Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) (12 page)

“Yes or no,” she pushed, cutting him off.

“Yes. Congratulations,
Signorina
.”

Riana waited to feel like her world was coming apart
but all she felt was warm and scared, her hand automatically moving to her flat
belly. Warm because she shared her body with another human being—Allan’s
precious baby—and fear because its father was going to blow a fuse.

It was a dream and yet a nightmare come true. He
couldn’t find out. Not yet. Maybe when they were back in the States…

“Can you blame my morning sickness on sea sickness or
food poisoning?”

He looked at her, confused. “Yes,
Signorina
,
but—”

“When he comes in, I want you to say it was a touch of
food poisoning. He’s going to be disappointed if he thinks the one thing he
loves is making me sick, so you can’t say I’m sea sick.”

“
Signorina
!”

“Please!” she begged, very close to tears.

After a long while he nodded solemnly. “Fine. But I
have to put you on a drip to hydrate you. Dehydration and anemia is not a good
combination for your body especially since you are pregnant.”

Riana nodded. “That’s fine. Just tell him it’s for
something else.”

He leaned back in his seat giving her a skeptic look.
“If you don’t mind my asking,
Signorina
, why the falsehood?”

Riana swallowed hard and blinked back the tears. “I
love him too much to survive his hate.”

Just then, the door opened and Allan walked in quickly
taking his seat next to her. He took her hand kissed it and then pressed it
against his chest. “You okay?”

She nodded, her throat too constricted to speak.
He is so loving. He would make a wonderful
father.

He turned to the doctor with a faint smile. “Sorry
about that. Now where were we?”

The doctor cleared his throat and glanced at her
before turning to Allan. “
Signore
,
your
moglie
—”

“She’s not my wife,” Allan quickly corrected.

She’d heard that word before so many times and Allan
always flinched, followed by a tight smile. But he never told her what it
meant. Now she knew and Riana felt like she’d been hit with a sledge hammer in
her chest.

After a long silence the doctor went on. “
Scusi
,
the
signorina
has a case of food
poisoning. I would like to put her on a hydrating drip because of all the water
she lost from vomiting.”

“That’s it?” Allan sounded relieved which only
saddened Riana. He sounded like he’d dodged a bullet. Had he really thought she
was pregnant?

“
Si, Signore.”

Allan stood, pulling her with him. “We’ll just check
into a hotel then I’ll bring her back.”

That would be a bad idea. The way she was feeling, she
couldn’t be alone with Allan, not yet.

“No. Why don’t you do that and I’ll stay here. It will
probably take an hour and then you can just pick me up.”

Allan stared at her quizzically. “I thought you hated
hospitals?”

She rubbed his chest and forced a smile. “I do. But
I’ve got to be brave sometime. You won’t always be there to hold my hand.”

How true those words were, especially when she thought
of the moment she was going to bring his child into the world, alone. She hoped
that by then she would have found a way to make him see she hadn’t tried to
trap him and a baby was a blessing, to both of them.

He nodded hesitantly, kissed her long and softly, and then
turned to the doctor. “Take care of her. She’s important to me.”

Riana almost sobbed at his words. Could he truly have
meant that?

“
Si, Signore
.”

He kissed her again. “If you need me…”

“I’ll scream out your name and you’ll come flying in.”

He chuckled. “There is that. Or you could just picked
up the phone and call me.”

Riana shook her head. “Damsels in distress never use
the phone to call their superheroes. It ruins the whole sweeping her off her
feet picture.”

Allan laughed hard. “Gosh, Riana, the things that go
through your head. You are a breath of fresh air, you know that?”

She smiled, quickly drawing her lower lip into her
mouth when it wobbled.

Allan kissed her one last time, and then walked out of
the room. Riana dropped back onto the chair and released the sob that she’d
been struggling to hold down.

She felt the doctor’s hand on her shoulder. “He may
not want to admit it, but he loves you.”

“No, he doesn’t.” She wasn’t that naïve to lie to
herself about that matter.

“There is one thing a man will always recognize on
another man when he is close to his woman. His body screams possession and his
face speaks adoration.”

“You have no idea how I wish you were right.”

He tapped her shoulder. “Us men are also one other thing,
and that is slow to recognize what we feel and too afraid to admit the emotion
is love. I’ll send a nurse for you when we’re ready.”

* * * *

Allan had never felt so…so…damn he didn’t know what
the feeling was that had been eating at his stomach even since he’d left Riana
alone in that hospital. She’d looked so scared under her false bravado. He
could have insisted on staying and there would have been nothing she could have
done to stop him, but the look of desperation on her face just made it impossible
for him to insist.

So he would just go and book a suite for three days
and ask his lawyer to push the meeting with Torino back a week. He needed to
take care of Riana, make sure she was okay. He had very little time left with
her and he wanted to make the most of it.

But the more he thought about separating the more he
realized the thought of not having her curled up against him when she slept, or
hearing her laughter and damn, even seeing her cry and be sick, created a deep
hollow hole in his chest. He knew he shouldn’t, he
couldn’t
, feel like this, but Allan wanted her with him for good.

He wanted to be able to go home, knowing she would be
there waiting for him to take care of him like she had these past few weeks
without him asking for it. The last woman who’d been so attentive and caring
toward him was his mother.

He cursed knowing how close he’d come to calling her
his wife. And he cursed himself again when he quickly corrected the doctor’s
mistake. He hadn’t meant it to come out the way it did, but judging by Riana’s
knee jerk reaction, it was ghastly.

Of course she would make a perfect wife and a
wonderful mother.

A child
…when the doctor said it was just food poisoning, he
was relieved. But that relief was quickly overpowered by disappointment he never
knew he had lingering in the back of his mind. Had he really wanted Riana to be
pregnant?

If she had been pregnant, he would have married her
the same day. He didn’t want his child to grow up without him. Riana and he
would have started their own family that would fill the loss, not replace the
ones they lost.

Allan snapped out of that mental image. A marriage
centered on parenting their child was way better than that born out of love. He
was not going to be his father!

Allan was back at the hospital after an hour, just in
time to catch Riana at the pharmacy. The pharmacist handed her a pill dispenser
which she quickly put in her handbag when she saw him approach.

“Hey! You have perfect timing!”

Allan had been around Riana long enough to tell
sincere cheer from fake cheer. In fact, since she got sick, she’d been faking
her good mood most of the time. Did she think he was going to send her home
just because she was sick?

If only she knew that he was addicted to her presence.
That if he could, he would keep her in Italy until he finished the takeover.

He settled his hand on her neck, his thumb caressing
her chin. “Are you okay?”

She nodded with a smile—a fake smile. “Perfect.”

No problem. He knew how to get her back. “What do you
say to touring San Marino for the next three days, of course after you’ve
rested a bit?”

She leaned closer, pressing against him. “Don’t you
have to be in Venice in three days?”

He kissed her forehead and tucked her under his arm as
began to walk toward the exit. “Don’t worry about that. I want to take care of
you and get you back to your sunny disposition first.”

She looked down. Allan stopped walking when they got
to the car. He placed his thumb under her chin and pushed her head up. “You
haven’t been yourself for a while, Riana…all because I poisoned you with my
cooking.”

She chuckled. “My fault. I shouldn’t have let you
cook.”

Allan grabbed his chest as if her words had wounded
him.

“Don’t worry too much. What you lack in the kitchen,
you make up for in bed.”

He laughed pulling her into his arms. “On that note,
let’s go back to the hotel so that I can put you to sleep.”

She pulled away slightly. “Only if you promise the
view from the window is not the only San Marino I’ll be seeing.”

He kissed her long and hard. He felt his pants grow
tight and Riana quickly ended the kiss pushing away from him. “Allan, that is
not convincing. Now promise!”

 
Riana’s face
was creased in a serious scowl that made her look adorable.
God this woman is perfect for me!

 
He wished he
could get away with it but Riana would never permit it. “I promise.”

* * * *

Riana slept the rest of the day away and only woke up
at sunset. She seemed disappointed she missed an entire afternoon of touring
but Allan was glad she did. She looked better, no longer pale and sickly. When
she came out in her flannel pajama bottoms, he noticed she kept pulling it up
and holding it at her waist. They had always fit her around her waist before.

From the first day, Riana was always eating, trying
something new and ordering more if she liked it, especially the pizza and
pasta. She’d lost weight recently, and considering the amount of weight she’d
gained since Rome, a lot of it. That worried him even more. He plied her with
food that evening, hoping it wouldn’t all come up the next morning. He
diligently had her take the pills from the dispenser. It made him wonder why
she didn’t get a container with labels of what she was swallowing. Riana said
the big medical words frightened her, but how tense she got talking about it
told him she wasn’t telling the truth, or at least the entire truth. But he
didn’t push.

She was already falling asleep where she sat at the dining
table after dinner. Of course she refused to actually go to sleep a few hours
after she’d just woken up, so they moved to the living room and he sat with her
and waited for her to nod off so he could carry her to bed.

Once he had managed to get her in the bed, they sat
close together, Riana tucked in his side, as they watched an Italian movie with
English subtitles. It was a comedy and Riana laughed so much it filled the
suite like rays of sunshine. It was wonderful and the familiar twinge in his
heart was more pronounced as he watched her face light up.

He realized he’d missed her laughter those weeks she’d
been sick. Now, seeing her like this, it set his mind at ease but did nothing
for his erratic heart.

Yes, it was about time Allan recognized the twinge in
his heart for what it was. He cared for her…no, more than cared…but he wasn’t
ready to admit
that
yet.

That
made his father leave his children when their mother
died and he had no intention of making his children suffer the same way. Maybe
taking Riana as his wife was a bad idea if she was already making him feel
that
.

He stroked her curly hair back, loving the feel of it
between his fingers. Riana was a beauty. He would love it if any daughters of
his looked exactly like her. He pulled her closer to him, knowing that was
never going to happen. It was either Riana or children, and he’d always wanted
children. A love marriage was out of
 
the
question.

He felt a warm palm against his cheek. Allan closed
his eyes and leaned into it before he took her hand and kissed her palm. He
looked down into those beautiful brown eyes, the green in them more pronounced
like they always were when they filled with desire, and that beautiful smile
that always lightened his mood.

“Allan, don’t worry so much. Everything will be okay.”

He kissed her palm again. “What makes you think I was
worrying?”

Her smile grew to a grin. “I can hear the wheels turning
in that pretty big head of yours.”

Allan chuckled. “Pretty and big, damn! That would be a
compliment if you were talking about my other head.”