Page 30 of Italian Baby Shock

That wasn’t just important. That was vital.

Sensing his presence, Lark looked up, her pretty green eyes locking with his. She went still. Maya, taking no notice of her parents, grabbed at the truck, babbling happily.

‘Oh,’ Lark breathed, searching his face. ‘So...it’s true then?’

He didn’t move. ‘Yes. Do you want to see the results for yourself?’

A complicated expression passed over her features. All the happiness disappeared, leaving disappointment, he thought, and fear, and also despair. She looked away sharply, hiding it from him. ‘No,’ she said in a curiously blank voice. ‘I believe you.’

Cesare did not bother himself with other people’s emotions or opinions. He didn’t care about them, not a single iota. But he didn’t like that expression on Lark’s face. Not the disappointment or despair, and definitelynotthe fear. That wasn’t what he wanted for her and he didn’t want that for Maya either.

Lark’s happiness was vital to his daughter’s, he could see that now, which meant it was now going to be vital to him.

‘We need to talk, little bird,’ Cesare said quietly.

CHAPTER SEVEN

LARKTOOKAdeep breath. She’d known this moment was coming, that she had to stop denying what she already knew. And she did know, even before she’d seen the look on his face as he’d stood in that doorway watching her and Maya.

CesarewasMaya’s father and she had to accept it. She had to accept, too, that he wanted to be in Maya’s life. He’d never made any secret of that.

She couldn’t change it, just as she couldn’t change that he was the father of her child, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have any choices or any power. In fact, she knew exactly what kind of power she had and while she’d waited for the results of that test, her brain running through various scenarios, she knew what choice she was going to make too.

She didn’t have the resources to fight a man like him, and she wasn’t going to run like her mother. Cesare was a man who knew what he wanted and she suspected that even if she did run, she wouldn’t get far.

But she didn’t want to run. She wanted her daughter to be happy. To grow up without fear, to have a home where she could put down roots and be safe. To be loved.

Cesare would no doubt insist on Maya living with him and Lark couldn’t protest. He had a beautiful house with beautiful gardens, plenty of room for Maya to run around and play in. She’d grow up there, have a life there. She’d have everything she ever needed and Lark couldn’t deny her that.

But she wasn’t going to let Cesare take Maya without her. Where Maya went, so would Lark, and if he was going to take her to Italy, then he’d have to put up with Lark coming too.

He might protest, but there were ways she could make it attractive to him. Her body for example, could be a powerful inducement.

For Maya’s sake.

Not for your own?

She caught her breath, a wave of heat washing over her.

Cesare had hitched a shoulder against the doorframe, his blue gaze fixed on her. He’d taken his jacket off and got rid of his banana-stained tie, so he was in his shirtsleeves. He’d rolled up the cuffs, strong forearms exposed, hands in the pockets of his suit trousers and there was something so incredibly sexy about them, about him leaning there casually, watching her...

She couldn’t keep lying to herself. She couldn’t keep pretending that she didn’t want him. Couldn’t keep telling herself that once had been enough and that all her curiosity had been satisfied, because it wasn’t. How could she keep going forward when he was here? Reminding her of that night and of everything she’d forgotten?

Something had happened between them that night in Rome, something special and not only the conception of her daughter. Something else. Something that had kept him wanting her even though two years had passed. And she’d missed out on it.

It hadn’t been just sex either, she felt it in her bones. It had been something else, something more, something that made her ache with a loss she didn’t understand. Didn’t she owe it to herself to find out what it had been? Whohehad been to her and she to him?

She wouldn’t find that out by continuing to deny herself, that was for certain.

‘Okay,’ she said, getting to her feet. ‘Let’s talk.’

Cesare pushed himself away from the doorframe. ‘Not here. Up in my study.’ He turned and made a gesture and Emily, thenanny who’d been looking after Maya while Lark had been in Rome, stepped through the doorway and into the room.

Of course, Lark thought with a hint of wry amusement. He’d thought of everything. Even making sure that Maya had someone familiar looking after her.

As Emily settled in, Lark gave Maya a kiss then followed Cesare out of the room and up the stairs. He went down a hallway, opened a dark oak door, and showed her into the large room beyond. Then he came in after her, shutting the door behind him.

‘Please, sit.’ He gestured to the chair that stood in front of his desk.

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