He cradled the crystal tumbler in one hand, stared at the contents before turning it up and draining it. “Are you asking me to marry you, sweet Anna?” he said, his voice deceptively mild.
Anna swallowed. “Yes.” Because it was the best way, the only way, to protect their child. She’d thought about it a lot on the flight today, and she’d known it was right. “But don’t fear I mean to tie you down,” she continued. “The marriage will be temporary.”
One dark eyebrow arched. “Temporary?”
She could hear the ice in his voice, the disdain, but she hurried on anyway. “It makes the most sense. We marry to give our child a name.” She licked her lips. “To prevent any scandal … and—and then we divorce after the baby is born. The perfect solution.”
“Of course,” he said coolly.
She twisted her fingers together in front of her, realized it made her seem uncertain. She made a deliberate effort to stop. To remove her trench coat calmly and lay it across the back of a leather chair. To sink onto the overstuffed couch and lean back against the cushions. To tilt her head up to watch him with what she hoped was a competent and serene expression on her face.
“I’m glad you see it my way,” she said.
He set the tumbler down on the bar, stalked across the room like a caged lion suddenly unleashed. “Did I say that?” His voice was so sharp it could cut glass. Cold. Full of thinly veiled rage.
Anna shivered involuntarily. She was tired, and her heart slammed against her ribs. She hadn’t eaten a thing all day. She wanted to curl up and go to sleep for hours, and she wanted to wake up and have Leo by her side. Smiling down at her as he brushed the hair from her face and kissed her. Just like on the island.
“You have an alternative plan?” she asked. She sounded so businesslike when in fact she wasn’t businesslike at all. Her insides were clenching tight and a tiny muscle in her throat began to throb.
“You’ve not really thought this through, have you, Anna?”
“I did,” she said. “I considered alternatives. This is the best choice.”
“For whom?”
She blinked, momentarily disconcerted by the question. “F-for us. For our child. Would you have him or her born under a cloud of scandal?”
A muscle in his cheek flexed. “I think, darling, you are the only one who cares about that. There are worse ways to begin life.”
Anna pressed a hand to her belly self-consciously. A current of anger whipped up like a mini dust storm inside her. “You know why it’s important to me!”
Hot tears pressed against her eyes. The insanity had calmed a bit since Alex had jilted her over a month ago now, but she knew she was still an object of interest. If she gave the press something scandalous to report, she’d be back in the headlines in what she’d once heard referred to as a New York minute. Which she took to mean blindingly fast.
Leo was still remote and cool. “I know why it’s important to you. I simply don’t understand why you care. And I don’t think you’ve thought this completely through, Anna.”
She sniffed. “Then tell me what I’ve forgotten.”
He came over and put a hand on the couch on either side of her head, trapping her in the circle of his arms. She would have ducked away, but she wouldn’t let him know how much he still affected her. Not after Donna. Let him think she was unmoved by him.
Anna tilted her head back while he bent until his face was only inches from hers. She could see the bulge of muscle in his upper arms, the stretch of expensive fabric across his chest. The blue shirt gaped open, revealing tanned skin that had once pressed so sensually against her own.
“You’re here, with me, in one of my hotel rooms. You jumped on a plane, without warning, and flew to London to be with me. You had no prior plans to come, you simply leaped without thinking.”
“It wasn’t like that,” she gasped—and yet she knew very well that it was. From the moment she’d seen the two pink lines on the test, she hadn’t been thinking clearly. Coherently. She’d simply known she had to see Leo, had to tell him what they’d created together.
“And yet that’s what it looks like. If we marry—and I assume you want it to happen quickly—what do you think your precious media will say then? They will put two and two together, don’t you think?”
Anna dropped her gaze from his. “It’s possible.” And then, because she couldn’t help herself, she reached up and cupped his face in both hands, her fingers shaking as she spread them over the blades of his cheekbones. She thought he shuddered at her touch, but she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t have time to be sure. “But, Leo, it won’t matter once we marry. It will be nothing more than speculation, and our baby will be safe.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth, his lashes dipping over the hot gleam in those dark eyes. A shot of pure lust hurtled to her core. In spite of being tired, in spite of being pregnant, in spite of the pain and anger of seeing him again, her body wanted his. Ached for his.
It was outrageous—and inevitable, she realized. Hadn’t she secretly gloried in the idea she would soon be at his side on the long trip to London?
A healthy dose of self-disgust filled her. Was she truly that weak and susceptible? She let her hands fall away from his face. He pushed upright again, the moment broken in ways she didn’t understand. What had there been to break?
And yet, looking at the hard angry glint in his gaze, she knew there had been something after all. Regret sliced deep, but she pushed it away. She had no time to puzzle it out. She needed to convince him to marry her and let the rest sort itself out later.
“I should send you home,” he said. “Back to your miserable existence.”
“But you won’t.” She was confident he wouldn’t. She didn’t know why, but she just knew he would not send her away. She could feel it in the way he looked at her, in the recognition that flowed between them. They were in this together, like it or not.
He shook his head slowly. “No, I won’t. I’ll do something far worse.”
Her heart skipped a beat. What could be worse than going home to face the media frenzy alone? But she didn’t speak. She simply waited.
“I’ll marry you, Anna,” Leo said softly. “But not on your terms, darling.”
Fear spiked, twisting her stomach. “I—I didn’t think I offered terms. I simply said it would be temporary.”
His smile managed to both chill her and thrill her at the same time. “Temporary implies this would be a false marriage. A pretend marriage. And I won’t pretend, Anna. I’m not going to. So if you want this marriage, then know you’ll be sharing my bed and my life for as long as it lasts.”
Horror seeped into her bones. “But that—” She stopped, swallowed. This was not at all what she’d imagined. She’d imagined a nice, tidy little arrangement that gave her baby a name and had them acting together toward one purpose. Naively, she’d even thought that after a couple of weeks together, they could live apart the majority of the time. Certainly Leo’s schedule as a busy entrepreneur would make that possible.
But this … oh, heavens. “That’s blackmail,” she said, her throat constricting around the words. “You know I have no choice but to accept whatever conditions you attach.”
His gaze glittered. “You always have a choice.”
Not if she wanted to protect her baby. “Why are you doing this? Why can’t we just be civil about it? I’ve not asked for much from you. Just that you do the right thing and help me protect our child from the scandal that will surely break if I remain unwed.” Her voice had risen until she was practically shouting.
Leo was unmoved. He stared at her coldly. “Are you quite finished?”
“For the moment,” she said defiantly. Damn him for making her so emotional! Damn him for standing there and looking so unruffled, so cold, while she was a mess of feelings and insecurities. Nothing touched him.
“Have you ever considered,” he said, “that perhaps you are more worried about yourself than you are about the child
? Do you honestly believe that it will matter in five years—or ten or twenty—whether or not you were married when you gave birth? Do you think a child cares more for your marital status than whether or not he has a happy and safe home to grow up in?”
Anna swallowed as a tiny sliver of doubt pricked her. There was something in his voice that cut deep. Was she more concerned about herself? Was she too afraid to face the fire alone?
“Leo, I—”
He held up a hand, silencing her. “We will marry, Anna. But on my terms. If you can’t live with those terms, you do have a choice. If you don’t make that choice, then don’t blame me for your own cowardice.”
By the time Leo made it back to his temporary lodgings—Bobby’s Knightsbridge apartment—the shock of what had happened tonight was pressing hard against the confines of his head, making his temples throb. He’d gone from bachelor to expectant father in the space of a breath, and now he was getting married.
Married. The second thing he felt completely unqualified to do, fatherhood being the first. And he’d not started this marriage-to-be off on quite the right footing, had he? But he’d been so bloody angry with her, with her plans and schemes. She was having his child and she still thought of him as an accessory. A temporary inconvenience. A sperm donor she only needed for a short while to stave off scandal.
It infuriated him. And yes, it hurt deep down on a level that surprised him. He knew he wasn’t fit to be a father, thanks to his genetic material, but she only assumed it to be true. And only on the barest of evidence.
Leo stepped into the private elevator that awaited him. He wasn’t accustomed to not being in control of the situation. He was the one who made decisions, who made things happen. He wasn’t an accessory, and he damn sure wasn’t going to be an ornamental husband simply to please her.
Because the one thing he’d realized tonight when she’d landed so forcefully back into his life was that he still wanted her. One brief touch of her skin against his on the street, the scent of her sweet perfume filling his nostrils, and he’d been harder than stone. She’d managed in two seconds what no woman since he’d left the island had managed at all. If he was going to be married to her, then dammit, he was going to enjoy it.
Leo froze as the elevator doors opened onto the foyer of the apartment.
The television blared from the living area, which meant that Bobby had stopped by again. Bobby often let himself in when Leo wasn’t home. Since he’d returned to London, his father had come around a lot, almost as if he’d missed Leo over the years. Their relationship had never been much of a father-son relationship, but one of the things Leo had been determined to do when he returned to London was put his anger at his father behind him.
It wasn’t always easy, but it was getting easier with time.
Leo had intended to stay in one of his hotels until he found the right place to buy, but Bobby had insisted he stay in the apartment since Bobby rarely used it anymore. Leo had wanted to refuse, but one look at the hopeful expression on his father’s face and he’d been unable to do it.
“He’s missed you, Leo,” Allegra had said.
“Did he say that?” Leo had practically snapped.
His sister had shook her head. She was the good girl in the family, the sweet one who tried to keep peace between them all. “Not in so many words. But he did. He’s talked of nothing else since you said you were coming back again.”
Leo sighed. Bobby wasn’t a bad man; he was simply an impulsive and irresponsible one.
The last person Leo felt like dealing with tonight was Bobby, but he threw his jacket across a chair and headed into the lounge anyway. Bobby was watching a football game and drinking a beer, shouting when his favorite player made a particularly tricky shot. The ball missed the net and Bobby swore.
“Hey, Leo,” he said, looking up when the shadow of Leo’s form fell across the room.
Leo shoved both hands into his pockets. “Dad.”
“Something wrong, boy?” Bobby asked, muting the television as he gazed up at Leo. Somehow, Leo wasn’t surprised his turmoil was showing. He was surprised that Bobby asked about it, however.
Yes, he wanted to say. Help me figure this out. Tell me something useful.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” he replied instead. He’d learned long ago not to count on Bobby for advice. Bobby meant well, but he had no clue. Like when he’d stood up at Allegra’s engagement party and congratulated her on landing a wealthy prince. That had certainly not been his finest moment.
Bobby shrugged. “You always were a smart kid. Got that from your mother. I’m right proud of you, you know.”
Leo felt a twinge of hurt at the mention of his mother. Bobby had long ago apologized for the way he’d left Leo’s mother to raise him alone, but it still hurt sometimes when Bobby mentioned her. “Yeah. Thanks.”
His father looked up again, his forehead creasing. “You want me to go?”
He did—and he didn’t. “Not if you don’t want to.”
Bobby leaned back on the couch and took another sip of beer. “Chantelle’s having some damn girls’ night thing at home and I didn’t want to be around for it. Women can be diabolical when they congregate in packs, let me tell you.”
Leo went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer of his own before returning and sitting across from Bobby. The game continued unabated, Bobby cursing and cheering depending on who was down at the time.
Leo drank his beer, feeling sour. Why hadn’t he just told Bobby to go? Having his father here was like having a college frat brother staying over. You had something in common, you knew you did, but you couldn’t for the life of you see what it was.
“Why did you get married?” Leo asked during a lull in the game.
Bobby hit the mute button and swiveled to look at him like he’d grown another head. “Which time?”
“Any of them,” Leo said shortly.
Bobby blew out a breath. “Seemed like the thing to do, I guess.”
“Were you ever in love?”
Bobby’s face split into a grin. “Every single time, my boy.”
Leo felt a pang in his gut. “How is that possible?”
His father shrugged. “It just is. What’s this about?”
Leo leaned his head back on the seat, closed his eyes. What did it matter? It would be in the papers before too much longer anyway. “I’m getting married,” he said shortly.
“You don’t sound happy about it.”
“I don’t know how to feel.”
“Is she pregnant?”
“Yeah.”
Bobby made a sucking sound with his teeth. “It’s the right thing to do, then. You’ll figure it out.” Then he stood and put a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “It’ll work itself out, son.”
“I’m sure it will,” Leo said, oddly regretful that his father had nothing else to say. Bobby squeezed, almost as if he wanted to say something else, but then his hand fell away and Leo heard his footsteps retreating across the floor.
A few moments later the elevator doors whisked closed, and Leo knew that Bobby was gone. He took out his mobile phone and stared at the face for a long while before he brought up his contacts. He had to let Allegra know before she read about it in the papers. But he couldn’t stand to talk to another person tonight, so instead he typed out a message.
Getting married. To Anna Constantinides. Just wanted you to know. Papers will have a field day.
He lay the phone down for barely a moment when it buzzed again.
Wow! I take it more happened on that island than you let on. Congratulations. I think. ☺ Oh, Leo. Please tell me you’re happy.
Leo hesitated only a moment before he typed the answer he knew Allegra needed to hear, whether it was true or not.
Don’t worry, A. I’m happy.
CHAPTER TEN
ANNA slept pretty well, considering all the stress of the day before. She awoke late, ordered breakfast in her room and dressed hurriedly in navy trousers and a cream blouse w
ith tiny buttons that went almost to her throat. She left the last few unbuttoned so she could wear her pearls, and brushed her hair into a long, thick ponytail fastened loosely at the base of her neck. It was a departure from the usual updo, but it felt like the thing to do today.
She put the brush down and sighed at her reflection. She should be happy. Leo had said he would marry her. Their baby would be safe from scandal. And yet what he’d said to her last night still ate at her. Did she want to be married for the baby’s sake or for her own?
She’d thought she was doing this for the baby, but a tiny part of her nagged that she wasn’t. That Leo was right and it was herself she feared for. Was she truly that much of a coward?
She thought of the headlines the day after the photo of Alex kissing Allegra Jackson had first appeared in the paper. She’d been stunned by the report that he’d bought an engagement ring for this woman when it was she who had been wearing the official ring.
And then the reporters had started calling her every hour of the day and night, wanting a quote, wanting to catch her in an unguarded moment. Wanting to humiliate her even more than she already had been. She’d gone into seclusion on Amanti and prayed for the storm to pass. It hadn’t, though the attention had lessened somewhat as the press focused more and more on Alex and Allegra’s whirlwind romance.
Even her crash with Leo had only garnered a bit of attention, more for the spectacular circumstances of the crash and rescue than because she’d been alone with a notorious playboy. She’d been surprised by that, but she’d taken it for the rare gift it was.
But when she married Leo, when her secret was out, it would all change. She only hoped the storm would pass quickly, and she’d be free to live her life out from under the microscope of the media.
The Girl Nobody Wanted Lynne Raye Harris Page 11