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He nodded. ‘I have reason to.’
‘You have a...a title?’ Elspeth asked, noting the strain in her own voice.
‘A courtesy title—at least while my father’s still alive. When he dies I’ll inherit the estate and the title that goes with it.’
She took in a deep breath, collecting herself, trying to keep a rein on her thoughts.
How could he have kept this from her? She didn’t care about his title. About where he’d grown up and who his family were. But this was her baby he was talking about. She had seen him or her on the screen that afternoon, waving at them with its perfect, tiny little fingers. And now Fraser had dropped this bombshell, telling her that her baby was part of something that she could barely understand, never mind be a part of.
‘And you’re only thinking to mention this now?’ she said, aware that her shock was making her words sharp. ‘You didn’t say a word about it when we talked about your dad.’
Fraser shrugged and held up his hands. ‘It’s not usually my opening gambit when I’m picking up women.’
‘Wow—and doesn’t that make me feel special?’
She glanced down at the menu again, using it as a handy way to hide her face. At least Fraser had made it very clear where she stood, she supposed. She was just some woman he had picked up—one of many, by the sounds of it. If there hadn’t been a baby they never would have seen each other again.
‘I imagine a castle and a title have a pretty high success rate,’ she said, when she was sure she could speak calmly, determined to show him she didn’t care that she had been nothing more than a one-night stand to him. That was all he had been to her as well, after all.
Fraser snorted, pouring them both a glass of water. ‘Evidently not with you,’ he said. ‘You seem pretty annoyed about it, actually.’
Well, he was observant enough—she would give him that.
‘I am pretty annoyed about the fact that you haven’t mentioned it before. This is the sort of thing I think I should know abo
ut the father of my child. When were you planning on telling me?’
‘I didn’t really have a plan,’ Fraser said.
He really wasn’t helping himself here. Still, he was making it easier and easier for her to remember that under no circumstances should she be thinking about having a relationship with him.
‘You were going to hide it from me?’ she asked.
‘That’s not the same thing.’
‘I don’t even know what to call you,’ she said at last, her frustration getting the better of her. ‘Am I meant to curtsey?’
Fraser gave a frustrated bark of laughter. ‘You call me Fraser, just like before. And don’t be angry.’ He reached across to brush the gentlest of touches against her fingertips, where she was clutching her water glass with a death grip. ‘This isn’t about you or the baby,’ he continued. ‘I don’t like to talk about my family because it’s complicated.’
‘Well, I’m family now too. I think we should talk about this.’
He drew away, rested back in his chair and gave her a long look. ‘I’m not sure what to tell you, apart from what you already know. I’ve not seen my father or been back to our estate since I was a teenager,’ Fraser said after a few moments.
‘So you’re buying all this land, these other estates...?’
‘Because I can’t go back to my own.’ Fraser nodded slowly, thoughtfully. ‘I wish I could. I miss it like—’
Fraser cut himself off and took a long sip of his water. Elspeth kept her eyes on him, waiting until he was ready to speak again.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘For sharing it with me now. I want us to be able to talk.’
He reached for her hand. ‘I still can’t believe we saw him,’ he said, throwing a glance to a waiter, who had appeared beside them with a tray and two champagne flutes. ‘It’s non-alcoholic,’ Fraser said, reading her mind. ‘But I thought we should have a toast.’
She smiled. He was right. This wasn’t about them. This was about doing what was right for their baby. Their feelings for one another didn’t have to come into it at all.
‘To the baby,’ she said, clinking her glass against his and taking a sip.
But just because she had let this conversation rest for now, that didn’t mean it was over. There was still so much that they didn’t understand about one another’s lives, and she wasn’t sure how they were ever going to reconcile that. There was a part of him, and of her child now, that would always feel like a stranger to her.
