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Matt was threatening to get involved in a situation that was none of his business and Leo wanted him eliminated before he interfered and caused trouble.
Waiting in the small reception room, he listened to Matt raise his voice and Grace mute hers as she explained that she was moving out. The mother of his child, historically not a happy role in his family experience, but if adoption was in the offing he needed to come up with a viable alternative. Grace hadn’t even paused to consider the idea when he’d suggested marrying her. Cynical amusement filled Leo because he was too clever to cherish illusions about what made him so appealing to the female sex in general: first and foremost his great wealth followed by his looks and his sexual prowess. Yet Grace had thumbed her nose at that winning combination, doing what no other woman had done before in rejecting him. Although she had not rejected him the night when it all began, Leo savoured with an appreciation that was yet to pall in spite of the news he had received earlier.
A battered suitcase, two boxes of files and a pile of books now littered the hall. Matt insisted on helping them transport Grace’s possessions out to the waiting limousine and Leo’s driver climbed out in consternation to whisk the case out of his employer’s grip while two of his bodyguards grabbed up the boxes.
‘Look after her...don’t hurt her,’ Matt breathed in a charged and warning undertone before Leo could climb into his limousine.
‘I won’t,’ Leo countered, his accented drawl curt and cool, his ego challenged by the tone of that advice.
‘I can’t believe I’m doing this,’ Grace lamented, because she was already suffering second thoughts. Leo had extracted her from Matt’s flat at the speed of light.
‘Right now, you need time out to decide what you want to do next,’ Leo told her levelly. ‘A few days...a few weeks, whatever it takes. You shouldn’t be trying to make life-changing decisions virtually overnight.’
‘You don’t want me to go for adoption?’ Grace said, her slim frame tensing, her fingers folding together tightly on her lap.
‘Adoption entails you cutting me out of the situation entirely. Why would you want to do that?’ Leo queried softly. ‘I am willing to help in every way possible. There are other options and I think you should consider them.’
Grace breathed in slow and deep, fighting the sense that he was putting her on the spot because she knew that was unjust. She was in a highly stressful situation and any decision she made would put her under pressure. ‘This year of my degree I have to spend a lot of time working long unsocial hours in hospitals. Coping with that while pregnant will be a challenge.’
‘We can find some way to work around the problems. I’ve made an appointment for you with a doctor, who’s a friend of mine,’ Leo told her quietly. ‘We’re calling in with him first—’
‘A doctor? Why, for goodness’ sake?’ Grace demanded impatiently.
‘I want confirmation of your pregnancy and the reassurance that you are in good health,’ he admitted quietly.
Grace breathed in deep, suppressing her frustration. He had a right to that official endorsement, she reasoned ruefully.
Leo’s friend was in private practice and her pregnancy test was processed at supersonic speed before the suave, smoothly spoken doctor gave her a brief physical check-up and the usual advice offered to pregnant women.
Having satisfied Leo’s request, Grace was quiet when she slid back into his limousine and thinking about her baby. Possibly she had been a little too quick to consider the avenue of adoption, a solution that would enable her to continue her life after the birth as though she had never been pregnant. Obviously the idea of reclaiming normality had appeal but what sort of normality would it be when she had to live for ever after with the awareness that she had given up her baby? A cold chill clenched Grace’s spine at the prospect of that ultimate consequence. Adoption was final and could well sentence her to live with a secret heartbreak and sense of loss for the rest of her days. Suddenly, the chance to think at her leisure, while not having to worry about where or how she lived or what other people thought, shone like the most luxurious indulgence in front of her. Leo, she dimly appreciated, could talk a lot of good sense when it suited him to do so.
