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‘I promised Clay I would check all the wells in the surrounding villages. I should be out of camp for the rest of the mission. The marriage is over, Oti. Don’t try to contact me again.’
Before she could speak, he walked away. And although she tried to follow, by the time she was dressed and outside, he was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE come here, Octavia,’ Lukas ground out, not even waiting until the door to his office was closed. ‘I believe I made it clear back in Sudan that whatever foolish thing we’d indulged in was over. It should never have happened.’
If he’d hoped that the month apart would make it easier to remember the terms of his agreement with her odious father, then he was beginning to realise how mistaken he’d been.
The separation had only made it even harder now to resist crossing that room and hauling her back into his arms.
Back where she belonged.
‘You made that abundantly clear, yes, but I needed to see you.’
She stood across the room from him, her eyes somewhat over-bright, her face slightly pale, and evidently fighting against clenching her hands.
It made something pull tightly within his chest, but he knew better than to allow it any airtime in his brain.
‘My assistant is at your disposal. As is my driver, and the housekeeper. I can’t imagine there’s any requirement that they can’t handle between them.’
‘I’m pregnant.’
Pregnant?
Lukas froze as the word echoed around his head. It was as though the bottom had fallen out of his world and he was tumbling, hurtling through space, and there was nothing he could do to stop himself.
‘You can’t be,’ he bit out roughly, his brain still not engaging. ‘A baby was never part of the plan.’
How could it be when he’d always sworn that he would never father a child? Any baby deserved better than him.
‘Then you’ll have to adjust your plans.’ She flashed another dazzling smile. This one didn’t reach her eyes either.
‘We used protection.’ He was still blurting out sentences at random, as though the words were bypassing his brain.
‘Not that first time.’ She narrowed her eyes at him, though he at least noticed the dart of concern that flashed through them.
For a moment Lukas didn’t breathe. He couldn’t think straight. Come to that, he couldn’t think at all. His brain felt thick, and foggy. All he could think about was old Rockman’s face, right before his heart attack, when he’d imagined the day when Lukas’s own son would stand in front of Lukas with the same hatred in his eyes that Lukas had shown when he was talking to Rockman.
It was why Lukas had sworn to himself that he would never have kids of his own. He’d vowed to himself that this tainted bloodline would not continue.
And now Oti was pregnant.
‘You’ll have to leave.’
‘Leave?’ She frowned at him, and he found that he hated that expression in her eyes.
As if he was somehow letting her down.
‘I mean that you’re free. Of me.’ He bit each word out, as though that somehow made them easier to say. ‘You’re released from the agreement. I’ll grant you a divorce now.’
‘No...’ she gasped, but he cut her off.
‘You’ll want for nothing, I’ll take care of that,’ he continued. ‘I’ll see to it that you and the baby always...’
‘Our baby.’
‘Pardon?’ He stared at her, uncomprehending.
