Bound By My Scandalous Pregnancy / Redemption Of The Untamed Italian. Clare Connelly

myself up for the same kind of betrayal Anneka had dished out so callously?

      My jaw gritted, my stomach churning with the need for one hundred percent certainty.

      I sucked in a calming breath, recalling what rash decisions had led me here in the first place. My fingers tightened around the stick. Not that I regretted it…if it was truly happening.

      A bolt of euphoria threatened to overwhelm my calm. Brutally, I suppressed it. Rationalised it.

      As Sadie had pointed out, the kit I’d asked my trustworthy assistant to purchase was the highest quality, giving an estimation of gestation. The test announced Sadie was more than three weeks pregnant.

      Surely she knew how powerful I was? Knew that any information provided could be easily verified by my security team? Would she be so foolish as to toss out falsities that could catch her out?

      A throat was cleared huskily behind me, making me aware I’d reached my desk, opened the secure thumbprint-accessed drawer that held confidential documents and was in the process of dropping the stick into it. I needed that connection, this visual evidence that maybe, just maybe, I’d defied science and the odds.

      Again, stunned awe shook through me. A child. My child. But just as swiftly, a less effervescent emotion rose. A little desperate, and a lot dismaying.

      The thought struck me that I had no true compass as to how to be a father. I’d gone straight from boarding school to boardroom, my spare moments spent watching my grandfather struggle to hang on to the company, and subsequently witnessed my father and Ax embroiled in a cold battle for the helm of the company.

      I’d used my time on the sidelines efficiently—learned everything I needed to excel in my field.

       Those lessons hadn’t included how to be a father.

      ‘Now that we’ve established that there’s a pregnancy, are we done here?’ she asked.

      Done here? Was she joking? ‘No, we’re not done. Far from it.’

      ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

      ‘It means I intend to be involved in this baby’s welfare every step of the way. Beginning now.’

      I forestalled the questions brimming in her eyes by making a quick phone call.

      The moment I was done, she approached.

      Shock born of the earth-shattering news she’d delivered had partly blocked off the stunning effect of her appearance. Now, with the flood dammed and a plan of action swiftly slotting into place in order to secure what she insisted was mine, I couldn’t stem my reaction to her.

      The white sundress was a cheap and simple design, but on her it looked anything but. The scooped neckline gave a tantalising glimpse of the perfect breasts that seemed to have swelled a size bigger with her pregnancy. And her skin, now her temper had subsided, glowed with an additional translucence that triggered wild tingles in my fingers with a need to trace, to caress… Christos, to lay my lips against that pulse before stealing another taste of those rosebud lips, currently caught between her teeth as she watched me.

      I bit back a growl as my gaze rose to that final monument to her beauty. Two months on, her hair had grown longer, the ponytail she’d caught the heavy tresses into almost down to the middle of her back.

      The hunger to set it free, to lose myself in the exotic scent of it, powered through me.

      ‘Explain what that means. Precisely. Because less than twenty minutes ago you were almost apoplectic about my perceived deception.’

      I forced myself to throttle back this insane arousal that fired up only with her.

      It wasn’t for lack of trying that I’d remained dateless since that night in London. Hell, I might even have cursed Sadie Preston a little for the sudden urge to set my useless little black book on fire because not a single woman listed within sparked the kind of flame she did with a mere look.

      ‘You have to be aware that I intend to take every precaution with you?’

      Her wary glance confirmed that notion was becoming clear to her.

      ‘I’ve told you I only came here to give you the news—which I could’ve done by phone if you hadn’t blacklisted me.’

      While the accusation grated a little, I couldn’t allow it to dissuade me from forging ahead. ‘From this moment forward consider that status reversed. You will have access to me day or night.’

      Curiously, her breath caught, and I glimpsed something that looked like excitement in her eyes—which, perversely, triggered a stronger chain reaction within me.

      Her trite reply attempted to disguise her reaction. ‘Others might find that offer beyond tantalising, but I don’t think much communication between us will be necessary after today…’

      Unbidden, my lips twisted in genuine amusement, causing her words to trail off.

      ‘I fail to see what’s funny.’

      Wonder. Apprehension. Raw anticipation. Panic. The cascade of emotions was threatening to send me off balance.

      ‘You’re carrying my child, Sadie. A Xenakis.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘So you believe the baby is yours?’

      Betrayal’s curse bit hard—a timely reminder to exercise caution. But for now I needed to buy myself time. After the accusations I’d hurled at her, and her reaction, these negotiations needed to be handled carefully while still keeping her under scrutiny. Because I didn’t intend for history to repeat itself.

      ‘In utero paternity tests carry unacceptable risks. We will wait until the baby is born.’