Page 31 of Twin Surprise for the Italian Doc

She couldn’t hold eye contact for more than a split second, however. Just that tiny brush and she could still feel it.

That connection.

Those impossibly powerful feelings that only this man had ever aroused.

Georgia flicked her gaze towards Kate, her message silent but probablydesperate.

How could you not warn me?

How am I going to cope with this?

Shehadto cope, she had no choice. She managed to find a smile that said this was no big deal. To keep her tone just as casual. ‘You didn’t tell me Matteo was coming.’

‘We really weren’t sure that he could make it. Luke’s going to be as surprised as you.’

Georgia couldn’t help another glance at Matteo. Maybe it was justthat first eye contact that would be so difficult.

But he wasn’t looking at her face any longer. He was staring at her belly and, even in the moonlight that was already bleaching colour from skin, she could swear he had gone paler.

But...he didn’t seem surprised. He looked angry more than shocked.

Had heknownthat she was pregnant? Had he put two and two together and was now preparing to makediscover the truth and then make some kind of a claim?

Okay...this level of adrenaline was too much. Any thrill was rapidly being buried under an avalanche of fear.

Matteo seemed to have lost his voice along with the colour. He opened his mouth and then closed it again. Then he cleared his throat.

‘Hello, Georgia. You’re looking...um...well?’

Fear was morphing into a determination that borderedon anger. How dared he turn up like this and threaten her?

Threaten herbabies.

‘I’m very well, thank you.’

She could see his chest move under the pristine white shirt. He was dragging in a deep breath.

‘I’d better get inside.’ Matteo was already moving away. ‘Give me a minute to find my place, okay?’

Georgia watched him disappear through the archway just as the stirring first notes of thebagpipes filled the air around them.

Traditionally, the bagpipes were thought to have been a call to stir the passions of soldiers on the battlefield.

It certainly felt as if they were doing exactly that to Georgia.

She only had a few hours to fight to keep her secret safe somehow. She wasn’t sure how she was going to do that but Georgia was quite sure she was going to win.

Because she hadto.

She had lied to him before, even it if had only been the omission of correcting his assumption that she was cheating on someone. She could do it again. She was ready.

‘Here we go,’ Georgia said.

She pasted a bright smile onto her face. Not only did she have a private battle to fight, she was going to have to make sure it didn’t lessen the joy of Kate’s special day in any way.

* * *

‘Tohave and to hold, from this day forward, till death us do part...’

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