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And that was when she tugged her fingers hurriedly free of his. What on earth was she doing? Clinging to him? Behaving as though they were still a normal couple? Why was she behaving that way when the instant that pregnancy test had shown a positive result their marriage, as such, had become redundant? How had she managed to forget that reality even for a few minutes?
She scanned his teasing, charismatic smile. He was pleased, undeniably he was pleased that she was pregnant again. Naturally, he was because that put his freedom back within view again. Now he was more concerned with getting her settled into a house he had no intention of sharing with her and ensuring that she was once again fully integrated into her family circle. That was to be her solace for his absence, his departure from her life. All of a sudden, Maya felt hollow, the temporary lift of joy in being pregnant again draining away when she was forced to face the prospect of losing the man she loved.
Raffaele was buying Grey Gables for her and he had offered a premium if the owners were willing to vacate the premises quickly. Earlier she had been over the moon that he was as impressed as she was with the property, or, at least, sufficiently impressed to overlook the disadvantages he had outlined. She had nourished foolish dreams about them sharing the house as a new family, dreams utterly removed from reality for that had never been on the cards for them, had it been? And in truth, once Raffaele left the picture, she wasn’t so sure that she wanted to move out of London and be at a less convenient distance from her family.
‘Where are we going?’ Maya asked as she realised the limo had pulled up on a busy street.
‘I wanted to mark the occasion. I ordered it weeks ago,’ Raffaele admitted confusingly. ‘I want you to be wearing it when your sister arrives.’
Her brow furrowed as she glanced up at the logo of the world-famous jeweller’s showroom before she was ushered inside, across a quiet shop floor into a private room where she sank down on a chair.
‘The occasion,’ she prompted, registering that he was giving her another surprise and reflecting on just how much Raffaele enjoyed surprising her, treating her,spoilingher with spontaneous unexpected presents. It occurred to her that she would soon be surprising him with the purchase she had already made on his behalf in honour of his twenty-ninth birthday in just over two weeks’ time. A little chill tickled at her spine as she recalled the gift that had seemed like such an absolutely brilliant idea at the time she had come up with it, but now she found herself wondering if she had got it right for him or if, in fact, she had actually got it very,verywrong. Maybe her gift would be too personal and unwelcome? An unhappy reminder of an experience he preferred to forget? Or a new beginning? Well, there was no point agonising over her decision, she conceded ruefully, because she had already booked and paid for the two puppies, which were being kept until the big day.
The jeweller attending them with the utmost discretion produced an emerald ring for their perusal, waxing with enthusiasm about its perfection, its cut, the simple design of the platinum and diamond setting. It was a magnificent ring. She watched numbly while Raffaele threaded the jewel onto the same finger as her wedding band. ‘What do you think?’ he asked.
‘It’s breathtaking...’ It was also utterly enormous and she listened intently while Raffaele told her how he had tracked down the stone in a private collection where it had resided for a couple of centuries and how, after persuading the collector to sell it, he had designed the setting. ‘It matches your eyes.’
‘If I truly had eyes that colour, they’d be in somebody’s collection too,’ she mumbled in a daze, flexing her finger under that new weight, wondering if she would ever,everunderstand Raffaele Manzini because he gave her so many mixed messages.
A ring was such a particular gift, literally laden with meaning to most people, and she stared down at the ring, which he had been so careful to place next to her wedding band. ‘It...it looks like an engagement ring,’ she framed hoarsely when she could finally unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth.
‘It’s pretty. It suits you,’ Raffaele informed her almost brusquely. ‘And since you went with the love-at-first-sight story when you told your sister about our marriage, it will be more normal for you to have a ring.’
‘So, this is like a prop to make us look more like a convincing couple?’ Maya questioned, her delight in her gorgeous ring ebbing a little.
Raffaele frowned. ‘Madonnamia...of course not. We’re way beyond that stage now, aren’t we?’
Were they? Here she was waiting to hear when he was planning to leave her now that she was pregnant again and he was busy buying her a truly spectacular ring and putting it on her engagement finger and telling her that it matched her eyes. Raffaele definitely moved to the beat of a different drummer and, while she loved that impulsive, unconventional ability he had to utterly confound and fascinate her, sometimes that exotic individuality was just a little exhausting and unnerving.
‘Could we go and...er...look at baby stuff now?’ Maya asked in a discomfited, apologetic undertone only loud enough for him to hear as they returned to the car, her emerald ring glittering on her finger.
‘Babystuff?’ Raffaele repeated in seeming consternation.
Maya cringed inwardly and outwardly and went pink. ‘I just sort of...er...wanted to look—’
‘Of course we can go and buy stuff if that’s what you want,’ Raffaele told her smoothly.
‘No...no, we’re not going tobuyanything,’ Maya contradicted with an edge of urgency. ‘That would be unlucky. No, we’re only going to window-shop.’
‘I’m not much of a fan and don’t have much practice of window-shopping,’ Raffaele confided gently.
‘Well, then, you can just drop me off to browse. That’s all I want to do...it’s my treat for me,’ she admitted tautly.
‘I wouldn’t dream of allowing you to treat yourself alone,bellezza mia,’ Raffaele retorted.
In an opulent department store, Maya almost touched an admiring finger to a tiny pair of cobweb-fine bootees and her eyes stung, excitement flaring through her.
‘Come on...let’s buy stuff,’ Raffaele urged with enthusiasm even while he fully understood her reluctance.
Maya swallowed the thickness in her throat. ‘No, not yet...we’re just looking,’ she repeated, examining a delicate lace shawl with brimming eyes of wonder.
‘It’s going to be OK this time,’ Raffaele told her confidently.
‘Why do you think that?’ she whispered, closing a hand over his to pull him away from the display.
‘Gut instinct and the reality that lightning rarely strikes twice in the same place,’ he murmured bracingly, disturbed by the anxiety she couldn’t hide. ‘We’re going to be parents.’
Ridiculously cheered by that confidence that came so naturally to him, Maya laced her fingers into his and they returned to the penthouse. Maya had a dozen things to do. Raffaele might have organised preparations for her family’s arrival behind her back but there were all sorts of little touches she could add to make her relatives feel welcome, like Izzy’s favourite magazines in the bedroom, flowers for her grandmother, who adored white roses, and tissues everywhere for her mother because Lucia would probably be crying a lot at being reunited with her parents. Although the two women and her grandfather had been talking on the phone in recent weeks, there had been a certain constraint and nothing could take the place of a face-to-face meeting and a frank conversation.
