AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘There’s no need to be sarcastic.’
‘I think there’s every need,’ Mateo countered coldly. ‘You drop this on me and then, without pausing for breath, you tell me that you don’t expect me to do anything with what I’ve been told. What was your plan ahead, Maude? That I would just conveniently vanish from the scene, letting you do your own thing once your conscience had been cleared?’ Shock was still there but fading, giving way to acceptance of a new reality.
‘Of course not! I...’
‘Have you told your parents?’
‘No. Like I said, I’ve been adjusting to it myself.’
‘Good.’
‘What do you mean?’ Maude was ensnared by the expression on his face, captivated by all the old attraction she had hoped to navigate her way around after three weeks. It was hopeless. Would she ever be able to get beyond the devastating effect he had on her? Was this what love was all about—exquisite pleasure and then this terrible pain? She felt tears trying to push their way through, and blinked rapidly, because she didn’t want to break down.
‘Good that you haven’t told your parents. We can tell them together.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘We’re still engaged, I believe. It shouldn’t come as too huge a shock when they find out that we’re going to have a baby, or maybe a better way of putting it is that it shouldn’t be as much a bolt from the blue.’
‘But we’renotengaged.’
‘Let’s not lose focus, here, Maude. We’re having a baby and I will be at your side when we break the news to them.’ He paused. ‘And my guess is they will be overjoyed when we tell them that there will be another wedding on the way, and sooner rather than later.’
‘What?’
‘You came here to tell me that I was allowed to disappear, leaving you to bring our baby up on your own. I’m here to tell you that no such thing is going to happen. The opposite—we’re going to be married, Maude.’
He raised his glass and met her gaze with steely determination. ‘A champagne moment but, in the absence of champagne, I’ll toast with this excellent wine and you can with sparkling water. A toast toourimpending big day...’
Maude gaped.
If there were links to what was going on, then she didn’t see them.
Hadn’t she just been given a speech about his enthusiasm to resume a sex-only relationship with her, no strings attached, because he was a commitment-phobe who wanted nothing more than a bit of fun? How could she now compute that he was sitting here telling her that he wanted to marry her? Since when had ‘I’m not into longevity with you’ tallied with ‘I want us to be married’?
‘I’m not following you,’ she said slowly. ‘You thought I came here to reignite what we had, and you were happy to do that provided I knew that it wasn’t going to go anywhere...’
‘That was before you told me about the baby.’
‘I’ve already said that I would never get in the way of you seeing him or her. I can manage financially on my own, but likewise, if you want to donate money to the baby’s upbringing—’
‘Donate?Donate?’ Mateo exploded with icy fury. ‘We’re not talking about a local charity here, Maude.’
‘Yes, I know that.’
‘You’re right,’ he ground out with wrenching honesty. ‘I never thought about a wife or a family but, now that this has been sprung on me, then there’s only one solution as far as I am concerned.’
‘Which is fine, but it’s a situation that involves the two of us, and as far asI’mconcerned marriage isn’t the solution at all, whether or not this has beensprungon you.’
‘Why not?’
It wasn’t just a question, more a challenge contained within a statement, and deep underneath was a barely discernible hint of genuine bewilderment. And it was that bewilderment that softened something inside her and sapped her temptation to argue with him.
‘Because we don’t love each other,’ Maude said huskily. It hurt to say that aloud because it just wasn’t true. Her heart was full of love for him.
‘But this isn’t about us, Maude.’
‘It would never work. I look at my parents and they’re bonded because they love one another. If they hadn’t been, then it would have been a marriage of convenience which would have fizzled out whether kids were involved or not. With the best will in the world, it takes more than a baby to unite two people.’
