The Italian's Pregnancy Proposal (Bought For Her Baby Series Book 3)

by Maggie Cox

  And besides, it appeared that Dante really wanted to do this. He wanted to take responsibility for the coming child, and he wanted Bliss to be his wife. Okay, so they weren’t in love…but they didn’t exactly hate each other either, did they? Even in her newly pregnant condition Bliss only had to glance his way just briefly to feel light-headed and feverish. She was so acutely sensitive to his presence that her limbs were immediately deluged by a deliciously silky weakness whenever he appeared, which destroyed her ability to think about anything but desiring him in the most carnal way…

  She registered the sound of the door opening behind her with a guilty jolt, silently marvelling that even the soft snick of the catch sounded luxurious and expensive to her hypersensitive hearing.

  ‘You do not have to unpack now if you are feeling tired. Leave it and I will get a chambermaid to come up and do it for you.’

  He had taken off his suit jacket at last and partially rolled up the sleeves on his crisp white shirt to expose his bronzed forearms. His more casual appearance did no more to help Bliss relax than when he was dressed formally. Every molecule in the air seemed to react as if it had received an immense electrical charge when Dante walked into the room and the portion that she sucked into her lungs, doubly so. But although his angular handsome face gave very little away and his riveting green eyes were just as intensely attractive as ever, Bliss couldn’t help noticing that his compelling mouth was showing definite signs of strain. As if he wasn’t as sure of himself as he liked to project.

  ‘It’s okay. I’m happy to do it. I was just—just getting my bearings.’ Smiling tentatively, Bliss smoothed down her hair, feeling about as confident as a five-year-old sneaking into her mother’s wardrobe to play ‘dress up’. It would definitely not work in her favour to let Dante see her own signs of strain, she decided. At no point did she want to give him an advantage and prove that she couldn’t take care of herself. She also couldn’t help wondering under the circumstances if he expected her to share this wonderful, opulent bed with him tonight. Her heart skittered alarmingly at the thought.

  ‘You have everything you need?’ His sharp glance around the room told her this was for some reason important to him and, finding her head alarmingly bereft of a clear thought, all Bliss could manage was a faint nod. Besides, she wasn’t used to anyone asking her if she had everything she needed. That was usually her job.

  ‘Perhaps you should lie down for a little while before dinner? I have arranged for us to eat in the sitting room this evening. We can talk undisturbed and you do not have to worry about looking your best in the dining room. You can relax.’

  Knowing that Dante probably thought she looked like something the cat had dragged in and that even a full service by a top make-up artist couldn’t effect a miracle, Bliss felt her spirits plummet sharply. Was that why he had filled the bathroom with all manner of exotic and expensive perfumes? Was it a not-so-subtle reminder that, now she was with him, she had to assume the guise of one of those rich, pampered women she’d so despised, with nothing better to do all day long but spend endless hours titivating their appearance for some man? The thought made her suddenly furious.

  ‘You mean you don’t want me embarrassing you looking like this—that’s what you mean, isn’t it? And by the way, I noticed your little hint with all the perfume. For your information, it makes me heave. It’s bad enough that I’m surrounded by it all day at work without being expected to practically bathe in it to make myself more attractive! And while we’re on the subject, I don’t need incentives to reach any kind of decision about the future. Your wealth and your ability to buy me things don’t impress me.’

  Feeling wounded and uncomfortably emotional, she cursed her wayward pregnancy hormones, then lifted a sweater from her suitcase and held it to her chest. She should have made more of an effort with her appearance, she scolded herself. God knew, it wasn’t a lot to ask, was it? Jeans and a pink tee shirt with ‘Love’ written on the front in bold white lettering were fine for relaxing at home in, but this was Dante’s family hotel and, if the sumptuous Italianate décor was anything to go by, it had an equally imposing dress code. Bliss knew she hadn’t imagined the snooty glance from the exquisitely attired receptionist on the front desk when she had walked through the doors with Dante by her side earlier.

  ‘You think I am embarrassed by you and at the same time trying to buy you with my gifts?’ Scowling, Dante walked over to her side. He took the sweater out of her agitated hands and threw it unceremoniously back down on top of her other clothes, then slid warm but hard, commanding fingers beneath her chin, raising it a little so that her startled gaze had no choice but to meet with his. ‘Why would you say such an outrageous thing? Why would you even think it? You are the mother-to-be of my child. The perfume was evidently a mistake under the circumstances, but I did not mean to offend you and neither am I trying to impress you with my wealth or coerce you into anything. The idea did not even cross my mind, and it is insulting to me! It is fortunate that you are carrying my child, Bliss, because if you were not, I would not find it so easy to hold back my temper!’

  Seeing the sudden alarm in her eyes, Dante released her with a frustrated sigh. He didn’t want to scare her. All he wanted to do was get her to see that he had her and the baby’s welfare at heart. That was his prime motivation for bringing her here to his family’s hotel. Any other woman of his acquaintance would have basked in all the attention. The fact that Bliss remained unimpressed by Dante’s wealth and position reminded him that she was worlds apart from the clinging gold-diggers that it was often his misfortune to attract, and his anger suddenly drained away. More softly, he continued, ‘You are also young and very beautiful…molto bella, as we say in Italy. Of this I should be embarrassed?’

  Bliss moved her gaze and stared at the cleft in his chin, trying desperately to convince herself that it was only a common or garden dimple—not a teasing thumbprint left by an admiring angel when he was born, as her wild imagination insisted it was. The trouble was, Dante couldn’t help being so effortlessly gorgeous and Bliss knew, no matter how many times he paid her lavish compliments and called her ’molto bella’, she was never going to be in the same league. But now he was regarding her with a sexy, knowing glance, and as her violet eyes shaded to dark, any thoughts of feeling less than good were totally banished beneath the hotly smouldering gaze that Dante was currently subjecting her to.

  ‘I should have given more thought to my appearance, perhaps, but I am not used to moving in the kind of social circles you do, Dante,’ she conceded softly, her anger dissipating.

  Instead of answering her directly, Dante let loose a smile that turned Bliss’s insides to melting wax. Dropping his gaze to the front of her pink tee shirt, he traced the ‘L’ of the word ‘Love’ with his finger, deliberately lingering over the part of the letter that was nearest to the peak of her breast with idle enjoyment. ‘I like the way you dress, innamorata. It is young and sexy, just like you. And isn’t love what we all need more of? Besides…’ The cadence of his voice lowering to almost gravel, Dante fixed her with such an openly devouring glance that for a moment Bliss felt as if she were standing on the deck of a ship in a storm because her emotions were lurching so violently ‘…I am more interested in what you look like undressed than clothed, if you want to know the truth.’

  ‘But, Dante, I—’

  ‘Shh.’ Silencing her with a finger across her lips, Dante cupped the weight of her breast fully in his palm and sensuously coaxed Bliss’s already tightening nipple to pucker even more tightly. The violent connection to her womb was like a small incendiary exploding inside her and her teeth came down on her lip and almost drew blood.

  ‘Please don’t do that!’

  Seeing her lips tremble and her beautiful eyes darken to the most seductive, deepest violet Dante had ever seen, he knew it was an impossible request. He was so hot for her, so turned on by her innocent, unaffected beauty, that it physically hurt to try and switch off his g
rowing desire for her. But then he remembered the growing baby in her womb and realised that she probably needed a rest more than sexual attention from her amorous husband-to-be. Just for tonight, Dante vowed, he would not make demands on her body; he would let her rest as much as possible.

  But tomorrow night…from tomorrow he would persuade her that making love would be very good for them both. Not just good, but necessary. Knowing he hadn’t imagined the hot flare of excitement in her gaze when he had touched her just now, Dante didn’t doubt for one moment that he could persuade her.

  CHAPTER NINE

  ‘DANTE waited for Bliss to appear from the bathroom before he presented her with his plans for the day. He’d heard her about an hour ago succumbing to another bout of sickness and he had paced the short corridor outside the bathroom intermittently since then, his stomach muscles so cramped that the tension in them hurt. He was more on edge than he would be in any business negotiation he entered into, because at least in that situation he could determine the outcome. Failure was anathema to him and he always came out on top. But Bliss being pregnant, and Dante not being able to influence the toll it took on her body, were another matter altogether.

  Not for the first time that morning, he wished that his mother Isabella were close by because Dante was certain she would be a ministering angel to Bliss in her distress. It grieved him sorely that Bliss did not have her own mother to call upon and made him even more determined that the path that lay ahead of her would be as smooth as he could make it. Which was why their first task of the day was to visit Sandrine Lantain in Harley Street and have Bliss get a thorough health check.

  ‘You’re all dressed up. Are you going out?’

  He was no more dressed up than usual in another gorgeous suit that couldn’t help but enhance the already spectacular physique of the man who wore it. But it seemed to Bliss that every time she set eyes on Dante anew, it became increasingly impossible to think straight around him. Could anyone blame her for coming out with inane remarks under the circumstances?

  ‘We are going out together. I am taking you to see a friend of the family’s in Harley Street.’

  Aware that his gaze was checking every detail of her appearance—no doubt for flaws—Bliss was slightly bolstered by the fact that she’d made a better effort with her outfit today. She’d matched a recently purchased light green cardigan with fitted boot-cut denims and a brown woven belt. Keeping her make-up to a ‘barely there’ application of eyeliner, blush and some raspberry-coloured lip gloss, she’d taken more time than usual fixing her hair and was at least feeling reasonably satisfied with her efforts. But alarm bells started ringing when Dante mentioned Harley Street. Her soft brows drew quizzically together. ‘And who might this friend be? He wouldn’t be a doctor, by any chance, would he?’

  ‘You need to have a proper physical now that you are pregnant.’

  ‘I’ll go and see my own doctor, thank you.’

  Ducking her glance away from his, Bliss realised she was still self-conscious about discussing the intimate details of her pregnancy with Dante, even though he was the baby’s father. By nature she had always been a very private person and now, finding herself in a situation where her fiercely guarded privacy was being threatened, she couldn’t help but feel under attack.

  ‘Sandrine Lantain is an obstetrician, Bliss. She looked after Tatiana when she was pregnant with Renata. I want you to go and see her and have a proper examination. I am concerned that you are so sick every morning and I would like to get her advice.’

  ‘It’s normal to suffer with morning sickness when you’re pregnant!’

  ‘How many children have you had that you are now such an expert?’

  His sarcasm hurt and Bliss turned away. She nearly jumped through the ceiling when he took hold of her arm to irritably compel her full, undivided attention. ‘You may have been used to being less than diligent in taking proper care of yourself until now. But now that you are going to be the mother of my child, you will discover that things are going to be very different.’

  There was a little tightening around the eyes as he said this and Bliss felt as though she’d just been chastised with the pointed end of a red-hot needle. ‘Go to hell!’ Wrenching back her arm, her fury at being spoken to as if she were a dense adolescent who needed to have the error of her ways pointed out almost rendering her speechless, Bliss stepped back unthinkingly and cracked her head against the wall. She was doubly annoyed at being so accident-prone, and her expression was petulant as she rubbed at her scalp to ease the pain. ‘Now see what you’ve done! Why can’t you just go away and leave me alone? I never asked you to come back. I’m going to bring up this baby on my own without your help and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it! I’m the one giving him life and I’m the one who will be responsible for his welfare!’

  ‘Over my dead body.’ The four short words were spoken with a deadly seriousness that made Bliss’s blood run cold, dousing her rebellion as swiftly as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her. Within just a few chilling seconds she had quickly learned that Dante di Andrea was not a man who would suffer dismissal or contempt in any shape or form. Especially not when the future of his unborn child was at stake. ‘I will grant you lenience in your truculent manner towards me up to a point, Bliss. But once that point is crossed, you will find out that my retaliation will be swift and merciless.’

  Now that he most definitely had her full, wide-eyed attention, Dante continued. ‘You will think twice about challenging me in such a reckless way. Any more talk of bringing up our child on your own and I will demonstrate that there is plenty I can do to stop you. I will have you in court so quickly that it will be you who will be negotiating visitation rights with me! Comprende? Make no mistake that I mean every word I say.’

  Biting back her fear and resentment, Bliss glared mutely back at him, her defiant lavender eyes speaking volumes. As if to rub salt into her wounds, Dante smiled at her with the complacent, self-satisfied glance of a man who was very much used to getting his own way and, in fact, expected it.

  ‘Now I am going to take you to see Sandrine. I have already made an appointment. Make yourself ready and we will go. I have a driver waiting out front.’

  About to open her mouth in protest, Bliss found herself staring at Dante’s broad, suited back as he turned and deliberately walked away as if any further discussion on the matter was now obsolete.

  ‘Hey! Don’t you dare just walk away from me as if the subject was closed!’

  Clearly unimpressed by her futile display of annoyance, he turned and regarded her with a lazy—bordering on arrogant—smile.

  ‘It is, innamorata. I am afraid you are just going to have to accept that my word is final.’

  Putting her clothes back on behind the screen, Bliss’s fingers shook slightly as she did up the intricately woven buttons on her cardigan. Sandrine Lantain had been lovely. Very professional yet warm, and Bliss hadn’t failed to notice the way her blue eyes had lit up when Dante had walked into her consulting room. So what was new? What woman wouldn’t just love to bask in his exclusive attention for even a moment? Her stomach reiterated the rhetorical question with a very definite jolt. Now he was out there with the lovely Sandrine, no doubt discussing every single detail of his wife-to-be’s pregnancy and no doubt—because the obstetrician was a family friend—trying to explain how he had found himself in such an untenable position with a woman he hardly knew.

  For a moment Bliss wished there were a back way out so that she could escape before Dante realised she was gone—back to her undesirable flat and the life she had had before she had ever set eyes on him. Then she told herself to calm down and think seriously for a moment about what she was evidently so eager to throw away. She might be in the dark about his true feelings towards her, but one thing was clear—Dante was apparently determined to fulfil his role as a husband and father to the letter. She sighed softly. Marriage to him could not possibly be worse than facing the pr
ospect of single parenthood, struggling to make ends meet for herself and her child. If Dante was prepared to try and make a go of things, then the least Bliss could do was to be equally committed. Maybe in time, when he got to know her better, he might find out that he hadn’t made such a bad choice after all?

  Feeling the weight of what felt like a bowling ball in the pit of her stomach, Bliss returned to the consulting room, a deliberately fixed smile on her face as she approached the obstetrician and Dante either side of the big oak desk.

  ‘Are you okay?’ The expression on his handsome face revealing concern, Dante stood up as Bliss entered the room and drew back a second chair next to his own for her to sit down.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine.’ She deliberately kept her voice terse to show him she hadn’t forgiven him for the dictatorial way he’d spoken to her earlier, but, feeling the touch of his hand warm her through the soft wool of her cardigan, Bliss realised that she had no defences where this man was concerned. Even her resentment did not prevent the torrid rush of need that pulsed through her body every time they made contact, however slight. Knowing that, she felt her already undeniable sense of panic escalate to a whole other level. What was wrong with her? Didn’t she know that it was dangerous to let him become so important to her? Especially when the important people in her life always ended up leaving her, one way or the other…