Читать книгу The Italian's Baby of Passion - Ким Лоренс, Susan Stephens - Страница 10

ROMAN, whose hard features had begun to relax into a rueful half-smile at his mother’s initial comments, stiffened as she delivered her killer punchline.

‘Son!’ Pallor crept up under his even olive-toned Latin complexion. ‘If that’s your idea of a joke?’ he grated.

‘I’m hardly likely to joke about such a thing,’ Natalia said. ‘Look, I can see this must have come as a shock to you.’

‘That’s very understanding of you.’ Roman’s irony was wasted on his mother. ‘I don’t have a son and I’ve never met a…’ his forehead creased as he tried to recall the non-blonde’s name ‘…Scarlet Smith?’

‘Yes, lovely girl.’ She glanced across at her son and shook her head.

She watched with some sympathy as her son ground his teeth and stalked stiff-backed across the room, his whole manner screaming anger and frustration. She came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. Though she was five eleven in her heels, she had to tilt her head to look him in the face.

‘Be honest, is this so impossible to believe?’

‘Don’t you think I’d know about it if I had a son?’ he suggested, his tone deceptively mild.

Natalia gave a very Latin shrug. ‘Only if the mother chose to tell you, Roman.’

‘And always supposing I did actually make a habit—as you obviously believe—of going around impregnating women. Why the hell wouldn’t she have told me? Why struggle to bring up a child as a single parent?’ A flicker of suspicion crossed his face. ‘Or is she married?’

‘You sleep with married women?’

Roman’s head went back as he looked heavenwards, sending the dark hair he wore a little longer than was conventional against the collar of his pale shirt. ‘No, I do not sleep with married women,’ he replied between clenched white teeth.

‘Never?’

A hissing sound of seething frustration escaped through Roman’s teeth as his mother continued to look at him with an expression of disappointment.

‘Not knowingly.’

‘Ignorance is no defence in law, or so I’ve always understood. I accept you didn’t know you had a child. Now you do. What are you going to do about it?’ she challenged.

‘For the last time, I do not have a child!’

Natalia gave an inflammatory sigh. ‘Denial isn’t going to get us anywhere.’

‘I’m not in denial,’ Roman thundered.

‘Yes, you are, and there’s no need to raise your voice, Roman, I’m not deaf.’

The bitterness died from his face as he saw the unexpected sparkle of tears in his mother’s eyes. ‘Sit down,’ he insisted, his concern coming across as impatience.

‘It must have been some story this woman spun you.’ Roman’s facial muscles tightened. ‘You can normally spot a phoney a mile off. Didn’t it strike you as odd that she told you, not me?’

‘She didn’t tell me anything at all. I gave her every opportunity, but in fact Scarlet pretended not to know you.’

A flicker of incomprehension crossed Roman’s face. ‘Then what the hell is this about?’

‘I’ve seen the child, Roman, and he is you at the same age.’

Roman looked at her for a moment, his dark brows raised, before releasing an incredulous laugh.

‘This isn’t funny, Roman,’ she reproached.

‘No, it’s not funny to see you so upset,’ he agreed sombrely as he hunkered down beside his mother’s chair. ‘All right, this kid looks like I did,’ he acceded lightly. ‘But I don’t know any Scarlet Smith, the only time I’ve spoken to her was on the phone, I promise you, and I never forget a name.’

His mother nodded. ‘People change in four years. You have,’ she added, a tinge of sadness in her eyes.

‘Scarlet must have changed her name so that you couldn’t find her, that would explain you not recognising her name.’

‘That would seem a tad excessive, considering I wasn’t looking for her.’

‘Don’t be flippant,’ Natalia snapped.

‘I know you’d like to be a grandmother, but I’m not going to pretend I’ve fathered a kid to oblige you.’

‘You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen the boy, Roman.’

‘Do you think I wouldn’t remember the name of a woman I slept with?’ he demanded.

‘If it was four years ago I’d say you could have some problem. There were a lot of women. I know I shouldn’t have brought it up…but…’

‘You’re going to anyway.’ Roman’s expression was resigned.

‘It’s not a subject I enjoy discussing.’

‘That makes two of us.’

Being deserted by your childhood sweetheart after the invitations for the wedding had been sent out was not an experience he particularly cared to relive on a regular basis, and that was what his mother was trying to remind him of now.

Making a total fool of himself was something a man was allowed to do once in his life. When he made marriage plans the next time his decision would not be based on a blind infatuation and starry-eyed fantasies of a happy-ever-after existence.

A marriage based on a mutual respect where neither partner would feel wounded or outraged if the other sought excitement outside the marriage bed was one that would stand a much better chance of survival in the long run.

Natalia determinedly ignored the dry rejoinder. ‘What I’m saying is it’s not as if you’ve never had a one-night stand.’

‘Can we leave my sex life out of this? I can hardly be surprised strangers believe what they read about me in the tabloids when my own mother does. You’re accusing me of indiscriminately fathering children! Do you really think I’m that stupid?’ he demanded.

‘Just go and see the boy, then you’ll understand, Roman. That’s all I’m asking you to do. Are you trying to tell me that it wouldn’t bother you never to know your own son?’

‘I don’t have a son.’

‘One hundred per cent sure?’

Roman’s broad shoulders lifted; playing along was clearly the only way he was going to put an end to this once and for all. He gave a sigh. ‘So where will I find the mother of my child?’

‘Can’t you see him?’

‘Mr O’Hagan asked expressly to see you.’

‘I really didn’t do much.’

‘Just what I said…’ Dragging his attention from the text message he was reading David added smoothly, ‘I told him that we work as a team here, but it seems your name must have stuck in his mother’s mind and of course you spoke to him on the phone.’

‘That must be it,’ Scarlet agreed drily. Oh, God, it would be just her luck if the man had decided to follow up his complaint officially, but if he had there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t have mentioned it to David straight off.

‘It’s a very nice gesture.’

‘Men like Roman O’Hagan don’t make nice gestures unless there’s something in it for them,’ she responded cynically.

‘And you number how many multimillionaires amongst your circle?’

‘I don’t, but Abby knew a few.’ At least Abby’s circle of friends had aspired to the millionaire lifestyle, though, as her sister had explained, not all had had the means to support it.

She saw the flicker of sympathy her bitter remark brought to David’s face and added quickly, ‘The problem is we’re so short-staffed with this flu epidemic. I could do without gestures, kind or otherwise.’

‘The longer you spend arguing with me…God, Scarlet, what are you wearing?’

David had been her honorary uncle since she was tiny. Scarlet was always scrupulous about not trading on the family friend thing, but unfortunately David didn’t feel similarly inhibited when it came to passing the sort of personal comments he wouldn’t get away with with other staff members.

‘Borrowed. A baby threw up all over me.’

‘Goes with the territory, I would imagine,’ came the bracing observation. ‘And you were the one who insisted on leaving an indecently well-paid job in the City to work with children,’ he reminded her.

‘Days like this make me wonder why.’

‘No, you don’t, you love every minute of it. I don’t know why, but you do.’

Scarlet conceded his point with a grin. ‘I suppose asking him to come back another day is out of the question?’ David looked at her over his metal-rimmed half moon spectacles as though she’d lost her mind.

‘Come back another day?’

Scarlet shrugged. ‘I thought I’d ask.’ She caught sight of her reflection in the full-length window. ‘God,’ she cried, wincing, ‘I can’t see him looking like a bag lady.’

‘I’ve seen you looking better, but he’s not here to ask you for a date, Scarlet, so I really don’t see the problem here.’

‘I’m representing the university,’ she said weakly.

‘If you’d been a member of the academic staff I could see your point,’ David responded, treating her suggestion seriously.

‘How lucky that I’m only a nursery nurse,’ she said deadpan.

‘Exactly, and look on the bright side, he’s not going to think you made any special efforts for him which should suit your egalitarian principles down to the ground.’

‘Very funny,’ Scarlet muttered.

‘Now, the sooner you go get your shoulder patted, the sooner you get back to help the troops out.’

With a shrug she admitted defeat.

‘Mr O’Hagan is in my office.’ David turned in the opposite direction.

‘Aren’t you coming too?’ Scarlet protested with a frown.

‘I have an important meeting. Has it occurred to you you might actually like the man?’

‘No.’

‘Then pretend.’ It was not a request.

‘Mr O’Hagan, can I have your autograph,’ she mocked, assuming an expression of brainless adoration.

‘See, you can do it when you try,’ David approved, banging her on the shoulder. ‘Now off you go and remember he’s a very important friend to this university, Scarlet.’

Scarlet nodded meekly. ‘I’ll be very nice to him.’

It didn’t seem a too extravagant promise to make, considering it shouldn’t take Roman O’Hagan long to go through the motions of thanking her—at least she hoped not!