Page 46 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

‘I didn’t walk out. My grandfather told me to leave because I skim-read a geological report and there was a problem that we had to pay our way out of. So I never got to show him the proposal, and who knows when he’ll be ready to listen to me again?’

His throat clenched as he anticipated Ondine’s appraising gaze, her disappointment. ‘I know what you’re thinking. That it’s my fault. That I messed up.’

‘Everyone messes up, Jack.’ She frowned. ‘Even your grandfather.’

‘Yeah, well, it wasn’t the first time. That’s why he sent me away.’

She was quiet for so long, her voice was almost a shock when finally she said, ‘You make it sound like a punishment. I don’t think it was. He sent you away because he thinks you’re good enough to step into his shoes but he wants you to be fit for race day. And that means taking stock and being honest with yourself, about what you need to do to improve. He did what any good coach would do.’

‘And what do you think?’

‘Me?’ Her eyes fluttered up to meet his.

He nodded. ‘You’re my wife. Do you think I’m good enough?’ And suddenly there was nothing more important than to know her answer to that question.

‘Before, no.’ She hesitated, and then she smiled, a smile that filled him with wonder and hope. ‘But now, I think you might just pull it off.’

She gave a squeak as he jerked her off the sun lounge and onto his lap. ‘And I think you and my grandpa are going to get along very well. Maybe too well.’ He paused. Her eyes were soft, open, trusting, and quickly, before he could change his mind, he said, ‘I talked to him. Earlier. I told him about the baby.’

She blinked. ‘Did it go okay?’

The call had been both easier and harder than he’d thought it would be, only not for the reasons he’d imagined. He’d assumed it would be hard to lie again, but it hadn’t felt like a lie. Listening to the happiness in his grandfather’s voice, he’d forgotten about the condom, and his suspicions about the timing of the pregnancy. All of it had retreated, and he had simply been happy and whole.

Now, though, gazing down into Ondine’s face, he felt the fault lines inside him fracture. She cared about him only because she didn’t know the truth. But if, make thatwhen,he messed up, she would end up hating him, blaming him.

Pushing aside that thought, he cleared his throat.

‘It went well. He’s looking forward to meeting you at the polo. They all are.’ That wasn’t strictly true. He’d left messages with both his parents telling them he had news to share and that he hoped they could join him and Ondine for dinner after the tournament, but neither of them had responded. Not that he had expected them to.

‘They?’ She looked suddenly nervous.

‘My parents. And their partners. My half-siblings.’

She grimaced. ‘They certainly won’t be able to miss me. I cleared tables at Whitecaps, so I know exactly what kind of women go to polo matches and I don’t look like any of them.’

‘That’s because your beauty is real, not the result of surgery or fillers. Especially now.’ He glanced down at the swell of her stomach, his pulse jerking. ‘Pregnancy suits you.’

She smiled. ‘You clearly have a very short memory.’

Their eyes met, both of them remembering those nights in the bathroom.

‘I don’t know, you were so determined. That’s pretty sexy.’ And she was blooming now, he thought, his gaze taking in her flushed cheeks and shining eyes.

‘Did you not want children?’

He felt her whole body stiffen and the smile on her face seemed to slip sideways. ‘Yes. I did. I wanted to have them with Garrett, my first husband. And we tried for so long.’ Her voice stumbled. ‘But nothing happened.’

Thinking back to her small, pale face when she’d handed him the positive test, it was suddenly difficult to catch his breath. She’d said it was a miracle, but by then he’d been consumed with a rage that had blocked out compassion or reason.

‘Actually, it did happen for Garrett, just not with me.’ She rubbed her forehead as if it hurt. Maybe it did. He could certainly feel her pain. ‘He had an affair with a woman at work, and she got pregnant and then he left me.’

Glancing past her at the huge trees standing like sentinels at the edge of the gardens, Jack felt a flicker of rage. He wanted to uproot them all and smash them into firewood with his fists. What kind of man would do that?

‘I think I would have been okay but then my parents were killed and it got kind of muddled up, you know, grieving for them, worrying about Oli—’

His arms tightened around her. ‘I’m so sorry, Ondine.’

Now he didn’t want to smash things, he wanted to sit and hold her close for ever. Protect her from the world and its random cruelties.

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