Page 42 of Cinderella's One-Night Baby

Andrés took a visible deep breath before pulling the phone from his back pocket. When he saw who the caller was, he came back to life with a curse.

Eyes on Gabrielle, he put it to his ear. ‘I told you not to disturb me unless it was life or death.’

His face darkened as he listened to the caller but then something changed, his eyes narrowing. ‘Hold on,’ he said curtly before covering the mouthpiece and asking Gabrielle, ‘When is your mother bringing Lucas back?’

‘Tuesday.’

He nodded and spoke again to the caller. ‘Coordinate with the captain and get the helicopter to me.’

Disconnecting the call, he rubbed the back of his neck and breathed deeply through his nose before meeting her stare. ‘We’re going to Japan.’

Thrown by thewe, she stared at him without comprehension.

‘The deal I told you about is hanging by a thread,’ he explained tersely. ‘I need to be there but I also need to be here with you. I cannot magic myself into two places so you will have to come with me.’

It took a good few moments to realise he was serious. ‘I can’t. I’m working tomorrow, and—’

‘Gabrielle, you are having my child. You will never have to work again.’

Her mouth fell open.

‘We need to talk seriously about our future and how we’re going to play things, but whatever it holds for you and me, you are the mother of my child and that means your life changes as of now.’

She shook her head in disbelief. ‘I’m only weeks pregnant.Anythingcould happen.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘Anything could happen but that doesn’t mean it will, and I will not have you spending the pregnancy living in a cramped apartment when I can provide you with the home of your dreams and everything you need. We have a lot to discuss,ma belle, and with Lucas safe with your mother, now is the perfect opportunity to discuss them.’

‘I can’t just fly to the other side of the world on a whim!’

‘Why not?’ he challenged.

‘Because...’ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘You’re asking me to trust that when I lose my job—and I guarantee that flying to Japan with you instead of turning up to work will be considered gross misconduct—that you’ll... Andrés, it’s hard enough making ends meet as it is. I can’t afford to miss my mortgage payments.’

Warm hands captured her cheeks.

Opening her eyes she found herself trapped again in Andrés’s black stare. ‘You trusted me with the truth about Lucas,’ he said, his voice containing the same intensity as his eyes. ‘Trust that I am not Lucas’s father and that when I give my word, I never go back on it. Come to Japan with me,ma belle. I swear you will not suffer for it. You will never suffer any form of deprivation again.’

Gabrielle had never flown before, not by helicopter or plane, so to use both modes of transport within an hour of each other blew her mind. It blew it almost as much as agreeing to go to Japan with him.

Within two hours of Andrés receiving the call, they’d been helicoptered off his yacht, flown to his apartment, driven to her apartment to get her passport and an overnight bag she rammed the first items of clothing to hand in, driven back to his apartment, then helicoptered to an airport in Barcelona where they bypassed what she assumed would be the usual security checks at an airport to be ushered onto a plane so luxurious she actually wondered if she’d fallen into a dream. Only the butterflies in her stomach, fluttering their wings in time to the beats of her heart, convinced her this was real.

That and Andrés’s cologne.

While she’d been chauffeured to her apartment, he’d showered and changed into a business suit. She’d been stuck in confined spaces with him smelling good enough to eat ever since, and now she was destined to spend twelve hours with him confined in a space with no escape.

It should not be a thought that sent thrills racing through her veins, just as her lips shouldn’t still tingle from that brief caress and just as her stare shouldn’t be locked on his face watching every second of the call he’d been on since they arrived at the airfield and which hadn’t let up even when he sank onto the plush leather seat opposite hers. The concentration lines on his forehead and the polite curtness of his tone reminded her of how big a deal this deal was to him. One of the biggest deals of his life...

He should have flown to Japan yesterday to deal with it. Instead he’d come to her.

He could have taken his suspicions about Lucas to the authorities. Instead he’d come to her.

Instead of concentrating fully on his important call, his stare kept locking onto hers.

As the plane taxied down the runway, her heart swelled with an emotion so powerful that for a moment she couldn’t breathe, and she closed her eyes, trying desperately to swallow it all away.

Andrés watched Gabrielle close her eyes and struggle for breath, and abruptly ended the call with his finance director.

How could he concentrate on business when the most beautiful woman in the world was directly in his line of sight and the thrills from the connection of their lips were still as vivid as if it had happened only moments ago?

---