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Just like that. Weeks of agonising, and now the thought that she might possibly have told Zac everything from the start made emotion rise up inside her, twisting her heart in her chest.
She took the card, and he was almost out through the door when Rose managed to get out a strangled-sounding, ‘Wait...’
He stopped and turned again. His face was stark. No emotion. When she felt as if someone had just ripped her guts out.
‘I just...’ Rose faltered under that cool regard. She just...what? ‘I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I never meant for any of it to happen like this.’
She still refused to regret be
coming pregnant, but she was sure he wouldn’t appreciate hearing that right now.
‘I’m not sure you didn’t, Rose, but you’ve told me enough for now. As you say, your father shouldn’t be punished for your actions.’
And then he was gone, the door closing quietly behind him. Rose sank down on the couch behind her, suddenly weak as the overload of adrenaline left her system. She was trembling all over, like a shock victim.
The cool lack of emotion in his eyes just now scored at her already raw insides like a knife. The fact that he would never believe she hadn’t set out to trap him deliberately, regardless of what she’d told him, was devastating.
In the shattering aftermath of their lovemaking in Italy she’d truly believed that maybe he felt something for her beyond resentment. There had been glimmers of an accord... But obviously it had just been her pathetic wishful thinking.
But still a tiny bud of hope refused to die. If there was any chance at all that she could persuade Zac that she’d never wanted to betray him, then wasn’t it worth a try? Even if she had to tell him how she felt to convince him. Even if that prospect made her feel weak all over again.
She knew that if she hadn’t fallen for him in the first place—probably from the moment she’d laid eyes on him—then this chain of events would never have happened. It was the fact that she’d wanted him so much for herself that had led to this, and she owed it to him to make that clear.
Filled with determination, and with her heart pounding, Rose went into what had been her bedroom and rummaged through the wardrobe until she found what she was looking for.
* * *
Zac wasn’t sure what he’d said during the keynote speech, but it must have been the right thing because people were coming up and slapping him on the back, making all the right noises and responses.
He wasn’t sure what he’d said because his brain was still trying to assimilate everything Rose had told him. She wanted him to believe that she’d done it all for her sick father.
He remembered Séamus O’Malley. He’d always been nice to Zac, and had let him sit up at the front of the car when his grandparents hadn’t been around. His accent used to fascinate Zac, and he would tell him stories of Ireland and tales of great Irish warriors.
It unnerved him now, how vivid those memories still were.
But if everything Rose had said was true, then why the hell hadn’t she just told him from the start? Of course he would have helped her father. Could he really believe that she’d been all but blackmailed by his grandmother into trapping him with a pregnancy?
All Zac had to do was think of his grandmother’s cold, imperious face and one word resounded in his head: yes.
Rose’s impassioned defence when he’d questioned her intelligence came back now, too, and he felt his chest grow tight. He took this world for granted, but he knew powerful people could be intimidating—and there was nothing more intimidating than the threat of legal action, especially when you couldn’t afford it.
Suddenly the conversation around him stopped and a familiar scent reached his nostrils. His companions were looking at someone behind him and he turned around slowly. His eyes widened incredulously.
Rose stood before him in the same black dress she’d worn the first night they’d met. It shimmered and clung to every curve, and to the small proud swell of her belly. Dimly he recognised that it had grown bigger in just the space of a week, and the knowledge made him feel as if something was slipping a mooring inside him.
Her hair was down, she wore no make-up, yet she was luminous. Ethereal. His fey enchantress. His betrayer.
His voice sounded hoarse to his ears. ‘What are you doing here?’
She came closer. ‘I need to say something else.’
Aware of the spike in interest around them, Zac said tersely, ‘Now is hardly the time to continue this conversation.’
He saw the pulse at the base of her neck beating hectically and his own blood throbbed in response.
‘Now is as good a time as any.’
Zac was aware of the keen interest of everyone around them and took Rose’s arm in his hand, pulling her away from prying eyes and flapping ears.
