Page 20 of The Secret Sanchez Heir
‘What are you talking about?’ Abigail frowned in confusion at this new angle he’d decided to explore.
‘Don’t you think that if you wait until he’s a teenager, demanding to know who I am, that one look at the privileges that have passed him by might lead to a certain amount of resentment?’
‘I would never raise any child of mine to be materialistic,’ Abigail countered gamely, while her mind took hold of this whole new disturbing slant and began to chew it over.
‘That’s as may be,’ Leandro continued remorselessly, ‘but, human nature being what it is, unless you manage to raise a saint he will look at what could have been his and sooner or later blame you for denying him the opportunities that could have been at his disposal.’ He allowed a few seconds of silence so that she could mull over this scenario in her head.
He knew that he was battering her from all sides, and he quelled his guilt, because guilt was the last thing he should be feeling. The truth was that he meant to see this through to its inevitable conclusion and he was determined to get the result he wanted whether she liked it or not. She was just going to have to see past herself and absorb the bigger picture, so painting all the potential minefields that awaited her should she not come round to his point of view was necessary. Simple as that, because all was fair in love and war.
‘Unless,’ Leandro mused thoughtfully, ‘you plan on scaling the dizzy heights of financial success.’
‘I hate you.’ She glared at him and he raised his eyebrows in response.
‘You hate what I’m telling you, but you have to hear it, because we’re in a situation that requires a solution—and before we can reach that solution it’s important for you to stand back and look at everything from all possible angles.’
‘How can you be so...so...unemotional at a time like this?’
‘Aren’t you pleased that I am? What’s the alternative? That I sit here sobbing and wringing my hands in despair?’
His wry humour leapt out at her, almost but not quite making her want to smile. Why couldn’t he just be a complete bastard instead of reminding her that there was so much more to him? Right now, the last thing she wanted was to see the complex guy she had fallen in love with, the guy who could be as clever as the devil and as funny as any stand-up comedian. She didn’t want three-dimensional.
Agitated, she sprang to her feet and began pacing. She glanced at everything around her, at the opulence dripping from every surface.
‘My house may be tiny but this apartment is ridiculous when you think about putting a child in it!’ she burst out accusingly, moving to stand directly in front of him with her hands on her hips, then immediately wishing that she hadn’t because the powerful effect of his personality made her giddy.
‘I appreciate your honesty,’ he said gravely and she glared at him.
‘No, you don’t,’ she snapped. ‘I don’t suppose you’ve ever welcomed anyone being honest with you.’
‘Wrong. You were honest with me about some things when we were together. I distinctly remember you telling me that I lived in an ivory tower, and then taking it upon yourself to introduce me to the fun of fast-food dining. You called me a show-off who liked to flash my money around and laughed because I was outraged.’
A wave of colour flooded her cheeks and she stared at him, taken back in time for a few seconds, amazed that he remembered that incident—when he’d obviously never really been attached to her the way she’d been attached to him because it hadn’t taken him two minutes to find her replacement.
Flustered, she bought herself some time by continuing to glare at him. ‘Everything in here is white.’ She looked pointedly at the off-white sofa on which he was sprawled. ‘A toddler would wreak havoc with all your furniture, and that excuse of a handrail...’ she glanced behind her to the culprit before returning her triumphant gaze to his admittedly unfazed face ‘...well, that’s an accident waiting to happen.’
‘So you’ve decided that eliminating me from the picture isn’t going to do. Good. We’re on the same page with that.’
Abigail sat back down. She guessed that this was where the conversation would really begin, the starting point for making arrangements for visiting or whatever. She was staring at a future in which he would be part of her life for evermore, two people on parallel tracks joined together by the child they’d produced. Rattled, she gulped and stared at him.
‘I guess we can sort out visiting rights,’ she conceded faintly. ‘Would you want me to sign something? And, if you want to contribute financially, then that would be fine.’ She drew in a deep breath as she remembered that vague threat he had issued earlier. ‘But there’s no way I would ever let you try and take Sam away from me.’ Abigail found her courage and met his eyes without blinking.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Leandro assured her.
‘You said...’
‘I advised you to contemplate the option.’ He looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Here’s the thing...’ he murmured in a soft, low voice that made her shiver and did weird but idiotically predictable things to her nervous system. ‘You’re right about my apartment.’ He sat back and gestured to the expanse of pristine white surrounding them without taking his eyes from her face. ‘Not user-friendly when it comes to children, and you can work on changing that.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Think of it as a blank canvas, and do whatever you want to bring it up to scratch.’
‘I’m not following you...’
‘And then, when you’ve got it exactly as you want it,’ he continued into the bewildered silence, ‘we can set about hunting for somewhere outside London—but not as distant as my Cotswolds place. In fact, I have had several people champing at the bit to get their hands on Greyling. I might just give one of them what they want and then we can search for somewhere more commutable. What are your thoughts on Berkshire?’
‘I’m not following you, Leandro!’
‘Of course you are,’ Leandro said silkily. ‘We have a child, and I’m not going to get embroiled in visiting rights and custody battles. I never thought about fatherhood but, now that it’s appeared from a great height, I intend to deal with it in the most logical manner possible. A child deserves both parents and the stability of a unified background.’
