Page 56 of The Tycoon's Shock Heir

He’d tried to hold her hand, but she’d pulled it away. He’d tried again—reached out to touch her stomach—but she’d literally flinched.

He’d tried to jolly her along after the consultant had left the room, but it had seemed as if she was caught in a trance. And unable and unwilling to jump out of it.

They’d travelled back to the penthouse in a silence punctuated only by the business calls he’d had to take—calls he’d been able to do nothing about, stoking the flames of the Arturo deal, keeping the embers warm so he could pick it up again after the weekend. How could he not? And as he’d done so he had felt her moving further and further away—as if she was walking away from him in a blizzard, swallowed up into another world, hidden from sight, muffled, unreachable.

He’d insisted on the scan the moment they’d arrived back from Ile-St-Agnes. He’d thought it would bring them closer—he’d thought wrong. He’d assumed she’d move in with him immediately—but no. In the three days since they’d got back they were still working on that. She wanted to stay independent, living in her little flat until they left to be married, even though that was only in two days’ time.

So all he could do was wait. And plan. And hope that in these moments when the enormity of it all reared up like a wall of men battling in a scrum—a force so physical that he felt he might be crushed, as if with one wrong move, one moment of weakness the whole thing could go—all he could do was pray. Because he’d never have the energy to fight like this again. There would never be another chance, when everything was laid out for him. It was now or never.

They were going straight from here—Birch Lodge, the beautiful old manor house set in its own grounds in the north of London, where the youngest British Ballet dancers boarded and attended lessons—to the airport, and then on to be married in private in Rome.

There would be a few guests—his closest friends, as well as his mother and David. Ruby hadn’t wanted to invite anyone, and nothing he’d done to try and persuade her to talk about her father or contact her mother had succeeded.

It was a strange relationship, he had to admit. They seemed to be as distant and he and his own mother were close. But he wasn’t going to judge. How could he? As long as Ruby and the baby were OK, his mother had enough love to go round.

He turned from the still, glassy lake as another flurry of movement caught his eye. This time the children were definitely older—early teens. Boys and girls. He watched them, curious to see their fresh-faced youth, their lithe, strong bodies. He probably hadn’t looked much different himself once...

‘Matteo!’

He looked round at the sound of her voice and there she was. And, God help him, even at thirty paces he could feel the punch of that smile like a squeeze on his heart. Because now he could read it. He could see that it wasn’t full and free. It was a smile of greeting, but not of welcome. She could smile brighter and better and bolder than anyone he had ever met, but there was always something held back, something hiding behind it.

But when she really smiled—when he made love to her and she lay warm in his arms, when she forgot all about her troubles and he saw who she really was—that was when he felt as if he had pulled her back from the blizzard and brought her indoors, set her by the fire. And he’d watch as the roses bloomed in her cheeks and the sparkle shone from her eyes.

‘Hi,’ he said, striding over the grass towards her, never taking his eyes from her where she stood on the top step, looking down at him.

She opened her arms wide—gracefully, hypnotically. ‘Beautiful day,’ she said, indicating the grounds.

‘Even more beautiful now,’ he said, walking right up to her and putting his arms around her, folding her to him and loving the way she melded into him so perfectly. Their bodies, so different, somehow fitted together like two halves of a whole. He placed a kiss on her cheek, and then on the other, and then, because he wanted more and he didn’t care who saw, he took one from her lips.

She smiled. ‘I have a reputation to maintain here, you know.’

‘I know,’ he said, tucking her under his arm and walking them down the steps. ‘How were your classes today?’

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