Читать книгу Pregnant by the Billionaire - Ким Лоренс, Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 11

‘DO TRY and lighten up, Luccy,’ Sin murmured as Luccy, having refused his offer of a glass of the chilled white wine, now refused to sit down either but instead stood tensely across the sitting-room of the penthouse suite of the Sinclair Hotel. ‘Maybe if we attempted a little polite conversation?’

‘Is that even possible?’ She shot him a scathing glance, her appearance very businesslike in a white silk blouse and fitted black trousers, her hair secured in a neat chignon.

‘I don’t see why not,’ Sin said lightly as he sat down on the cream sofa. ‘Tell me about your family. Do you have siblings? Parents?’

‘Well, of course I have parents, Sin,’ she came back sarcastically.

His mouth tightened. ‘I meant ones that are still alive.’

Luccy sighed impatiently. ‘Yes, I have a mother and father, both still living, and whom I love very much. I also have a sister, Abby. She’s going through a very messy divorce at the moment,’ she added with a frown.

‘That’s a pity.’ Sin also frowned. ‘Any children involved?’

‘Two.’ Luccy nodded.

‘Even more of a pity,’ he sympathised.

‘I think so, yes,’ Luccy said abruptly.

Her sister Abby’s eight-year marriage had been a disaster almost from the beginning, and was one of the reasons that Luccy had always steered shy of relationships herself. The main reason, in fact.

Abby had been eighteen and three months pregnant with Alice when she and Rory had married so hastily. But it had been obvious within weeks of Alice being born that Abby and Rory should never have married each other, the attraction that had been between them when they had first met, and which had resulted in Abby’s pregnancy, having very quickly turned to resentment on Rory’s part and discontent on Abby’s. But instead of ending the marriage as they should have done, Abby and Rory had added to the mess by having Josh just a year after Alice had been born.

After eight years of unhappiness the two of them had finally decided to admit defeat and get a divorce. But even that had turned into a battleground as they wrangled, not just over the children, but the house and everything in it.

Not a shining example of marital bliss for Luccy to want to emulate any time soon!

‘What about you, Sin?’ she queried. ‘I know you don’t have any siblings, but you mentioned your mother is still alive…?’

He nodded. ‘She moved back to her beloved Savannah after my father died, but she comes back to New York on a regular basis.’ The affection could be heard in his voice. ‘She—ah, I believe our lunch has arrived.’ He stood up to answer the knock on the door. ‘I took the liberty of ordering for both of us. I hope you don’t mind.’

Luccy didn’t mind in the least—as long as Sin didn’t question the fact that she might not be able to eat what he had ordered!

She could smell the fish before Sin had even removed the domed silver covers from the plates, her stomach instantly churning in rebellion, feeling the slight sheen of perspiration that appeared on her top lip even as she fought back that nausea.

She lost that particular battle as soon as she looked at the medley of fish laid out so beautifully on the plates. ‘Bathroom!’ she choked weakly.

Sin looked up in astonishment. ‘What?’

‘Bathroom!’ Luccy repeated desperately. ‘Now! Unless you want me to be ill all over the carpet!’

‘Second door on the left,’ Sin told her slightly dazedly, staring after her in consternation as she made a mad dash down the hallway.

What the hell was going on?

‘When were you going to tell me?’ Sin demanded harshly several minutes later when Luccy returned to the sitting-room, her face deathly white.

Luccy stared at him as he stood across the room so broodingly tall and seething with explosive anger.

She moistened dry lips. ‘Tell you what?’

‘I advise you against treating me like a fool, Luccy,’ he warned coldly.

‘Heaven forbid anyone should do that!’ She shook her head, determined not to be cowed by the ruthless expression on his face, or the dangerous glitter in those arctic grey eyes. ‘But I’m really not sure what you want me to say—’

‘I really do advise you to stop right there, Luccy!’ he said in a carefully controlled voice. ‘Do not compound the seriousness of this situation by lying about the reason you were ill!’

Luccy swallowed hard. Sin couldn’t know. He might suspect, but he couldn’t actually know!

‘I must have eaten something that disagreed with me,’ she dismissed lightly. ‘Probably one of the canapés last night. But I’m fine now,’ she said reassuringly.

Sin’s hands clenched at his sides, and his teeth were clamped together so tightly that his jaw actually ached, both in an effort to hold onto his temper. He rarely, if ever, lost control, his anger tending to take the form of icy deliberation rather than a fiery explosion.

But this woman was seriously in danger of pushing him beyond that icy control. He very much doubted that she would like the result if that were to happen!

‘You’re telling me that’s the reason you were ill just now?’

‘Of course.’

‘I don’t believe you,’ he growled.

She gave an unconcerned shrug. ‘That’s your prerogative, I suppose.’

Sin looked at her searchingly, easily noting the changes in her now that he knew what he was looking for: there were dark shadows beneath those bewitching blue eyes that indicated a lack of sleep, her cheeks were more hollow than they had been, and there were lines of tension beside her unsmiling mouth.

His gaze moved lower. She was still incredibly slender, but he was sure that her breasts were slightly fuller than he remembered…

He wasn’t wrong in his conclusion, Sin was sure that he wasn’t!

He had spent the time while Luccy was in the bathroom considering all the options—including that she might have eaten something that disagreed with her. But the more obvious reason for her sudden nausea was the one that refused to go away…

‘When were you going to tell me, Luccy?’ he insisted.

Her chin rose. ‘Tell you what?’

Sin forced himself to relax. Losing his temper really wasn’t going to help this situation. ‘Okay, Luccy, let’s try getting to the truth another way, shall we?’

‘I’ve already told you the truth. I obviously ate something last night that disagreed with me—’

‘Why did you refuse to drink any champagne last night?’

He couldn’t know, Luccy reminded herself again firmly. Sin absolutely could not know!

‘I never drink alcohol when I’m working,’ she explained calmly. ‘Last night may have been a party, but it was still work as far as I’m concerned,’ she added.

‘You refused wine just now, too,’ he pointed out flatly.

‘I’m flying home later today—’

‘Luccy,’ Sin cut in warningly. ‘While you were in the bathroom just now I did a little thinking.’ A lot of thinking, actually. And his conclusion had left him almost paralysed with shock.

She drew in a ragged breath. ‘I think it’s time I was going—’

‘Sit down!’ he barked.

Her eyes flashed deeply blue as she glared at him. ‘How dare you tell me what to do?’

Sin’s mouth twisted impatiently as he crossed the room to stand in front of her. ‘Oh, I think you’ll find I dare a lot more than that, Luccy. For the last time, when were you going to tell me?’

He was extremely intimidating standing close to her like this, fury etched into his arrogantly handsome face, a warning in the glitter of his eyes.

Luccy broke the intensity of that gaze to turn away. ‘I have a plane to catch—’

‘You won’t be going anywhere today.’

Luccy became very still as she slowly turned back to face him, her eyes wide as she looked at him warily.

Sin’s face was hard, implacable, those silver eyes shimmering like shards of ice, his shoulders stiff and unyielding, the muscles in his arms tensed. Like a huge jungle cat poised to pounce!

She moistened dry lips. ‘Of course I’m going back to England today—’

‘No, you’re not,’ Sin bit out evenly.

‘You have no right to dictate where I do or don’t go—’

‘Luccy, I am holding onto my temper by a very slim thread.’ His voice was low and menacing. ‘I don’t want to have to shake the truth out of you, but, believe me, if I have to, I will!’

One look at the grimness of Sin’s expression was enough to tell her that he meant every word that he said.

Luccy could feel herself trembling, her legs beginning to shake, so much so that she stumbled towards one of the chairs and sat down heavily to look up at Sin with huge, haunted blue eyes.

Sin wasn’t enjoying this conversation one little bit, especially now that he could clearly see the effect it was having on Luccy. But he had no intention of letting her just walk out of here, either. Not now. Not ever!

He continued to look at her, his gaze compelling her to answer.

She closed her eyes briefly before opening them again, her gaze challenging. ‘I’m pregnant, Sin,’ she murmured softly. ‘Eight weeks pregnant, to be exact,’ she added defiantly. ‘But, then, you had already guessed that, hadn’t you?’ she concluded self-derisively.

Having his suspicions and having those suspicions confirmed were two totally different things, Sin discovered. Now he was filled with a whole new set of emotions. Awe, firstly, at the knowledge that Luccy carried his child. Tenderness, at the thought of the child, his child, growing inside her. Quickly followed by a return of anger as he wondered exactly when Luccy had intended telling him!

No, for the moment Sin wouldn’t go there. If he thought about that now, then anger would become his prime emotion, and even if that anger was perfectly justified it certainly wasn’t going to help an already fraught situation.

Instead he opted for being cool and controlled. ‘Have you seen a doctor?’ he prompted as he slowly turned to face her.

Luccy looked at him frowningly for several seconds before answering. ‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘The baby’s fine. I’m fine.’ She shrugged. ‘He doesn’t foresee any complications.’

To say that she was surprised at Sin’s relative calm following her announcement would be a big understatement! He had to know, by the fact that she had stated so clearly that she was eight weeks pregnant, that the baby was his.

Not that it could ever have been anyone else’s—no matter what Sin might choose to believe to the contrary. The last—and only—time that Luccy had been in an intimate relationship had been seven years ago.

How did he really feel, now Luccy had confirmed that she was carrying his baby? She could discern absolutely none of Sin’s emotions from looking at him, his expression closed as he continued to look at her with those enigmatic grey eyes.

But surely he had to feel something on hearing he was to become a father?

Didn’t he…?

Personally, Luccy had been absolutely dumbstruck when the doctor had announced that the symptoms that had brought her to his clinic in the first place—tiredness, nausea, lack of appetite, a late period—could all be attributed to the fact that she was pregnant.

Pregnancy simply hadn’t occurred to her as an explanation for those symptoms!

Why it hadn’t, she had no idea. Probably because she stupidly hadn’t thought that a single evening of unprotected lovemaking—unprotected because Luccy simply hadn’t thought she would actually be making love with Sin or, indeed, anyone else that night!—could have resulted in her becoming pregnant.

‘That’s good,’ Sin answered evenly, still determined to keep this situation from spilling over into anger if at all possible. ‘Very good,’ he repeated. ‘Although I’ll obviously want you to see someone over here as soon as possible—’

‘Why will you?’ she questioned sharply.

He raised a dark brow. ‘Luccy, I’m sure your own doctor is a more than capable GP, but I would obviously prefer you to see a specialist of my choosing—’

‘Maybe we should get something straight right now, Sin,’ she cut in determinedly as she stood up. ‘This is my baby, and—’

‘And mine,’ he grated harshly.

‘Yes.’ She nodded abruptly. ‘But it will be up to me to decide which doctor I see during my pregnancy.’

His mouth twisted. ‘I think we both know that isn’t true.’

Luccy became very still as she looked at him warily. ‘What do you mean?’

Sin turned away to thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Before he reached out and touched Luccy again. Something that would be a definite mistake on his part.

Luccy was pregnant.

With his baby.

And ordinarily that would be reason for celebration—it was reason for celebration! Sin just had no idea yet what Luccy intended doing about it…

‘Sin…?’

His face was an expressionless mask as he turned back to face her.

‘The child you’re carrying is the Sinclair heir.’

‘What if it’s a girl?’ she came back challengingly.

‘I already told you I’m the only grandson, so, girl or boy, as soon as it’s born, this child will automatically become the Sinclair heir,’ he bit out tersely. ‘I’m sure you aren’t unaware of what that means?’

Luccy had a sinking feeling she really wasn’t going to like the rest of this conversation! Not that it had been exactly enjoyable so far, but the way this was going she just knew it was going to get worse…

She frowned. ‘All it means to me is that my child’s father is named Jacob Sinclair the Third.’

‘Our child will be the Sinclair heir!’

‘So you’ve said. Repeatedly.’ Luccy grimaced. ‘But that will only apply until you have other, legitimate children—’

‘What makes you so sure that I don’t intend for this child be legitimate?’ Sin cut in forcefully, those grey eyes once again glittering arctically.

Luccy gave him a bewildered look. The only way the child she carried could be legitimate was if—’You can’t seriously think I want to marry you?’ She gasped incredulously.

He gave a pitying glance. ‘I’m sure that you would much rather I set you up in your own home and kept you and our child in the life to which you no doubt long to become accustomed—’ He broke off as Luccy’s hand swung up in an arc and made sharp contact with his cheek. ‘Feeling better?’ he taunted, the marks of her fingers already showing on his tightly clenched cheek.

‘Not particularly, no!’ She glared up at him, so angry that she was shaking with the emotion. ‘I dislike you intensely!’

‘So you’ve said. Repeatedly.’ He gave a mocking inclination of his head. ‘I can assure you, I’m not particularly fond of you at the moment, either. Not a prestigious start to a marriage, is it?’

‘I am not marrying you!’ Luccy repeated furiously.

Sin gave a humourless smile. ‘I think you’ll find that’s exactly what you’re going to do.’

‘No—’

‘It isn’t something that’s up for negotiation, Luccy,’ he cut in grimly. ‘Marriage is my price,’ he declared.

‘Are you deaf? I’ve just told you that I don’t want to marry you!’ she all but shrieked in frustration.

He shrugged. ‘Maybe that was something you should have thought about before you became pregnant.’

Luccy gasped. ‘You don’t think I became pregnant on purpose?’

‘I’ll admit it had to have been more luck than judgement.’ Sin shrugged. ‘You just got very lucky.’

He couldn’t seriously believe that Luccy had planned this pregnancy?

But he did. Luccy could see by the utter ruthlessness of his expression that that was exactly what Sin thought.

She was barely used to the idea of being pregnant herself, so to have Sin now accuse her of having planned it that way was incredible!

‘People don’t get married nowadays just because the woman is pregnant!’ she protested.

Sin looked down at her coldly. ‘I do.’

‘So did my sister,’ Luccy reminded him. ‘That’s the reason that eight unhappy years and two children later she’s in the middle of a messy divorce!’

And Luccy didn’t want that for herself or her child. She couldn’t believe that Sin really wanted to be married to a woman he didn’t love, either…

She gave a heavy sigh. ‘Sin, I’m twenty-eight years old, and quite capable of bringing this child up on my own. I certainly don’t intend marrying any man—even a Sinclair!—just because I happen to be expecting his baby.’

‘Luccy, you may as well get used to the idea that there is no question of your bringing this baby up on your own.’

‘Why isn’t there?’

His mouth twisted. ‘I’ve already explained the reasons why. Repeatedly, remember?’ he drawled. ‘There is an alternative, of course. One I’m sure you must have considered…’

Luccy frowned, not knowing what he meant. Then…’I have not, and I will not, consider having an abortion!’ she told him forcefully.

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ Sin rasped, ‘but that wasn’t the alternative I was referring to. Are you willing to hand the baby over to me after it’s born? In exchange for a cash settlement, of course?’ His top lip curled back with distaste.

Luccy recoiled as if he had struck her, even more taken aback by this suggestion than she had been by his earlier one. Sin wanted to take the baby away from her…? Wanted to give her money in exchange for handing her baby over to him after it was born?

Until that moment Luccy hadn’t been sure herself how she felt about her pregnancy—she had still been in a state of shock from learning she was pregnant at all!

Mostly she had ignored it, deciding it was something she could deal with later, when it became more of a reality.

But Sin’s suggestion that he take the baby from her after it was born suddenly made it very real to her. She was expecting a baby. Her baby. Admittedly it was Sin’s baby too, but even so—!

‘No way,’ she told him fiercely even as her hands moved protectively over her stomach where her baby nestled safe and warm. ‘Absolutely no way!’ She glared at him.

Sin, having half prepared himself to hear Luccy say she would accept his offer, now felt the relief wash over him at the fierceness of her refusal.

Maybe there was hope for the two of them yet…