for herself and rustled up some kind of plan. At which point she would be able to present him with a fait accompli, all-corners-covered type of situation…

‘There’s something you need to know…and I’m afraid it’s going to put a completely different spin on what we…er…have…’

Sergio stilled. Normally so adept at reading situations, he discovered that his breathing had slowed down and his brain was not operating to its usual heightened state of efficiency.

Something was wrong. What? She still fancied the hell out of him. Even sitting there, barely meeting his eyes and wringing her hands, he could sense the mutual attraction pouring between them like a wave of electricity, undiminished.

Was she about to announce that she had done something at the wedding? While he had been busy discovering all sorts of things about her, thanks to her parents and her sister? She had seemed to know nearly every one of the guests there, including all the young men, who were obviously mutual friends of the bride and her cousins.

Jealousy rammed into him with such force that he drew his breath in sharply. Graphic images of her sneaking off with some guy behind his back competed in his head to make him feel physically sick.

Jealousy? Since when had he ever been jealous when it came to any woman?

‘I’m losing patience with this long-winded non-explanation,’ he said tightly, reining in unfamiliar emotions with difficulty. ‘If you have something to say, then why don’t you stop going round the houses and just say it?’

‘I’m pregnant.’

It was the last thing he had expected to hear and so it took him a few seconds to digest the revelation.

Then he laughed mirthlessly.

‘You have got to be kidding.’

‘Do I look like someone performing a comic routine, Sergio? I’m pregnant. I only found out yesterday. I did the test. In fact I did two tests. There’s no mistake. I’m having a baby. I’m having your baby.’

He vaulted upright, stared at her and raked his fingers through his hair. ‘You can’t be.’

He stood in front of her, feet apart, challenging her to defy that simple statement of truth.

But in his heart he recognised the ring of sincerity and fought against it.

Pregnant? How the hell had that happened? He was going to be a father? Even when he had loosely contemplated the idea of eventually settling down with a suitable woman his thoughts had not stretched into the realms of fatherhood.

His eyes flew to her stomach and just as quickly looked away.

‘Don’t tell me that I can’t be,’ Susie snapped.

She glared at him. Did he think she was lying? No, of course not! He was desperately clinging to denial because the alternative was so hideous that he couldn’t bring himself to give it credence. He was a man who liked to control every aspect of his life, and just like that he’d lost it.

She’d gone into this with her eyes wide open, never realising that she would be playing with fire. This was what it felt like to end up loving someone 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…’

CHAPTER SEVEN

SEVERAL WORDS LODGED in Susie’s head with dagger-like precision. Explosion. Player in the game. And finally, Whether either of us wants it or not…Mrs Burzi….

‘We’re both overwrought,’ she managed in a strangled voice. ‘You need a few days to take this in.’

She glanced wildly at the door and wondered whether she could make a sprint for it.

‘You’re not going anywhere, so you can forget eyeing the doorway like it’s the promised land, and I don’t need a few days to think about this. I’ve already thought about it and come up with the only possible solution.’

‘To marry you? That’s the only possible solution?’

‘What else?’

The sexy, teasing man she had fallen in love with had gone. In his place was this cold-eyed stranger, addressing her in a voice that could freeze water.

‘I take full responsibility for the mess we’ve ended up in. It’s the first time I have ever come close to any kind of lapse in taking precautions.’

‘You should hear yourself!’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘The mess we’ve ended up in…an explosion in your life…’ Tears stung the back of her eyes. ‘How can you be so…so…callous…?’

‘I’m not being callous.’ Sergio flushed darkly and continued to stare at her.

‘A few hours ago,’ she slammed into him bitterly, ‘you were dragging me in here so that you could make love to me…’

‘You weren’t protesting.’

‘I never said that I was!’ Her eyes flared and she held his stare with mutinous, stubborn persistence.

His change should come as no big surprise. He had never been in it for more than the sex and now his true colours were showing—because whether he magnanimously chose to take responsibility or not the fact was that circumstances had changed horrendously for him.

He wasn’t aiming to be callous. For him it was truly an explosion in his life—and a mess. It just wouldn’t occur to him that those words would be the last ones she might want to hear.

‘I don’t want to get into a huge argument with you,’ Susie told him wearily. ‘But I’m not going to marry you. And quite honestly I have no idea why you would want to marry me. Especially when you had such a dramatic “learning curve”, with your father marrying the wrong woman and then suffering for his mistake. Why would you want to marry the wrong woman?’

‘Circumstances are somewhat different in our case, wouldn’t you say? For a start, you aren’t decades my junior, and you didn’t actively seek me out so that you could extract money from me.’

‘That’s not what you thought when we first met! And you came here because you needed to satisfy yourself that you hadn’t made a mistake. No point taking unnecessary chances.’

‘It’s not going to further this situation if we keep delving into the past. That’s over and done with.’

‘It still doesn’t change the fact that I won’t marry you. We’re not living in the Dark Ages, Sergio. What would be the point of sacrificing our lives just because we happened to make a mistake? People make mistakes all the time, but it doesn’t mean that they condemn themselves to paying for it for the rest of their lives.’

Sergio took every single word that left her mouth as a personal affront.

Marriage had not crossed his radar in any way, shape or form…ever. Yet he knew that had he offered what he was offering now to any of the women he had dated in the past they would have bitten his arm off in their enthusiasm to accept.

Not only had she turned him down, she had done so without a hint of apology or remorse, and she had told him in no uncertain words that he was not up to scratch, not what she was looking for.

‘So tell me how you see this situation playing out?’ His voice was icy. ‘You remain living where you are? In a flat that is barely big enough for one person, far less two? With temperamental central heating and appliances that don’t work unless they feel like it? Do you envisage romantic times as a pauper, having to swaddle my baby in layers of clothes or risk frostbite? Or will you take up the other option of running back home to Mummy and Daddy and living under their roof for the foreseeable future? Because—and let’s be brutally honest here—your job won’t pay the way.’

‘I haven’t thought that far ahead,’ Susie said faintly. ‘Of course I know that it’s not going to be feasible to stay where I am…’

‘So the Mummy and Daddy option will come into play. Is that it?’

‘That’s not what I said!’

‘Then what exactly are you saying?’

‘As you know, my parents have an apartment in London…’ But she cringed at the thought of taking them up on what would be their inevitable offer. Probably not even an offer. They would insist.

She had spent too many years doing her best to maintain her independence, and somehow she just knew that if she caved in to parental pressure at this point—even well-intentioned parental pressure—she would fall into a trap from which it would be nigh on impossible to escape.

‘Over my dead body.’

‘We could work something out,’ Susie muttered, staring at the ground. ‘Okay, I accept that my job doesn’t pay enough…isn’t stable enough… And I…’ She swallowed painfully as a vision of her limited options raced through her head like the steel jaws of a trap, propelling her into a place she fought hard against. ‘I don’t want to run crying to my parents for financial assistance. It’s bad enough that they’re going to try and shove it down my throat the second they hear that I’m pregnant.’

‘They won’t do any such thing if they’re aware that you’re financially being taken care of by me.’

‘I don’t want to be taken care of financially by you!’ She closed her eyes, breathed deeply, opened them and stared at him without blinking. ‘I might not be one of life’s great financial successes but I’ve never wanted to rely on anyone. How do you think you’re going to feel when you’re stuck having to dole out money to me?’

‘Don’t worry about how I’m going to feel. I’m fully capable of handling my feelings. And, whether you want to rely on someone or not, you now don’t have an option.’

‘This isn’t how I saw my life going,’ Susie said quietly. ‘I always thought that I would find Mr Right and everything would be done in the correct order. Love…marriage…babies…happiness and contentment and growing old together…’

Instead, how had she ended up? Pregnant by a man who had only ever seen her as a bit of fun—a guy who felt condemned to do the honourable thing and marry her for the sake of a baby he hadn’t asked for.

Sergio’s jaw hardened. This was not what he wanted to hear. Anecdotes about her ideal life weren’t relevant, given the circumstances.

‘I mean,’ she continued, ‘what sort of life would we have together? This was always going to fizzle out sooner rather than later…’

There was a pause that lasted only a heartbeat as she foolishly prayed for him to jump in and announce that that would not necessarily have been the case. He didn’t. What had she expected?

‘And now you’re proposing we artificially sustain it so that we can be shackled together. In the end, don’t you think that you’ll resent me? Feel chained? Who wants to be a prisoner of their own good intentions?’

‘There’s no need to be dramatic.’ Sergio swept aside her speech with an impatient wave of his hand. ‘Two out of three marriages end up in the bin, and they’re generally the ones that kick off with the starry-eyed belief that the good times will last for ever. A union that is approached from the point of view of a business arrangement stands a far better chance of lasting the course.’

‘And naturally this would be one of those “business arrangements”?’

‘Neither of us was braced for this situation, but now that it’s occurred we can’t indulge in regret and hand-wringing and it’s not helpful for you to dwell on what you would have ideally wanted. This may come as a shock, but it’s not an ideal world.’ He paused. ‘There’s no reason why we can’t make this work. You want to moan about chains and shackles? I don’t know how many chained, shackled prisoners fall into bed with one another and make love like tomorrow may never come…’