A fait accompli…
Was that how Dominick thought of the child she carried?
Her mouth tightened angrily. ‘Well, just put your mind completely at rest, Dominick, because this baby isn’t yours!’ In her mind it wasn’t, because knowing as she did how Dominick felt about the prospect of fatherhood, this baby was hers. Hers, and no one else’s.
Dominick felt as if all the air had been knocked out of his lungs and closed his eyes to block Kenzie out of his sight for the time it took him to regain his breath and fight down the nausea that rose up in his throat.
It wasn’t his baby!
He wanted to shout, to rage, to hit out at someone, anyone, as the disappointment and pain threatened to overwhelm him.
How he had wanted Kenzie’s baby to be his, how he had wanted Kenzie to come back to him.
And after the last five agonizing weeks of knowing he hated his life without her in it, he wouldn’t have cared if it had only been the existence of the baby that made her come back.
But now he had lost her for ever. There was no way she would ever want to come back to him when she was expecting another man’s baby.
He straightened, forcing himself back under control as he looked at her. ‘How do you think Carlton will feel about the baby?’ he asked through gritted teeth.
Kenzie gave a dismissive laugh. ‘I don’t really think that’s any of your business, Dominick.’
Maybe it wasn’t, but he wanted to know anyway!
Carlton was shallow and selfish, and at forty-two had so far managed to avoid making a long-term commitment to any woman. And if Carlton didn’t want Kenzie—
What was he thinking now?
That if Carlton didn’t want her or the baby, maybe he could persuade Kenzie into coming back to him?
Kenzie decided she had had enough for one night, and needed to get away from Dominick, as far away as possible, in order to consider what she was going to do next.
‘I think—’ She broke off as a loud knocking sounded on the outer door.
‘Masters, open the damn door!’ Jerome shouted to accompany the knock. ‘I know Kenzie is still in there and I want to talk to her!’ he added as he rapped on the door again.
‘No, don’t bother to answer,’ Kenzie told Dominick as he turned grimly to reach for the handle. ‘I’m going back downstairs, anyway,’ she announced lightly.
‘Kenzie…?’ Dominick questioned in surprise.
She stopped to give him a derisive smile. ‘I told you not to worry about it, Dominick,’ she said softly. ‘I’m a big girl now, and more than capable of looking after myself and my baby, if the need arises.’
His mouth tightened. ‘I’ll kill him if he doesn’t accept his responsibility—’
‘And what would that achieve?’ she asked.
‘It would make me feel a whole lot better!’ he snapped.
‘I have no idea why.’ Kenzie still smiled. ‘Haven’t you forgotten that you left Caroline on her own downstairs?’ she reminded him ruefully.
‘Caroline definitely is a big girl who can take care of herself!’ he dismissed without concern.
‘Kenzie, are you in there?’ Jerome was rattling the door handle now.
‘I really do have to go,’ Kenzie told Dominick firmly. ‘I—thank you for all your help earlier this evening,’ she added briskly.
‘You still haven’t had anything to eat,’ Dominick pressed impatiently.
‘I’ll order something downstairs,’ she assured him. ‘I—goodbye, Dominick.’ She gave him one last shaky smile before leaving.
Just as if he were a stranger she had to offer polite thanks to, Dominick fumed once left on his own.
Was that what he was going to become to her in future? Would she marry Carlton once their own divorce was final, and so be lost to him for ever?
Could he really just stand by and let that happen?
Did he have a choice?
Yes, of course he had a choice. Kenzie had loved him once, maybe it wasn’t too late for her to feel that way again.
Unlike five and a half months ago, he wasn’t going to give her up without a fight…!
‘WHAT are you doing here, Dominick?’ Kenzie stared at him in amazement the next morning when she answered the doorbell of the apartment she rented while working in New York, and found him standing outside in the hallway. ‘More to the point,’ she added with a frown, ‘how did you know where I was staying?’
Dominick looked less than his sartorially elegant self this morning, she thought, taking in his appearance. His dark hair was brushed back carelessly, his face was unshaven, and the shirt and jeans he wore looked as if he might have slept in them. If he had slept at all; the dark shadows beneath his eyes cast doubts upon that assumption.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. ‘I asked Caroline—’
‘And she just told you my New York address, did she?’ Kenzie snapped sarcastically.
He smiled slightly. ‘Along with a few words of abuse, yes!’
That wasn’t too difficult to imagine considering the ridiculous accusation Caroline had made to Kenzie in the powder room the evening before about Dominick still being enthralled with her!
‘What do you want, Dominick?’ she queried guardedly, aware that Jerome was due to arrive any minute—probably to finish the argument they had begun once all the other guests had gone the evening before.
Dominick hadn’t come back downstairs to the party the previous evening, and Kenzie could only conclude that was because he had had no wish to see her again after learning of her pregnancy.
Considering her own state of bemusement, Kenzie had just felt thankful that she didn’t have to face him again, making sure she ate some food before renewing her role as the Carlton Cosmetics face, cheerfully brushing off the other guests’ curiosity about her earlier collapse with the explanation that she ‘must be getting a cold’. It was a lame excuse, but it was the best she had been able to come up with at the time!
Although Jerome had had plenty to say about it once all the guests had left…
Her mouth tightened as she remembered the argument that had ensued.
‘Dominick?’ she prompted sharply.
He shrugged, not really sure what he was doing here, except that he had wanted to see how Kenzie was this morning. After she had spoken to Carlton last night…‘I had a breakfast meeting, so I thought I would call to see how you are…?’
‘I’m fine,’ Kenzie answered warily, still eyeing his appearance with knit brows.
Dominick’s mouth twisted wryly as he easily guessed the reason for that, but he hadn’t been too concerned with impressing the person he had met for breakfast, hence his casual appearance.
He grimaced. ‘I was also curious to know how Carlton took your news—Kenzie? You haven’t told him yet, have you?’ he realized slowly as she suddenly avoided meeting his gaze.
She sighed. ‘Not yet, no,’ she confirmed quietly. ‘It wasn’t exactly the right time last night,’ she defended.
Dominick continued to stare at her. ‘And what would you consider the right time to inform a man he’s