Page 7 of The Baby Behind Their Marriage Merger

‘It’s a personal matter, Jude, nothing to do with Fisher International,’ Addi said, and he heard exhaustion in her voice.

He caught the wariness in her eyes, and his curiosity peaked. ‘Why do you need a lawyer?’

‘Are you normally this nosy?’

No, he wasn’t, not by a long shot. In reality, he frequently had to cut women off when they shared personal information. He wasn’t interested in the minutiae of people’s lives; he kept his interactions with the opposite sex as shallow as he could—movies, books, current events...bed. Women couldn’t be trusted with his thoughts, feelings, memories or his heart. And, if they didn’t know anything about him or his business, they couldn’t pass anything on to the press. For the past ten years or so, that strategy had worked well for him, and he’d rarely made the news for anything other than his business successes.

When he didn’t answer, Addi spoke again. ‘I can be with you around four,’ she told him. ‘But I can only give you a couple of hours because I need to be back in town by seven.’

‘Do you have a date?’

Where had that come from and why did he care? He cursed himself, wondering whether some idiot had hijacked his brain. She was now a work colleague, and he had no call to question her about her personal life. But the thought of her sitting across the table from another guy, laughing with him, talking to him—going to bed with him—set the lining of his stomach alight.

Addi looked down her nose at him and he had to admire her sangfroid. ‘That has nothing to do with you, Jude,’ she told him, her voice colder than an Arctic wind. She placed her elbow on the desk and massaged her forehead with the tips of her fingers, as if trying to rub away a headache. When she spoke again, her voice was low and a little haunted. ‘I don’t know if I can do this...’

Do what—meet with the lawyers? Work with him? Drive out to Franschhoek?What?

Before he could ask, Addi lifted her head, straightened her shoulders and inhaled deeply. ‘Four o’clock today? Or would you like to suggest another time?’ she asked, her fingers drumming the desk next to her keyboard.

He couldn’t wait. He wanted to see her...see those spreadsheets, get working on acquiring those hotels, he quickly corrected himself. Acquiring Thorpe Industries’ assets at a good price was an opportunity not to be missed, provided he could get the proposal past the trustees. He’d made two massive errors of misjudgement—both involving women he’d cared for—and they’d led to huge unintended consequences. And he was still paying the price.

Not even Addi could tempt him to wade in more than toe-deep. He was immune to any commitment that lasted beyond breakfast the next morning. He’d learned his lesson...

Women, people in general, couldn’t be trusted.

CHAPTER THREE

THISCOULDNOTbe happening to her, not on top of everything else! Addi gripped the steering wheel of her company car, her eyes blurring with tears, which wasn’t a good thing when trying to navigate a busy highway. She blinked furiously and swallowed down a sob threatening to escape. She hit the button on the electric window and icy air instantly dried her wet eyes. She left the window open a crack, thinking that red-from-cold eyes had to be better than scarlet-from-panic-and-distress eyes.

Seeing her speed creeping up, she eased off the accelerator and glanced at the clock. She was going to be twenty minutes late for her appointment with Jude but that couldn’t be helped. After leaving the lawyer’s office, she’d stumbled to her car and sat there for forty-five minutes, trying to make sense of what she’d heard...

Addi felt another tide of panic rise up her throat and sucked in a series of harsh gulps. She couldn’t think about what she’d heard earlier; she could barely make sense of it. If she allowed herself to get caught up in that, she’d lose concentration and would find herself intimately connected with the back of a passenger bus or a heavy-duty truck.

No, she had to park it...just for a little while.

Her navigation system directed her to take the next exit and Addi moved across the motorway, weaving her car between a truck and an overloaded bus to scoot off. It had been ages since she’d been in Franschhoek, but she had too much on her mind to take in the pretty vineyards and the towering mountains. She was about to meet the father of the bean growing inside her, the baby she was still wrapping her head around.

Somehow, she needed to find the words to tell him she was pregnant, that the pill had failed and that one of the condoms he’d used had been faulty. How, in the twenty-first century, did that happen? Weren’t they supposed to be foolproof these days?

There was little point in trying to figure out thehow; she had to deal with whatwas. However it had happened, she was now carrying a mixture of his and her genes and she had no idea what she was going to do. Frankly, a baby was the last thing she needed in her life right now. Her job with Thorpe Industries was coming to an end, and there was no guarantee that the new owner, whether that was Jude or anyone else, would take her on. The law said that employers couldn’t discriminate against employing pregnant women, but the law wasn’t always applied in the real world.

She needed money to pay for the lawyers she’d undoubtedly need and to keep her family’s heads above water. But, whenever she thought about making her baby problem go away, she couldn’t finish the thought. She was embarrassed that she’d accidentally fallen pregnant and she couldn’t afford a baby. She didn’t have the time, finances or energy.

But she was keeping it. She couldn’tnot.And that meant telling Jude. And that was a conversation she really didn’t want to have.

Turning off onto a country road, she meandered down a narrow road bisecting two vineyards, the ragged, tooth-like mountains now directly in front of her. Winter was just arriving in this pretty valley and the vines looked denuded, like tiny, old hunched men. Addi turned into an oak-tree-lined driveway—the trees would look magnificent in summer—and her eyebrows lifted as Jude’s house came into view.

Instead of the Cape Dutch house she’d expected—the old, gracious houses that were dotted around the countryside like grand old dames—Jude’s house was a modern, sprawling one-storey creation of glass, wood and steel. But somehow, despite being ruthlessly modern, it looked warm and welcoming and suited its surroundings. He must have had an incredibly talented architect as it was...dared she say it?...perfect. She adored the house and loved the big trees and wild garden running up to the edges of the vineyards.

She parked her car next to a brand-new SUV—top of the line, she noted, with all the bells and whistles—and wondered how Jude could reconcile his save-the-planet views with his gas-guzzling car. Tipping the rear-view mirror so she could see her reflection, she grimaced at her red eyes and sallow skin. Using her finger, she rubbed away dots of mascara and dug in her bag for some lipstick, hoping it would give her a bit of a lift. She stroked the bold red colour over her lips and winced. All it did was highlight her bloodshot eyes and gaunt face. Addi cursed and reached for a tissue to wipe it off but, before she could, she heard a knock on her window.

Jumping, she spun around to see a broad chest and mint-coloured jersey plastered against a flat stomach, a stomach she knew was ridged with hard muscle. As she’d discovered weeks ago, his body was phenomenal and his muscles had muscles of their own. He was sexy, powerful and masculine...

Okay, enough of that now. Addi gave herself a mental slap and Jude yanked open her car door.

‘Are you coming in or what?’ he demanded, sounding impatient.

‘Hello to you too,’ she muttered, reaching for her tote bag that held her laptop and a thick stack of reports she’d had Greg print off. She hadn’t had time to do a presentation; she’d just have to wing it. Addi exited her car and tugged down her fitted jacket, shivering in the cool wind rolling down the mountain and across the vineyards. Clouds were building up in the distance, gathering cold raindrops.

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