Page 38 of Bound By Her Baby Revelation (Hot Winter Escapes)

Kaya reddened. He looked utterly shocked at her outburst, but why should she hold back? It was obvious that he didn’t want this baby and was appalled at the grenade that had detonated in his carefully ordered life.

And that hurt. It really did.

‘You heard me, Leo,’ she persisted stubbornly. ‘I’m not asking you to give up anything for me. This isn’t about sacrifice for you, this is about you deserving to have a role in your baby’s life if that’s what you would want.’

He returned to sit opposite her and his dark eyes were as cold as the wintry depths of Siberia. ‘If that’s your message, you have some serious re-thinking to do on that.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Do you honestly imagine that I’m going to deal with this situation by...what? Throwing money at it and walking away, because I don’t want my bachelor lifestyle interrupted?’

‘I never said that...’

‘It’s the implication.’

‘Of course I don’t expect you to walk away. I know, after everything you’ve been through, Leo, that that’s not a route you would want to take. But I’m just giving you the option, just letting you know that I’m not trying to corner you into doing anything you don’t want to do...’ She breathed in deeply but, when she released her breath, it was on a shudder. ‘I would never stop you from visiting your child. If I were that kind of person, then I wouldn’t be here in the first place.’

‘That’s very generous of you, Kaya, but I have a completely different scenario in mind.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Marriage.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

KAYAWASMOMENTARILYlost for words. Her mouth fell open and she stared at him in shocked, confused consternation.

‘Marriage?’

‘Correct.’

‘Us? Me and you?’

‘I’m not seeing anyone else here, are you?’ Leo made a show of looking round the room in search of someone lurking behind furniture.

‘That’s crazy,’ Kaya said.

‘Why?’

‘Because we aren’t in a relationship, Leo.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘We broke up,’ she told him flatly. ‘We had a fling and we broke up—or maybe you don’t remember that bit. This was never about love and marriage and making a go of things. This was all about the sex and nothing else.’ Just verbalising their situation was like swallowing glass. Every word hurt because every word reminded her just how different it was for her. She hated herself for half-hoping that he would contradict what she’d said. She hated herself for clinging to illusions.

‘What does that have to do with the fact that you’re pregnant? Yes, I know what we had was a fling, Kaya, and I realise it wasn’t meant to stay the course—but things change and a pregnancy changes everything.’

‘A pregnancy doesn’t change the fact that we don’t...don’t...love one another, Leo.’

‘This is no longer about the two of us and what we want or don’t want.’

Kaya could feel his eyes on her and she couldn’t meet his unflinching gaze because he saw far too much for her liking. And there was no way she wanted him to see into her head, to see the unhappiness wrapped around her, because she loved this man and he didn’t love her back.

She didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her, and he would feel sorry for her. He would try and hide his dismay, but of course he would remind her of what she already knew: she had disobeyed the ground rules. He would gently tell her that he didn’t return those feelings and never would. It was probable that the horror of attaching himself to a woman who wanted what he couldn’t give would have him running for the hills and doing just as she’d anticipated—money without commitment. Shared responsibility but, beyond that, nothing at all. And, every single time she saw him, she would see the pity in his eyes and she would be hurt all over again.

No thanks.

She had her pride, and her heart was beating like a sledgehammer inside her as she tried not to be swept along by logic that worked for him but not for her.

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