Page 39 of Bound By Her Baby Revelation (Hot Winter Escapes)

‘But it really is, Leo,’ she said coolly. ‘And it should be. A marriage should never start on the basis of a sacrifice being made, and a child would never benefit, caught between parents shackled together for the wrong reasons.’

‘Shackled?’

‘Isn’t that what we would be if we were to marry without love and without shared dreams? When people start off life together with a child at the centre of it, shouldn’t there be hope and love? Shouldn’t it be an adventure for both of them and, even if the adventure doesn’t work out in the end—and often it doesn’t—isn’t it important that it’s at least there at the start?’

‘I’m afraid I don’t share your romantic dreams,’ Leo said coolly.

‘They’re not romantic dreams.’

Leo clicked his tongue, impatient to hustle the conversation along to where he wanted it to go.

Neither of them had predicted this but a way through the morass would have to be found. He wasn’t going to gracefully retire from responsibility because it suited her. She might be in search of the perfect fairy tale but there was no way their child was going to pay the price for her pursuing that particular dream.

But he couldn’t force her hand, and neither did he want to. He could think of nothing worse than dragging a reluctant bride to the altar so that she could become a reluctant and resentful parent, waiting for their marriage to implode.

What a mess.

He raked his fingers through his hair and pressed his thumbs against his eyes. When he looked at her once more, there was genuine empathy in her eyes.

‘We’re on opposite sides of a great divide,’ he conceded heavily. ‘I know what it’s like to grow up without parents, a number in a system. I never thought about having children but, now that I am to be a father, one thing I know is that I intend to give my child everything it is within my power to give.’

‘Are you saying that, unless I do as you say, you’d fight me for custody?’ Kaya asked sharply.

‘You’re doing it again.’

‘Doing what?’

‘Over-dramatising. Kaya. I would never do that but, by hook or by crook, we’re going to have to navigate a way through this—one that meets both our needs.’ He paused. ‘You want to have the perfect life. You want romance and sweet dreams, and a bucket list of other stuff that usually falls by the wayside before the ink on the marriage certificate’s had time to dry.’

‘That’s so cynical!’

‘It’s realistic.’ He waved his hand dismissively, but when he looked at her something inside him twisted, because he was going to have to be the guy who put a torch to those dreams. He remembered the way she’d looked after they’d made love: face open and flushed, her eyes drowsy and tender. He remembered her laughter, the ring of it that always made him smile.

This wasn’t about memory lane, he told himself. It wasn’t about getting trapped in mushy nonsense. This was about a baby coming and some hard decisions having to be made.

By hook or by crook, using whatever means at his disposal he saw fit.

‘You want to go your own way and pursue your game plan to find the perfect guy, but for me the thought of another man having a say in the upbringing of my own flesh and blood is anathema. What about you?’

‘What about me...? What does that mean?’

Kaya was diverted by thinking who this other man was likely to be when the only man she wanted was sitting right opposite her.

Would there everbeanother man—one who didn’t end up always beingsecond best?

Yet to agree to Leo’s proposal risked so much potential for hurt. When she thought about seeing him every day—being near him, living with him and, who knew?, sleeping with him until such time as it all fizzled out—her heart wanted to break into a million pieces because it would be a life of constant pain. The pain of unrequited love.

He was right—it was an almighty mess—and yet, when she thought of the tiny life inside her, she was filled with love, protectiveness and absolute joy.

Caught up in a tangle of thoughts, Kaya surfaced to hear him saying something about marriage.

‘I just can’t think about marrying you, Leo.’

‘So you’ve already said. I was asking what you thought about the fact thatI, like you, would eventually marry. It was never on the agenda, like I said, but if I had a child... I would want them to have what I never had and it’s called a nuclear family.’

Leo was being honest. He was a guy who had always envisaged himself walking alone through life but, now that fate had thrown a spanner in the works, then marriage and a partner was inevitable. His starting point would just be different from hers: he would be going into it with his eyes wide open.

‘You...marry...?’

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