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‘I knew we had to talk when I discovered I was having your baby. I would never leave you in the dark. I just need time to process everything that’s happened today. Just the fact that your security team has been watching me is unnerving. I realise you’re a prince and I’m having your child, but that doesn’t give you the right to put me under surveillance.’
‘Your safety will always be my concern.’
‘Just don’t let it become your obsession.’
‘My security team check out anyone I’m seen with. They report to me, and I can hardly avoid reading what they put in their reports.’
‘I accept that,’ she said, ‘and I thank you for being so honest with me. And most especially for saving my life,’ she added in a softer tone.
‘I don’t want your thanks. I want your time.’ He was impatient for a very good reason. The royal council was pressing him to find a bride. The country was waiting. He needed an heir, and Callie’s pregnancy had set a clock ticking. He needed things settled between them before the ticking stopped.
‘You left me without an explanation, Luca, and now you’re back I’m supposed to snap to attention?’
‘I never misled you.’
‘You never told me you were a prince, either,’ Callie pointed out. ‘You allowed me to believe that you and I were on the same level.’
‘As we are,’ he insisted.
She laughed and shook her head. ‘That’s a fantasy. You’re a prince and a billionaire, and who am I?’
‘The most determined woman I’ve ever met.’
‘Flattery doesn’t wash with me, Luca. We had sex, the deepest intimacy of all, and then you simply turned your back and walked away. That means one thing to me. You’re incapable of feeling.’
‘You disappeared and pitched up here. Is that so different?’
‘I was never going to stay in Italy for ever. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. I always knew I’d come home at some point. And now I intend to study and go on to make a purposeful life. You might be used to women throwing themselves at you, but—’
‘Not in the way that just happened,’ he said dryly.
She couldn’t bear this. She couldn’t bear the mash-up of feelings inside her. Her body was bruised. Her thoughts were in turmoil. She was in love with Luca. Their short, passionate time in Italy had left an indelible brand on her heart, but he was a man she could never have. He knew that as well as she did, surely?
‘There’s fault on both sides,’ Luca insisted. ‘You didn’t reply to my letters. You refused to see me. You rejected my gifts. And, yes, I can see it must have seemed to you that I’d callously walked away, but I hope you can see now that there was a very good reason for my absence. Spend some time in Fabrizio. See the type of life our child will have.’
Fear speared through her at his words. Hormones. She knew she was overreacting, but he would sweep her away if she let him. He would expect the royal child to live with him. Yes, she should get to know his world. Luca was no ordinary man. She could never compete with his wealth, or royal status, but she believed just as strongly in her own values, and in her ability to bring up their child. They had to talk, but not right now. ‘My cab’s here—’ She looked at his hand on her arm.
‘What are you proposing, Callie?’
Luca’s tone had changed, hardened. Their baby wouldn’t benefit from parents at war. ‘Truce,’ she said. ‘I’m proposing a truce. You’re a hero. You saved me. You saved our child’s life. I can never thank you enough for that. If nothing else, I’m sure we can be friends.’
‘Friends?’ Luca frowned.
‘Please? For the sake of our child.’
Her cab rolled up at the kerb. Talking was done. He ground his jaw. Why wouldn’t she take the lift he’d offered? He could call up a diplomatic limousine in minutes. Was this how it was going to be? He couldn’t allow Callie a free hand. The heir to Fabrizio was too precious for that.
‘I can’t believe my new phone is still in one piece,’ she said, glancing at it before putting it away.
‘Give me your number.’ He pulled out his phone.
‘Give me your number,’ she countered, ‘and I’ll call you when I’m ready.’
‘Can I at least know where you’re going,?’
‘I’ll call you,’ she said as she climbed into the cab.
Seething inside, he gave her his number. After the accident and the shock of seeing him, he had to cut her some slack, but seeing Callie again was non-negotiable. He had every intention of keeping track of his unborn child. Grinding his jaw as the cab drove away, he had to remind himself this wasn’t the end of anything, but just the start of their return match.
