‘I cursed myself for being a gullible fool and worked like a dog to regain the board’s support. I’d learned a valuable lesson and was more careful about who I trusted. I admit that discovering you had a criminal record made me suspicious of you. But when I met you at your flat—’ He broke off and shook his head at the memory of their first meeting. ‘You blew me away,’ he said thickly. ‘I took one look at you and was smitten. I felt violently jealous that you might be my cousin’s lover. It was easy to believe that Angelo had been conned by a beautiful woman, as had once happened to me. But within a very short time I began to wonder if I had misjudged you. You were so kind to Angelo, and spent hours at the hospital trying to jog his memory. Rather than seeming worried about what he might remember, you were adamant that he would exonerate you—which he did, completely, when I visited him tonight.’
Looking into Jess’s eyes, Drago said strongly, ‘I believe the Loxley guy set you up, and that you are innocent of the crime you were convicted of. Soon after I brought you to the palazzo I started to have doubts that you knew anything about Angelo’s missing money.’ Catching her doubtful expression, he grimaced. ‘I understand why you might not believe me.’
‘You hid my passport,’ she said sharply. ‘Why would you have done that if you trusted me?’
He looked away from her and said, in a strangely muted voice, ‘There was a reason why I wanted you to stay that had nothing to do with my cousin.’
Jess frowned; puzzled by his sudden tension evident in the rigid line of his jaw. ‘What reason?’
Drago had asked himself the same question numerous times and still did not have a clear answer. He did not understand what his feelings were for Jess. All he knew was that he had never felt this way about any of his previous mistresses. He had tried to convince himself that his fascination with her was simply because they had great sex, but deep down he knew it was something more than that. He was not ready to examine his emotions, but now his hand had been forced—and if he did not want Jess to catch the next flight to London he knew he would have to lower his barriers.
He looked into her green eyes and saw her confusion. ‘I didn’t want to lose you,’ he admitted quietly. ‘I still don’t.’
The huskiness in Drago’s voice made Jess’s heart flip. Was he saying that their relationship meant something to him? That she meant something to him?
She swallowed. ‘I don’t understand. Angelo’s memory has returned, and you know I had nothing to do with his missing money.’ She cast a rueful look at the passport in her hand. ‘Why shouldn’t I go home?’
‘You know why, cara. You feel it too.’
It was the one thing Drago was sure of. This inexplicable thing that was happening to him, that made him think about her at inconvenient times and made him want to be with her all the time—he was certain that Jess felt the same way. He had seen evidence of it in the way her face lit up whenever she saw him, and in her sleepy, sexy smile when she woke in his arms every morning. She was so beautiful. Simply looking at her made his insides ache. He knew that if he touched her he wouldn’t be able to stop, and his hand was unsteady as he threaded his fingers into her glorious autumn-gold hair and tilted her face to his.
‘I have never desired any woman the way I desire you, mia bella.’ He gently traced his thumb-pad over the curve of her lower lip. ‘I would like our relationship to continue.’
Jess’s heart was beating so fast that she was sure he must feel it when he placed his hand just below her breast. She was stunned by Drago’s revelation that he did not want their affair to end yet. He had not promised commitment of any kind, she reminded herself, but the voice of caution inside her head was drowned out by the thunderous beat of her heart. Drago wanted her, and she did not care for how long.
Reality poked its nose into her fairy tale. How could she continue this affair with him when she needed to return to London to run her decorating business? She was sure that Drago would soon tire of a long-distance relationship. What if he suggested that she move to Venice? She would be a fool to give up her business for the sake of an affair with him that doubtless would end after a few months—yet the thought of leaving him and never seeing him again ripped her apart.
Jess’s thoughts were reeling. She wanted to ask Drago what he meant when he said he wanted their relationship to continue, and how exactly their affair would work, but she was afraid of his reply. If he asked her to give up her life in London she was scared she might be tempted to agree.
Feeling too restless and worked up to remain sitting next to him, she jumped up from the bed. The room spun and she felt dizzy again—as she had after she’d ridden on a carousel years ago, when her social worker had taken her to a fairground. She felt hot and cold at the same time, there was a peculiar roaring noise in her ears, and she heard Drago calling her name as she fell into blackness.
CHAPTER NINE
THE ROOM WAS no longer spinning. Cautiously Jess turned her head and met Drago’s tense gaze.
‘Lie still. The doctor is on his way.’
She immediately jerked upright—and gagged as a wave of nausea swept over her.
‘Dio! Do you ever do as you are told?’ Concern overrode the impatience in his voice as he eased her back down onto the pillows.
‘My dress will get creased if I lie down in it,’ she argued, although she did not try to move again for the simple reason that she was afraid she would be sick. ‘I don’t need a doctor.’
His answer was uncompromising. ‘Of course you do. You passed out, you’re as white as death, and you’ve been suffering from dizzy spells.’
It was easier to let Drago take control, Jess decided wearily. And in truth she felt awful.
The doctor arrived a few minutes later. A softly spoken man, with grey hair and a reassuringly calm manner, he checked her blood pressure, asked various questions and took a blood sample which he said he would test to see if she was anaemic.
‘It is a fairly common problem with young women as iron is lost during menstruation each month—especially if they do not eat properly because of the fashion to be thin,’ he said, with a meaningful glance at Jess’s slender figure.
‘I eat well. I can’t help being naturally skinny,’ she muttered.
Her mind was focused on the first part of the doctor’s statement and she did a frantic calculation. Her period was only a couple of days late. There was no need to panic, she told herself. No need for the sick dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach when she remembered how she had woken the last two mornings feeling horribly sick. The possibility that she could be pregnant was too terrifying to contemplate. She could not have conceived by accident a second time, she assured herself. Lightning couldn’t strike twice. She was convinced that she must be suffering from a gastric virus.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Drago demanded as he walked back into the room after the doctor had departed.
‘To my room.’ Jess shot a glance at him and felt her heart give a familiar flip as she recalled the conversation they’d had before she had fainted. She was no wiser as to what sort of relationship he wanted with her, but tonight she felt too weak and vulnerable to press him for an explanation. ‘I think it will be better if I sleep alone. I’m sure I’ve picked up a stomach bug, and I don’t want to disturb you if I’m ill during the night.’
He shook his head and, ignoring her protest, lifted her and deposited her back on the bed. ‘I’m not risking you being alone in case you faint again. Hopefully the doctor will have some answers as to what is wrong with you tomorrow, but tonight you’re sleeping in here, where I can keep an eye on you. Madonna!’ Drago’s patience evaporated as she slid off the mattress. ‘You are the most stubborn, infuriating woman—’
‘I need to take my dress off.’
Without another word he turned her round and ran the zip down her spine. It was ridiculous to feel shy when she had spent every night of the past weeks in his bed, Jess thought wryly. But she could not prevent a
soft flush spreading across her cheeks as Drago slid the straps over her shoulders and tugged the dress down until it pooled at her feet.
Her breasts had felt ultra-sensitive recently, and her nipples were as hard as pebbles. Drago’s eyes narrowed and Jess found herself holding her breath, willing him to take her in his arms and make the world go away. When he made love to her she could pretend that it was more than just good sex, and that maybe he really did want more than a casual affair with her. To her disappointment he moved away, and a moment later handed her one of his shirts.
‘You’d better wear this to sleep in,’ he said, without giving an explanation of why he wanted her to cover up when she usually slept naked. ‘Would you like a drink? I’ll ask Francesco to bring a pot of tea, if you like.’
For some inexplicable reason his gentle concern made Jess feel like bursting into tears, and only by biting down hard on her lip was she able to control her emotions.
‘I don’t want anything, thanks. I’m very tired.’ Drained would be a better description, she thought as she climbed into bed. The silk sheets were deliciously cool, and she closed her eyes and gave a deep sigh that, unbeknown to her, increased Drago’s concern.
Jess looked ethereally fragile, lying in the huge bed, with her fiery hair so bright in contrast to her pale face, he thought grimly. Until the doctor could come up with an explanation of what was wrong with her he was not going to let her set foot outside the palazzo—not to go back to London and her job as a decorator. He still had difficulty imagining her climbing ladders and painting walls for a living. Not because he thought that being a decorator was demeaning, but because her petite, slender figure was not suited to a physically demanding job.
As he joined her in the bed his body reacted predictably to the feel of her small, round bottom pressed up against him. He was thankful he had persuaded her to wear his shirt. She would tempt a saint, let alone a mortal man who was painfully aroused, he thought ruefully. The steady sound of her breathing told him that she had fallen asleep. Hopefully she would feel better after a restful night, so long as she did not have another of her disturbing dreams or weep silently in her sleep as she sometimes did. When he had asked her more about the dreams she had insisted she did not remember, but he sensed that she had not told him the whole truth, and he felt frustrated that she clearly did not trust him enough to confide in him.
Jess opened her eyes to find sunshine flooding the bedroom. Frowning, she glanced at the clock and was shocked to see that it was ten a.m. She had never slept so late in her life, but the long sleep must have done her good because she did not feel sick this morning. The panic she’d felt the previous night when she’d realised her period was a couple of days late seemed a silly overreaction. In fact she often felt nauseous and overemotional just before her monthly period, and she wouldn’t be surprised if it started today.
‘How are you feeling?’
Drago’s deep voice made her jump, and she turned her head to see him sitting in an armchair. Dressed in immaculately tailored beige chinos and a black polo shirt, his silky hair falling onto his brow and his square jaw bearing a faint shadow of dark stubble, he was so incredibly handsome that her heart performed its usual somersault. At first glance he appeared relaxed, with his long legs stretched out in front of him, his elbows resting on the arms of the chair and his fingers linked together. But closer inspection revealed the tense line of his jaw, and his black eyes were as hard as jet and curiously expressionless.
‘I feel fine,’ Jess assured him. ‘I don’t know why I fainted last night. Maybe I am a bit anaemic, as the doctor suggested.’
‘Santa Madre!’ He leapt to his feet with the violent force of a volcanic eruption. ‘You can stop the pretence that you don’t know what is wrong with you. I know you are pregnant with my child,’ he said savagely. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Scalding fury coursed through Drago’s veins. Ever since he had received the phone call from the doctor an hour ago rage had been building inside him like steam in a pressure cooker, and now he exploded. Why had Jess kept her pregnancy a secret? Memories of the nightmare scenario that had happened eight years ago returned to haunt him. He would never forget Vittoria’s terrified face—or the blood. There had been so much blood. He closed his eyes in an attempt to blot out the images, and when he opened them again he focused grimly on Jess.
‘Tell me—were you planning to keep my child a secret from me for ever?’ he demanded bitterly. He watched the colour drain from her face until she was even paler than she had been the previous night. ‘Are you going to faint? Put your head between your knees.’ His voice roughened with concern as he strode over to the bed and tangled his fingers in her bright hair, holding her head down so that the blood rushed back to her brain.
‘I’m all right.’ Jess drew a shuddering breath, conscious of the painful thud of her heart as it jerked erratically against her ribcage. Her head was still spinning as she lifted her eyes to Drago. Intense shock made her skin feel clammy and strangled her vocal cords, so that her voice emerged as a shaky whisper. ‘I’m not pregnant. I can’t be.’
Drago frowned. Jess shocked reaction was clearly genuine, and his anger faded with the realisation that she had been unaware that she was expecting his baby.
‘We both know we took a risk once and had unprotected sex the first night we slept together,’ he said in a softer tone. ‘Dr Marellis phoned earlier this morning, while you were still asleep, and confirmed that your blood test gave a positive result for pregnancy.’
Jess’s mouth felt parched. ‘He had no right to give you confidential information about me.’
‘Eduardo is an old family friend. Presumably he believed I had a right to know that you are carrying my child, and he congratulated me on my impending fatherhood.’
Jess shook her head, as if she could somehow dismiss his words. It couldn’t be true, she thought frantically. But why would Drago lie? Maybe the doctor was wrong about the test result? She knew she was clutching at a very fragile straw. A blood test to detect pregnancy was almost one hundred per cent likely to be accurate.
‘I swear I didn’t know,’ she said numbly. ‘I’m only a few days late and I didn’t think anything of it.’
That wasn’t absolutely true, she admitted silently. The nausea she had been experiencing in recent days had seemed frighteningly familiar, but she had been too scared to think about a possible cause. It had been easier to ignore her suspicions. But now she could not hide from the devastating truth. She had conceived Drago’s child—and from his furious expression he was no more pleased by the news than Seb had been when she had told him she was expecting his baby.
Jess began to tremble as reaction set in. She was going to have a baby. It was something she had assumed would never happen again. The trauma she had experienced as a teenager had left mental scars, and the memory of that terrible time, the desperate decision she had made, caused her to clench her fingers until her knuckles were white.
There was no doubt that she would go ahead with the pregnancy. Her acceptance of that fact was instant and resolute. But she had to face the bleak reality that her situation was no better than it had been years ago, when she was seventeen. She was older, and she had a job, she reminded herself. At least she had the means to support a child—although how she would manage to work as a decorator when she was heavily pregnant or with a newborn baby in tow was a problem she would have to face along with many others.
Caught up in her thoughts, she gave a start when Drago moved to stand by the window. His hard-boned profile looked so intimidating. She bit her lip. If only things had been different. If only they were lovers in the true sense of the word, and instead of standing stiffly on the other side of the room he had taken her in his arms and told her he was overjoyed that his child was developing inside her. Poor baby, she thought, and her heart splintered. She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the sudden stinging tears from falling as she was overwhelmed by guilt. Two mistakes, two unplanne
d pregnancies, and two little lives affected by her stupidity.
‘What are you thinking?’ Drago turned back to face Jess, resenting the urgent, shaming desire that kicked in his gut as he studied her delicate beauty and the vibrant hair that fell past her shoulders in a rippling stream of red-gold silk. How could he be fantasising about making love to her when she looked so fragile that she might snap? he asked himself angrily. His only consideration should be for the child she was carrying inside her.
She gave a helpless shrug. ‘I’m thinking about how I’ll manage as a single mother. As long as I stay fit and healthy there’s no reason why I shouldn’t carry on working full-time until just before the baby is due. And afterwards—well, babies sleep a lot for the first few months, and I’m sure I’ll be able to take the pram on site—’
She broke off as Drago growled something in Italian. She guessed it was probably lucky she did not understand.
‘If you think I would allow you to take my child onto a building site you are even crazier than I believed when I caught you climbing down from the balcony of your room,’ he said harshly.
Her pale cheeks flushed with temper at his bossiness. ‘I don’t work on building sites. I decorate houses. I don’t build them. I realise it won’t be ideal to take the baby with me, but how else do you expect me to manage? I’ll have to work to support the baby.’
‘No, you will not. As my wife you will not want for anything. I will provide more than adequately for you and my child.’
Jess stiffened, sure that she could not have heard Drago correctly. ‘What do you mean, as your wife?’ she asked unsteadily.
‘Naturally I will marry you,’ he stated, in a coolly arrogant tone. His brows rose when she made a choked sound. ‘It is the obvious solution.’
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