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‘And you have no...issues with fertility?’
Her face burned even hotter. ‘None that I know of, no.’
Zayed swore under his breath and turned away from her in one abrupt movement. At least she knew how he felt about a possible pregnancy, and could she even be surprised? He was planning to divorce her. Of course he didn’t want her to have his baby. Yet strangely, stupidly, Olivia felt hurt.
Zayed squared his shoulders, his taut back to her. ‘So there is a chance you could be pregnant?’
‘Yes, I suppose.’
He turned around. ‘You suppose?’
Irritation bit. ‘Yes, I suppose. I’m not omniscient, Zayed, and this is not my fault.’ Her voice quavered. ‘I thought you’d realised that, but it seems you’re back to blaming me.’
‘No, I’m sorry.’ He rubbed a hand wearily over his face. ‘I don’t mean to blame you. I blame myself, if anyone, for being so presumptuous and rash. It’s just another complication in what is already a very complicated situation. And I should have thought of it sooner.’ He dropped his hand from his face, giving her a surprisingly wry and honest look. ‘I’m ashamed that I did not.’
‘It’s understandable,’ Olivia murmured. Her flush had thankfully faded but she still felt embarrassed to be talking about this at all. ‘You’ve had a lot on your mind.’
‘Yes, but...’ He stared at her for a moment, his gaze hard and assessing. Olivia looked back at him warily. ‘You realised,’ he said, and it was a statement. ‘A while ago, I think. Yet you didn’t say anything.’
‘What was I supposed to say?’
‘That you might be pregnant?’ His brows drew together in a line. ‘I know it’s stating the obvious, but it is clearly a potential issue, and one that we needed to discuss.’
‘I suppose I didn’t see the point of discussing it until it was a certainty.’
‘But by that point you might have been out of my life!’ Zayed took a step closer to her. ‘Were you considering not telling me about my child, Olivia?’
She gazed at him in disbelief. ‘Are you serious, Zayed? Are you accusing me of something that hasn’t even happened yet? I may not even be pregnant. I’m probably not.’
‘Probably? Why do you say that?’
She shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but there’s a good chance I’m not.’
‘But there is a chance you are. That is the point.’ He gave her a long, level look. ‘Would you not have told me?’
‘I...I don’t know. I didn’t think that far ahead.’ She turned away from him, hating this whole conversation, all the what-ifs that had come into her life when everything had once been so certain, so safe, if a little staid. And she hated that a conversation about their possible child was so clinical, so cold. Some part of her wished for an alternative scenario, one where they hoped for such a thing. Revelled in the miracle of it. Was she insane?
‘What did you think, then?’ Zayed asked.
‘Why does it matter?’ she demanded, whirling around again. ‘Why do you always have to make me feel guilty, Zayed?’
Remorse crumpled his features for a split second. ‘Is that how I always make you feel?’ he asked in a low voice, and Olivia heard the sudden innuendo in it, as well as the intent.
‘No, but now... I know this is a potential problem, Zayed, but it’s not my fault.’
‘I know it isn’t.’ He closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t mean to act in such a way. When I’m around you...’ He stopped, and curiosity flickered through her, along with an excitement she could hardly credit.
‘When you’re around me...?’ she prompted.
Zayed opened his eyes and the blazing heat she saw in their depths lit a fire in her soul. ‘When I’m around you I lose my head. My very self. I can think of nothing but you...of having you.’
Excitement exploded inside her; she felt dizzy with it. Dizzy with desire, the rush of it so unexpected
considering they’d just been arguing. But had it ever really gone away? She’d been fighting it, in one form or another, since the moment she’d met him.
‘I know it’s wrong,’ Zayed murmured. ‘I know it’s foolish. I know we shouldn’t, and yet I want to. I crave you, Olivia. Why do I crave you so much?’
‘I crave you,’ Olivia whispered. She couldn’t look away from his fierce face, every muscle straining as he sought to control himself. Then he couldn’t, and as she watched in breathless anticipation he swallowed the space between them in a couple of strides and she was in his arms, his mouth coming down hard and demanding on hers, the dam they’d both been constructing finally broken, the desire rushing in.
