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Rico stood too, tall and powerful, his face and eyes unreadable. Gypsy nearly sagged with relief when he said, ‘Of course it’s possible. I’ll call Demi now. Why don’t you get cha
nged and we’ll go?’
The whole way back to the island, and then to the villa, Rico was silent, and Gypsy was grateful. Once they got inside, though, and they’d both looked in on Lola, who slept peacefully, Rico trailed a finger down Gypsy’s cheek and said, ‘We’ll talk in the morning…we need to talk about this.’
His steely tone brooked no argument. Of course he wasn’t going to let her revelations end here. Reluctantly Gypsy nodded briefly, and Rico stepped away and strode from her room, leaving her alone.
And that night, for the first time in a long time, she slept like a baby.
The following morning Gypsy revelled in waking up to Lola’s chatter as she waited contentedly for someone to come to her. She had a prickling sensation over her skin, as if something momentous was going to happen. And she couldn’t forget the revelation that Rico had already known of her past. Perhaps not everything, but enough, and yet he’d wanted to wait for her to tell him. He hadn’t used it against her.
It made her feel slightly panicky inside, with the sensation of no walls of defence left standing. What would happen now?
Gypsy dragged herself up and went to greet Lola, who said ecstatically, ‘Mama!’, and stood to greet her. Gypsy took her out and held her close, breathing in her delicious scent and feeling her solid weight. But already Lola was squirming to get down and be off exploring.
It was only when she was escaping out through the bedroom door that Gypsy realised she was looking for Rico, who appeared at that moment, cleanshaven and gorgeous in jeans and a T-shirt, and swung Lola up in his arms, much to her delight.
He looked at Gypsy, no discernible expression on his face. ‘I’ll take her down if you want to get dressed.’
So we can talk.
He didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to. He now had all the knowledge, all the power. Gypsy hated the way she automatically imagined the worst, but she’d had years of dealing with exactly that.
A short while later, dressed equally casually in jeans and a long-sleeved top, Gypsy joined the mayhem that was Lola’s breakfast-time. Agneta was there too, cooing at Lola, who was happily holding court. Gypsy came in and had some coffee and a croissant, but she couldn’t swallow past the huge lump in her throat.
When Agneta took Lola off, insisting that she would get her changed and dressed, Rico finally put down his napkin and stood.
‘Will you come into my study?’
Gypsy looked up, and something dark made her say, ‘Oh, so you’re asking now?’
It was a mistake, because Rico glowered and all Gypsy could think of was the frantic coupling that had happened between them in there. With warmth suffusing her cheeks, she followed Rico.
Once in the study, Rico turned around to face Gypsy. Instinctively wanting to protect herself, she crossed her arms. Rico hitched one hip on the edge of his desk, and Gypsy fought not to let her gaze drop wantonly to where his jeans stretched over hard thighs.
‘I had no idea you went through so much at the hands of that man.’
Gypsy looked at Rico before glancing away. His gaze was so intense. She shrugged. ‘How could you have known? No one knew except for me.’
‘That’s why you didn’t want to tell me about Lola, isn’t it?’
Gypsy swallowed painfully. Her gaze swung back. ‘It was a large part of it, yes. But, no matter what you believe, I did intend telling you. I just wanted to be in a better position…so you wouldn’t see me as weak…and the thought of being dragged through the courts to prove paternity was daunting. I didn’t want people finding out that I had been Alexandra Bastion and wondering where the family fortune had gone. I had never imagined that I might become pregnant. I truly did believe I’d be safe.’
Rico winced. ‘I told you about that court case. It was just unbelievably bad timing for you to have seen it that very morning.’
Rico stood from the desk and started to pace, making Gypsy’s pulse race. She crossed her arms tighter across her chest.
He stopped to face her and in an uncharacteristically impatient gesture ran a hand through his hair. ‘Look,’ he began, ‘it’s clear now that we both had our reasons for reacting the way we did—you in your decision to keep Lola to yourself, and me for wanting her with me from the moment I knew about her.’ He shook his head. ‘I thought you were just like my mother—wilfully keeping me from Lola just because it served your purposes. And the thought of Lola possibly being brought up by some other man some day…enduring what I had…was too much to contemplate.’
Gypsy balked at the thought of another man. There would be no other man. Not ever. Not any more.
She bit her lip and said quietly, as that assertion rocked through her, ‘I was just so terrified that you would be like my father…worse…because you were even more powerful than him. All I ever was was an inconvenient pawn to him.’ She looked at Rico. ‘I thought you would sweep in and take us over, remove me permanently from Lola’s life the way my father did my mother.’
Rico shook his head. ‘I was angry, yes, but I never thought of taking you away from Lola. I will admit that I saw a future where Lola was in my life and you were sidelined…but I don’t see that future any more.’
‘You don’t?’
He shook his head. ‘No.’ His voice was a little gruff. ‘I see a future with all of us together. I don’t want this to end in fifteen months. I don’t want to let you and Lola go. I want more than that, Gypsy. I want us to be a family…’
