Modern Romance December Books 1-4

CHAPTER FOUR

ISLA LIFTED THE wand to check it with an unsteady hand. And there it was, what she had most feared to see: the positive pregnancy result that confirmed that she had conceived a child with Alissandru Rossetti. Perspiration beaded her brow and her tummy muscles winced in dismay.

He wouldn’t like that news, he wouldn’t like that at all, wouldn’t be expecting it either if she went by the tone of their final conversation. Of course, he had assumed that she was taking birth-control pills and that the risk of pregnancy would therefore be minimal. Well, he had been wrong and did it really matter how he felt about this particular development?

A couple of months ago, following that night they had spent together at the croft, such a discovery would have filled her with sheer panic, Isla acknowledged ruefully, but her life had changed out of all recognition since then. How? Well, first and foremost Paulu Rossetti had left her a very generous amount of money. She was already making plans to sign up at a further education college to remedy the lack of qualifications that restricted her in the job market. She had been forced to drop out of school as a teenager to help care for her grandfather because her grandma hadn’t been able to nurse him alone. She had always hoped to go back to school some day to pass the exams she had missed. However, the revelation that she was expecting a child altered everything because even though she could still study while pregnant or as a single mum, her head spun at the amount of organisation it would require and she baulked at the prospect of putting her baby into someone else’s care.

After all, Isla very much wanted her baby. In fact, a warm glow spread inside her at the mere thought of the precious burden she carried. Her baby would give her a family again, and wouldn’t that be wonderful? Not to be alone any more? To have her child to focus on and look after, to have a seriously good reason for everything she did in the future? And that she could warmly accept its accidental conception was solely down to Paulu Rossetti’s generosity and thoughtfulness. Had her sister even known what was in her husband’s will? She didn’t think it would ever have occurred to Tania to leave her kid sister anything if she passed away first. Of course, Tania had never had much of her own and what she had had she’d spent on designer clothes and the like.

A week after that snowbound night, when Isla had still been feeling very depressed about having slept with Alissandru, her uncle and aunt had returned from New Zealand. After spending a fortnight on the rickety old sofa bed her relatives had borrowed for her use, and catching a bad bout of flu, Isla had been ready to leave. Although she had missed a period by that stage, she had not been unduly concerned because the flu had left her run-down. Only when her menstrual cycle had failed a second time had Isla realised that she needed to buy a pregnancy test, and by then she had flown back to London, encouraged by the fact that her inheritance had given her options. Instead of worrying about where she would stay or how she would afford to stay anywhere without an income, thanks to Paulu she had the luxury of choice. Her friend Lindsay had announced that Isla and Puggle could stay in her flat with her for a while because her flatmate was away on a training course.

Paulu’s bequest had included far more money than Isla had ever dreamt of receiving, and no sooner had Isla asked her Scottish solicitor to contact the Rossetti family’s solicitor than a ridiculously generous offer had come through to buy Paulu’s house back from her. But Isla was, as yet, in no hurry to sell the house and the discovery that Alissandru had got her pregnant had only complicated the situation.

Isla wanted to see the house where Paulu and her sister had been living. She wanted to go through Tania’s possessions and keep a few sentimental objects to remember her sibling by. And the knowledge that her baby would be a Rossetti had also made her reluctant to immediately sell the house on the family estate. Not that Alissandru would want her there or even visiting, she conceded uncomfortably, but her baby would have rights too, she reasoned, and might well appreciate that connection to his or her Sicilian heritage. No, selling the house, totally breaking that connection, wasn’t a decision to be made in haste, she reasoned ruefully...regardless of how Alissandru felt about her owning part of his precious family estate.

So, now what did she do about Alissandru? She would have to tell him that she was pregnant because he had the right to know, but she wasn’t looking forward to breaking that news because she was convinced that it would be a deeply unwelcome announcement. Alissandru didn’t want anything more to do with her, so the news that they would be linked for ever by a child could only infuriate him. But there was nothing she could do about that, so Alissandru would just have to deal with it.

Before she could lose her nerve, Isla pulled out her phone and called the number he had given her.

‘Alissandru?’ she queried the instant she heard his dark deep drawl answer with an impatient edge. ‘It’s Isla Stewart. I’m sorry to have to bother you but I have something to tell you.’

At the other end of the line, Alissandru had tensed. ‘You want more money for the house?’ he assumed, stepping away from the conference table he had been seated at, jerking his head in dismissal at his staff as he stalked into his office next door, tension stamped in every angular line and hollow of his darkly handsome features.

‘It’s nothing to do with the house,’ Isla admitted. ‘I haven’t made a decision about that yet.’

‘Why not?’ Alissandru cut in edgily.

‘Because I’ve just found out that I’m pregnant and right now that is all I can think about,’ Isla confided reluctantly.

A freezing little silence fell at the other end of the line. Alissandru was reeling in silent shock because he had not once considered that possibility and when it came at him out of nowhere, he froze, stunned by her announcement. How could she be pregnant? Was it even his? What were the odds?

‘I don’t understand how this has happened,’ Alissandru murmured flatly.

‘Well, I’ve done my duty by telling you and for the moment we can leave it there,’ Isla told him, eager to conclude the call. ‘We’ve got nothing to discuss.’

‘If what you claim is true we have a great deal to discuss,’ Alissandru contradicted harshly.

‘Why on earth would I lie about being pregnant?’ Isla snapped.

‘I don’t know, but your sister did,’ Alissandru told her with ruthless emphasis. ‘But be assured that even if you turn out to be having triplets, I’m unlikely to offer a wedding ring.’

Isla sucked in a deep steadying breath. ‘Since I’m well aware of your habit of saying exactly what enters your mind and because I have better manners than you have, I will just ignore those comments,’ she responded tartly. ‘But allow me to assure you that I am pregnant, you are the father and I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man alive!’

‘I will arrange for you to see a doctor first and we will move on from there.’

‘I’m ready to move on past you right now, Alissandru!’ Isla flashed back, so angry she could barely vocalise.

‘I will call you back once I’ve made arrangements,’ Alissandru countered grimly and finished the call.

Isla was pregnant? How could that be? Why hadn’t the contraceptive pill worked? And why would she have waited weeks to tell him? It seemed like a long time since that night they had spent together. In a rage, Alissandru slammed his phone down on his desk. What an idiot he had been that night to fall into the trap of having unprotected sex! He had run an insane risk and incredibly he had done it with Tania Stewart’s sister. Of all the worst possible women to have got entangled with, why had he succumbed to her?

Over the past two months, Alissandru had repeatedly relived that night. Waking or sleeping, he just couldn’t seem to shake free of those memories of Isla. The sex had been phenomenal. That was why he couldn’t get that night with her out of his head. Clearly, he was more driven by his libido than he had ever appreciated and the knowledge that he was guilty of that fatal flaw, that demeaning weakness, had turned him off casual sex and other women. He had not been with a woman since that night, which was probably even unhealthier, he reasoned rawly.

Pregnant! Was it possible? Of course it was possible, but it was equally possible after several weeks that even if Isla was pregnant the child would ultimately turn out not to be his child. Dragging in a shuddering breath of restraint, Alissandru called his lawyer to ask for advice and only after that enlightening discussion, and in a much cooler frame of mind, did he organise a medical appointment. He requested Isla’s address by text and informed her that he would pick her up the next morning at nine and accompany her to the examination.

Isla gritted her teeth and told him that he would be waiting outside the door if there was to be any medical examination. She gave him the address, though, reasoning that once he was satisfied that she was telling him the truth they could move on and she would need to have nothing more to do with him. After all, she didn’t need his financial help, did she? Paulu had left her comfortably off, giving her the means to raise a child as a single parent. While she was pregnant, she would attend classes and study, she decided, making the most of that time before she sought employment again. Many women were successful working mothers and so would she be.

Another worry now clawed at her, though. Was it true that Tania had claimed to be pregnant at some stage of her relationship with Paulu? Was that, in fact, why she and Paulu had married as Alissandru seemed to think? And even if it was true and Tania had made an understandable mistake in assuming that she was pregnant when she was not, why was Isla’s word now being doubted and why was she expected to hang her head in shame for her sibling’s error?

Suddenly, Isla knew exactly what she would be saying to Alissandru in the morning and none of it would be polite, she thought furiously. How could she have slept with a man like that? He was horribly suspicious and distrustful of women. Not to mention unreasonably biased against Isla because of the blood in her veins. She would be the mother of Alissandru’s child. How the heck could they ever establish a civilised relationship as parents on that basis? The guy was a living nightmare! Nobody halfway normal could handle him! Her poor sister was dead and he was still holding Tania’s past actions against her.

Lindsay, a pretty blonde with tough views on men, had an entirely different take on Isla’s situation. ‘Of course, you need Alissandru’s financial help.’

‘I don’t,’ Isla protested.

‘Paulu left you a lovely nest egg but it’s not going to keep you or a child for the rest of your days. Not unless you flog that house in Sicily as well and invest the proceeds,’ Lindsay pronounced. ‘And the child is his child, as well...why shouldn’t he pay towards his child’s upkeep? That’s his duty.’

‘He assumed I was on the pill.’

‘But he didn’t ask you if you were, did he? You both took the risk and it didn’t pay off, so you’re not any more responsible for this development than he is,’ Lindsay completed roundly. ‘Stop beating yourself up about it.’

But Isla was tormenting herself because she felt very guilty that on a secret level she was pleased to be pregnant and already excitedly looking forward to becoming a first-time mum. Family was what she cared about most and finally she was going to have a family again. At the same time, even the sound of Alissandru’s voice on the phone had warned her that he was angry, bitter and unhappy about the prospect of her being pregnant with his child. How could she feel anything other than guilty in the circumstances? Another woman might have been willing to consider a termination or adoption but Isla wasn’t prepared to consider either of those options.

* * *

In the morning, she got up early, ate a good breakfast and donned a winter-weight jersey dress, teaming it with knee-high boots, items recently purchased with her newly affluent bank account. She questioned why she was making that much effort for Alissandru and decided that pure pride was motivating her, because Alissandru had rejected her on every possible level after the night they had spent together. She needed the comfort of knowing she looked her best in Alissandru’s radius.

The bell buzzed through the empty flat, Lindsay having long since left for work. Isla used the peephole and undid the chain, standing back as she opened the door. Alissandru stood there, six-feet-plus inches of volatile brooding male.

‘Will you come in for a moment?’ Isla asked politely.

‘The traffic’s bad and we don’t want to be late.’

‘If you want me to go anywhere with you, you have to come in first,’ Isla delivered without hesitation, wondering how he could look so gorgeous early in the morning and yet be a total irredeemable toad beneath the surface sophistication.

Wide sensual mouth flattening with annoyance, Alissandru skimmed grim dark golden eyes over the flushed triangle of her face. Sì, he reasoned angrily, already he could feel the dangerous pull of sexual attraction. The dress cupped the full swell of her magnificent breasts to perfection and hinted at her gloriously curvaceous hips while the boots accentuated legs that were surprisingly long despite her diminutive height. Isla could cover herself from head to toe and screen every atom of bare flesh and still look like a total temptress with her pink sultry mouth, sexy curves and sparkling violet-blue eyes. She didn’t look remotely pregnant to him but then she wouldn’t be showing yet, would she? Alissandru knew virtually nothing about pregnancy and at that moment, his ignorance galled him.

‘Why do you want me to come in?’

‘I want your full attention and I don’t want to stage an argument with you while you’re trying to drive,’ she confided.

‘I have a driver,’ Alissandru slotted in icily. ‘And I do not see what we have to argue about.’

Isla raised a dubious coppery brow. ‘Your attitude? It stinks. I’m not my sister. I don’t look like her and I don’t think I behave like her but you can’t seem to see that. Getting pregnant after a one-night stand is worrying enough without me feeling that I’m constantly up against your irrational prejudice against me.’

‘I do not suffer from irrational prejudice,’ Alissandru declared in a stubborn tone of denial.

‘Sorry to be the one to tell you but you do,’ Isla replied quietly. ‘I can accept that you didn’t like my sister and that it’s too late now for you to change your mind about her, but you have to accept that I’m a different person. Stop comparing us and being suspicious of my every move because this baby I’m carrying doesn’t need that tension in the air between us.’

‘Mr Welch will tell us if you are carrying a baby but we won’t know if it’s mine until the child is born. DNA testing can be done while you are pregnant but it could compromise your pregnancy, so I’m prepared to wait for that confirmation until after the birth,’ Alissandru informed her, looking very much as if he was expecting a lofty round of applause for that consideration. ‘May we leave now?’

‘You didn’t listen to a word I said, did you?’ Isla exclaimed angrily. ‘Well, maybe you didn’t listen but you can sit down and think about your prejudice later, can’t you? I’m tired of dealing with it.’

‘The car’s waiting,’ Alissandru murmured, standing back for her to precede him, careful to be courteous as advised by his lawyer. Arguing with Isla, who was potentially the mother of his child, would be unwise. He needed a plan and then he would deal with the whole situation. Irrational prejudice? What was she talking about? She was Tania’s sister and naturally he distrusted her. That was not unreasonable, he told himself squarely.