Page 35 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

Ivy wondered if Rafa could hear her heart shatter. He would buy her anything she wanted, but she did not want material things.You want him to trust you and love you, whispered a voice inside her. But he would never do either and the fairy tale she had started to believe might come true turned to dust.

‘Rafa...’ She prayed for a second miracle. ‘I... I’m pregnant.’

‘Repeat what you just said,’ Rafa demanded. He must have misunderstood. Ivy could not really have said she was pregnant. But her stricken expression told him what he definitely did not want to hear. He swore. This was the second time that Ivy had burst into the boardroom and detonated a bomb that would blow his life apart.

‘You assured me that you were unable to have a child.’ His phone rang, and with a curse he pulled it out of his pocket and switched the device off.

‘I believed I was infertile,’ she said huskily. ‘When I had cancer, my monthly cycle stopped as a result of the chemo. After a few years I started to have sporadic periods, but I was advised that I would almost certainly never fall pregnant naturally.’

‘So how did it happen?’ He felt sick. It was as though he was revisiting the nightmare when Tiffany had told him she was expecting his baby, and he had been a gullible fool for two years when he’d believed Lola was his daughter. The difference now was that Ivy had insisted it was safe for them to have unprotected sex because she was unable to have children and he had believed her.

Dio, would he never learn that all women were liars? Rafa thought savagely. A few minutes ago Ivy had accused the deputy CEO of treachery when she’d said that Sandro had urged her to tell the news reporter the story that Rafa Vieri had fathered an illegitimate child. Rafa had been tempted to believe her, despite Sandro’s denial. Recently he had begun to doubt her involvement in the news story. But she must have lied about being infertile, and it stood to reason that she could have lied about Sandro Florenzi.

Rage burned like acid in Rafa’s gut. He had been a fool to have fallen for Ivy’s sweet smile that disguised her damning lies. ‘I’ll want proof,’ he said curtly.

Ivy’s head jerked back as if he had slapped her. ‘Proof of what? That I’m pregnant or that it’s your baby? I’ve shared your bed every night since we married six weeks ago. When would I have had a chance to play away, even if I’d wanted to? You know I’ve only ever had sex with you.’

Tears sparkled on her lashes like tiny diamonds. Ivy cried easily, but she was quicker to laugh, and she was the most responsive lover he’d ever known. She held nothing back when they made love, and she was open in her adoration and devotion to Bertie. Rafa did not doubt she would love this baby with the same fierce intensity.His baby. Ivy’s unguarded emotions had led him to lower his guard and even to start to trust her, which was something he had vowed he would never do again.

His jaw clenched when she came to stand in front of him and he breathed in the floral scent of her perfume, delicate yet subtly sensual, like Ivy herself. ‘Maybe you don’t believe that I had cancer and I pretended that the treatment had left me infertile.’ Her voice shook, but her wounded gaze did not waiver from his.

‘I don’t...’ he began roughly.

‘Do you think I made it up that my hair fell out?’ She touched the feathery blonde layers that framed her face. ‘When my hair grew back after I’d finished chemo, it was a lighter colour, and it breaks easily, so that I can’t grow it long. My hair wasn’t the only thing that having cancer changed. It made me doubt my body, and it taught me that life is fragile. When I started feeling nauseous and tired recently, I was scared...’

The crack in her voice dealt another blow to the fortress that Rafa had built around his heart. ‘I thought the cancer had come back and I might not be around to see Bertie grow up.’ She wiped away her tears and more fell. ‘Perhaps you think it would be better if I was ill instead of pregnant?’

‘Dio!Of course I don’t.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose. His tension was off the scale. ‘It’s a shock.’

Ivy nodded. ‘I was worried about your reaction when I told you. But I didn’t expect you to accuse me of lying. I know what your ex-wife did, but you can’t keep punishing me for her crimes. And I can’t stay married to you if you will never trust me. It hurts too much.’ She swallowed. ‘I deserve better. Our baby deserves better than to grow up with parents who hate each other.’

‘I don’t hate you.’

‘You will resent me and our baby if you believe that I deliberately tried to fall pregnant.’ Tears streamed down her face. ‘You don’t love me.’ It was an anguished cry. ‘I could bear it if I knew you would love our baby. But you won’t, will you? You’re good with Bertie, but I’ve noticed how you hold back from loving him. You are determined to barricade yourself in your fortress so that love can’t find you.’

And make a fool of me, Rafa thought darkly. ‘You are being melodramatic. When you’ve calmed down, we’ll discuss—’

‘There’s nothing to discuss. I’m keeping my miracle baby—at least, I hope I will.’ Her mouth trembled. ‘I’m only a few weeks into my pregnancy. Experience has taught me that life doesn’t have “happiness guaranteed” stamped on the box.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

IVYTIEDRAFAin knots, and her vulnerability made him want to hold her in his arms and promise her that the baby would be fine. But he did not know what the future held. One reason why he had been adamantly opposed to fatherhood was because he had suffered the agony of losing a child when his ex-wife had taken Lola away.

He glared at his PA, who appeared in the doorway. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, Rafa, but your mother called your mobile, and when you didn’t answer she came through on the office line. She sounded upset and said she needs to see you urgently.’

What else could go wrong? Rafa wondered. He turned to Ivy. ‘We need to talk rationally, but right now I don’t feel rational,’ he said grimly. ‘Go to the penthouse and I’ll meet you there as soon as I’ve visited my mother.’

She walked out of the boardroom without saying another word. Rafa called the pilot. It would be much quicker to travel across the city by helicopter, and he wanted to get back to Ivy as soon as possible.

At the hospital, he hurried to his mother’s private room and felt a pang to see her looking so gaunt. He leaned down to kiss her cheek and was surprised when she clung to him for a moment.

‘What is wrong,Mamma?’

‘Your father’s assistant came to see me.’ Fabiana’s voice shook. ‘Beatriz gave me a letter that Rafael had written just before he died. His death was so sudden. When Beatriz found some of his personal documents and realised they would cause a scandal if they fell into the wrong hands, she hid them to protect his reputation. But she was sure your father had meant me to see the letter. Here it is.’

Rafa read the letter his mother handed him. His father had been completely truthful about the brief affair he’d had while he’d been on a cruise that had resulted in the young woman giving birth to his baby. Rafael had explained how desperately sorry he was for the pain and upset he had caused everyone involved but that Fabiana, his beloved wife, had a right to know the truth.

‘I don’t know what to say,’ Rafa admitted as he returned the letter to his mother. ‘Papamade a terrible mistake in what he did, but he was right to be honest with you.’

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