Page 35 of His Secretary's Nine-Month Notice
‘I’ve been thinking,’ Violet began, hesitantly. He had proposed marriage once upon what felt like a long time ago, but since then he had taken a back seat, and now she wondered whether he hadn’t had a rethink. Had he had time seriously to weigh up the pros and cons of settling down with her? Had close proximity over the past week and a half made him realise that having her around was really too much of an acquired taste?
She thought of all the blondes who had cluttered his life. Had enforced time spent with her made him realise that he missed that type of woman? He’d never had to tailor his work schedule to accommodate any of them and, while it was one thing waxing lyrical about doing the right thing for the sake of the baby she was carrying, it was another thing altogether when he was put to the test and actually had to make sacrifices.
She knew that he was often up when she retired to her bedroom because she was so finely tuned to the pad of his steps on the wooden landing. Two mornings ago, she had woken up to use the bathroom and she had heard him walk past her door, his footsteps barely audible. It had been two thirty in the morning. For a man who had always enjoyed complete freedom of movement, who had become accustomed to dating women who never interfered with whatever routines he had in place, he had now been put to the test, and she did wonder whether it was proving an eye-opener for him.
All those thoughts nearly made her immediately start the process of backtracking, but then she thought of him with another woman sometime in the future... Coming by to collect their child... Zooming off in one of those fast cars of his so that he and whomever he happened to be dating could have a bonding weekend...
‘You’ve been thinking,’ Matt prompted. ‘Going to share any of those thoughts this side of Christmas? Because I’m all ears.’
‘I’ll admit that when I found out about the baby...’ she hesitated and frowned, thinking back to what seemed ages ago ‘...I wasn’t sure what your reaction was going to be. I know you were furious when I told you that I’d considered not saying anything at all, but you have to understand that I know you very well.’
‘A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing,’ Matt murmured. ‘It can lead to all sorts of misinformed conclusions.’
‘Well, yes. But, at any rate, I don’t think I would have withheld the information from you. You had to know, you had to be given the choice of what you wanted to do. It helped that I had my own source of income and you knew that there was no way you could use your money to control the situation.’
Matt’s eyebrows shot up and he stared at her.
‘You know what I’m talking about, Matt,’ Violet told him drily, ‘so don’t even think of playing the innocent with me. If I’d been broke, you would have used your wealth to get me to do what you wanted and I wouldn’t have had much choice.’
‘That’s a terrible accusation.’ But there was a ghost of a smile on his face as he continued to look at her from under lowered lashes.
‘You did make me think when you hinted that you would consider taking me to court, however.’
The smile dropped from his face instantly. ‘It was a vague threat that I would never have gone through with.’
‘And it was a chance I couldn’t take.’
‘I would like to tell you, right here and right now, that no decision of yours should be based on any apprehension on your part that I might fight you in a court of law for custody of this baby. It would never happen. If I insinuated otherwise, well, you know my nature, Violet. I’m a man accustomed to fighting the good fight when it comes to getting what I want.’
Violet shrugged. ‘Living here with you,’ she said slowly, ‘has made me realise that you might actually mean it when you say that you would be prepared to do whatever it takes for the sake of this baby. You’ve gone beyond the call of duty when it came to...to taking care of me. That was something you hadn’t banked on and you rose to the occasion.’
‘Thank you for the sweeping compliment, Violet, but it’s fair to say that Marita did pull her weight. Had you had to rely on my culinary skills, you probably wouldn’t be sitting here being quite so effusive in your praise.’
But he was still wary of what she was about to say. Violet could sense that underneath the easy charm and the lazy banter. She knew the way his mind worked. He would be predicting, forecasting, mentally trying to piece together a puzzle that was still missing a few parts. Matt Falconer was a guy who was always a dozen steps ahead of everyone else. It occurred to her that she had turned that routine firmly on its head and she marvelled that he had gone with the flow instead of trying to fight against the current.
‘You told me that I was being selfish when I rejected your proposal of marriage. For my part, all I wanted for myself was a conventional marriage with someone who chose to spend his life with me instead of a guy forced into it because of circumstances. So I turned you down...’
‘And now?’ He tilted his head to one side, giving nothing away.
‘And now... Well, this is about more than what I want and what I expected from life. I can’t deny this baby the right to both parents and a stable background. So...’
‘So...? I book the church and buy the ring?’
If there was one giveaway that this was a marriage of convenience and not something he truly wanted, it was wrapped up in that amused quip. Her heart constricted. Was she doing the right thing? Yes, she thought. She was. Because, if her heart tightened now, then the thought of what the alternative was made it tighten even more painfully.
‘Not quite,’ she told him quietly. ‘There’s no need to do either of those things just yet. I suggest...we continue living together. See how things progress. I’m getting stronger by the day. Let’s take it a step at a time. We can always reassess further down the road.’
For a few moments there was silence, then he said with just the smallest of shrugs, ‘In that case, I think step number one should be meeting the parents...’
It couldn’t be avoided. Matt knew that. Whatever the state of play between him and his parents, they had to be in the loop, and who knew? They might have held him at a distance—stiffly, silently and permanently disapproving, disappointed at the direction he had chosen for himself—but maybe, just maybe, what they hadn’t been able to show him, they might be able to show their grandchild.
It felt like a terrifyingly huge step. That didn’t mean that he could, or even wanted to, shy away from it...
Violet looked at her reflection in the mirror with troubled eyes. She’d foolishly thought that everything would somehow slot into place after that talk but now, three days later, she was still unsure as to what was going on.
He hadn’t scooped her into his arms and swept her up to his bedroom, which she had kind of hoped he would. Instead, they had had a very sensible conversation about what happened next. Yes, the parents. She would have to meet them. Despite the fact that the whole world seemed to know about the baby, he still hadn’t broken the news to them, and when she’d shown surprise, he had simply averted his eyes and told her that it was the sort of conversation that had to be had face-to-face and he just hadn’t had time to make the trip.
They had discussed the need to move out of London. His apartment was enormous, but it was essentially a bachelor pad. Glass, metal and grey furniture didn’t add up to a child-friendly environment.
