Page 66 of The Housekeeper and the Brooding Billionaire

She shook her head at her neediness. The sooner she left and started a new life the better.

Thoughts turning inward, she paid no attention to her surroundings until the boat bumped gently against a pier and Mario offered her a hand to disembark.

‘No thanks. I’m fine. Can I help you with the basket?’

A deep voice came from above. ‘Mario isn’t getting off here.’ She looked up and there was Alessio, his windblown hair and darkened jaw making him look more like a pirate than ever. Or maybe it was the hard glitter in his narrowed eyes as he reached down to take her hand.

Startled, Charlotte looked beyond him. They weren’t at the town but at the villa they’d visited together days before. In the distance she saw the spreading tree where they’d made love, where she’d told him about the baby and he’d explained why he could never be part of her life.

Instinctively she pulled back, but Alessio was too quick. ‘We don’t want an audience for this, Charlotte,’ he whispered in her ear. Then more loudly he added, ‘Mario doesn’t want to be late for the market.’

Charlotte opened her mouth to say she had her own plans for the day, but she was already letting him lead her up off the boat. Where was her willpower? She feared this weakness she couldn’t control.

He led her away from the water, not even dropping her hand when the engine revved behind them and Mario left.

Sunlight kissed her bare arms and his fingers encircling hers were hot, yet Charlotte shivered, cold to the bone.

‘What do you want, Alessio?’ Her voice was harsh, rough with emotions she didn’t dare identify.

He stopped and turned towards her, the morning light behind him. ‘You’re leaving. Without even telling me!’

‘I—’

‘How could you do that?’

Charlotte stood taller. ‘Do what? Go? That’s what you want. You’re the one pushing me away. The one who can’t bear to think about, much less see our child.’

He shook his head. ‘But to leave without a word.’

‘We’ve said everything that matters. Besides, I—’

‘No, we haven’t.’ Alessio shifted, and now she could read his expression. What she saw startled her. He didn’t look angry but haunted, desperate even. His nostrils flared and his broad chest rose as if he struggled to drag in enough oxygen. ‘I need to explain.’

‘No more explanations! I understand your feelings.’ She tugged, trying to slip out of his grasp.

‘That’s just it. You don’t.’

For a long moment, his glittering eyes held hers. Then abruptly he let her hand go. Instantly she cradled it in her other hand, missing his touch.

She should march away rather than prolong the agony of being with him, but she couldn’t. ‘What don’t I understand?’

‘I want you, Charlotte. I don’t want to give you up, or our child.’

The shock waves from his words thundered through her, making her weak at the knees. ‘That doesn’t make sense.’

Alessio’s laugh was harsh. ‘I’m not surprised. I’m an emotional mess, not the logical man I used to be. Since you arrived on the island, I haven’t been able to think straight. I haven’t been able to resist temptation. Haven’t been able to sleep, except with you in my arms.’

His voice hit that gravelly note she knew from lovemaking, and some of her hard-fought resistance melted.

Charlotte struggled to be sensible though every instinct urged her to hug him close, since he made it sound like he suffered the same tortures she did. She feared that would resolve nothing and simply ignite the sexual attraction still burning between them.

‘Tell me, then. Explain what’s going on.’ She folded her arms rather than reach for him.

‘I said I wanted you to leave and bring up our baby somewhere else. I believed it as I said it, but it wasn’t the truth.’ He nodded at her shocked gasp. ‘I told you that because I thought it better, both for you and the child, to be far from me. My track record is...abysmal. I had one role in my marriage, to protect, and I failed. I couldn’t bear to fail you or our baby.’

Charlotte didn’t recall deciding to move, but now she was in his space, gripping his shirt front, tilting her head up to hold his gaze.

‘You might be a brilliant businessman, Alessio, but in some things you have absolutely no idea. The only way you could fail me, fail us, is to turn your back, the way you have the last few days.’

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