would be great …thanks.’
Isabella was reflecting on what Becky had said, asking herself if she’d relinquish ‘having fun’ if the choice were presented to her again over having a child, and decided immediately that there was really no contest. Raphael provided all the joy and fun she needed …Smiling to herself at the delicious feeling of warmth that flooded her being at the thought of her little boy’s sweet angelic face, Isabella lifted her gaze towards the swing doors of the entrance and the sight she saw there almost made her stop breathing …Leandro!
Was she dreaming? She blinked twice in rapid succession to make sure and was faced with the full, astounding reality of his flesh-and-blood presence. The palms of her hands flattened on the wooden counter needing the support. Even at the distance between them, those fascinating silvery eyes of his burned with a heat that made her feel weak. Wearing a long, fashionable black coat over an equally dark shirt and jeans, with his tousled hair, chiseled jaw and Mediterranean skin he brought an irresistible dangerous allure into the sedately benign surroundings of the public library. Isabella sensed her mouth turn dry as chalk as he approached and she knew that hers weren’t the only eyes to track his progress. The man was simply compelling …
‘Buenos días, Isabella.’
‘How—how did you find me?’
He smiled and Isabella saw a flash of white teeth and a sexy little dimple appear at one corner of his fascinating mouth. ‘I was working my way round all the libraries in the area, believe it or not. This is the third one I have tried …How fortunate is that?’
Isabella remembered telling him before they parted that she worked in Highgate. She wondered why he had left it eighteen months before coming to look for her. More than that, why had he come at all? Her stomach started to churn as her thoughts naturally turned to her son …Leandro’s son too.
‘I don’t understand what you’re doing here?’ she breathed, her hand unconsciously flattening against her belly, where tumult reigned supreme.
***
Isabella was definitely the sexiest librarian that Leandro had ever seen …Being so close to her again after eighteen long months, he felt his blood pound with helpless sensual excitement. It was clear by his extremely positive reaction that he had done the right thing in trying to find her. Now all he craved was the chance to be alone with her. He was impatient that she was here working, when all his instincts yearned to whisk her off somewhere and make love. His hungry gaze leisurely tracked her body in her dark green belted blouse and long black skirt. She was wearing her hair up too and Leandro longed to unpin it and see it cascade down over her shoulders. Anticipatory heat tightened his groin.
‘I wanted to see you again, of course.’
‘That’s a little hard to believe after so long,’ she answered defensively, a pink stain spreading on her cheeks.
He shrugged, convinced he could win her round. It might be arrogance on his part, but it was obvious to Leandro that he was definitely having an effect on her.
‘When do you finish work? We have to talk.’
‘“Have” to?’ Her dark eyes flashed her annoyance. ‘I don’t have to do anything that you want me to do! You didn’t even have the courtesy to give me your phone number when we said goodbye in Spain! Now you turn up as casually as though it were just yesterday we saw each other!’ She raised her voice, hissing her anger and people were looking. Isabella’s cheeks turned even pinker.
Leandro could not deny his own irritation in response. Perhaps he should not have been so quick to imagine that she would be glad to see him again, but he certainly had not expected to be openly castigated for seeking her out!
‘You know full well the reason I did not give you my number! But this is not the time and place for us to have this conversation. That should be in private when we are alone. What time do you finish here?’ he asked again, his silvery gaze almost fierce. Isabella sighed heavily and Leandro saw her charged breathing tighten her blouse a little across her breasts. He swallowed hard, watching her collect the little pile of white envelopes on the counter in front of her and hold them to her chest, almost as if to protect herself.
Isabella hardly trusted herself to speak. All she really wanted to do was go somewhere and have a good cry. But weeping would not accomplish anything and even though she’d flared up at Leandro about talking, they definitely needed to have a conversation! She had to tell him about his son. It had never been her decision to keep his existence a secret. Leandro was the one who had forced that decision on her by not giving Isabella his telephone number or at least somewhere where she might contact him and give him the news. She had longed to share with him that their passionate union that night had created a wonderful little boy, yet at the same time she had also dreaded it because she feared his reaction. If he had dismissed their time together as just another one-night stand, as Isabella was pretty sure Leandro had—then the last thing he would want to hear was that he had a son! But now that he had turned up in her life again, Isabella was experiencing confusion as well as anger.
‘I finish at five-thirty, but I need to go straight home tonight. If I give you my phone number perhaps we can arrange to meet tomorrow evening?’ She was only delaying their talk because she had to go to the nursery first and collect Raphael. That hardly gave her enough time to compose herself and think how she was going to break the astounding news to Leandro that he’d become a father! She saw the dismissive shake of his dark head with trepidation.
‘No. I do not want to wait until tomorrow to talk to you! If you need to go home first then I will wait until you finish and we will go back to your house together.’
Isabella had to think fast. She could see that Leandro was in no mood to be amenable about this, yet she desperately needed some time to get herself together! And she’d frankly rather talk to him first before letting him see Raphael. She wondered if she could prevail upon either Natasha or Chris to baby-sit?
Suddenly noticing Becky make her way past the long line of computers where the public utilised the Internet—the promised cup of coffee clasped between her hands—Isabella glanced pleadingly up into Leandro’s forbidding handsome gaze. ‘If you could give me a couple of hours to sort myself out, I can go home, do what I have to do, then meet you somewhere where we can talk? Please, Leandro …’
‘Why don’t you come to me then?’ he suggested, a flash of impatience in his eyes at having to wait to see her at all. Drawing an empty white envelope towards him, he wrote down an address. ‘A friend of mine has loaned me his house for a few days. We can talk, then go out to dinner.’
‘Okay …I’ll do that. I’ll come to you.’
‘Here you are!’ Becky put down the steaming beverage in front of Isabella, then glanced sidelong at Leandro. Immediately Isabella saw the interested gleam that stole into her bright blue eyes. She found herself praying that the teenager wouldn’t mention anything about Raphael. A public confrontation was the last thing she needed!
‘No biscuits, I’m afraid …but then that’s probably a blessing. Wouldn’t want to spoil our figures, now, would we?’ As the girl grinned flirtatiously Leandro ignored her to instead rest his gaze very deliberately on Isabella, letting it slide libidinously down her body and back again. Witnessing her obvious discomfort, he shrugged almost arrogantly. ‘That would indeed be a crime against nature …to spoil such beauty and perfection,’ he commented, his voice seductively lowered. Wrenching her gaze free with difficulty,
