The Rodrigues Pregnancy

Unavoidable? Olivia stiffened. Was she missing something here? Surely he couldn’t have found out about— But, no. That was impossible. She’d told no one she was seeing a doctor and a patient’s records were confidential, weren’t they?

She shook her head. She was being paranoid. She’d done nothing to arouse anyone’s suspicions, least of all his. Whatever he wanted, it had to be something to do with Tony’s estate. But why hadn’t he contacted Luis? Was the power Tony had given him not enough?

‘I don’t understand,’ she said now, adopting an aloof tone. ‘What is—was—unavoidable?’

‘Luis is in hospital in San Francisco,’ replied Christian without preamble, and Olivia was glad she was sitting down when he threw that at her.

‘In hospital?’ she echoed weakly, her hand clammy on the receiver. ‘Oh, God, what’s happened? Is he ill?’

‘Not ill, no,’ responded Christian swiftly, and she guessed he wasn’t totally insensitive to her feelings.

‘His car ploughed into a wall. Luis was driving, naturally. He has a fractured pelvis, bruises, concussion…’ he paused ‘…and initially a suspected broken neck.’

The whimper of pain Olivia gave was audible to him and she heard Christian utter a frustrated imprecation. Then, almost savagely, he said, ‘He is not dying, Olivia. His spine was bruised, that is all. There is no fracture. With time—and the skill of his doctors—he should recover completely.’

Olivia swallowed. ‘You’re sure of that?’

‘As sure as I can be.’ Christian expelled a sharp breath. ‘I am not an expert, Olivia. But my understanding is that your precious boy will soon be as good as new.’

Olivia stiffened. ‘You needn’t be sarcastic, Christian. I realise that both you and Tony were born with balance sheets clutched in your power-hungry little hands. But Luis isn’t like that. He realises there’s more to life than money.’

‘Vale.’ The ice in Christian’s voice was almost palpable. ‘I suppose that is why he was only driving a Porsche Turbo instead of the GT?’

Olivia pressed her lips together. ‘Just tell me where he is,’ she said coldly. ‘I want to go and see him.’

‘There is no need.’

‘What do you mean, there is no need?’ Olivia was infuriated, her earlier panic giving way to indignation at his words. ‘Which hospital was he taken to? You might as well tell me. Because if you don’t, I will find out—’

‘Cool it, will you?’ Christian’s tone was flat now.

Olivia wished she didn’t feel so helpless. ‘You can’t stop me seeing him, Christian.’

‘God!’ His exclamation was fervent. ‘I am not trying to stop you from seeing him, Olivia. But there’s no need for you to think about flying out to San Francisco when I’ve arranged for him to be flown back to Miami in the morning.’

Olivia gasped. ‘You’ve what?’ She couldn’t believe it.

‘I think you heard me, Olivia.’

‘But—’ She struggled for words. ‘You had no right to do that.’

‘No?’

‘No,’ she spluttered. ‘It’s too soon for him to be moved. You said he has a fractured pelvis. He probably has whiplash. And what about the concussion—?’

‘The mild concussion?’ he inquired evenly and she wanted to scream. ‘He will survive.’

‘I still think you shouldn’t have made the decision to move him,’ she declared hotly. ‘Just because you can’t be bothered to take time off from your personal schedule to go and see him, you’re prepared to risk possible complications to satisfy your own ends.’

‘That’s your opinion, is it?’

He was breathing heavily now. She could hear it, and for a moment she was tempted to say nothing more. But she couldn’t let him intimidate her and, squaring her shoulders, she said, ‘Yes, it is.’ She paused and then added defensively, ‘And whatever his faults, I’m sure it would have been Tony’s opinion as well.’

‘You think?’ He blew out a breath and, although she couldn’t see him, she sensed the anger that was simmering just beneath his iron control. ‘Well, querida, for your information, Luis’s doctor has assessed his condition and sanctioned the transfer to the hospital in Miami. An air ambulance, fully equipped with both doctors and nursing staff, will fly him from the local airport in San Francisco. Subsequently, he will be airlifted to the Sacred Heart. Does that reassure you?’

Olivia moistened her lips. ‘I—I suppose it has to.’

‘Good.’ But he was sardonic. ‘Then that only leaves us with the question of when you will come to Miami to visit him.’

Oh, God! Olivia sank back against the soft leather. She’d known it was coming, of course, but it sounded so much more ominous when he said it.

‘You—you say Luis is being flown back to Miami tomorrow?’ she asked, prevaricating, and Christian agreed.

‘Naturally, with the time change, you would be advised not to try and see him until the day after,’ he observed drily. ‘I suggest I send a helicopter for you on Thursday morning. If you can be ready for, say, ten-thirty, we could—’

‘I don’t need your help to get back to Miami,’ Olivia interrupted him swiftly. The idea of Christian coming here, invading her sanctuary, didn’t bear thinking about. ‘I can get a flight myself.’

‘When?’ Christian sounded impatient. ‘Come on, Olivia, we both know that you’ve got to get from San Gimeno to New Providence before you can even think about taking a flight.’

‘There are such things as charter flights,’ she retorted, desperate to avoid his intervention. ‘I do have the money to hire a pilot, you know.’

‘But why should you want to do that when the Mora Corporation owns a couple of choppers?’ demanded Christian infuriatedly. ‘If what you’re really saying is that you don’t want me to escort you, then okay. I’ll have Mike Delano make the trip.’

‘There’s no need for you to send anyone,’ she persisted, but now she had gone too far.

‘Forget it, Olivia,’ he said harshly. ‘So far I’ve managed to keep this under wraps, but once you start hiring a plane to get back here, someone’s going to find out. I accept that you don’t like me. Dios, I’ve known that for the past eight years. And yes, what happened the night Tony died was unforgivable and you’re not going to let me forget it. Well, okay. I can live with that. I won’t insult you by saying you wanted it as much as me. But this—this is something different. We’ve got to protect Luis from the kind of publicity this is going to create. After what happened when his father died, I’d have thought you’d have wanted that, too. Luis is the only son you’ve got.’

For a heart-stopping moment Olivia wondered what he’d do if he found out why she’d run away. Convincing Luis that she’d needed some time alone to get over his father’s death had been easy. Convincing Christian of the same was something else.

His next words reassured her, however. ‘Look, Olivia,’ he said. ‘I’m not asking you to do this for me.’

I know. She quivered.

‘But Luis will expect to see you,’ he continued. ‘He has talked of little else since he recovered consciousness.’

Olivia expelled an unsteady breath. ‘Well, naturally I want to see him, too—’

‘So do the sensible thing and let me send the helicopter for you.’

Olivia hesitated. ‘On Thursday morning?’

‘Yes.’

She shook her head. In his eyes, it seemed so simple. And wasn’t she running the risk of arousing his suspicions by persisting in arguing with him now?

And yet…

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said at last, knowing he would take that as an acceptance, and rang off before he could ask her anything else.