Page 191 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 1-4

There was a good chance that his mind had been playing tricks on him for the past few weeks and that the woman who had driven him crazy with desire would not be what he remembered in the cold light of day...

Alice was told to wait by a glamorous blonde woman, one of several receptionists manning the impressive granite desk in the foyer of the building.

She’d taken the morning off work, determined to be at Mateo’s work place as early as possible to get the whole business out of the way.

She’d braced herself for what she was going to say, and had been reasonably calm on the Tube getting here, but now that she was actuallyhereshe could feel nerves tightening her stomach into knots. There was a buzzing in her ears that was making her feel faint. It was a while since she had seen Mateo. She’d laid her cards on the table, been knocked back and had made her way back to London, never expecting to set eyes on him again.

She winced every single time she thought of the night she’d spent crying in the tiny room she’d rented before taking the next flight out on her altered ticket. She’d left his lodge crying, had returned to London crying and, in between her tears, her misery and having to put on a brave face because she was back at work, it had never occurred to her that there might be anything else to worry about aside from a broken heart.

She hadn’t noticed missing her period. They were a law unto themselves, anyway, so there had been no warning signal that something might be up until her boobs had started feeling sore and she had spent mornings feeling queasy.

Then, without really believing anything could possibly be amiss, she had taken a test. Sitting on a toilet seat in the staff bathroom at school, she had watched the stick foretell the vast change in life plan heading her way.

She was pregnant.

How? How on earth had it happened? He’d been careful, hadn’t he? There had been a couple of occasions, during sleepy early-morning sex, when maybe he hadn’t been able to resist entering her. But he’d remedied that, hadn’t he? He had fetched protection in time, hadn’t he?

She’d racked her brains, thinking back, but had barely been able to focus because her mind was far too occupied with the life developing inside her: a baby she hadn’t planned but a baby she wanted with all her heart.

Every maternal urge in her had kicked in the minute that little stick had given her the unexpected news. All life was precious and this baby inside her would be welcomed into the world with all the fanfare he or she deserved, even if there would be no proud father at the birth.

She would tell Mateo. There had been no hesitation in accepting that, even though the prospect of breaking the news to him filled her with dread. It had occurred to her that he hadn’t wanted to continue anything with her to the extent that he’d made sure not to tell her his surname, but in fact she’d had no trouble finding out who he was. She’d simply phoned one of the ski-instructors she knew and asked if he knew who lived in that particular lodge on that part of the mountain.

Ski-instructors were a tightly knit group and Alice had kept in touch with a number of them. And, of course, everyone knew who had classy chalets on the slopes.

Mateo Ricci.

Lost in her thoughts, she came to when a middle-aged lady appeared from nowhere, looked at her with measured curiosity and told her to follow her. Alice wasn’t surprised at the overwhelming and impressive surroundings: glass, marble, granite and huge plants artfully dotted around the sweeping foyer.

The minute she had found out Mateo’s name, she had looked him up, andthatwas when she’d been surprised, because he wasn’t the reasonably successful, freelance computer guy he had made himself out to be. He was the king of the jungle. He didn’t work at the beck and call of paymasters—hewasthe paymaster. There were pages and pages of information on him, all relating to his meteoric business rise.

She’d skipped most of it. The one thing she’d taken away was yet more confirmation that she’d been nothing more to him than a few days of fun. She’d been bowled over. He’d been casual. He would have women queuing up for him, but he’d been there and she’d been there, there had been no queues outside his door at that particular point in time...so why not have some fun with the girl who’d been so enthusiastic?

She’d clicked on a lot of images of the sort of women he went out with and, as expected, none of them were built in her mould. He’d found her an amusing novelty toy, because the women he dated were models with legs up to their armpits, the sort of woman Alice would never look like no matter what she did.

She stopped abruptly when the woman in front of her swerved through a smoky glass door and stepped aside to let her pass, and then she was there, in the inner sanctum of the man who had stolen her heart. Even the air seemed more rarefied.

‘He’s a very busy man.’ The lady smiled politely at her.

‘I won’t be long,’ Alice promised. She drew in a deep breath and felt faint as the connecting door to his office was pushed open.

Mateo had moved to stand by the window as he’d waited for her. Now, as he heard the silent whoosh of the connecting door being pushed open, he slowly turned and there she was—hovering in the doorway, then stepping hesitantly into his massive office so that Julie could close the door behind her. She looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, even though she was obviously trying her best to appear controlled.

She hadn’t changed. Mateo’s lips thinned with irritation as he felt the abrupt rise in his libido. Hooded eyes drifted down the incredibly drab outfit she had chosen to wear: black, thick cable-knit jumper, jeans, trainers and a bulky waterproof which was slung over her arm. If she had come with the intention of reconnecting with him, then she certainly hadn’t pushed the boat out in her attempts to seduce. It should have been a turn-off but was the opposite, much to his annoyance.

He hadn’t expected her to have the same effect on him as she’d had when they’d been snowbound in his lodge. He’d concluded that circumstances had contributed to his uncharacteristic out-of-control horniness, but here she was, not saying a word, and the horniness was still there and still out of control, drab clothing or no drab clothing.

‘This is an unexpected pleasure.’ He swerved round back to his chair behind the conference-table-sized desk and relaxed back, nodding to one of the leather chairs positioned in front.

‘I suppose you’re surprised to see me here?’

‘I’m surprised you found me. How did you achieve that? Did you come across something in the lodge that had my name on it?’

She’d shuffled into the chair he’d indicated and carefully put her coat and backpack on the ground next to her. He realised that he’d forgotten how sexy she was. No wonder the raven-haired model hadn’t been able to pass muster. It was because the small, voluptuous siren sitting in front of him still managed to occupy his head.

Who’d have thought that a fling prematurely ended could have such sway over him still? Who could have thought that reason and common sense would count for nothing in the face of a libido he hadn’t been able to subdue? It was ridiculous, incomprehensible.

‘No, I didn’t. I would never have gone nosing around through your personal stuff to find out who you were.’

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