Page 39 of The Nicolaides Baby

“Where are your washcloths?”

She pointed in the general direction of the bathroom linen closet and continued to take deep, cleansing breaths.

The water at the sink came on. “Have you been…”

She waited for him to finish and then cut her gaze over at him when he didn’t. He had the pregnancy test held in a white-knuckled grip in his fingers, his eyes going from it to her, and then back. She straightened from her stooped position and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

He shut the water off and she held her breath as he blanched before a slow rise of color filled his narrow cheeks.

Has he lost weight?

She didn’t have time to dwell on that question as he held the test out to her with the window side showing and the two lines taunting her. “Does this mean what I think it means?”

She nodded. “It does.”

He pulled it back and stared at it hard before lifting his accusing eyes and glaring at her full force. He growled low, “Don’t you dare tell me this isn’t my baby.” Shivers of awareness mixed with trepidation raced up her spine.

“I wasn’t.”

They stared at each other for several seconds, neither of them speaking as she let her hungry gaze roam over his face and then down his body. She frowned at how his clothes seemed to hang on him and then lifted her eyes back up to his intense ones.

God, how she’d missed him. All she wanted to do was throw herself against his chest and feel his arms banding around her, giving her his strength and comfort. But instead, she broke their silent standoff, saying, “I need to brush my teeth.”

He hesitated and then nodded before stalking out of the bathroom with the test still in his tight grip.

She took her time brushing her teeth and then rinsing with mouth wash until the taste of being sick was finally gone while also giving her a chance to shore up her defenses. She glanced up at her reflection. It could be she looked a little gaunt herself, but that had to be the effects of the pregnancy. Surely it had nothing to do with missing Leo.

“Right,” she murmured as she turned away from another lie she’d been telling herself the last few weeks and went down the hall in search of Leo. She found him in the living room holding a framed photo from the fireplace mantle.

“This was taken at the grand villa.” He turned an accusing stare on her. “Where did you get it?” His glance went to several more pictures of Lukas interspersed with those of Mara along the mantle. “All of these are from after he came home.”

“Gia.” He tensed at the other woman’s name and turned toward her. “It was part of the…um…arrangements.”

He let out a slight snort that lacked any humor. “That explains that then.” He set the picture back in its place and then meandered around the room, his gaze going from one thing to another, but not to her, before he sat in an armchair staring straight ahead. “We need to talk.”

“Agreed,” she said before taking a seat opposite of him on the couch. He would barely look at her, but she couldn’t believe how civil they were being—almost cordial. She’d imagined a much more tense scene when they finally saw each other again. Maybe things would work—

“You’re coming back with me today.”

Her gaze whipped to his. “Excuse me?”

He skewered her in her seat with his angry glare. “I won’t have you keepingmychildren from me.”

So he definitely knew everything. And there went that fear racing through her mind she’d tried to keep at bay. She took a deep breath. “I had no intention of keeping them from you. I—”

She startled when he bounded to his feet. “But you have!” He paced away and then turned on her. “You lied to me for years by not telling me I have a child. But even more unbelievably, you lied to your sister and had me thinking…”

He turned away from her and threw his hands out to his sides as he walked back toward the mantle. “It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done.”

“Look, I know you hate me right now.” He pivoted toward her, his brows drawn down. “And you should. But I can’t just up and leave at a moment’s notice.”

He moved closer. “You seemed to find it easy two months ago.” She had to have known that was coming. “And how long had that been planned? Hours?”

“We’re not talking about that.”

“Oh, but we most definitely are.” He sat on the other side of the couch, his body facing hers as his jaw worked, until he finally asked, “Why?”

She closed her eyes to keep from seeing the pain mixed with anger evident in his gaze—both of which she had caused—and then finally said in a whisper, “I was afraid.”

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