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Pride stopped her from admitting how certain. Instead, she simply nodded.
“Are you involved with the red head?”
Gareth? She wasn’t, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to admit that to Zafar. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
His laugh was a harsh bark. “Think again, Amelia. You are telling me you’re pregnant with my baby yet you think I don’t deserve at least a hint of information about your other lovers? What if you’re wrong? What if there’s another possible father?”
She flinched at his suggestion, the words hurting her far more than he intended. His eagerness to escape parentage was obvious. She bit down on her lip to stop tears from moistening her eyes. She’d known Zafar wouldn’t want the baby. It was a relief, in a way, as much as she was terrified of doing this alone. She was, perhaps, even more terrified of becoming embroiled with this man again, even just as co-parents. But she couldn’t – wouldn’t – let him have even a moment’s doubt on this score. He was going to become a father, whether he wanted the title or not. Tilting her chin, she stared him down. “He’s not the father. You are.”
A muscle jerked low in his jaw. “How can you be certain?”
“The dates make it obvious.”
“So you have slept with him?”
“As I said, that’s none of your business. I’m not interrogating you on your undoubtedly flourishing love life, and I’d appreciate it if you’d show me the same courtesy.”
“You’re claiming to be pregnant with my child. I have every right —,”
“No.” She interrupted, aware of how unusual it was for a man like Sheikh Zafar al Habib to be cut off mid-sentence. “You have no rights with me. No right to demand I catalogue my sex life for you, no right to stand here and demand I give you answers to any question whatsoever, in fact. I’m having your baby, yes, but that doesn’t mean I need to have anything to do with you. I decided almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant that I would make sure you understood that – I don’t need your help, I don’t want anything from you. You can be involved as much or as little as you’d like – for the baby’s sake, I need to make that clear.”
“And were you ever going to tell me about this baby?” He prompted quietly, with a calm edge to his voice that she knew to be deceptive. They’d spent one summer together, almost five years ago, and yet she almost knew him better than she did herself. Even if she didn’t have that knowledge of him, the steel in his words would have set her pulse into overdrive. He was ruthless and determined, and right now he was on the attack, circling her with coldly-voiced questions, preparing to move in for the kill.
“Yes.” She wouldn’t let him see how nervous she was. How she hated this man and his easy ability to skittle her emotional stability!
“When?”
She ground her teeth together. “When the time was right.”
“So, what, his eighteenth birthday?”
Heat flooded her veins. “No. I don’t know. Soon.”
He angled his face away, drawing in an uneven breath, his temper obviously at fraying point. “This isn’t possible. I have always used a condom.”
“I know.”
“You said you were on the pill.” Accusation chilled the words, as though she’d intentionally set him up in some way.
“I was.” She snapped, harried on that point. Despite her lack of a sex life, Millie had been on the contraceptive for years to help regulate her cycle. She’d trusted its efficacy. “All I can think is that the time zone messed me up.” She chewed on her lower lip. “Obviously neither of us intended for this to happen.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth, watching as she massaged it, fascinated by the movement. He focussed on her lips for so long that her pulse went thready and too many memories deluged her, reminding her of their past intimacies. It was the worst possible time to think of that.
“You regret becoming pregnant.”
She frowned. “I was…surprised,” she supplied honestly. “We took precautions. It shouldn’t have been possible, but the symptoms were apparent so soon after leaving. It was impossible to ignore.”
“What symptoms?”
She was about to explain but something held her back. He was the baby’s father but that didn’t give him any right to ask about her, and her body. “We don’t need to discuss that. I’m fine, the baby’s fine. That’s all you need to know.”
Anger sparked in the depths of his eyes. “Do you think you have any business telling me what I ‘need’ to know, given the circumstances?”
“Do you think you have any right to demand I answer your insulting questions?”
“What’s so insulting about asking if you’re sure? You wouldn’t be the first woman who’s tried to get a wealthy man to accept paternity to make her life easier.”
Millie’s fingers itched with a powerful urge to slap him. “How dare you?” The tenor of her voice appeared to shame even Zafar, though only for the briefest moment. While there might have been a hint of truth to his words, that he would think her capable of that Machiavellian deception – after what they’d shared! – just highlighted how meaningless she’d been to him, how little he knew of her. Anger at herself, her foolish belief they’d been falling in love, hollowed her out.
