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Leandro breathed in deeply and half closed his eyes and fought against a bombardment of powerful, graphic images.
Watching him, stomach twisted with nervous tension, Celia couldn’t help but notice just how unwelcoming he was. How fast he’d gone from the guy who’d gruffly but sincerely asked her to carry on what they had because he still wanted her to someone who was clearly put out that she’d shown up unexpectedly at his workplace. It hadn’t occurred to her, but now she wondered whether he’d met someone else.
She walked to the chair on wobbly legs and fell into it but then she quickly gathered herself and looked at him.
‘You’re wondering what I’m doing here.’
‘Is it to do with Julie? Your brother? I’m guessing not because everything seems to be roses and sunshine on that front.’
‘Yes.’ Celia grasped the lifeline of innocuous conversation because it gave her time for her nerves to steady. ‘I don’t know how Julie’s father feels about it because I haven’t spoken to her face to face yet, but I know Dan’s over the moon and so are Mum and Dad.’
‘So...if you’re not here to discuss family matters, then why exactly are you here?’
Her silence, Leandro thought, was telling. He wanted her still so badly that ithurtand that, as much as anything else, enraged him because it signified just the sort of weakness he had spent a lifetime protecting himself against. A simple request, nothing more, and yet it felt like a stake of trust being driven into the ground, a vulnerability with someone else of the sort that should never happen. Had never happened.
His eyes cooled and his expression hardened.
‘If you’ve come,’ he inserted quietly into the awkward, lengthening silence, ‘because you’ve decided that you want to pick up where we left off, after all, then I’m sorry to say that that window has closed.’
Uttering those words didn’t give Leandro the satisfaction he’d expected but there was no way he had any intention of taking them back. He was, however, bemused by the expression on her face, which went from puzzled to incredulous to downright angry. Colour flared in her cheeks and she half rose from her chair only to abruptly sit back down.
‘Believe it or not, that’snotwhy I’ve come to see you, Leandro!’
‘Then why?’ Leandro asked.
‘I’m beginning to wonder that myself,’ Celia said in a driven undertone. ‘I wouldn’t have bothered you if I’d had a choice. I know that I turned you down and I know I probably...offended you...’
Leandro laughed with incredulity.
‘Offended me? How? I thought we might have had a few more weeks of fun but the fact that you weren’t interested in that option hardly tore my life to ribbons!’
Hearing that hurt and Celia felt the sting of tears push behind her eyelids.
‘I’m here to tell you that I’m pregnant, Leandro.’
It still sounded surreal to her own ears. It would. Bearing in mind she hadn’t said a word to anyone. It was something she was still holding to herself and coming to terms with as her whole world was turned upside down.
She’d barely been aware that her period was overdue until she developed an aversion to her usual morning cup of coffee and then, just like that, it hit her that her body was behaving differently and it wasn’t just the coffee aversion. Her breasts had started feeling weird and she’d almost nodded off a couple of times when she’d been doing some sketching for a commission.
She’d known,deep down, but it had still come as a shock when that little stick had confirmed her worst fears.
She’d scrabbled around in her head trying to work out the when and the how, but everything had become a blur and the only thing that had become clear during those horrendous few days when she’d walked around in a daze was that she had to tell Leandro.
They might not have anything left between them but a handful of memories, and he might very well slam the door in her face when she broke the news, but shehadto tell him because that was the person she was.
‘You can’t be.’
‘I’m sorry.’ Her eyes slid away from his ashen face to the window behind him. ‘I know this is the last thing you want to hear but I had to come and tell you. I haven’t come here to ask anything of you, just in case that’s what you’re thinking. I know what we had...er...ended a couple of weeks ago but I didn’t think it would have been fair on you if I hadn’t...filled you in. Well, you would have probably found out anyway, because of your connection with Julie...’
‘How? How did this happen?’ He waved one hand and then rubbed his eyes with his fingers and for a few seconds he said nothing at all, then he looked at her. ‘No need to answer that. We...had a lot of fun and sometimes it’s possible that I wasn’t as careful as I might have been.’ He sat back and briefly closed his eyes. ‘Are you sure?’
‘I did more than one test, Leandro. Of course, I’m more than happy to do a few more, but there’s no doubt that I’m having a baby.’ But his willingness to accept at least some of the responsibility was a weight off her shoulders.
All the attendant problems now crowded in on her and she blinked, suddenly vulnerable under the onslaught.
Before she could react, he had swerved around the desk and positioned himself next to her, half stooping so that they were on eye level.
‘This isn’t the right place to be having a conversation about this.’ He raked his fingers through his hair but didn’t take his eyes off her face.
