Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) (11 page)

Allan moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her
shoulder. Riana stopped and pressed herself against him. Allan wrapped his arms
around her tighter, giving her the comfort she craved.

“You don’t have to continue.”

“I want to,” she said, then pulled away from him and
began walking. “My mother loved my father so much she ignored the telltale
signs. He never spent the night in her home, they never spent time together in
public, and he never proposed marriage, even when she told him she was
pregnant.” She chortled bitterly. “He asked her not to tell anyone that Reno
was his despite the fact that he carried his last name.”

Allan felt his heart go out to her. “He was married
wasn’t he?”

She nodded, keeping her face adverted from him, “She’d
been with the man for five years and it took being pregnant with me for her to
finally open her eyes. She went looking for him at his hotel only to encounter
his gorgeous wife.”

Allan wasn’t surprised. It wasn’t like a married man
keeping a mistress was a new thing, but watching her try to hide the hurt
crushed him. “Is that when she left?”

She nodded. “He begged her to stay but my mom said she
felt too guilty to listen to anymore lies. After she found out she was carrying
a girl she said she didn’t want me to follow in her footsteps. To give
everything of myself to a man who didn’t love me and could never love me. She
didn’t want me to be used or come second in a man’s life.”

She looked at him then. Allan felt a growing
discomfort in his chest. For some reason, he felt like she was addressing him.
He wanted to ask her if that’s how she saw their relationship or whatever
this
was, but she turned away from him
and kept talking.

“So she came here to start fresh and joined a textile
company. She didn’t make much but we were comfortable. We had a roof over our
heads, clothes on our backs, and food on the table. Despite the fact my mom
still cried for him when she thought we were asleep and couldn’t hear her, we
were happy.”

 
Riana paused
and swallowed. Her eyes batted like she was trying to keep from crying. Allan
felt a twist in his gut. The hard part was coming.

“Then, when I was twelve, the textile company was shut
down. It was sold to someone who took it apart and sold it off like car parts.
Three thousand workers were left jobless. My mom didn’t want us to move to the
projects, so she worked three jobs to pay the rent and utilities and my brother
worked after school to put food on the table. For two years I was practically
alone. I hated those two years.”

She quickly swiped at the wetness on her cheek and
smiled. “But things got better. Reno went to community college and I finished
high school and found a job to help my mom. She wanted me to join Reno, but I
wanted to stay home and take care of her for a change.”

Allan felt like there was more to it, but he wasn’t going
to push it. It made him feel helpless when she cried and he didn’t like that.
“How did you get to NYU?”

She chuckled. “There was this art contest going on and
I did an abstract painting of my mom’s home from one of her pictures. But I
didn’t send it in. Two weeks later, I get this letter saying I won the
scholarship to NYU. My mom had given it to Reno to send in. She said just
because she lacked the money to send two children to school didn’t mean God
wouldn’t provide. I was so happy I quit my job the next day to get ready for
New York. I know to you it may seem like nothing, but we made an event out of
it.”

Allan cupped the back of her head and pulled her close
to him. He kissed her temple. “Hey, getting a scholarship isn’t easy. You
accomplished it and I’m proud of you.”

She looked up at him, unsure. “You really mean that?”

He nodded. “Of course! I am very proud of you, Riana.”
It amazed him how much he actually meant it. He gave her a quick kiss on the
lips. “Now tell me about the road trip.”

She laughed. “We drove from Florida to New York. We
had road trip music and car games and took turns driving. It was wonderful. And
when we got to NYU I cried like a baby. Saying goodbye to them was the hardest
thing I’ve ever done.”

Allan could see that. She had such a soft heart it
amazed him she didn’t cry because the sun came up. “I’m sure it was only a few
weeks before you saw them again.”

Allan watched as her eyes glazed over and filled with
tears but her smile remained. That worried him. “Riana?”

“They got into a car accident. My mom died instantly.
I thought I was going to lose Reno too, but he’s a fighter. He lived, but I
still lost him.”

Allan drew her into his arms and hugged her.
“Oh, Riana! Babe, I’m so sorry!”

She shook her head, wrapping her arms around his
waist. “He was deported. They said his paperwork was forged and he had to leave
the country immediately. He woke up from a six week coma to be deported two
weeks later. At least I had two weeks with him.”

“Why didn’t you go with him?”

“He wouldn’t let me. He said I had school and I
couldn’t disappoint Mom. He was already going back to New Providence to run our
father’s hotel anyway. He inherited it after the man died. Three months before
my mom.” She sighed. “And now Reno’s happily married and I’m back to being
alone again.”

Allan wanted to tell her she was wrong. That she had
Loraine and him but…he was only in her life temporarily. “What was your
father’s name?”

“Reno Ruiz
Albury
.” she
scoffed. “His mother’s name was Riana. How did she expect to forget the man by
naming me after his mother?”

Allan took her hand in his a squeezed. “You blame him
for what you went through, don’t you?”

“If I don’t blame him, then who should I blame? It’s
because of him Mom left New Providence. She probably would still be alive,
living quietly and burden free in her house at the beach.”

And you
wouldn’t be here. You would be with her in that house on the beach and not with
me. I would never have met you.
The
thought depressed Allan. As much as he would like to distance himself from her,
she had changed him and made him better. He hadn’t been this relaxed and happy
in a long time.

Allan was grateful that she’d confided in him but he
didn’t see himself being so open with her. Not yet anyway. Now, he was more
determined to make the rest of the trip perfect for her.

They remained in a comfortable silence as they walked
hand in hand up the dock to the yacht. Allan was excited to see her reaction
once she saw his yacht.
Aurora
was
his pride and joy, the best thing he’d ever owned and if he could, he would
live in her all his life and not only for the two or three days he stole away
from work on occasion.

She stopped and gasped. “Allan is this it?”

Allan laughed, winding his arms around her waist and
hugging her back against his chest. “She’s the other woman in my life. Do you
like her?”

“She’s beautiful…and so big!” She turned her head
slightly up so that her cheek pressed against his. “Are you sure you can manage
her on your own?”

He kissed her cheek. “Trust me. I’ll take care of you.”

He released her and moved to stand before her. Her
lower lip was in her mouth being chewed, her brows furrowed with worry. He held
his hand out to her. “Riana, trust me. I wouldn’t invite you on her if I wasn’t
sure I could handle her. I’ll keep you safe, I promise.”

Allan was surprised by how sincere his words sounded,
how her trust in him mattered so much. He held his breath and waited, hoping
she would put her hand in his.

She released her lip and smiled. Her face filled with
excitement as she took his hand. “Can I get a turn on the wheel? I’ve always
wanted to live like a pirate, except for the whole getting lost at sea or
marooned on an island or sinking with the ship.”

Allan laughed. The things that went through her head!
He pulled her to him and kissed her. “You are going to love sailing. It’s going
to be just the two of us and the beautiful sea.”

She giggled. “I can’t wait!”

“Shall we board?”

She stepped out of his embrace, stood at attention and
saluted. “Aye
aye
, captain.”

Allan laughed harder. He bent down and before she
could figure out what he was doing, he lifted her and draped her over his
shoulder. She squealed, grabbing hold of the back of his waistband.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m taking my wench onboard, and then I’m going to
have my way with her before we set sail.”

 
“Aye
aye
, captain,” she yelled laughingly.

Allan lifted her short sundress and kissed the bare
part of her rump. She squealed and slapped his ass. She was so precious and
unlike anyone he’d ever met. He tried to remember the last time he’d had so
much fun in his life, but he couldn’t recall. This was all Riana’s doing.
Riana…my own little unicorn.

Chapter Eight

Allan listened and watched Riana, remembering the one
night weeks ago he walked into their hotel room to find a box of condoms on his
side of the nightstand. He’d been confused by it. He knew she liked making love—no,
having sex
—with no barrier between
them, so what brought on the change?

“Riana,” he’d called out to her.

“Yup,” she then walked out of the bathroom in her lace
underwear and his heart picked up the pace. He was never going to get used to
seeing her naked without his cock immediately appreciating her with a tight,
very painful salute.

At least they hadn’t been at the beach. He smirked at
the memory.

A few days before that, when she’d shed off the pool
dress to expose a swimsuit held together with string and barely any fabric in
between, he became worse than a horny teenager. Without a word, he’d dragged
her behind some rocks, pulled the strings to release her wonderful charms and
took her against a rock. They’d collapsed in the sand in a tangled heap of
exhaustion. His legs had never shaken so damn hard before after release. He’d
thought he had hurt her until he heard her laughing. She tied her swimsuit back
on and ran into the sea. He went in after her and pulled her deep enough to
take her again. It was so exciting, especially with the risk of getting caught.

And he’d also come to like not having barriers between
them—except the ones he put up. So this new turn of events didn’t sit well with
him.

He held up the box. “Explain.”

She took off the diamond teardrop earrings and set
them into the carved wooden jewelry box. He had offered to get her a better one—a
more expensive one—but she liked the carvings on the two dollar box. It annoyed
him he couldn’t spend as much money as he wanted to on her, but he also
respected her for it.

She shrugged. “They are condoms, your size. I’m sure
because I know how big—”

“Why now?” he demanded, cutting her off. Her talking
about his size especially when she was prancing around in tiny lace lingerie
that made her sexier than if she were naked had made it next to impossible to
think of anything else except…

She shrugged again. “In case I forget to take my
pill.” She pulled what resembled a compact out of the nightstand drawer and
held it up. “My three months are up and I can’t get a shot.”

Allan groaned. He didn’t want to use a condom, not
with her. “Damn! Can’t you get a shot here?”

“I tried, but the hotel doctor thought it best to use
these instead. I couldn’t remember what I’m on and he doesn’t want to risk
putting me on anything I might react badly to.”

Allan groaned again. It wasn’t impossible to find out
what she was on, but it was impossible to get that information in the next
minute. He wanted her, now!

“What time do you want to take the pill?”

She knelt on the bed and moved closer to him on her
knees. “I
have
to take them at nine
in the morning. We are usually awake by then, so there is less of a chance to
forget.”

What she really meant was morning sex would remind her
she needed to pop a pill. He’d just have to remember, too. He liked that option
better and to make sure they stuck to it, he set a nine o’clock reminder on his
Blackberry.

“I’ve set an alarm,” he announced then pulled her
until she was flush against him.

“So no condoms?” She was breathy. Her nipples felt
like pebbles against his chest.

He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his
waist. “No condoms. How about a shower?”

But after the alarm went off the next morning, he
decided the pill could wait ten minutes when she pushed her bare derriere
against his already raging erection.

Those ten minutes had turned into half a day and he
thought, what could it hurt?

What could
it hurt?
He’d actually thought that.
But watching her now three weeks later, her head over the toilet bowl for a
second week, he knew it was the dumbest question ever asked by a man since time
began.

“Are you pregnant?”

He felt her back stiffen under his hand. She moved
away from the toilet to hunch back on her heels but fell against him, too
exhausted to hold herself up. It worried him how frail she was getting with
each passing day.

“I’ve never been on a yacht or any other kind of water
vessel before, Allan,” she responded, weakly.

“You weren’t sick when we sailed in Bari.”

She sighed, sinking to the ground so that she could
lie on the cold, tile floor. “Going out to sea to test my sea legs for a few
hours a day for a week doesn’t compare to how long we are taking now to get
to…where are we going again?”

“Riana—”

“Allan, I’m not pregnant. It would take months for the
effects of the injections to completely wear off and my period would be back to
being regular, so chill. I’m too tired to fight about this.”

Allan brushed her hair back from her pale perspiring
forehead. “I’m sorry. We’ll dock soon, I promise.”

She tried to push herself into a sitting position but
not before her hand slipped from under her. Allan caught her and rested her
against his chest. Okay, he was getting even more scared now. Judging by the
heat of her hand on his bare thigh, her fever was getting worse.

“No offense, I love sailing with you, but setting my
feet on land is an exciting thought equal to the anticipation of you making
love to me,” she joked then groaned, burrowing her face into his chest.

Allan pressed the cold cloth on her forehead, neck and
chest. “I’ll try not to be offended by that.”

“Good—oh God.” She tried to move quickly to the toilet
but she was too exhausted. Allan quickly lifted her over it. He held her hair
up and rubbed her back as she retched what smelled like bile.

They needed to dock as soon as possible.

Once she had nothing left to vomit, Allan carried her
limp body to bed. He left her in her comfortable underwear and tank top,
stripping off everything else including the comforter on the bed and covered
her with a light sheet. Then he pulled out his travel map and searched for a
good hospital at San Marino.

He hadn’t planned on stopping there. They were already
over the scheduled two months and according to his lawyer he needed to get to
Venice in the next three days. He was glad that Riana had agreed to spend a few
more weeks with him, and Loraine was nice enough to enroll her in her teaching
college before she left for France, which made convincing her to stay easier.
But this wasn’t how he had wanted to spend the borrowed time with Riana—with
her head over a toilet.

Allan moved to Riana—thankfully fast asleep—and kissed
her warm forehead. “Hold on babe, just for a few more hours.”

* * * *

Riana sat nervously at the doctor’s office. The
tapping noise was the only thing she could time herself off of to keep her
breathing steady.

In just a
few minutes it’s all about to come crushing down around my ears.

She spared a cautious look at the cool, reserved man
sitting next to her, fiddling with his Blackberry.

Allan had insisted on coming with her and it worsened
her anxiety as her suspicion grew.

 
Please don’t let me be pregnant! Please don’t
let me be pregnant!

Allan grabbed her knee and squeezed. She turned the
same time he did. But instead of the frightened kitten look she was sure she
was giving him, he looked calm and confident his lips pulled in a slight smile.

“Stop that. There is nothing to worry about.”

“Stop what?” she croaked.

He chuckled. “The tapping of your foot.”

So that’s what it was. And now he wanted her to stop
the one thing that was keeping her from having a panic attack. “Sorry.”

He nodded and turned back to his Blackberry, his hand
still on her knee. After what felt like five hours of silence, when it was
truly just a minute, Riana couldn’t bear it anymore. She needed a distraction
and she couldn’t tap her foot anymore. She kept waiting for the door to open
and the man with the white coat to announce her fate like he was passing a death
sentence.

Yup. She could already picture it. The door would fly
open and the doctor would stand there like an avenging angel in his white coat,
his thick, black rimmed glasses barely hiding his bulging shocked eyes as he
stared at her test results like incriminating evidence. Then Allan would stand
up and ask, ‘what’s wrong doctor’? The doctor would look at her and sneer,
‘She’s trapped you,
Signore
Sinclair.
This woman is pregnant!’ Allan would gasp, then pull her out of the chair and
shake her promising not to let her see a dime of his money. Then he would
abandon her in the hospital and take off with the sexily dressed nurse, who
just came out of nowhere promising not to get pregnant.

She’d cry, of course, beg, and his only response would
be to kiss her goodbye and it would then be Steve and Claire all over again.
But this time it would be Allan, the man she loved, punishing her in the worst
way possible. Riana felt her heart squeeze. She wouldn’t survive it.

Riana sighed and shook it off.
God, I have such an overactive imagination!

Allan rubbed her leg, knee to hip and without shifting
his eyes from his Blackberry he asked, “Are you cold?”

“No.” Then after a short silence she said, “Allan,
thank you for coming with me but you do know it wasn’t necessary?”

He turned to her and smiled encouragingly. He lifted
his hand from her thigh after giving it a small squeeze and caressed her cheek
with his knuckles. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t poison you with my
cooking on top of making you sea sick.”

Riana chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad and this is not
your fault.”
But maybe it is, in a good
way,
she confessed silently.
I want
to be pregnant, but I don’t want you to know and end up hating me because you
think I trapped you.

She held back a sigh and leaned into his palm when he
opened his hand.
If only I had the
courage to say those words out loud.

“Well, I can promise you this, you’ll do all the
cooking from now on. You cook better than me anyway.”

Riana quirked a brow. “I did offer.”

He chuckled, leaning close and kissing her on the tip
of her nose. “I know. I just didn’t want you doing all the work.”

“Allan, you are sailing the yacht and attending to
some of the work you ignored because of me. The least I could do is cook and
clean and make sure you sleep.”

“You attend to my needs. All my needs, just like a
perfect—” he stopped short and pulled away from her, clearly shocked by what he
was about to say next.

“Allan, what is it? Like a perfect what?”

He dropped his hand from her cheek and cleared his
throat. “Nothing. I’m sure the pills for the sea sickness will work.”

Riana nodded, feeling remorseful for the words he’d
refused to utter. For some reason she had a feeling it was as close a confession
to his feelings for her she would ever get.

Why couldn’t things just be simple?

She felt Allan’s hand on her knee again. She was
tapping her foot again.

“Sorry. I’m not a fan of hospitals or people with
white coats.”

Allan laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m here to protect you
from the white coats. I won’t leave you alone with this.”

Will you be
saying that when the doctor says ‘congratulations you are going to be parents’?

The door opened and Riana jumped. Allan rubbed his
hand over her thigh like he was trying to calm a startled horse.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered then turned to
the doctor. “Doctor, I hope
its
good news?”

“Yes, it is.” He smiled at her then turned to Allan
and Riana felt like it was the first sign of dooms day. Her world was about to
come to an abrupt end.

“Okay. So what’s—” Allan was cut short by his ringing
phone and Riana sent a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens.

“Go on and take it. We’ll wait.”

Allan’s brows furrowed. “Are you sure? Because I’m
sure it’s important. Melody wouldn’t have called me if it wasn’t, she usually
texts.”

Thank God!
“All the more reason to take it.” She hoped she
didn’t sound too enthusiastic.

He smiled and gave her brief kiss on the lips. “Thank
you for understanding. I’ll be right back. Excuse me, doctor,” he said, then
stood up and moved to the door.

Riana held her breath until the door was closed behind
Allan before she turned to the doctor with the fear of a man facing a shooting
squad. “I’m pregnant, aren’t I?”

He smiled. “
Signorina
,
shouldn’t
we wait—”