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.’
THREE days later Carys received a summons to the presidential suite. David, her manager, relayed the news with a quizzical look that made the blood rise hot in her cheeks.
‘Moving in exalted circles, Carys,’ he murmured. ‘Don’t hurry back.’
She was aware of the other staff, watching surreptitiously as she pushed her chair back and stood up.
Carys had been a bundle of nerves for the past few days, ever since Alessandro had pulled strings to have the DNA tests taken in the privacy of her flat. Another reminder, if she’d needed it, of his enormous wealth. His ability to get what he wanted.
The technician had been friendly, talkative despite the marked silence between Carys and Alessandro. She’d seemed oblivious to the atmosphere laden with unspoken challenges and questions. Or maybe the woman was used to the high-octane emotions such circumstances engendered. After all, there’d be no need for mouth swabs and scientific proof if there was trust between a couple.
If a man believed his lover.
Sucking in her breath, Carys straightened her shoulders and took her time walking to the lift.
Alessandro must have received advice from the pathology company. Surely that was why she’d been summoned. No doubt he’d paid for the privilege of getting an ultra-fast turnaround on the lab results.
Her stomach cramped in anxiety.
What would he do now that he knew Leo was his?
The question had haunted her for days so that even when she finally slept, stress dreams plagued her. She woke feeling even more tired than when she went to bed.
The butler was waiting at the door for her, his smile friendly but impersonal.
Had he seen her desperate flight from the suite several days ago? Carys kept her chin high as she forced an answering smile to her lips and walked in.
The lush quiet of the suite engulfed her. Its understated opulence showcased fine furnishings and every modern convenience provided just for one man. It had been designed for the mega-wealthy, the vastly important.
No wonder she felt wretchedly small and nervous as she approached the silent man who dominated the room.
He
