Chapter Three
ANN-SOPHIE WAS ALMOSTsure her blood pressure had just doubled. Marry notorious playboy Alessandro Carandini? This was the same man who had jettisoned her on the dance floor the moment she mentioned a future encounter, but now, he wanted her to agree to spend the rest of her life with him? For the last seven months, she had been bracing herself for the possibility that he would abandon the child with the kind of callous disinterest her father showed her. The idea of marriage felt like the opposite extreme and just as overwhelming. She was already so overwhelmed that, for one brief moment, the idea of simply giving in and letting Alessandro take care of things on a day like today was tempting.
Hormones, she reminded herself. Hormones were making her feel vulnerable, along with today’s unforeseen news from the doctor. Alessandro had caught her at a vulnerable moment. Why else would she invite this man into her living room, listen to his demands for marriage and not kick him out. Her yoga teacher’s voice echoed in her head in a loop, chantingdeep, calming breaths…deep, calming breaths.
“You must be joking,” she finally said.
“I assure you I am not. Marriage is the obvious solution to this…” He gestured at her body, currently sprawled across the sofa, as if he had no words for her state. “It is the best way for both of us to put this child first.”
“I’m glad you want to put the baby first,” she said, keeping her voice even, “but there are many ways to do this without marriage. Like co-parenting, for example.”
“From different countries?”
“We’d have a lot of details to work out, but marriage is no different.”
He looked, in a word, determined. His strong feelings about marriage were a surprise, considering the fact that he was the last person anyone would associate with marriage. Ann-Sophie suspected she wasn’t getting the whole story about why. Maybe the best way forward was attempting to understand these motivations so she could work out a compromise that worked for both her and the baby.
But before she could figure out an approach, Alessandro distracted her with a lazy smile. “It could be mutually satisfying.”
The most maddening thing was how these words in his smooth, low voice still sent a shiver of desire through her. This was the tone he had used in the bedroom for much more pleasurable reasons. Ann-Sophie had thought these feelings had turned off when the uncompromising pink line of the pregnancy test had stared up at her. But the moment his eyes raked down her body, it was as if her blood began to sing. Her body tingled as if ready and waiting for the promise his smile suggested. She was still so vulnerable to his seduction.
To him.
The ache that reached beyond attraction was even more dangerous. Which was why she absolutely should not think about it. She could never let that influence her decisions, not when she was deciding for two.
“But marriage is betweenus,” she said slowly. “Why should I say yes to spending the rest of my life with you?”
Alessandro still wore that lazy, seductive smile, the one he had given her back in Nice, the one that made her forget their very different lives and made her dream. But this time, it felt as if he was toying with her body’s reactions, using them against her while he remained totally under control. All the frustration she had seen when he glared at her in the front of her building had dissolved, and in its place, she felt a will of steel behind his indolent smile. Was this hardness new, or had it been there the whole time, carefully hidden when she posed no threat to his world order? She had been an insignificant fling—one of many, forgettable, she reminded herself. Insignificant enough toblock her calls.
“A marriage would mean that you would have my wealth at your disposal,” he said with a wave of his hand, as if he was some sort of king that granted his subject’s wishes, according to his whims. “This could allow for an upgrade in your living situation, for example. You will not have to work, nor will our child want for anything. You will be free to travel, which you mentioned you’d love to do more of. In fact, you can spend your whole life traveling.”
Maybe another day this offer wouldn’t have tempted her, but after the news that her world was suddenly getting a lot smaller, travel without limits sounded heavenly. Her mother’s words came back to her.You must learn to tell the difference between wants and needs,älskling.Travel was a want. Setting up a life for the baby was a need. She couldn’t let her own wants get in the way.
Deep, calming breaths.The steel will she heard underneath his comments suggested that even if she dismissed him from her apartment, this discussion was not going away. He was father of the baby she was carrying, which demanded a degree of negotiation, no matter what their marital status was.
His gaze raked over her body, and that unmistakable heat in his eyes made her breasts feel fuller, heavier. She tried to ignore it. “What if I am not swayed by what your wealth can do for me?”
“Maybe you should experience it before you so quickly reject the benefits,” Alessandro answered mildly.
“Like endless vacations?” She gave him a polite smile and pretended he was a client to be humored. “And what would you be doing as I took these trips to spas and exclusive resorts?”
“Aside from upholding my side of mutual satisfaction,” he began, and she recognized the familiar raw desire in his gaze, “I would be working, the same way I work now.”
“The same way you were working in Nice? With the nights reserved for affairs like the one that you had with me?” His expression darkened, but Ann-Sophie ignored it. “I suppose that would mean I am also free to gallivant around with other men, so long as I keep it—”
“There will be no extramarital affairs.” His voice had turned hard and icy. He swallowed, and some of the easygoing veneer returned—because she was beginning to understand that this was a veneer. “Not on either of our parts.”
She looked away, not wanting him to see how relieved she was that at least one of her concerns was off the table. She gathered herself again and gave him what she hoped would pass for an amused smile.
“So I will have plenty of time alone?” she asked. “Just a baby and me? What a relief for a new mother.”
He narrowed his eyes at the wryness in her voice. “Resorts are rarely empty, and you may hire nannies or invite friends to stay with you. Or relatives, which I assume you have. You will not be alone.”
“My mother is a journalist with a heavy travel schedule, and my father wasn’t around, so I can’t picture either of them at a spa with me.” There was a sharpness in her voice, and Ann-Sophie wasn’t sure why she had made that comment. She usually avoided mentioning her father altogether. She glanced at Alessandro, wondering if the comment had simply rolled past him, but to her dismay, he looked deep in thought. Suddenly, she didn’t want to be in the middle of this conversation.
“Wealth would mean choices. You could indulge the child in whatever you chose,” he finally said.
“An indulged child. What a charming offer,” she said. She wanted a family for her child. She wanted her child to be surrounded by the warm love she had always missed when her mother had gone away to some far-flung location. Right now, this was too much to process, so she feigned a conciliatory tone. “I’ll consider it.”
