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Her oval face defensive and deeply troubled, she pulled free of his hold. ‘I may yet choose adoption—’
‘Adoption?’ Sergio was shattered by the word and the concept.
‘I was adopted and I had a very happy childhood. If I’m not certain that I can give as much to my baby, I will consider adoption as a possibility. Because one thing I do know!’ Kathy reasoned in a surge of heartfelt emotion. ‘This is not about houses and appearances and money! Nor is it about what you want. It’s about my ability to love and care for my baby!’
His lean, darkly handsome face clenched taut. ‘Of course it is. But you will not be alone in that undertaking. You will have my support.’
‘You won’t be here for the tough stuff. You’ll stay in the background and you’ll visit only when it suits you to do so. Can’t you understand that I don’t want to be a hanger-on in your world? I don’t want you paying my bills and telling me what to do at every turn—’
‘That is not how it would be.’
Kathy was quick to challenge him again. ‘No? So I’d be free to move another guy in here if I met one?’
His dark eyes flamed sizzling gold. He was taken by surprise and his hostile distaste to that idea spoke for him.
‘Obviously not. You would expect me to live like a nun—’
‘Or content yourself with me.’
‘Oh…’ Kathy trembled, tension forming like an iron bar in her spine as her rage climbed. ‘So you’re not just talking about being an occasional supportive parent. There would be sexual strings attached to this arrangement, as well.’
‘That’s a tacky observation. I can’t see into the future. I don’t know where we’re going.’ Sergio lifted a shoulder in a sophisticated shrug. Intensely charismatic, he was Italian to his manicured fingertips, but he was also cool as ice under pressure and he refused to be drawn into dangerous waters.
‘You know exactly where we’d be going and that would be nowhere,’ Kathy condemned shakily. ‘From what I can work out, you haven’t been in a relationship that went anywhere in living memory. And you’re certainly not going to break that habit for a convicted thief!’
Sergio cornered her between the window and the wall and studied her with smouldering golden sensuality. ‘Even if I can’t keep my hands off you when you’re annoying the hell out of me, delizia mia?’
But Kathy was too afraid of his magnetism to relax her guard for a moment. ‘Did you tell Christabel Janson that too? Or did she qualify for a less critical approach?’
The classic lines of his hard-boned features were impassive while the teasing light had evaporated from his astute gaze. ‘Don’t go there,’ he advised. ‘I don’t answer to any woman.’
‘Then where do you get the nerve to demand anything from me?’ Kathy was so incensed she was shaking. ‘I absolutely refuse to be some dirty secret in your life!’
His stunning eyes flamed gold. ‘I did not ask you to be.’
‘Yes, you did. You’re ashamed of me but you still want to sleep with me. I won’t accept that ever. You wasted my time and yours bringing me here,’ Kathy flung at him furiously and she stalked back to the door. ‘I want to go back to London.’
‘This is childish, bellezza mia.’
Kathy sent him a shimmering emerald glance, afraid to let go of her anger in case it weakened her. ‘No, I’m being sensible.’
‘We have to agree a way forward.’
Kathy dealt him a fiery appraisal. ‘I can’t talk to you feeling like this—maybe we could talk on the phone and be polite in a few months’ time.’
‘In a few months?’ Sergio splintered in raw disbelief at that liberal time frame. ‘You need me now!’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Maremma maiale…you’re not even looking after yourself properly!’ Sergio condemned without warning. ‘How many hours a day are you working? You can’t keep up two jobs while you’re pregnant and stay healthy.’
Kathy gave him a frozen look. ‘I’ll cope and I’ll manage. I learned a long time ago not to rely on a man.’
‘Who taught you that?’
‘The love of my life—Gareth.’ Her lush pink mouth curled as she deliberately stoked that bitterness to make it into a further barrier between them. ‘We grew up next door to each other. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done for him. But he was no use at all in a tight corner and you’re not going to be any different—’
Outrage flashed in Sergio’s hard-boned features. ‘I’m doing everything possible to support you.’
