Tara Pammi - The Surprise Conti Child

His chin jerked, and his eyes lost that inscrutable expression. “I was successful. Until this very evening.”

Alex blinked at the hurt that pinged through her, as if her poisonous dart had found its way back to her. She didn’t think he was saying it to get a rise out of her, like she’d done.

No, he merely stated fact.

“What would you have dared to remind me, Alexis?”

Her name on his lips was a possessive caress that threatened her paper-thin composure.

Suppressing the dangerous urge to take up the challenge in his tone, she said, “Your assumption that I’m dying to...renew our acquaintance smacks of arrogance. I’m here only for Isabella.”

Whether he believed her or not, Alex didn’t know. But then, from what little she knew of Leandro, he thrived on self-control. That he hadn’t instantly called her a liar like his grandfather had done, his utter silence in the face of her declaration, said something else entirely, she realized with a little panic.

He circled the room, moving a thing here and there and finally, leaned against the bed. “How are you here, today?”

“I don’t understand.”

“How did you come to be here at the villa, tonight of all nights? Did you know—?”

“About the party? Of course not. You think I wanted to make a spectacle of myself in front of your exalted family? Valentina must have decided tonight was best.”

One haughty brow rose on his face. “For what?”

“I hinted, pretty heavily, that I wanted to say hello to you and Luca. She assumed that I was eager to renew my friendship with Luca.”

“And Luca?” The two words rang with his displeasure.

Frustration made her voice sharp. “What about Luca?”

Something flashed in his gaze, the first sign that maybe he wasn’t so composed. “How did you arrive on his arm?”

Of all the things he had said and unsaid today, this annoyed her most. “He was kind enough to escort me to you when I insisted on seeing you.”

“You told me that night that you were protected.”

The sudden shift in the conversation caught her off guard. “I was. I began the pill a few weeks before I left for Italy.”

“In preparation for your fling abroad?”

His barb pricked her, but she’d rather he believe that he’d been the convenient choice. The one man she’d picked out of a lineup to have her supposed holiday fling with. “I was in over my head from the minute I saw you, yes.” Resentment she’d swallowed for years flared. “What’s your excuse then?”

“You think I blame you for that night.” The idea seemed to shock him.

What else was she supposed to think, she wanted to throw back at him. Even now, he looked at her as if she was his worst nightmare. There was no point in scraping old wounds however. “Even the pill is not one-hundred-percent foolproof.” He remained silent again and it began to scrape Alex raw. “If you don’t believe me, then—”

“Since I’m still feeling the consequences of that...very activity seven years ago, I believe I will refrain from it.”

“That’s not an invitation. This trip isn’t a ploy to renew that...madness. You probably find this hard to believe but not every woman wants a piece of your esteemed Conti pie.” She was so angry she wanted to thump the man.

“Really?”

He made it so easy to despise him with his insufferable attitude.

To pretend that her skin hadn’t prickled, her heart hadn’t raced, that even the thought of Izzie had disappeared in that moment when she had spied him again in that lounge. To act as though, for seven years, she hadn’t relived every moment with him a thousand times.

“Yes. I have too much self-respect to be attracted to a man who thinks I’m a liar and worse. To want a man who dismissed me like garbage back in my life.”

Faint lines appeared around his mouth before he looked away.

Bloodthirsty enough after that scene in the lounge, Alex felt feral satisfaction that she’d landed another one.

“Why did you wait seven years to...make this claim?”

“Calling it a claim will not make it less of a truth.” The taunt was instant and yet...she had a feeling it had taken him this long to work toward the subject of Isabella, to acknowledge the ticking bomb between them.

He pushed off the bed and Alex needed all her will power to not step back. “Did you think I would have no questions for you at all?” She remained silent and he continued. “Why didn’t you let me know immediately?”

“By the time I realized I was...pregnant, I was almost ten weeks along.”

“Is that why you kept...the baby?” He raised a hand to cut her off. “You were twenty. I...cannot imagine Valentina mature enough to manage herself, much less a child at that age.”

Alex swallowed, the utter strength of her conviction that day amazing her even now. Her parents, her only close friend, everyone had advised her to give up the baby for adoption. “I just...” She shied her gaze away, her throat thick with emotion.

“Tell me why.”

Jerked by his sharp tone, she lifted her gaze. “That feeling...it’s inexplicable.”

Something so raw and visceral flashed in his gaze that her skin prickled. Arrogant, heartless, cynical...she’d made her decision to come here based on the fact that Leandro was all those things. What if she was wrong?

Fear pulsed down her spine. “I called your office a week after I found out. I... I was on hold for an hour. Finally, when your secretary came on, she cut me off, said you weren’t interested.

“That I shouldn’t call back.” Alex tried to keep any complaint out of her voice now however anxious she’d been then. “I called you a few more times. Got the same answer again.”

“You could have called your friend, Luca.” He spoke softly, yet it cracked through the room like a gale of wind. “You could have come back to Italy. You could have told Valentina. You could have emailed me—”

“And what? Capitalized the subject line—I’M PREGNANT, IT’S YOURS—like some spammer!” She colored furiously. “You wanted nothing to do with me. But... I still tried.

“I bought another ticket. I...thought you should know. The day before I was supposed to leave, my parents and I argued and my dad threw out his back at the store. I... I couldn’t go off in search of you then, especially when you were determined to forget me.

“With taking care of the store and him, when Isabella came... I barely had the energy to go through each day.”

“And later?”

How dare he sound as if it was her fault? “Later,” she said, feeling suddenly tired, “it was easier to believe that Izzie was better off without your rejection.” Easier to protect herself from the hurt he had wreaked on her.

The one time she had taken a chance to reach for something she’d wanted, she’d been rejected. Firmly pushed back into the forgettable category again.

There had been nothing special or memorable about her or that night for him. As if she was a mere blip in the life of another person yet again.

A disappointment, an inconvenience, a thing with no value or feelings whatsoever.

“Why did you change your mind now?” he bit out harshly. He ran his fingers through his hair while he paced the small room like a caged animal. “Or was that your plan all along?”

“Wouldn’t that be perfect for you if I had some ultimate agenda? If I proved your worst assumptions about me right? That way you won’t have to take any responsibility in all this...”

“Dio, why now, Alexis?”

It was his hoarse voice that halted Alex’s self-indulgent tirade. This was not about her feelings. This was about her baby.

“I just... I was in an accident three months ago, a bad one.” Automatically, her fingers went to the scar down her forehead and his gaze moved there. Throat raw, she continued, “It made me realize...if something happened to me, Isabella would be alone in the world. My parents...” She swallowed the fact that they had never approved of her having Isabella. “They’re growing old. I can’t sleep wondering about her future.”