Page 66 of Claiming His Virgin Princess

Had she allowed herself to hope that news of her pregnancy might magically erase the bad stuff between them? That he’d pull her close and whisper all those sweet promises she yearned to hear?

Who was she kidding? She’d dumped him when he’d offered her a future together. She’d kept her distance in case she lost the baby. Had she waited too long?

Ilsa shot to her feet and moved away. She put her palm on the wall of glass separating the luxurious room from the terrace with its infinity pool and sweeping lawn.

Dully she imagined Noah teaching a child to play cricket on that lawn or kick a football.

But she guessed it wouldn’t be their child. Noah had shown concern for her health, and the baby’s, but that was all. Duty rather than happiness.

Maybe he only had it in him to care for children by a woman he chose as his partner. Maybe he’d already found a new partner, one of those gorgeous women he’d been photographed with recently. Her heart dived.

‘I came here to tell you about the baby and begin making arrangements so you can be part of its life.’

Ilsa turned to find him still on the sofa, his expression giving nothing away.

‘But it’s not as if we’re a couple or live near each other.’ She paused because she feared her voice revealed that she was crumbling inside. Then she forced herself to go on. ‘So I understand if you’ve moved on and you prefer not to be actively involved.’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

NOTBE INVOLVED!

She had to be kidding. How could she even think it?

‘You couldn’t be more wrong, Ilsa.’

Her eyes snapped to his and emotion thumped his chest as he met that silvery gaze.

In the past he’d seen her eyes turn that colour when they made love, or when she was particularly moved. He’d believed it proof that she’d begun to return his feelings.

Now he wondered.

She’d avoided looking at him, preferring the view of the sea, but when she did he felt that familiar pulse of connection. The question was, did she?

Ilsa wasn’t as calm as she pretended.

Deliberately Noah got to his feet, blocking the way to the door just in case. She looked so skittish.

‘How could you believe that, even for a moment? Far from not wanting to be part of our child’s life, I intend to be there every step of the way.’

Starting now. The thought of her miscarrying gutted him. Ilsa and their child needed him and he intended to care for them both through the pregnancy and beyond.

Her eyes grew round. What? She couldn’t really have thought he’d walk away from her or his child.

His heart pounded like a jackhammer and his blood fizzed, and it was only partly to do with being near the woman with whom he’d planned to spend his life. The idea of becoming a father was the most exciting thing he’d heard in forever. He wanted to shout in elation. But not yet. First there was unfinished business.

‘Why would you think I wouldn’t care? That I’d ignore my own flesh and blood?’

She lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. ‘Because it’smychild and I spurned you.’

There was a shuttered look in her eyes that Noah hated. And something else. Pain.

It added to the ache deep inside him. An ache he’d carried since they’d separated. Telling himself she preferred to be with her titled friends and relations hadn’t eased it and distance only made it worse.

‘You think I hated you so much for leaving that I’d turn my back on my child?’ Noah shook his head, holding her gaze. ‘I admit it hurt.’

The moment she’d told him not to touch her had been one of the worst of his life. As if he’d been some bully using his superior size to intimidate her. As if she feared him. Everything inside him had shut down in disbelief.

Noah breathed deep, reaching for control, determined not to be railroaded by emotion. ‘I knew you must have your reasons, even if I didn’t know them.’

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