Page 24 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

‘No, not another minute.’ His voice was taut. ‘You’ve been in there fifteen already.’

‘All right. All right.’

From somewhere inside, she felt a snap of anger and defiance. This wasn’t just happening to him. It was happening to her too.

Getting up, she unlocked the door and opened it. Jack was standing there; his handsome face was unreadable, but his eyes were bright and hard, and when they fixed on her face she felt like a deer caught in headlights.

‘Well?’

It wasn’t fair. She had waited for this moment for so long, hoped and prayed for it, and now it was here. But for it to happen now, with this man who didn’t love her and never would, in this relationship that was a sham, a mutually convenient charade, was just too much. It was impossible to say the words out loud and instead she held out the test. He stared down at it in silence. His expression didn’t change, but his breathing did.

‘It’s wrong,’ she said quickly.

There was a tense, electric moment, and then his mouth shifted into a question mark. ‘How is it wrong? There are two lines. The two lines mean you’re pregnant.’

No, she thought again, swaying forward then back again. There must be some other explanation, and that would become plain. She just needed a moment to think clearly and rationally, only her head was spinning so fast that her thoughts were impossible to catch.

‘I know that’s what it’s supposed to mean. But it’s wrong. It must be faulty.’ She was babbling now and he was looking at her, incredulous, stunned.

‘And what about those ones?’ He stalked across the bathroom to where she’d left the other tests next to the basin. ‘Are these wrong too?’ he said, picking them up and brandishing them at her.

‘Yes. They are. They must be. I can’t be pregnant.’

For a moment he didn’t speak, and then, ‘And yet you are,’ he said slowly.

And yet she was.

Only how could it have happened? Given the odds of everything in that moment. Her history; the time of the month; the fact that Jack had worn a condom. There must be some mistake—

‘You’re damn right it’s a mistake—’

Her chin jerked up, and, meeting Jack’s angry gold gaze, she realised that she had spoken out loud. And then, registering his words, suddenly she was angry too. ‘That’s not what I said. I just meant that it shouldn’t have happened.’

Not just shouldn’t. She had thought it couldn’t.

But the test in her hand said different. Her anger vanished as quickly as it had flared up and she stared down at the plastic wand dazedly, lost in the long line of failed attempts, the months of waiting, of trying not to get her hopes up. ‘I don’t know how it did, it’s like a miracle—’

The silence that followed that remark was like a heavy, smothering blanket so that suddenly it was a struggle not just to talk but to breathe. Jack was staring at her, his powerful shoulders taut against his jacket. And then a shadow passed over his face.

‘You’re good,’ he said softly, but there was a suggestion of contempt and menace in his voice as if he might bare his teeth at any moment.

‘You really are very good.’

She stared at him in confusion. Good at what? A smile that was not a smile was curving the corners of his mouth and the fluttering queasiness she’d felt at the airport was back. Unthinkingly, she pressed her hand against her stomach and his eyes narrowed in on the movement, the not-smile vanishing from his face.

‘It’s impressive.’

Except he didn’t sound impressed. She watched his lip curl. Or look it either.

‘All of it,’ he continued. ‘The trembling voice. The wide-eyed shock.’ He held her gaze. ‘You must have had a lot of practice. Is that why you have two ex-husbands? Did you pull this sort of stunt with them too?’

Stunt.

The air snapped taut between them. Ondine blinked. A swirling misery was rising up inside her like water in a storm drain. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. For a moment she thought back to all the months of shame and despair and feeling a failure on so many levels. But then the hard gleam in his eyes pulled her back, and, lifting her chin, she met his gaze. ‘You don’t know anything about me or my ex-husbands. As for “stunts”, I’m not the one jumping off boats for kicks when I’m loaded.’

‘No, you get your kicks by taking someone’s life and burning it to the ground. I cannot believe you thought I’d swallow this garbage.’ He tossed the tests into the sink, the frustration and fury in his face rolling through her like wildfire. ‘So when did you really find out? That you’re pregnant, I mean.’

Her head jerked up, her gaze locking with his. ‘I found out just now. The same time as you did.’

---