His Royal Love-Child (11 page)

He had been, but he had not meant to. He could not believe he had gotten her pregnant after the years of trying with Bianca. He’d assumed he could never get a woman pregnant and had decided never to marry again because of it. He’d had enough of feeling like less than a man in his marriage with Bianca because of his inability to get her pregnant.

He’d been determined never to put himself in that situation again. His inability to plant his child in her womb had hurt them both and tainted what would have otherwise been a perfect marriage.

He could not have gotten
Danette
pregnant. It just wasn’t possible. No. The woman from marketing had to be mistaken.

He picked up his phone.

His assistant answered, “Yes, Signor
Scorsolini
?”

“Please ask the director of marketing to come up to my office.”

“Yes,
signor
.”

An hour later he had some answers and he was still reeling from the shock of them.
Danette
believed she was pregnant and she believed he was the father.

Not that she’d said so, but she’d told his marketing director that the father thought he could not get her pregnant. That meant it had to be him. Not that he could seriously doubt her fidelity.

She was his, and had been from their first date. She could not have had the pregnancy medically confirmed yet because she hadn’t realized she was carrying his child until the director pointed it out. However,
he
was willing to believe.

He was desperate to believe.

The director of marketing had been hesitant at first to share the conversation she’d had in the bathroom with
Danette
, but being president of the company came with some privileges. Evincing concern for any one of his employees was one of them.

He’d assured the older woman he had no desire to fire
Danette
, merely make sure she was all right. She was a valued employee and he had hired her on the suggestion of his good friend Angelo Gordon. He was responsible for her.
Which was an understatement he wasn’t willing to get into.
The director had understood the very Sicilian outlook.

After the woman left, a desire to celebrate fizzed through his insides as he asked his assistant to call
Danette
up to his office. She looked at him with a certain amount of speculation, but he let none of the emotions rioting through him show on his face. He was good at that. He’d learned early with the press hounding his every footstep not to show his feelings, not to express his vulnerability.

He’d come closer than he had in years that morning when he’d asked
Danette
to join him on Diamante Island for his brother’s wedding. Her refusal had hurt and surprised him and it had taken the extent of his formidable control not to show how much.

After a couple of hours thinking and very little work getting done, he’d come to terms with it and even understood her point of view. She loved him, but he could make no promises for the future. However, part of him questioned how strong and real that love was if she found it so easy to walk away from him. Not that that was an option any longer.

Everything had changed and soon she would know how much.

“Miss Michaels left early today, Signor
Scorsolini
,” his assistant said from the doorway pricking the bubble of elation surrounding him.

“I see. Do you know why?”

“I believe she was ill earlier today. She must have gone home to rest.”

Marcello nodded. “Please cancel everything on my schedule through noon tomorrow.”

“But Signor
Scorsolini
, you have—”

“Pass anything urgent on to my second in command.” He had something of paramount importance to take care of and nothing else even approached it at the moment.

Danette
read the pregnancy test results for something like the hundredth time and still had a hard time believing them. She carried Marcello’s child. Her hand settled over her queasy stomach and she thought of the life she cradled there. She remembered reading once that morning sickness was the sign of a healthy pregnancy, and hers must be really healthy because she felt absolutely awful.

If she had the energy, she’d go looking online for suggested remedies, but she just wanted to curl up in her bed and sleep.

She was headed to do just that when a powerful pounding on her front door stopped her.

She peeked out, but didn’t need her eyes to confirm what her instincts already knew. Marcello had come.

He couldn’t know about the baby. Not yet.
She
barely knew about it. Maybe he’d heard she left work early for illness. Maybe he was checking on her. It wasn’t such a
far fetched
notion. He’d always been solicitous of her health, babying her during that time of month and providing her with lots of chocolate…

Oh, man. She swallowed an urge to puke. Even the thought of chocolate was upsetting to her stomach.
Chocolate
?
Who got morning sickness from chocolate? That was just wrong.

The door pounded again. “Open up,
Danette
. I know you’re in there!”

He didn’t sound solicitous
so
much as impatient.

She slipped the lock and opened the door. “Hello, Marcello, what brings you here.”

“What do you think?” His blue gaze went over her like seeking hands.

She shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”

“You were sick halfway through your presentation this morning.”

It shouldn’t surprise her that he’d heard about it. The company grapevine was more efficient than the world’s most knowing gossip
columnist
. “So, you were worried about me and decided to check on me?”

He pushed into the living room, gently cupping her shoulders to steady her as he moved past her. “You could say that.”

“There isn’t any need. I’m fine. It was just a temporary upset.”

“That is not what my director of marketing called it. In fact, it was her opinion your upset would last for several months.”

“Oh, no…”

He frowned at her, clearly bothered by her reaction. “Oh, yes. And I do not appreciate being the last to hear.”

“Hear what?”

“That you’re pregnant.”

All of the air left her immediate vicinity and she swayed as everything went black around the edges. He grabbed her and then swung her up into his arms and headed to the bedroom.

“Are you all right? Have you made an appointment with the doctor?”

“I’m fine. I just got dizzy for a second. Anyway, I only just confirmed it with an at home test. I haven’t had time to make, much less keep, a doctor’s appointment.”

“That’s what the director thought, that you did not know you were pregnant.”

Remembering his accusation in the other room, she stiffened in his arms. “Then what was that malarkey about you being the last to know?”

Red scored his cheekbones. “I am not thinking straight. I am sorry. Only, I wish I had heard the news from your lips first. It did not feel right the other way.”

“If you ask me, nothing feels right about this situation.”

He stopped in the process of laying her on the bed. “How can you say that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m pregnant with a child you cannot possibly want. We just broke up, and everyone’s bound to think I got pregnant by a one-night stand because our relationship is top secret.”

He gently settled her on the bed and then sat down beside her, his hand going possessively to her lower bell—which for some reason brought tears to her eyes.

“Naturally all that has changed. And please, do not ever say again that I do not want this baby.”

“But how can you?”

“How can I not? A baby is a gift from God. A gift I thought never to have. I believed I would never be a father, now I know I will. I am not making the best of a bad situation. I am
thrilled
.”
And
his eyes glowed with such deep inner joy, she could not doubt him. “I want this baby more than I can ever say to you.”

She’d been wrong.
Dead wrong.
Marcello had been absolutely convinced of his sterility. That was obvious. She’d been wrong to assume he had been careless of the consequences of unprotected sex to her: he had genuinely not believed there would be any.
But
that didn’t mean the opposite was true…that he cared about her like she cared about him.

The man really, desperately wanted the baby in her womb, but it had nothing to do with
her
being the mother. He wanted to be a father and the fact that she was the vehicle to making that happen did not automatically give her a special place in his heart…only his life.

Reminding herself of that reality could not prevent a small smile from creasing her lips. She’d never seen Marcello so happy and she liked it.

“I’m glad you’re pleased about the baby.”

“I am that,
tesoro
mio
, supremely pleased.” He grinned at her and rubbed a slow circle on her lower tummy. “I wonder if we can arrange a double wedding with my
brother?
He planned to keep it very low-key and it would be perfect.”

“What in the world are you talking about?”

“We must marry as soon as possible.”

Well, she hadn’t been wrong about
that
anyway. He wanted to marry her, as she’d been sure he would if he ever got her pregnant, but the prospect did not hold nearly the appeal it once had for her, when she’d believed he cared about her.
But
she wasn’t going to dismiss it out of hand, either.

Her reaction to the prospect of attending his brother’s wedding had been enough to convince her that no matter what feelings Marcello did or did not have, for her, she loved him. Walking away from him was a path paved with pain.

“You’re going too fast for me, Marcello.”

“What do you mean? You cannot tell me that you don’t want to marry me.” His joyful acceptance of impending fatherhood gave way to ruthless resolve. “According to you, the greatest drawback to continuing a relationship with me was the prospect it would one day end. Once we are married that bogeyman is laid to rest permanently.”

“It wasn’t a bogeyman.”

“Whatever. The fear will be groundless in marriage.”

“Marriages end all the time…in divorce.” He knew that better than most. Look at
his own
parents.

The possessive hand on her tummy was joined by one on her shoulder, as if he was holding her so she would not run away. “There will be no divorce.”

“There will be if you think you’re going to get away with being unfaithful like your father was.” Memories of what he’d told her about his parents’ marriage plagued her. “I’m no more tolerant of that sort of thing than your mother was.”

He drew himself up and jumped to his feet, towering beside the bed like an enraged avenging angel. “How do you dare accuse me of such a thing? I have never been unfaithful in this relationship and I consider marriage vows sacrosanct.”

“You’re the one that told me you weren’t planning to remarry because you didn’t trust yourself to be faithful.”

“That was before.”

“Before what?”

“You are pregnant with my child,” he said, as if that should explain everything.

“Well, your mother had your father’s child, too, and that didn’t stop him.”

He crossed his arms and glared at her. “I am not my father. I won’t behave like him.”

“How can you be sure?” For that matter, how could she?

“Because I am, all right?
I give you my word that I will never take another woman to my bed.”

“I’m sure your father gave his word, too.”

“Are you refusing to marry me?” Marcello asked
,
his voice laced with furious disbelief. “Think carefully before you answer because I warn you, married or not, I will not play the role of part-time father in my child’s life.”

Oh, man. She didn’t even want to know what he was implying here. “I wouldn’t want you to and I’m not refusing to marry you. I’m only saying I need time to think. This morning I was not in a relationship with you any longer—”

“By your choice, not mine.”

“Yes, agreed, but if you can’t see that what led up to our break-up is a cause for concern for me, I don’t know what to say to help you see it. And frankly, it’s thrown me for a complete loop to discover I’m pregnant.”

“A good loop, I trust.”

She turned her head away, old fears surfacing to plague her. How could she answer that? In most ways, she was totally thrilled to be pregnant with his child, but she couldn’t forget the doubts that had led her to making the choice never to have children. She hadn’t vanquished them nearly as much as she’d believed she had.

“You do not want my child?” he asked, sounding ten times angrier than he had been before.

She shook her head, but still didn’t want to look at him. She couldn’t think straight when she was looking at him and right now she needed to think. “It’s not that.”

“What is it then?”

“I hadn’t planned to get pregnant.”

“
Now,
or ever?”

“Ever.”

“You did not do anything to prevent it, even though I often forgot the contraception.”

“I know.” Because she’d hoped and dreamed…only sometimes when dreams came true they could be terrifying.

“So, you had to have thought of pregnancy a little?”

“I did, but it was more fantasy than reality.”

“And now that it is reality, you are unhappy?”

“Not unhappy…frightened,” she admitted.

His weight came down on the bed beside her again and his hand touched her temple in a gentle caress. “Why frightened?
Because of your career?”

“Because of my genes.”

“What does what you wear have to do with having a child?”

She gave a choked laugh. “Not those kind of jeans.” He deserved the truth. He had a right to know what kind of risks their child faced, but she had to scramble inside her mind for the right words. This was not a conversation she had ever planned to have. “There’s something I need to tell you, Marcello.”