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Leo knew when he was being played, but then he had also never been on the receiving end of such a careless dismissal before. It had stung, it had felt ridiculously like rejection, he reasoned in confusion at his own thoughts. Before he could think any more, he reacted on instinct and closed Grace’s dripping body into his arms below the falling spray.
‘Things change. We’re married now. I think we can afford to be a little more affectionate,’ he declared in a rasping undertone, tugging her even closer.
Grace hid a smile against a broad muscular shoulder. He wasn’t an irredeemable rat, she decided ruefully. Damaged by his parents’ toxic marriage, he had avoided the softer emotions all his life to date. But he could learn by example, yes, and he was one very fast learner, Grace conceded as the embrace became an unashamed hug.
A couple of hours later, they lay naked in a tangle of fur throws in front of the gas-fired logs in the massive fireplace in the main drawing room. As night fell they had become hungry and had raided the fridge to savour the delicacies prepared by Josefina, the housekeeper, who had gone home hours earlier.
‘I thought pregnant women suffered a lot from nausea,’ Leo said abruptly. ‘But you still have a good appetite.’
‘I haven’t felt sick once,’ Grace admitted. ‘A little dizzy a couple of times but that’s all.’
‘I’ve signed you up to see one of the local doctors while we’re here.’
‘That’s unnecessary this early in my pregnancy.’
Leo dealt her a warning glance. ‘Humour me. I have a very strong need to know that I’m looking after you properly.’
But Grace was worried that if she gave an inch, Leo would take a mile. She wondered if he had taken the same managing, controlling attitude to Marina and asked.
Leo rested back thoughtfully on his hands, the hard muscular lines of his chest and stomach flexing taut and drawing her involuntary gaze. ‘I never felt the need to interfere...offer advice occasionally, yes, veto or demand, no. You’re different.’
‘How am I different?’ Grace asked baldly.
‘You’re pregnant,’ Leo pointed out, disappointing her with that comeback.
‘So, if I’m allowed to ask one awkward question...exactly why did you want to marry Marina?’
‘Because I thought she was perfect...’
Grace froze, the colour leaching from beneath her fair skin.
‘Of course, nobody is perfect,’ Leo continued wryly. ‘But I did believe Marina was as near to the ideal as I could get because we had so much in common and were close friends.’
Never ask a question if you aren’t tough enough to accept the answer and live with it, Grace told herself wretchedly. How on earth could she compete with his ideal of the perfect wife? Most especially when that ideal woman was still walking around? Was it possible that Leo felt more for Marina than he had ever appreciated? And that losing her might make him finally realise it? Not a productive thought train, Grace scolded herself, and she suppressed her crushing sense of insecurity with every fibre of willpower that she possessed.
* * *
‘So, why don’t you want these blood tests the doctor has recommended?’ Leo demanded impatiently.
Grace wrinkled her nose. ‘Because there’s nothing wrong with me.’
‘But the doctor—’
‘Dr Silvano is nice but he is a little old-fashioned, Leo. Why should he wonder if there’s something wrong with my hormone levels just because I’m not feeling sick all the time?’ Grace prompted impatiently. ‘A lot of women get morning sickness but there are a lucky few who don’t and I don’t plan to start fussing over myself and worrying without good reason. He’s one of those doctors who prefer to treat pregnancy as an illness and I don’t agree with that.’
Leo surveyed her with unhidden annoyance. Grace went pink and looked across the cobbled square to the playground where small children were running and shouting. In a few years she would have a child of around that age, she ruminated fondly, wishing Leo would not make her pregnancy so much his business. Yet how could she fault a man for caring about her well-being?
‘I’ll go back first thing tomorrow for the tests,’ Grace surrendered with a grimace. ‘Will that make you happy?’
