Page 45 of Hidden Heir With His Housekeeper

Why had she never considered how her choices would reflect on him? And the reputation he’d worked so hard to build. He’d said nothing last night about the negative press her situation would attract. But she should have realised how it would look if the press ever discovered she was living in Italy, doing a menial job while pregnant with his child.

‘I’ve spoken to Romano,’ he said, gently herding her back into the trailer. ‘And your friend Marta. He’s going to write you a final cheque and she’ll meet us by the bird to say goodbye.’

She blinked furiously, devastated—at having to leave her life here so abruptly—but also stupidly touched that he had arranged everything so quickly.

She hadn’t wanted to accept his help before. Had been determined to resent the loss of independence that would represent. But perhaps she should have realised she had already lost that by choosing to have his child.

She’d proved something incredibly important to herself during the last five months. That she wasn’t useless, or pathetic, that she could thrive and prosper if she worked hard and showed initiative. But she had to face the reality now—of her situation, but also of his.

‘But we need to go now,’ he added, crowding her trailer again with his presence.

‘Okay,’ she said.

His eyebrows flew up. ‘Really? No more arguments?’

‘No, I understand,’ she said.

All he’d wanted was to do the right thing. For her and their baby. And she needed to let him.

As she set off to pack up as much of her life in Italy as she could carry, it occurred to her that her confidence in her own abilities had never depended on where she was, or what she did for a living. Or even who she was with—even if that person was as overwhelming as Mason. All it had ever depended on was her own courage and determination.

As she said a hasty goodbye to Marta and Fabrizio and the other hotel staff by the Foxx Group helicopter—while the press shouted intrusive questions from the hotel car park, threatening to break the barricade being manned by Mason’s security guards—a pang of regret and sadness pierced her chest.

She had found a home in Portofino. But she needed to move on and build a home for her baby as well now, which ought to include its father...

She settled into the helicopter as Mason spoke to the pilot. But as she strapped herself into the seat, instead of feeling compromised, or wary, her heart did a giddy two-step.

She didn’t know if they could make this relationship work. She wasn’t even sure they would still want to by the time the baby was born. There were so many things about Mason she didn’t know, she frowned, including how he took his tea. But trusting to luck and her own judgement didn’t seem anywhere near as scary as it had when she’d arrived in Rapallo five months ago.

She caressed her bump, remembering the explosion of hormones which had occurred in her trailer yesterday... The pulse in her abdomen became wild and insistent as Mason strode out of the cockpit, then folded his muscular body into the seat next to her.

‘All good?’ he asked as the helicopter’s blades whirred above their head.

She nodded. ‘Yes. And thank you.’

‘What for?’ he asked.

She smiled, enjoying his puzzled frown. For such a forceful guy, he wasn’t always as sure about everything as he seemed.

‘For rescuing me,’ she said, nodding towards the press hordes still trying to clamber over the barricades. ‘From that.’

His gaze intensified, then dropped warily to where her hand rested on her belly. ‘Having got you into this mess,’ he said, ‘it was the least I could do.’

She wondered what mess he was talking about.

Then realised that might be why he hadn’t wanted to talk about fatherhood. Because he simply didn’t know yet how he felt about it.

But then the rest of his reply registered. And it occurred to her that other men would have done a lot less.

Why did it matter if he was unsure about his role in this baby’s life? They had four months to figure it out now. Together.

Mason wasn’t a bad man. And the desire between them was still as vibrant and exciting as ever. So why shouldn’t they explore that too?

Her heart lifted in her chest as the big bird rose off the ground and the noise from the blades drowned out further conversation.

The smile on her lips sank into her heart as the sun shimmered over the deep blue of the sea below, dazzling her... She and Mason and their babymighthave a bright future ahead of them—as a family—something she’d always yearned for, but never thought she truly deserved... Until now. But how would she ever know if she didn’t make the most of this chance to find out?

She waved goodbye to the first real friends she’d ever had, before the lush beauty of the Italian Riviera—where she had finally discovered the real Bea Medford—disappeared under the clouds.

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