Virgin: Undone by the Billionaire: The Innocent's Dark Seduction / Count Maxime's Virgin / Untamed Billionaire, Undressed Virgin

“Don’t feel bad to be the one who’s left behind,” Mrs. O’Keefe said softly. “Don’t feel guilty. Your count will not blame you from heaven if you find someone else to love. You’re young. You need a man of your own. Just as your wee girl needs a father who’s alive on this earth to love her.”

Lia stared at her. Then looked at her baby.

Ruby already had a father who was alive …

Oh, my God, she thought suddenly. What have I done?

She’d told herself that she’d kept Roark and Ruby apart for their own good.

But what if that had been a self-serving lie?

Roark was capable of change. He’d proven that today. He’d said he never wanted to get married … but he’d proposed to her.

Roark had also said he didn’t want to be a father. But he might have changed his mind about that, as well. He might have taken one look at Ruby and wanted to be her dad.

What if Lia had just made the biggest mistake of her life—sending Roark away—not because she thought he would abandon Ruby, but because Lia feared he would hate her for keeping her a secret?

She took in a sudden breath.

Lia’s own feelings meant nothing, compared to her daughter’s needs. She had to put her child first. And no matter how Roark might hate Lia, if there was a chance he might want to be Ruby’s father, she had no choice.

She had to tell him the truth.

“I hope you don’t mind me speaking to you like this,” Mrs. O’Keefe said, tears sparkling in her kind eyes. “I think of you as the daughter I never had. I don’t want you to make the same mistake I did …”

Slowly Lia rose to her feet.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “You’re right.”

The doorbell chimed. Mrs. O’Keefe cleared her throat awkwardly. “I’ll get the door. It’s likely that new stroller I ordered from the shop.”

Nodding absently, Lia grabbed the phone on the elegant table. She dialed the operator and asked to be transferred to the Cavanaugh Hotel. She waited with her heart in her throat.

“I’m afraid Mr. Navarre checked out an hour ago,” the hotel receptionist said.

Hanging up the phone, Lia felt like crying. She was too late.

“Yes?” Mrs. O’Keefe inquired at the door.

“I’m here to see the countess.”

Roark’s voice! He couldn’t be here—couldn’t be!

With a gasp, Lia dropped the phone from her suddenly numb hands. It clattered on the hardwood floor.

The gray-haired widow looked at him, then glanced back at Lia. “Ah,” she said with a sudden grin. “So you’re what all the fuss is about. You’ll do well, I think. Come in.”

And she held open the door.

He took two steps inside the foyer. He filled Lia’s foyer with masculine energy, his black coat whirling around him as he came inside her house.

“What are you doing here?” Lia whispered. “You said you’d never contact me again. I thought you were gone for good….”

“Goodbye, then!” Mrs. O’Keefe sang as she left, closing the door behind her.

“I didn’t come here for you,” Roark said. He looked at the baby sitting on the expensive carpet in front of the marble fireplace, playing with wooden blocks. “I came for her.”

She sucked in her breath. “How did you find out?”

His jaw was hard as he turned on her savagely.

“Why did you tell the whole world that she’s the count’s baby? Why did you never tell me I had a child?”

Her mouth suddenly went dry. “I wanted to tell you.”

“You’re lying!” he said furiously. “If you’d wanted to tell me, you would have done it!”

“What was I supposed to do, Roark? You said you didn’t want a child! You said you never wanted to be a father! And I hated you. When you left me in Italy, I never wanted to see you again!”

“That was your excuse then. What about yesterday, at the wedding? This morning, when we had breakfast? When you showed me the park? When we made love at the hotel? Why didn’t you tell me then?”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should have told you then. I was afraid you’d hate me.”

His dark eyes froze right through her.

“I do hate you.”

He went into the front room and got down on his knees. He handed a block to the baby, who smiled and chattered nonsense syllables, waving the block at him happily. He looked at her. And looked.

Then he picked the baby up in his arms.

“What are you doing?” she cried.

“My plane is waiting to take me to Hawaii and Japan,” he said coolly. “And I don’t trust you.”

“You can’t think of taking her from me!”

He narrowed his eyes and his lips curved into a cold, cruel smile.

“No. You will come, as well. You will travel with me wherever I wish to go. You will remain in my bed until I am finished with you.”

“No,” she gasped. Be in his bed, have her body possessed by a man who hated her? “I’ll never marry you!”

“Marry?” He barked a laugh. “That was when I thought you were an honest woman with a good heart. Now I know you’re nothing more than a beautiful, treacherous liar. You aren’t worthy to be my wife. But you will be my mistress.”

“Why are you acting like this?” she whispered. “You never wanted to be a father. Why are you acting like I kept something precious from you, when we both know that all you’ve ever wanted is your freedom?”

He just drew his lips back into a snarl.