‘I’ll come with you,’ he said swiftly.
‘No. We are not causing more drama.’
For once in his life he didn’t give a damn about drama. She looked dangerously pale again and he was not abandoning her. ‘You’re unwell. I’m merely being a wonderfully supportive employer and ensuring that you’re looked after.’
‘I can get a—’
‘Stop arguing. Start accepting.’
Her cheeks flushed with fury. Good. He preferred it to the pallor and the panic.
It took only moments for them to discreetly escape. His driver easily found an open pharmacy. Massimo strode in and bought the necessary and they carried on to her hotel. Her room was too small, the bed too big. He turned, noting her small case and the fat notebook on top of it. Lily went into her bathroom. Massimo barely had time to draw breath before she returned.
‘We definitely have a situation.’ She set the test on the small table. ‘I don’t want anything from you. I need time to think.’
He was more than happy for her to have that. He needed it, too. But she would be accepting somuchmore from him if this was his. Only there definitely was noif. It hadn’t even occurred to her that she could escape the apparent horrors of his proposal by suggesting someone else was the father and she just didn’t have that in her.
For most people this would be a cause forcelebration. He remembered his mother’s happiness when she’d told him she was pregnant. She and his father hadn’t told him right away. Massimo had only realised years later just how long they’d been trying, how nervous they were. They’d waited a few months to be sure all was well. That was why they’d been able to tell him he’d be getting a little brother in five months’ time. He’d barely listened to them that day; he’d only teased his mother that her tears were falling faster than the rain outside—
He gritted his teeth. He couldn’t be responsible for harm coming to another pregnant woman. He wouldn’t just take care of Lily. He would take care ofeverything.
‘If I leave you for the night, you won’t run away?’ He suddenly worried she would. He didn’t want her acting onemotion.
‘Of course not.’ She gaped at him. ‘There’s a race this weekend.’
He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself informing her that she wouldnotbe working. ‘This is my personal number. Any problem through the night, call me.’ His annoyance rebuilt when she looked at it as if it were poison. I’ll send a car for you in the morning and we’ll talk.’
And she wouldn’t be working.
‘I’m perfectly capable of getting to the track.’
‘No.’ He glared at her. ‘I’ll come and get you.’
She frowned. ‘From where?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Are you not staying inthishotel?’ She blinked. ‘Is it not luxurious enough for you?’
He was in an exclusive suite at a premier hotel and stupidly, instantly, got defensive about it. ‘You’re the one who insisted on us being at least fifteen feet away.’
‘You don’t trust yourself to be in the same hotel as me?’
‘That’s right.’ The hot and wild sensation in his gut goaded him to provoke her. ‘But given the situation, maybe it would be easier if I stayed here tonight.’
Fury sparked in her eyes. ‘You’renotstaying in my room.’
He relished her passion, but clung on to enough reason to remind himself she wasn’t just tired. She was shocked and emotionally overwrought and in no state to make decisions. No. He needed to step back, recover his own reason. So he fell back on the teasing banter that had first brought them together all those weeks ago.
‘Oh Lily,’ he murmured. ‘Are you rescinding my access-all-areas pass already?’
Chapter Six
LILY DRESSED INher team polo and shorts and turned her back on the test still on the table. Even so, the double stripes taunted her. Definitelypregnant. To her astonishment she’d fallen asleep almost the second she hit the pillow, but she’d woken early. She would head to the track and bury herself in work. Full ostrich mode. She didn’t have the time or the emotional capacity to process the pregnancy let alone make a plan. She couldn’t deal with something so monumental. It was so life altering, so terrifying, she had to stall even thinking about it.
‘Are you well enough to be here?’ Shane frowned at her when she walked into the garage.
‘Absolutely.’ The focus required would help steady her fraught nerves.
‘I didn’t see you at the party.’
‘I was there briefly.’ Most of the time she’d been in the Flyer having the worst conversation of her life with her boss.
