Page 43 of Bound By Her Baby Revelation (Hot Winter Escapes)

‘Yes,’ Leo agreed gravely, eyeing her dress, which was sticking to her like glue. ‘The heat is a lot less polite over here, although it’s alleviated by the ocean breezes. You’ll find that when we’re at the beach. I’ve arranged a boat so I can take you away from the main drag to one of the quieter coves only accessible by sea.’

‘Have you?’

‘Why not?’ He glanced sideways at her, making sure to roll the windows up and switch on the air conditioning for her benefit, even though he would have preferred the wind blowing through. ‘Like you said, you’re in a hurry to head back and, if we’re going to have the conversation we need to have, then having it somewhere a little more private than a busy beach makes sense. I’ve also arranged a picnic for us to take. Food is of the essence, wouldn’t you agree, in your condition?’

‘I wouldn’t say of theessence,’ Kaya returned faintly as the little car gave a full-throttle growl and kicked into life.

Leo’s voice was quiet and serious. ‘One thing you’ve got to understand is, whatever decision is made about this situation, the welfare of our baby is paramount to me. Skipping meals isn’t a good idea—nor is over-heating. You look very hot in that dress. Have you got a hat? Something to keep the sun off your face?’

‘Leo, I’m not an invalid! I’m pregnant!’

‘All the same...’ Leo murmured.

Kaya didn’t say anything. She hadn’t really banked on this level of solicitousness and it made her feel a little guilty. Had she over-simplified what his reaction would be? She’d known that he would never walk away from his responsibility, but she had balanced that against his lack of interest in permanence and the fact that he didn’t love her, that they had already broken up.

She hadn’t foreseen how passionate and blinkered his reaction would be, and yet why not? How could she not have predicted that his sense of responsibility might actually beenhancedby the fact that he had always blamed his own abandonment on irresponsible parents? That story might not have changed with the discovery of Julie Anne’s journal.

And how would that feed into a need to create the perfect family unit, the very one he had not had? With or without her.

He was showing, even at this early stage, all the signs of being the perfect father. He was a guy who gave one hundred percent. Would he be the guy who gave one hundred percent to the married life he’d never planned to have? One hundred percent to a woman who wouldn’t demand love, romance and promises of a perfect life, but would be more than happy to wear his ring and enjoy all the material advantages that came with it? Like this villa in the Bahamas, for starters.

She looked at the splendid scenery around them as he drove. Swaying coconut trees sprinkled along the coastline; the sky was the colour of purest aquamarine; flowers, bushes, shrubs and foliage bordered the tarmac in Technicolor disarray. And then she fell silent as they entered the town and she saw what he’d meant about the architecture.

The houses were sparkling bright, a million shades of ice-cream pastels, and the neat fences bordering them in perfect formation were diamond-white, gleaming under the sun. The shops, the cafés and the little boutiques were all picture-perfect against the backdrop of palm trees and flowers, and the place was bustling with locals and tourists.

He swerved into a parking space and flung open his door and, when she looked at him in bewilderment, he gently reminded her, ‘Picnic, remember? I have to collect it before we go get the boat and...’ He gave her a friendly once-over. ‘Your dress... The trainers... Let’s get you some more appropriate clothes.’

‘No! I’m fine!’

‘Shorts...a swimsuit...flip flops...’

He refused to take no for an answer. He described what she needed in words that made her long for the coolness of a dress that wasn’t sticking to her, and trainers that weren’t making her feet sweat.

He held her hand in a helpful, brotherly manner that made her teeth snap together, even though she couldn’t take issue with him, and it wasn’t his fault that he’d planted ideas in her head that wouldn’t go away.

The sun poured down like honey and going into each air-conditioned shop was bliss. She barely noticed the things he was buying for her.

‘You’ll have to get used to this while you’re carrying my child,’ he murmured when she protested at purchase number one. ‘It’s important you’re comfortable, and you’re not going to be comfortable in what you’re wearing.’

‘And what after the baby’s born?’ Kaya asked.

‘Well,’ Leo murmured coolly, leaning into her so that there was no missing the relevance of what he was saying. ‘Naturally, you will be taken care of as the mother of my child. What you choose to do with that money will be entirely up to you. It will, however, be a slightly different matter should you become involved with another man and choose to marry.’

In the act of feeling the soft silk of a sarong, Kaya paused and looked at him.

‘You mean...?’

‘I mean my child will have everything within my power to give but...and call me old-fashioned...if you meet another man and get married, then it will be up to him to look after you. I would want to see where my money goes—make sure it’s going to my child and not feathering another man’s nest. This will all be legally sorted.’

He stood back and smiled, and in that moment, Kaya knew that ground rules were being laid down and that the conversation they needed to have, however jolly the atmosphere he was trying to create, had begun.

He was scrupulously fair, and would be incredibly generous, but he was warning her of boundary lines and he would stick to those.

The road she decided to travel down would have consequences and she would have to accept that.

‘I would never take money from you to...’ Her voice trailed off.

‘I know.’ Leo soothed her, his voice relaxing into a smile, resetting the tempo of the day. ‘But I’ve never been a man to take unnecessary chances...’

---