‘No…’ She felt her face suffuse with colour.

  ‘Don’t lie to me, Elizabeth.’ He wouldn’t release her eyes, holding them with an intense look that made her feel as if he could see right inside her. ‘You’ve lived in this country for years and I’ve never seen the heat affect you the way it has today.’

  ‘I told you, I’m not acclimatised to it, that’s all.’ She shrugged, trying to make light of the episode, trying to sound convincing. But her words rang hollowly in the room. She could tell that he wasn’t at all convinced. And, as she wasn’t convinced herself, who could blame him? she thought wryly.

  ‘So you don’t need this, then?’ He put down his jacket and held up the pregnancy testing kit she had bought yesterday as if it were an exhibit in a court-room trial.

  She was horrified, both by the fact that he had found it amongst her shopping and that he had the audacity to bring it here and confront her like this.

  Well?’ The dark eyes seemed to burn into her.

  She didn’t answer.

  ‘Just give me a straight answer, Beth. Are you pregnant?’

  ‘If I knew that, I wouldn’t have bought that kit, would I?’ She glared up at him, her eyes fierce. ‘Just stop asking me, all right?’

  ‘No, it’s not all right,’ he said quietly. ‘How late are you?’

  She stood up and paced nervously towards the window. ‘Just go away.’

  ‘No, I won’t damn well go away.’

  Her breath was catching painfully against her chest. She watched the surf rolling in against the white beach below them and tried to think calming thoughts. But nothing would come to her. All she could think was that she loved Jay with all her heart and she would probably never get over the fact that he just couldn’t return those feelings.

  He threw the box down on the bed behind her. ‘Why ever did you agree to the terms of our marriage when you really had no feelings for me?’ he asked suddenly.

  The mocking question made her go hot inside. ‘You know why I agreed. I wanted what was rightfully mine. My father’s boat yard.’

  ‘So it was just the money?’

  ‘No!’ She spun around to face him, the denial breaking from her lips without her being aware that she had uttered it.

  ‘So what was it?’

  ‘It was…’ She stared at him wordlessly. She couldn’t tell him it was because she had loved him. She had her pride. ‘It was just a matter of principle. The yard should rightfully have been mine.’

  He laughed at that. ‘It’s rich hearing you talk about principles. Don’t you think you sacrificed all of those when you suggested a marriage for purely business reasons? Then proceeded to share my bed?’

  She looked away from him.

  ‘Don’t lecture me, Jay. You were the one who insisted that the marriage be a real one. You said you wouldn’t go through with it if it were in name only. You made me sign a premarital contract. They were your terms.’

  ‘Yes, they were, and you reneged on the deal.’

  ‘No, I didn’t. I slept with you.’ Her voice trembled alarmingly.

  ‘Suffered my advances, you mean?’

  She looked back at him sharply. ‘You know that’s not true.’

  ‘No…. Sex was one department where we were always compatible…wasn’t it?’ His voice was low, the look in his eyes intense.

  She felt her body burn with heat.

  ‘Pity that was all we had going for us,’ Jay continued softly. ‘But never mind. I did enjoy our little interludes together.’

  ‘Don’t talk about what we shared together like that,’ she warned him shakily.

  ‘Why not?’ His voice was calm.

  She hated him in that second, hated that he could trivialise what they had shared, turn something so special and precious into a meaningless fling.

  ‘So, tell me,’ he murmured when she made no attempt to answer him, ‘what do you think the chances are that the baby will be mine?’

  Red-hot temper seared through her at those words. She raised her hand and swung it back, the urge to slap him acutely intense. Before she could make contact, however, he caught hold of her wrist.

  ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ he warned in a low tone.

  Her eyes locked with his, her temper instantly evaporating. She stared at him, horrified by what she had so nearly done. ‘I’m sorry.’ She whispered the words in a trembling tone. ‘I didn’t mean to do that.’

  He just stared at her calmly, his eyes dark and intense. Then he let go of her hand. ‘No, I’m sorry,’ he said gently. ‘I shouldn’t have said what I did. But I just want you to give me a straight answer for once.’

  Her eyes brimmed with sudden tears. ‘If I’m pregnant then the baby is yours.’ She whispered the words unsteadily. ‘It has to be yours…because there’s been nobody else.’

  He watched as a tear rolled unashamedly down the pallor of her skin.

  ‘You led me to believe—’

  ‘Because I wanted you to know that you’re not a supreme being, Jay Hammond,’ she told him shakily. ‘I’ve had plenty of offers from men since we’ve been apart…and before we got married, for that matter—’

  ‘Hell…Elizabeth, I know that. I’m not blind. I see the way men look at you.’

  ‘Yes, well…I just wanted you to know that I don’t need you.’ She angled her chin up defiantly, a look that was at complete odds with the tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘In fact I can manage very well on my own.’

  ‘I know…I bloody well wish you couldn’t.’ His voice was raw suddenly. ‘You’re too damn capable.’

  ‘No, I’m not.’ She sniffed, and wiped the tears away from her face with a trembling hand. ‘If you really want to know, I’m scared stiff.’

  ‘What of?’ he asked quietly.

  ‘Of being pregnant and being on my own…’

  ‘Oh, Beth…’ Suddenly she was folded into his arms and held tightly against the warmth of his chest. ‘You don’t have to be on your own.’

  ‘Yes, I do.’ Despite the words, she allowed herself to relax against him, trying to steady herself, trying to think logically.

  It was bliss to be in his arms; she just wished she could stop thinking. Forget the fact that he didn’t love her. Forget everything except the fact that she loved him and this was where she wanted to be more than anything in the world.

  ‘I’ll look after you—’ he murmured gently, stroking her hair back from her face and gently kissing away the tears on the softness of her skin.

  ‘I don’t want you to look after me.’ Fiercely she pulled away from him. ‘I don’t need or want your charity.’

  She turned her back on him.

  ‘I’m not offering you charity, Elizabeth. That’s absurd.’

  ‘Whatever you’re offering, it isn’t enough,’ she told him shakily.

  There was a long silence. In it, Elizabeth strove to get herself back under control. ‘I think you had better go now,’ she whispered softly.

  ‘So you’re not seeing anyone else in London?’ he asked, totally ignoring her request.

  She shook her head.

  ‘I don’t understand why you lied,’ he muttered angrily. ‘I thought…no…I was convinced you were dating your boss. I saw you with him the day after we slept together. I came to the office. I wanted to take you out for lunch, but you were with him.’

  ‘He’s my boss, we often have a working lunch.’ She shrugged and walked away to get herself a tissue from her handbag.

  He watched the way her hands trembled as she opened the bag.

  ‘I just can’t understand why you lied about the fact you were seeing someone seriously.’

  ‘I told you I wasn’t dating John,’ she said firmly. ‘The very idea is preposterous. He’s happily married.’

  ‘But you let me think there was someone else,’ he persisted.

  ‘I told you why.’ She wiped her eyes and glared at him across the room. ‘It was a white lie. I said it in the heat of the moment. To make you go…’

  ‘And you still want me to go?’

  She shrugged. In truth she didn’t know what she wanted.

  If she could make him love her, make him be the man she wanted him to be…she’d fling caution and pride away. But what was the point? Even if he took her back, she’d always be watching him, knowing he didn’t really love her. And worrying that maybe the next beautiful woman who cast her gaze on him would be the one to win him. That was no way to live her life.

  ‘If you’re pregnant, will you stay?’

  She looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. ‘Don’t tell me you fancy being a father?’

  ‘The thought isn’t unappealing,’ he said calmly. ‘I think I’d make a good dad.’

  ‘You probably would,’ she said stiffly. ‘But a baby isn’t a good enough reason to stay together.’

  ‘If you’re pregnant, I don’t want you to go back to London,’ he said tersely.

  ‘That’s not your decision to make,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s mine.’

  ‘I suppose it is.’ He shook his head. ‘But it shouldn’t be…it should be a decision we make together.’

  ‘It’s all hypothetical anyway.’ She tried to shrug off the dilemma. ‘I felt a bit dizzy, that’s all. Probably it’s just a case of too much sun.’

  ‘Well, let’s find out, shall we?’ Jay nodded his head calmly in the direction of the kit on the bed. ‘Why don’t you go into the bathroom and use that?’

  ‘I will not!’ She was appalled.

  He crossed towards the phone and lifted the receiver.

  ‘What are you doing?’ she asked, her voice rising.

  ‘Phoning my doctor.’ He was punching out numbers on the dial, a look of grim resolution on his face.

  ‘Don’t!’ She went over towards him and tried to take the receiver out of his hand, but he held it out of her way and finished dialling.

  ‘Hi, Jayne? This is Jay Hammond.’

  Appalled, Elizabeth tried to get to the phone so that she could cut him off. But Jay caught hold of her, holding her back with a nonchalant ease. ‘Yes. I want to make an appointment for my wife to see the doctor today. In fact, I’d appreciate it if you could fit her in as soon as possible—’

  Elizabeth struggled in vain to get free of his hand so that she could take the receiver away from him, but it was like a mouse struggling with a cat. She was using all her strength while he was expending none.

  ‘All right…I’ll use the kit,’ she said, panic-stricken. ‘Just put the phone down.’

  ‘Hold on a minute, Jayne.’ Jay covered the mouthpiece. ‘Is that a promise?’ he asked Elizabeth in a low tone that was somehow very ominous.

  She nodded angrily.

  ‘I’ll have to get back to you on that, Jayne,’ he said, returning his attention to the receptionist on the phone. ‘Yes…I will. Bye, now.’ He put the phone down and stared at Elizabeth. ‘They can fit you in at three o’ clock tomorrow.’

  ‘You’re a bastard sometimes, Jay,’ she muttered fiercely. ‘You’d no right to do that.’ She was pink in the face as she spun to face him.

  ‘You haven’t still got that phobia about going to the doctor, have you?’ he asked suddenly.

  ‘No!’ Her face was extremely pink now. ‘I don’t know what you are talking about.’

  He smiled. ‘At least you’ve got colour back in your face.’

  ‘I’m not going to that doctor,’ she said firmly.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because…because I’ll go when I’m ready, not when you tell me.’

  A glint of amusement was in Jay’s eyes for a moment. ‘You’re a damn stubborn woman, Elizabeth Hammond,’ he said wryly.

  ‘And you’re overbearing.’

  ‘Someone’s got to take control,’ he said, his lips twitching. ‘Otherwise you’ll be eight months’ gone and you’ll be telling me it’s nothing…just something you ate.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

  He picked up the box from the bed and handed it to her. ‘Go into the bathroom and do the test.’

  ‘I will when you leave.’

  ‘You must be joking.’ He walked across towards the minibar and flicked through the contents. ‘I’ll have a drink out on the patio while I’m waiting.’ He picked up a bottle of beer and the room key that she had thrown down.

  ‘Give me a call when you’re ready.’

  Then calmly and quietly he closed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  SHE continued to stare at the door for a while after he had left the room. Just who in the hell did he think he was? Of all the high-handed, arrogant men she had ever met, he was the worst.

  Well she wasn’t going to test herself to order for him, that was for sure. She took the box and headed into the bathroom, bolting the door behind her. She’d stay in here all night if necessary, sleep in the bath. With a bit of luck Cheryl would come and rescue her. She’d send Jay away with a flea in his ear…wouldn’t she?

  She remembered the look of absolute determination on Jay’s face as he’d handed her the box. On the other hand she might have to stay in here for a very long time indeed.

  This was absurd. She should go out there herself and order him to go away. Call one of the security guards or something.

  She went and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked dreadful. Was she pregnant? She stared down at the box in her hand. She was terrified to do the test. What would she feel like if the answer were positive? What would she do?

  Maybe she should do the test now, while Jay was waiting…didn’t he deserve to know the truth? She felt so mixed up…so scared.

  Then she remembered the gentleness of his arms as he’d held her and told her she didn’t have to be on her own.

  With trembling hands she opened the box.

  Jay finished his beer and put the bottle down on the table. He glanced at his watch, then back out to sea. She seemed to have been in there a long time. The blurb on the box had said the result would be instant. He felt nervous…and kind of helpless. Like a child waiting for an exam result, a child promised lots of goodies if the result was good and punishment if it wasn’t.

  He shouldn’t have pushed her into doing the test. He was too damned impatient sometimes.

  The door opened behind him and he spun around. She stood in the doorway, a look of uncertainty on her face.

  ‘Well?’ He stepped forward.

  ‘Well…I did the test.’ She walked past him to lean against the rail.

  The sea was only a few metres away. She watched it gently swish against the white beach. A little breeze stirred the palm trees and whispered over her skin gently, soothingly. She took a deep breath.

  He was watching her intently, his eyes taking in everything about her. It was unnerving. ‘You’re off the hook.’ She said the words lightly.

  ‘You’re not pregnant?’

  ‘You sound disappointed.’ She turned to look at him then, her heart beating wildly against her chest.

  ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘I conned you into marrying me once. I can’t trap you into staying with me.’ She said the words that were drumming through her consciousness without being aware she had spoken aloud for a minute.

  She saw the look of perplexity on the handsome face. ‘That’s a crazy thing to say. I’d have given anything for you to be pregnant, just so I could have some excuse to try and keep you here.’

  She looked up at him, startled out of her reverie. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I love you,’ he said quietly, his eyes holding hers. ‘And I’d do anything for you.’

  She shook her head, wondering if she was hearing things.

  ‘I’ve been standing here, praying that the answer was going to be positive.’ His voice was deep and velvet to her ears. ‘I’m devastated.’

  ‘Devastated that I’m not pregnant?’ She raked a hand through her hair. ‘Because you want me to stay?’

  He nodded. There was no doubting the look of disappointment on his face.

  ‘You’ve never told me you loved me before…’ Her voice was stiff, totally unlike herself. ‘All the times you held me, made love to me, you never said those words.’ A tear threatened to roll down her cheek.

  He shrugged. ‘You didn’t want to hear them.’

  ‘I did!’ Her eyes were wide and as blue as the sky above them. ‘I longed to hear them.’

  ‘Elizabeth, you were always strongly assertive about the fact that we had a business deal. “A suitable arrangement”. Isn’t that how you referred to our marriage? You stressed that point from the moment you first proposed. I had to fight to get you into my bed, never mind declare undying love to you.’

  ‘That’s not true!’

  ‘Oh, come on, Elizabeth, you know it is. You hid behind business jargon. Said we had to stay together to make it look like a real marriage…so that we’d be sure to get the boat yard.’

  ‘Only because I knew you didn’t really want me! I had my pride, Jay Hammond.’ Her voice shook with anger. ‘You never took the slightest bit of notice of me; you were too busy running around chasing women. When I suggested marriage you nearly fell off your chair with shock.’

  ‘Well, yes, I did.’ He grinned. ‘But you have to admit it was a bit of an unusual proposal…wasn’t it?’

  ‘You didn’t want me, though…did you? Not even with the gift of the yard on my head.’ Her voice trembled bitterly.

  ‘Of course I wanted you.’ His voice was gentle, perplexed. ‘There would have had to be something wrong with me not to want you…. didn’t I prove that to you on our wedding night?’ His voice dipped to a husky, sensual whisper that set her pulses racing.

  ‘You never asked me out.’ She kept her voice cool and steady with difficulty. ‘Never made a pass at me before the day I asked you to marry me.’

  He smiled. ‘Because you had “serious” written in capital letters all over you,’ he murmured. ‘I knew if I touched you…if I kissed you, there would be no going back. And I kept telling myself that I didn’t want a serious relationship ever again.’ He shrugged, his manner self-deprecating. ‘I suppose, if I’m honest, I was scared as hell of making another commitment…scared of failing at another relationship. That’s why I just played the field. It seemed safer.’ His eyes moved gently over her upturned face and he smiled. ‘But I wanted you from the moment I first saw you.’

 

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