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But he was not prepared to wait. Nothing she said would deter him, and ten minutes later she was sitting in his car.
Silently seething in the passenger seat, Beth watched as he walked around the bonnet and slid into the driving seat. She caught the male scent of his aftershave as he closed the door, saw his chiselled profile, the slight darkening of his firm jawline and the sensuous mouth. Hastily she dropped her gaze, but the denim pulled tight across his thigh so close to hers was no help. Everything about him was so masculine... Her heart skipped a beat and it was hard to breathe. He affected her senses in every way, and yet he was the last man on earth she should be attracted to.
‘Nice car. What happened to your Ferrari? Tired of it already?’ Beth asked snidely. Anything to take her mind off the sheer physicality of the man and her own troubled thoughts.
‘You happened,’ Dante shot back.
‘What do you mean, I happened?’ Beth queried.
He turned in his seat to look at her, a rueful smile twisting his lips. ‘After I left your apartment I was driving back to my place when it suddenly struck me what I had done—or, more precisely, not done. It was just as big a shock to me then as it was to you today, and for the first time in my life I ran into the back of a truck at a red light and buckled the front of my car.’
‘You hit a truck?’ Beth exclaimed, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. ‘With your new Ferrari?’ She knew that Dante loved his cars, and it gave her great pleasure to realise he was just as likely as the next man to crash his car.
‘It is back in the factory in Italy being repaired—which is why I am driving the Bentley. I was in America until ten days ago, and I meant to pick it up when I got back to Italy. I never got time.’
‘You seem to have plenty of time to come here,’ she said flatly.
‘Yes—but only because I made a mistake with you. I do not like indecision of any kind and I am not prepared to wait any longer. It is essential that I know if you are pregnant. If you are I will need to make some readjustments to my life and so will you. We are in this together, Beth, whether we like it or not.’
Dante had ended on a serious note, and Beth looked away as he started the engine and they moved off.
He was right, she thought fatalistically. Better to find out now. Though in her heart of hearts she had a growing conviction that she was. If the pregnancy was confirmed she was going to have to deal with Dante Cannavaro...and, given her past experience with the man, the thought did not fill her with confidence....
CHAPTER SIX
TWO HOURS LATER a very subdued Beth got out of the car in front of her house, still mortified by the way Dante had behaved at the chemist. He’d had no shame, demanding to know from the female assistant which was the most reliable pregnancy test while Beth had stood embarrassed by his side, wishing the ground would open and swallow her up—or preferably Dante...
Now, after so long in his company, her nerves were stretched to breaking point and the thought of what lay ahead added to her stress levels. Her happy mood on waking up was long gone....
‘Let’s go inside and get this over with,’ Dante commanded and, clasping her hand in his, he led her up and into her own house.
‘Wait a minute.’ Beth stopped in the large hall and tugged her hand free from his, her palm tingling. She looked frostily up at him. ‘I am quite capable of taking care of this myself. In fact I would prefer to.’
‘No way. This is my responsibility and I want to know.’
‘Are you stupid or what?’ Beth demanded in exasperation. ‘I am giving you a Get Out of Jail Free card. You can walk away—forget you ever met me. Most men would leap at the chance.’
‘I am not most men, and I can’t do that. I remember all too well that we had sex, and if a baby is the result then it is mine as much as yours. Though the thought of being a father, wondering if I will be a good one, is worrying.’
Inexplicably Beth’s heart squeezed at the hint of vulnerability in the dark gaze he turned on her.
She had not seen Dante look anything but arrogantly sure of himself, and it was a shock to see his big body tense. She realised this was probably even more of a shock for him than for her. Dante Cannavaro was not the type of man who ever made a mistake in his business or personal life and he did not tolerate other people’s mistakes. He believed his judgement was infallible, and now he had made a possibly life-changing mistake.... No wonder he looked shaken....
‘Take this.’ He pressed the pregnancy kit into her hand and glanced around. ‘Tell me where the kitchen is and I’ll make myself a coffee while you do the test.’
They were standing in the wide hall, which had two doors opening off on either side to the reception rooms. The main focus was a central staircase that divided halfway up and curved into a galleried landing on the first floor.
Beth indicated with one hand to the right of the staircase. ‘Down there is the kitchen.’
To her astonishment he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug, dropped a light kiss on her lips. ‘Don’t worry—it will work out fine either way. I will make sure it does,’ he declared, and turned to walk away.
Stunned, Beth looked down at the box in her hand and up again. She wanted to throw it at Dante’s back as he strolled off to the kitchen. He was so confident everything would be fine...while she was the opposite—a nervous wreck. But she knew she was only delaying the inevitable and began to ascend the stairs. Her lips were tingling from his kiss, her head was spinning with the enormity of what she was about to do, and her feelings on the result were ambivalent...
Twenty minutes later Beth walked downstairs and entered the kitchen, her face a blank mask. She dropped the test on the table, where Dante sat, and without a word stalked out and down the hall to her sitting room. With a sigh she sank down on the sofa and let her head fall back against the soft cushions.
Binkie padded over to rub against her ankles and Beth’s lips quirked at the corners in a brief smile. ‘Soon, Binkie, it will no longer be just you and I. There will be a baby as well.’ Somehow saying the words out loud finally brought it home to her that she was pregnant.
‘Amazing. You can tell your damn cat you are pregnant, but I get the test thrown at me.’
