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‘I don’t want this, Andreas,’ she insisted, trying another tack. Her voice and her body had both begun to shake with shock at what Andreas intended.
‘Even if I am to...to have a child...these days that doesn’t mean... I could bring it up by myself...’
‘What on?’ he challenged her. ‘Not the one million pounds you turned down from Athena, obviously.’
Saskia’s eyes looked bewildered at the way he’d slipped the thrust up under her guard.
‘A child needs more than money. Much, much more,’ she defended herself quickly. How did he know about Athena’s offer to her? Athena herself wouldn’t have told him. ‘A child needs love,’ she continued.
‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ Andreas shot back. ‘After all, surely I am far better placed to know it than you, Saskia. I had the love of both my parents as a child, and I can promise you I would never allow a child of mine to grow up without my love.’
He stopped abruptly as he heard the quick indrawn gasp of pain she had given, his eyes darkening with remorse.
‘Saskia, my beloved heart, I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, just to make you understand that I could no more walk away from our child than I can from you.’
Saskia stared at him, unable to speak, to move, to breathe as she listened to the raw fervency of his declaration. He was acting. He had to be. He didn’t love her. She knew that. And somehow hearing him say to her the words she so much ached to hear whilst knowing they were lies filled her with more anguish than she could bear.
Tugging frantically at the ring he had given her, she started to pull it off, her eyes dark with anger, sparkling with tears of pride and pain whilst Andreas watched her as he had been watching her all through lunch, and then afterwards when the wine she had drunk had relaxed her.
‘I felt so angry when Athena offered Saskia that money,’ Pia had told him passionately. ‘And so proud of her. She loves you so much. I used to think that no one could ever be good enough for you, my wonderful brother, but now I know I was wrong. She loves you every bit as much as you deserve to be loved, as I one day want to love the man I marry...’
‘She is perfect for you, darling,’ his mother had whispered to him.
‘She is a beautiful young woman with an even more beautiful heart,’ his grandfather had said emotionally.
There had been one unguarded moment after lunch, when his grandfather had been teasing her about something and she had turned to him, as though seeking his protection. The look in her eyes had made him ache to snatch her up and carry her away somewhere he could have her all to himself and create that look over and over again.
Finally she managed to pull the ring off, holding it out to him she told him, head held high, ‘There is no way I would ever marry a man who does not love me.’
Andreas closed his eyes, replayed the words to make sure he hadn’t misheard them, and then opened his eyes again and walked purposefully towards her. He was about to take the biggest gamble he had ever taken in his entire life. If he lost he would lose everything. If he won...
He took a deep breath and asked Saskia softly, ‘Shouldn’t that be you wouldn’t ever marry a man you did not love?’
Saskia froze, her face going white and then a soft, deepening shade of pink.
‘I...that was what I meant,’ she began, and then stopped as panic overwhelmed her. ‘I can’t marry you, Andreas,’ she protested as he closed the distance between them, masterfully sweeping her up into his arms.
‘And I won’t let you go, Saskia,’ he told her in a low, throbbing voice.
‘Because of what happened...because there might be a baby?’ she guessed, but the words had to be mumbled because Andreas was holding her so tightly, his lips brushing irresistibly tender kisses against her throat and then her jaw, moving closer and closer to her mouth.
‘Because of that,’ he agreed, whispering the words against her lips. ‘And this...and you...’
‘Me?’ Saskia started to squeak, but Andreas wouldn’t let her.
Cupping her face instead, he looked down into her eyes, his own grave with pain, heavy with remorse, hot with love and desire, as he begged her, ‘Please give me a chance to show you how things could be between us, Saskia. To show you how good it could be, how good it will be...’
