She’d planned to wait until after his honeymoon to tell him about the pregnancy.
This was the perfect opening for her to tell him the truth, but she held the words back.
She couldn’t tell him now, not when they were both running on exhausted, nervous energy, and he was in so much physical pain. Pain from the wound thatshe’dinflicted. Wounds. Plural. His bottom lip was cut and swollen where she’d bitten it, and she’d almost forgotten about the vase she’d smashed on his head and the kicks she’d rained on him. She still couldn’t process what she’d done. Not properly.
She’d tell him the truth after they’d slept. Tell him everything.
Lifting the bowl from the sink, she instead said, “You know Callie and Dante are together?”
“Dante’s never been fussy about his women,” he dismissed.
“No, I mean together. As in they’ve fallen for each other.”
His laughter at this was cynical.
She put the bowl back on the table and began cleaning the blood off his back. His beautiful back. Unlike his chest and abdomen, which were covered in soft dark hair, his back was entirely smooth, the only part of his body without the scars of his numerous childhood accidents. It was a muscular smoothness she’d found as fascinating as everything else about him.
“It’s true. They’re together. I spoke to Callie this morning – yesterday morning,” she corrected. Nearly a whole day had passed since that call. She didn’t add that she’d already had an inkling the two had fallen for each other. Dante had called Georgia a few times to assure her Callie was safe and well under his care and to check that Georgia was holding up okay. It had been the way his voice softened when he spoke about Callie in his last two calls that had made her wonder. That and the fact Callie had told him about the baby. Callie didn’t trust anyone but Georgia. That she’d told him meant Dante had gained her trust. “If we make it out of this mess alive, you’ll learn it for yourself.”
The long, fascinating back stiffened. “Whatever happens, Georgia, you’re getting out of this alive. You have my word.”
“If the Espositos find us, you might not get any say in it.”
“I will not let them hurt you.”
She found she couldn’t respond to this, and it came to her that her terror had gone. She was still frightened, but the cold, stark terror had evaporated since realising the intruder was Niccolo.
Not wanting to think too closely about why she should feel such innate comfort at the presence of the man she hated and who was responsible for the whole mess they were in, Georgia covered the stitched-up wound with a fresh bandage.
“Now you’re all done,” she whispered.
“Thank God for that.” Grinning his relief, he took a greedy swig of the vodka and passed the bottle to her.
She shook her head.
“Benjamin’s got an excellent wine and whisky collection.” His voice was lighter now she was no longer pulling a needle through his skin. “If I know the man, he’ll be fully stocked with everything else, too. Name your poison.”
“Nothing for me.” Now was not the time to tell him why. “How’s your head feeling?”
His eyebrows drew together before he grinned with memory. “Oh yes, you hit me over the head with that vase.” Pressing his hand to where she’d hit him, his eyebrows drew together again. “There’s a lump. I must have developed a very hard head because I’m not experiencing any signs of concussion.”
“I didn’t know you were a doctor,” she said in a weak attempt at humour.She’dgiven him that lump on his head, and it gave no comfort that she hadn’t known it was Niccolo she was clobbering.
“Just someone who’s had experience of concussion.”
“Then you must know concussion can take hours to form. I fell off a table I was dancing on when I was a little girl and smacked my head on the ground – it was stone flooring – and my concussion didn’t come out until the middle of the night when I started being sick.”
“Why were you dancing on a table?”
“I can’t remember.” The one thing she did remember was that her parents hadn’t been there. She would never have dared dance on a table if they had been. Georgia and Callie’s parents were both highly regarded medical consultants and had been remote and hands-off in their parenting style, preferring to leave the day-to-day practicalities to the hired help. Their expectations as to how their daughters should behave, though, had never been in question. Georgia and Callie had been expected to behave with decorum at all times.
“Nic…” Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to look him square in the eye, and as their stares locked and his dark chocolate brown eyes bore into hers, her heart caught in her throat.
God, she’d loved this man. Loved him so very, very much.
“I’m sorry for all the injuries I inflicted on you.”
There was a long, silent beat before his broad shoulders rose and his chiselled jaw lifted. “You were protecting yourself. You didn’t know it was me.”
