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It wasn’t the resoundingnoshe’d hoped for. But then didn’t she have her own misgivings about her looming role?
His trauma wasn’t on par with what her parents had done to her, but it resonated, making her wonder if this was what had drawn her to him.
They both carried scars from a past filled with hurt.
The very possibility of such a kinship cracked something tight and hard inside her, a firewall against her loneliness that she realised had been battered and softened in the months she’d been in Cardosia.
Long after the picnic had ended, Genie couldn’t harden herself back up again.
On her return to the suite she’d grown ridiculously attached to, she paced. At a much slower clip than before but the vastness of the rooms and the added square footage of the terrace served their purpose.
She’d agreed to stay until the baby was born.
But she was also locked in contractually with Seve’s project for the next few years. A project she believed in. Why not take the last step?
They’d both witnessed the deep flaws in their upbringing. Enough to avoid the pitfalls in their own parenting. And as Seve had repeatedly pointed out, weren’t they better doing this together than apart?
As if agreeing, Genie felt the softest kick in her womb.
Breath catching, she sank down on the bed and cradled her bump.
‘Is that what you want, little one?’ It wasn’t illogical to talk to her baby. Not when the science had proved it was an effective means of communication. Encouraged even.
So...forget logic. Just feel.
But not too much. Because feelings of bonding love with her baby were one thing.
Letting her firewall be completely eroded and baring herself to emotional desolation from Seve—a man accepting fatherhood because it’d been thrust on him—was another.
CHAPTER EIGHT
SHEMADESUREto keep as much emotion out of it as possible by lingering after breakfast and sharing another cup of tea with Lita until after Seve left for his study, before following him.
She swallowed the nerves eating at her and barely waited for his prompt to enter after knocking before stalking in, and promptly stumbling to a halt.
Genie was sure he didn’t plan it that way—the man she’d come to know didn’t chase after vanity—but once again he was bathed in worshipping sunshine, the rays lovingly detailing every perfect sinew and curve, every symphony of movement.
She was frozen in rapt appreciation when he looked up from the documents he was studying, his pursed lips easing when he saw her. But that look reminded her of the formidable powerhouse behind the Valente name. That he had a global empire beyond the borders of Cardosia, one maintained with an iron but very successful fist of his stock value, was an indication.
‘Genie, did we forget to discuss something?’ he asked, although his tone implied he’d forgotten nothing.
Prodding herself to move, she approached and stopped at a sensible distance where, if she was lucky, she wouldn’t have to breathe in his enticing masculine scent on top of everything else. ‘We didn’t. This is an unscheduled visit to tell you that I’ve made my decision. I’ll marry you.’
She had the pleasure of witnessing Seve caught in wordless shock for a handful of seconds.
Then the usual characteristics flowed. The gleam of triumph in his slate-grey eyes. The imperial nod that suggested he was pleased she was finally seeing things his way.
Then of course that smooth uncoiling of his body from his chair, the well-oiled symmetry of his stride as he ignored her silent plea and brought all that power and sexiness and heavenly scent into her space.
Surrounded her with it.
‘This is unexpected excellent news,pequeña,’ he rasped, his gaze raking her intently as if he hadn’t seen her at the breakfast table ten minutes ago.
Feeling all kinds of salacious heat prowling through her, she folded her arms, ignoring the mild discomfort of doing so over her protruding belly.
‘My project is on hold for the foreseeable future but I can still work on many more that aren’t mine.’
‘With mine a priority of course,’ he inserted, his eyes still doing that laser-beam thing on her face, absorbing every reaction.
