to the little boy perched on her lap, twisting around time and again to try catching the attention of the big man who so effortlessly dominated their flat.
Alessandro had no interest in her either. She was nothing but a source of information.
Or an easy lay.
A shudder passed through her as memories of last night’s passion stirred. Carys stiffened her resolve.
She looked into her baby’s excited green gaze. He twinkled back at her mischievously as he nattered away in a language all his own. He was the important thing in her life. Not ancient dreams of happily ever after with the wrong man.
Whether Alessandro had known about the pregnancy or not didn’t matter. What mattered was that the grand passion they’d shared had been a cheap affair, not a love on which to build a future. And he couldn’t have made it clearer he had no interest in Leo.
Bridges burned. End of story.
Carys ignored the ache welling deep inside at the finality of it all and summoned a wobbly smile for Leo.
‘Time for a bath, young man.’ She gathered him close and stood on creaky legs. Suddenly she felt old beyond her years. Old with grief for what her son would never have, and with a stupid, obstinate hurt at being rejected again. After a lifetime of not measuring up, not being quite good enough, it was stupid to feel so wounded, but there it was.
‘Why did I tell you to leave my home? You still haven’t told me.’
She looked across to see Alessandro on his feet, hands jammed deep in his trouser pockets. He stood as far from her as he could while remaining in the same room.
Didn’t that say it all?
‘I’d decided to go anyway.’ She lifted her chin. After learning about Alessandro and Carlotta the scales had fallen from her eyes. Carys knew she had to get as far away from him as she could. ‘But you accused me of having an affair, of betraying your trust.’
The irony should have been laughable. But Carys had never felt less like laughing. She jiggled Leo higher in her weary arms and straightened her back.
‘An affair? With whom?’ His brows furrowed and his features took on a remote, hawk-like cast. Condemnation radiated from him.
‘With Stefano Manzoni. He’s—’
‘I know who he is.’ If anything, Alessandro’s scowl deepened. His jaw set like stone and a pulse worked in his temple.
‘Nice company you keep,’ he said after a moment, his voice coolly disapproving.
Talk about double standards!
Carys jerked her chin higher. ‘I thought he was nice. At first.’ Until he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was another macho Italian male who couldn’t cope with rejection. Though, to be fair, she’d never felt unsafe with Alessandro. ‘I would have thought that as your Princess Carlotta’s cousin he’d be utterly respectable.’
‘She’s not my Carlotta.’ The words emerged through taut lips.
‘Whatever.’ Carys hunched stiff shoulders. ‘Now, it’s time for me to bathe Leo.’ Her composure was in tatters and her limbs trembled with exhaustion. She felt like a wrung-out dishrag. ‘I’d appreciate it if you’d go now.’ She couldn’t take any more.
Alessandro’s appearance had dredged up emotions she thought she’d vanquished. Emotions that threatened to undo her. She needed desperately to be alone.
All she had left was the torn remnants of her pride, and Carys refused to collapse in a heap while he was here.
Head high, she walked on unsteady legs towards the front door, intending to show him out.
Leo’s sudden sideways dive out of her arms took her completely unawares. One minute she was holding him. The next he was plunging headlong towards the floor when his bid to throw himself at Alessandro failed.
‘Leo!’
Belatedly Carys grabbed for him, her weariness banished as adrenaline pumped hard and fast through her bloodstream, but her reactions were too slow.
‘It’s all right. I’ve got him.’ How Alessandro got there so fast she didn’t know, but he scooped Leo up in his arms just before he hit the floor.
Her heart catapulted against her ribs, slowing only when she saw he had the baby safe in his large hands. Relief shook her so hard her legs wobbled.
He held Leo awkwardly, at a distance from himself.
As if he couldn’t bear to touch him? Or as a man would who’d never had experience with babies?
Carys hesitated, trying to decide which. In that moment Leo latched onto Alessandro’s suit-clad arm, plucking at the fabric as if trying to climb closer. Green eyes met green, and Leo frowned, his chubby face puckering as he regarded the unsmiling man before him.
Finally, like the sun emerging from behind a cloud, Leo smiled. His whole face lit up. His hands thumped on Alessandro’s arm and he crowed with delight.
Terrific! Her son had developed a soft spot for a man who never wanted to see him.
Obstinately Carys shied from dwelling on the sight of her son in his father’s arms. It would be the only time. It was foolish to feel even a jot of sentimentality over the image of the tall, strong man holding her precious baby so ineptly yet so securely.
Carys hurried forward, arms outstretched.
‘I’ll take him.’
Alessandro didn’t even turn his head. He was busy regarding Leo, not even flinching when the child’s rhythmic thumps against his arm became real whacks as he grew impatient with the adult’s lack of response.
‘Alessandro?’ Her voice was husky. The intensity of his stare as he looked down at his son made something flip over in her stomach. Anxiety walked its fingers down her spine.
‘I’ll arrange for the necessary tests to be done as soon as possible. Someone will ring you tomorrow with the details.’
‘Tests?’
He didn’t even turn at the sound of her voice, but he did lift Leo a little closer, winning himself a gurgle of approval and a spate of excited Leo-speak.
Carys watched Leo lean up, patting both hands over Alessandro’s square, scrupulously shaved jaw. A squiggle of emotion unsettled her, seeing her little boy with the man she’d once loved.
If only circumstances had been different.
No! It was better she knew what sort of man Alessandro was and that in his eyes she could never measure up.
‘DNA tests, of course.’ He flashed an assessing look from slitted eyes. ‘You can’t expect me to take your word this is my son.’
Her stomach went into freefall.
She’d fought so hard to have Alessandro acknowledge his son before giving up in despair. Yet now she felt fear at his sudden interest. Fear at what this might mean.
Leo was hers. But if Alessandro decided he wanted him…
She found refuge in stormy anger. ‘Distrust must be your middle name, Alessandro.’
The idea of him seeking independent scientific proof was a slap in the face.
Especially as he’d been her only lover.
His distrust tainted what they’d shared, reducing it to something tawdry. Her skin crawled as she met his glittering gaze and felt the weight of his doubt.
His fiery green stare scorched her. ‘Better distrustful than gullible.’