She shot him a fierce look. “Don’t use what I told you in the heat of the moment against me. You have no right to judge me.”
He had the decency to look surprised, and then, to lift his hand in a silent gesture of apology. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“Perhaps not, but it’s what you did.”
“You’re right. I’m not thinking straight.”
Her lips compressed. His admission took the sting out of her anger. “Neither of us is, clearly.” She sucked in a breath. “But I can’t pack up my life here, and move to Italy, to live with a man I don’t know. It’s just ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous is thinking we can have a baby andnotget to know each other. One way or another, we will be sharing this child. Isn’t it better to spend your pregnancy preparing for that?”
It sounded so logical. So reasonable and right. How could he do that? A moment ago, she’d been convinced this was the most preposterous suggestion he could have made, and now, was she actually considering it?
“Okay, but you have this place. Why Italy?”
His nostrils flared then, and he seemed to draw himself up to his full height, easily adding an inch or more—or so it seemed to Elodie, who was already feeling dwarfed by him.
“I am a Santoro,cara.I have houses all over the world, but that—that is my home. It’s where my child belongs.”
“Our child,” she corrected absentmindedly, pressing a hand to her stomach. It was still almost impossible to believe she was pregnant, and with his baby.
His eyes narrowed. “Yes. Our child.”
She swallowed past a throat that was slightly constricted. “I need to think.”
He stared down at her, his features giving nothing away.
“Why don’t we talk about this tomorrow? Once we have the results from the paternity test, I mean.”
“You seem confident the results will prove my paternity.”
“Oh, I know they will.”
“Then there’s no harm having this conversation now.”
“Rafaello, listen to me.” She glanced around, needing to sit down, even though she felt it would put her at a significant disadvantage, in terms of height and presence. She moved across to one of the beige leather sofas, carefully avoiding looking in the direction of the ottoman on which they’d first made love. Wildness had driven them; they’d come together in an almost animalistic passion, desperate simply to be together. Even without looking in that direction, memories seared her.
She cleared her throat, trying to focus her thoughts.
“I literally found out I was pregnant this morning. I came to tell you about it almost immediately, because I felt that once I knew, you should know too. It didn’t feel fair or right to hide this from you. But I’m begging you for a bit of time and space to get my head around what this means, for both of us. For all of us.” Her hand pressed softly against her stomach. “I know we’re going to be parents, and that we’re going to have to come to acompromise around what that looks like, but my life had already been turned on its head more times than I can count recently. Please don’t do it to me again.”
He was very quiet and very still for several beats, and then, he walked towards her with long, feral strides. She had been right to feel that sitting down would give him an advantage. He towered over her, and she had to angle her neck sharply to meet his gaze.
“I take no pleasure in complicating your life, but this cannot be helped. I don’t see what advantage there is in waiting.”
Her mouth moved but no words came out.
He expelled a harsh sigh then crouched down, his large body framed right in front of hers, his hands on her knees. “You have no money, no home, a job you will not be able to do for much longer. You told me yourself, you don’t know what you want to do with your life. So come to Italy for a while and do this.”
“This?”
“Enjoy your pregnancy. Be looked after by my staff and simply relax.”
“You’re doing it again,” she murmured with exasperation.
“Doing what?”
“Taking a seriously certifiable idea and making it sound normal and reasonable. Like this actually makes sense.”
