Page 10 of Italian Baby Shock

No. No she didn’t wish it. She was glad, very glad, that she didn’t remember. In fact, she’d come to a place of peace with it, and she would have been quite happy for those memories never to return, except...

There was a rising heat inside her, and she couldn’t help but notice how his suit jacket seemed to highlight the impressive width of his shoulders, while his trousers did wonderful things to his lean waist and powerful thighs. He wore a plain white business shirt and a silk tie that echoed the deep blue of his eyes, and he...

Her mouth dried. He was just beautiful.

‘You were willing,’ he went on, his voice softer, deeper. ‘Very willing, in fact. Which also seems relevant.’

Unexpectedly, something tight and hard inside her that she’d thought she’d put behind her after Maya had been born, relaxed. The sessions she’d had with the psychologist had helped withher fears around that night, but there had always been a little splinter of uncertainty she’d never been able to get rid of.

You weren’t raped or forced. That’s something.

Perhaps. If she believed him.

‘I only have your word for that,’ she said, not wanting to admit anything to him just yet.

His imperious dark brows rose. ‘You really think I’d take an unwilling woman to bed?’

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Would you?’

‘Absolutely not,’ he replied, with no hesitation at all. ‘Why would I? When I have an embarrassment of willing women to choose from?’

You’re not making things better.

Lark took a deep, silent breath. No, she wasn’t. And throwing around accusations of sexual assault wouldn’t help the situation.

Yet even though her shock was wearing off a little, that kernel of ice was still sitting in the pit of her stomach. Him telling her that she’d spent the night with him hadn’t jogged anything loose. Not even that kiss had. She also found it difficult to believe that he’d wanted her. Because why? She was a nobody, and while she might be inoffensive to look at, she certainly wasn’t in supermodel territory. She didn’t have much idea about what kind of women men like him went for, but she was pretty certain it wasn’t women like her.

‘Why me, then?’ she asked, since as he’d said, that ‘seemed relevant’.

The look in his eyes gleamed. ‘Why do you want to know? Do you want to remember?’

She felt herself flushing yet again. Shedidn’twant to know. Shedidn’twant to remember. She’d put her fears and doubts about that night into a box and shoved them into a corner of her mind, never to be opened again.

Yet now Signor Donati, damn him, had opened that box and all those fears and doubts were spilling out again. What if that night had been terrible, for example? What if the conception of her beautiful daughter had been hurried, awkward and unpleasant? What if the man she’d slept with had been a liar? What if he’d been drunk? What if he’d been married? What if he’d slipped something into her drink and she had no injuries because she’d been unconscious?

What if heistelling the truth? What if youdidsleep with him? And what if that night was good?

Yet even admitting that possibility felt dangerous, since she didn’t understand how she’d ever have agreed to go to dinner with him, let alone go back to his villa, no matter how helpful or attractive she’d found him. She simply didn’t trust men enough for that, and especially not a powerful man like this one.

So no, she didn’t know why she was asking him about that night. She wasn’t curious and she didn’t need to know, because there was going to be no interaction between them after this.

That paternity test would prove that he wasn’t Maya’s father.

Why are you so sure about that?

Because she wouldn’t accept any other outcome.

‘No,’ she said shortly. ‘I don’t want to know. Forget I ever said anything.’

His blue gaze never left hers and he studied her for another long moment. Then he said unexpectedly, ‘I did not hurt you. And you should know that you wanted me every bit as badly as I wanted you.’

Lark’s heartbeat thumped. She couldn’t imagine wanting any man badly, let alone this one, not when he was everything she should hate. How had it happened? How had she managed to get herself seduced—

No, she didn’t want to know. She didn’t want to fall into an endless doubt spiral about what had happened that night, where there were too many questions and not enough answers.

Cesare Donati might have the answers you’re looking for.

He might. But he could also be lying and as she’d already told him, she didn’t trust him. Not an inch. All those stories about him that she’d read on the plane had mentioned his many lovers, and while he was supposedly childless, for all she knew he not only had a woman in every port, but a couple of unacknowledged bastards too. He was also reputed to treat his lovers well—who really knew? He could be abusive and paying people to stay quiet.

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