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* * *
Dante watched as Paige, pale and drawn, attempted to converse with guest after guest in the massive ballroom. He could tell she was fading. Ana had faded long ago, and was asleep in his arms, her face pressed hard against his shoulder.
Strange, how easy it was to get used to carrying the little girl, when he had avoided it for so long. It seemed natural now. Right.
Don and Mary, his mother and father by every right, caught his eye and made their way across the ballroom, their hands unlinked, but touching lightly with each step. They weren’t overly affectionate and never had been. But they presented a strong front of solidarity. One that went well beyond a front, he was certain.
“Dante.” Mary leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek, resting her hand on Ana’s back. “We’re so very happy for you.”
He nodded, discomfort assaulting him. He hadn’t wanted to lie to them. Not for anything.
Don smiled. “We were certain you’d never settle down, and then this. Out of the blue. Instant family. A granddaughter for us, too.”
Guilt stabbed him. “A surprise for me, as well.” That was the strict truth.
Paige looked over at him, and in moments she was flitting across the room. She came to his side, her hand on his arm.
“You must be Dante’s parents,” she said.
“And you’re the world’s most unexpected woman,” Mary said. “We never thought Dante would choose family life.”
“Ah, well,” Paige said. “I sort of roped him into it. He didn’t have a choice really.”
Don and Mary laughed, because it sounded too ridiculous to be true. Even if it was. Though, that he’d had no choice was where Paige was wrong. He had a choice. He could walk away at any moment, but something was keeping him from doing it.
If only he knew what it was. Ana shifted against him, and a strange tightness invaded his chest.
“We do have a bit of a surprise for you,” Don said. “Dante told us you weren’t planning a honeymoon because of the baby. So Mary and I thought we would offer to take Ana for the night, and that we would send you to a hotel downtown.”
Heat flooded through Dante’s veins at the thought of a night alone with Paige. Not the best moment to be flooded with heat, all things considered. “One of your hotels?”
Don laughed. “Naturally.”
“Oh,” Paige said. “I don’t know. I…”
Mary put her hand on Paige’s. “I know you don’t know us, but Dante does. And we’re Ana’s grandparents now. We want to be involved.”
The statement made Paige look even more sallow than she had all day. “Right. Of course.”
Dante handed Ana over to Mary, and Ana stirred, pinning her sleep-clouded eyes on the older woman. But she didn’t shriek or make a fuss. That was one thing he found fascinating about Ana. She seemed to make instant assessments about people and then decide how to react according to that assessment.
In so many ways, she could have been his daughter. She was decisive. Focused.
The thought doused the fire that had been raging through him, killed it off with a streak of ice. She wasn’t his daughter. She never would be.
Just like Paige wasn’t really his wife. And they shouldn’t be. For their own sakes, it was a blessing they were not. And he could only hope that there would be no other child. That Paige wasn’t pregnant.
He ignored the faint, treacherous feeling of hope that burned in him. The hope that she was. That he could keep her with him.
No. He would go on their mini honeymoon and enjoy their wedding night. But the fact that they’d signed a document didn’t change anything. It didn’t make any of it real. It didn’t make any of it possible.
Forgetting that wasn’t an option.
* * *
The suite was stunning. And Paige was shaking.
She’d hardly said two words to Dante for a week, and now they were going to get naked again, and have amazing sex, which was great. Except that sex with him had such a high cost to her emotions and while she was willing to pay it, she did have to gear up for it.
“That was very nice of your mom and dad,” she said.
A muscle twitched in Dante’s cheek. “It was.”
“So this is your dad’s hotel?” She knew he called his parents by their first names, but she felt awkward about it.
