Special Deliveries: Her Nine-Month Secret: The Secret Casella Baby / The Secret Heir of Sunset Ranch / Proof of Their Sin

‘No,’ Holly said quietly. ‘I’m sure there’s a lot of truth behind the rumours. And I haven’t come here because I care. I don’t. The Luiz I cared about and fell in love with disappeared and was replaced by a Luiz I don’t know.’

And yet, even as the words poured out, she was drawn and shaken by the fierce tug of familiarity, of somehow knowing that, underneath the polished surface veneer, there would surely be the person she had grown to know. She shoved aside the wimpish, craven urge to see the three-dimensional man, to marry the two sides of the coin, and instead reminded herself of the undeserved suspicions he had levelled against her. The distrust that had shaken her belief in him, the ease with which he had written her off as a potential opportunist when, after all the time they had spent together, he should have known that he was miles out in his assumptions.

‘Your somebody else,’ she said, drawing in a deep breath.

‘Do you love her?’

‘Come again?’

‘The girl you’re going out with… do you love her?’

‘That question is inappropriate.’ He glanced pointedly at his watch. Every single thing she had said since she had walked into his office had offended him. He was savagely aware that, while her very presence should repel him, he still couldn’t prevent himself from responding to her with a physical reaction that seemed to be utterly out of his control. He was riveted by the incongruity of having her sit in his office which was so distant from her comfort zone.

‘No, it’s not.’

‘She’s suitable.’ Luiz delivered this with scathing honesty. Cecelia was eminently suitable and, the sooner that message was received by whatever rebellious bit of his brain insisted on telling him otherwise, the better.

‘Your family must be very pleased. You told me that your father had been so keen to see you settle down.’

‘Did I? I can’t remember.’ He had told her lots of things. They had talked a lot. She had always enjoyed talking. He once thought that she could coax anyone out of a bad mood with her cheerful chatter. ‘Furthermore, I don’t see where this is going. If you’re not here for a hand out then what are you here for?’

‘What I’m about to say to you might come as a bit of a shock, but I just want you to know that I’m very happy for you; happy that you’ve found someone…’ It physically hurt to say that but say it she did, partly because she knew that she had to be dignified, given the situation, partly because she didn’t want him to feel responsible for her when she told him what she had to.

Luiz stilled. For once he was at a complete loss. Was she ill? Panic flared inside him, obliterating every thought and every feeling.

‘I’m pregnant, Luiz. I wish there was a kinder way of telling you, but I can’t think of any.’

It took a few seconds for his wayward brain to catch up with what she had just said. In fact, even when it did catch up, Luiz didn’t believe that he had heard correctly. His body was tense as he leaned forward, hands flat on the desk, and looked at her with frowning intensity.

‘Sorry. Repeat that. I don’t think I quite caught what you said…’

‘I’m having a baby.’

‘No. No, you’re wrong. You can’t be.’ He was overwhelmed by a sensation of unreality. He wondered if he might be hallucinating.

‘The doctor thinks it might have happened that weekend of the party. I was sick, do you remember? Apparently there’s a chance of the contraceptive failing if you’re sick. I never noticed anything, because as soon as we broke up I came off the pill and I just assumed that I hadn’t had a period because my body was adjusting. Okay, so I was putting on a bit of weight, but I was eating more. I only found out a few days ago when I went to the doctor. The thing is, he did a check and there’s no doubt.’

Her voice was calm and level but she had had a few days to think about it all, to come to terms with her life never being the same again. She had already gone past that state of shock which she could now see Luiz experiencing as his healthy golden colour turned ashen and he stared at her, not really focusing.

‘I don’t believe you.’ But again his eyes were drawn to the fulsome curves which the shapeless sack dress was keen to conceal. She wouldn’t lie. He heavily admitted to himself that she was nothing like Clarissa.

‘Look, I know you’re involved with someone else, and I haven’t come here to try and… and ruin anything for you.’

‘You tell me you’re pregnant and then say that you don’t want to ruin anything for me?’

Holly flushed but maintained eye contact. ‘I didn’t have to come,’ she said quietly. ‘In fact, for a while I was tempted not to, but I thought that you deserved to at least know the truth. I don’t expect you to do anything about it and I don’t want anything from you. I just felt that it was important for you to… to know.’ She stood up and nervously wiped her clammy hands on her dress.

‘Where the hell do you think you’re going? You can’t come in here and drop a bombshell and then leave!’

‘It’s a bombshell for you, Luiz, but not for me—and, before you even think about asking me to get rid of it, then don’t.’

‘I would never ask you to do such a thing.’

‘And don’t think about lumping me in the same bracket as your ex-girlfriend, either. I really am pregnant. I’ve had a scan. I can show it to you if you like. It dates the pregnancy. It’s confirmed. Plus, like I said, I don’t want anything from you. I don’t want your money and I don’t want you thinking that you have to be responsible for accidentally creating a life when you had no plans to. I’m going to go now and leave you to think this over. You might want to tell your fiancée, spare her the shock of finding out later down the line.’

The word ‘fiancée’ failed to register. Luiz was fired with an overwhelming urge to glue her to the chair and make her keep talking while he harnessed his thoughts and started thinking rationally. No part of his brain was functioning the way it normally did. Hell, he was going to be a father!

His eyes dipped to her stomach, back up to those swollen breasts that should have alerted him to the possibility that this was her news, the reason for her sudden appearance. What on earth had possessed him to think that she would suddenly discover the need to fleece him? She had never given a damn about material things. Was he so cynical that, the second she knew the truth about him, he could see no option other than pigeon-holing her? He might be wrong, of course, but now, with a baby inside her—his baby—he no longer had the luxury of disposing of her to protect himself from any possible threat of opportunism.

But she was already heading out of the door.

‘Just think about what I’ve said, Luiz. I’ll be in London until tomorrow and, if you want to talk some more, then that’s fine. You have my mobile number. Unless, of course, you’ve deleted it…’

He looked like death warmed up. She thought that he must truly feel as though his world had imploded, as though his worst nightmare had come true. ‘Right now, I don’t want you to follow me and I don’t want you to try and make me stay here. I’ve said what I’ve come to say and I’m leaving now.’

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_0c189b3c-5cdd-51cc-986a-61d514e32c0f)

HOW COULD SHE sail into his office, make an announcement that was going to blow his world apart and then sail right out, having forbidden him from following her? Or at the very least from locking her in his office and compelling her to repeat herself until his brain began truly absorbing what she had said.

Even as she disappeared through his office door, Luiz knew that it would be a mistake to try and drag her back. Despite her sunny nature, she could be stubborn, and he recognised that closed expression on her face and the thin, determined line of her mouth. It was the same look she had worn when, months previously, an itinerant worker had come to the sanctuary to reclaim the dog he had been caught beating. She had told him to get lost and he had taken one look at that obstinate face and had done as he had been ordered. Luiz had been impressed. He was rather less impressed now, when the stubborn determination was directed at him.

He was going to be a father. He could pretend that she might be lying, but not even he, sceptic that he was, could kid himself on that score. It was a messy situation, but in the quiet of his office, with all calls on hold and all meetings cancelled—much to his secretary’s surprise—Luiz recognised that it was not a situation that was going to go away despite what Holly had defiantly said. The mere fact that she had sought him out was indication enough that she now acknowledged that he was an indispensable part of her life. Talk about him having choices, about him being able to walk away, was empty talk. She surely must know that that would never be an option.

Whether she would ever admit it or not, she had landed on her feet in the money stakes.

He called her just before he was ready to leave the office. It was a little after five, hours before his normal departure time, but he hadn’t been able to focus on anything. She had asked him to mull things over. As far as he was concerned he had devoted the necessary time to the task at hand.

‘We need to meet.’

Holly heard the peremptory command in his voice and shivered. ‘Okay.’

‘Where are you staying?’

She gave him the name and address of the hotel. No one could accuse it of being five-star. It might struggle to make two, in fact.

Just out of the shower, she looked at the shabby wallpaper, the uninspiring prints on the wall and the snap-together furniture.

‘That part of London is a dump. Couldn’t you have found anywhere a little more upmarket?’

‘This wasn’t meant to be a weekend break,’ Holly retorted. ‘I had to come to London, so I chose somewhere affordable.’

‘I will send my driver for you…’

‘If you tell me where you want to meet,’ Holly interjected, just in case he thought that she would be impressed by a driver, ‘I can take public transport.’

Luiz ignored that. ‘He will be with you in half an hour.’

‘Luiz…’