‘We’ve all diversified, but construction is still my main business, and I’m still a partner with Luca and Nick in our original company and a few other companies we’ve acquired along the way.’ He checked his rear vision and side mirrors before changing lanes in order to pass a farmer on a tractor. ‘We’ve also established an organisation aimed at ocean conservation.’
‘Sounds like a huge undertaking.’
‘We don’t shy away from challenges.’
She believed it. ‘You say you always intended to find me again, but I’m nearly thirty. What happened in all those years?’ Even though part of her was afraid of his answers she forced herself to ask, ‘Did you lose interest in me? Was there someone else in your life?’
‘I never lost interest.’ He glanced quickly at her before he gave his attention back to the road. ‘It was always you, Jen.’ Each word was full of conviction. ‘Although I had some relationships, there was nobody serious. No other woman I’ve met has ever come anywhere close to making me want to spend the rest of my life with her.’
There’d been other women. Irrationally, the admission was like a knife stabbing at her heart even though she’d seen photos of him on the internet pictured with some very glamorous looking women.
When he spared her another brief glance, it was impossible not to see the regret etched into his features. ‘I would never have pursued other relationships had I not reached the point where I believed you were lost to me.’
‘What made you think that? Was there someone else in my life?’
His hands gripped tighter on the steering wheel for a moment before he took a visibly deeper breath in and let out a long, audible exhalation. ‘I thought there was.’ His jaw clenched and it looked as though he ground his molars together before he told her, ‘I went back to your home after I was seriously wealthy. Charles had died and James was in charge of the estate.’
‘Was I living there?’
‘Yes. You’d already started your equestrian business.’
‘Did you return to ask me to marry you?’
‘Yes.’
‘My God! Did I say no?’ It hardly seemed possible.
‘I didn’t get to propose. You were out riding. When I told James why I’d come, he said you were madly in love with Curtain.’
‘Oh no.’ She didn’t believe it. ‘I’m almost certain I never loved David.’ Then again, she didn’t specifically remember having been in love with Max.
‘James is a manipulative liar. I realise now he always has been, but back then I was as suckered into his lies as you have been since your accident.’ She watched as his jaw firmed again and a muscle ticed in his cheek. ‘As I stood in the study at Herlstone Park with James, you returned from your ride with David. I watched you through the window. You were laughing together, and after what James had told me, your ease with each other appeared to support his lies. He’d said you two were engaged, and even said you planned to marry because you were pregnant with Curtain’s child.’
Heat flared in her cheeks. ‘Max, I’m almost certain David and I never …’
‘You didn’t. I was your first and only lover.’
Oh. Right. He had mentioned that before.
They drove on a little way in silence until he said, ‘I should’ve stayed and spoken to you. If I had, I would’ve realised it was all a lie and we would’ve been together from then on. But I was completely devastated. Every day I’d thought of you. All I’d worked for was for you.’ He shook his head. ‘To be told you were with someone else—that you were expecting another man’s child—was a massive blow. It made a mockery of all I’d achieved.’
‘No. What you and your friends achieved was phenomenal.’
‘Phenomenal but meaningless if you weren’t in my life to share my success.’
Sadness seeped into every cell and Jenna wanted to weep for all the heartache Max must’ve known. ‘What did you do?’
‘I left England and went to Vancouver to establish another construction company on my own. I diversified, buying into some tourist operations and resorts.’
‘How did we meet up again?’
He turned off the main road and she noted absently that the sign pointed to a picnic reserve and hiking tracks. ‘We didn’t meet up again until nine months ago. It was in London at a fundraiser for the Children’s Leukaemia Foundation. I was there at the bar with Luca and Nick. Luca’s now happily married but Nick and I were positioned so we could look out for any seemingly unattached, gorgeous, single women who walked in. There you were. Still the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen.’
The sincerity in his tone had her catching her breath. ‘God, I wish I could remember.’
‘You weren’t wearing a ring. You said you’d never married and laughed out loud when I mentioned I’d heard you were planning to marry David Curtain. You stated categorically the very idea of it was ridiculous and told me you’d never even been out on a date with him—that all he was to you was your step-brother’s friend.’
‘How long was it before …?’
Even though she couldn’t finish the question, Max guessed what she’d been going to ask.
‘We became lovers the same night. I asked you to marry me immediately afterwards and you accepted only to retract your acceptance almost immediately.’
It didn’t make any sense. ‘Why did I change my mind?’
Max laughed as he shook his head. ‘You were a shocking tease, telling me you’d waited all your life to be asked out on a date by me. You said you weren’t going to accept my proposal until we’d dated for at least three months.’ He grinned. ‘I had no choice in the matter, but I made you wait four months before I asked you again!’
‘How rotten making me wait an extra month!’
‘Not at all,’ he said with mock indignation. ‘I decided you deserved an extra month of dating.’ He parked the car, turned off the engine and turned in his seat to face her.
‘You did not. I’ll bet you were making me pay for not having fallen immediately into your plans.’
‘Maybe.’ He sent her one of those sexy winks of his and it was impossible to maintain her impression of being miffed with him. ‘Although, having you fall immediately into my bed was sweet consolation.’
Whoa! She looked away as she moved restlessly in her seat. Knowing she’d become his lover so easily didn’t sit well with her. ‘I didn’t wait very long, did I?’
‘Ah, but you did. You’d waited nearly twenty years.’
‘Not really. We would hardly have gone to bed together as kids.’
‘True. But there were other men you dated in your adult life—other men you could’ve slept with, and you didn’t. I was always the one for you, Jen, just as it was always you for me.’
‘Are you telling me you didn’t sleep with any of those women you dated—that I’ve been your only lover?’
‘No,’ he said without apology. ‘For years I thought you’d married Curtain and during those years, there were other women.’
Why did his admission hurt so much when she didn’t even remember him as her lover? ‘The old double standard.’
‘Hardly. My first sexual encounter was after I thought you were expecting David Curtain’s child.’
That flummoxed her. He would’ve been in his early twenties. He must’ve had plenty of opportunities because any woman would be attracted to his good looks and personality. There were also those who’d target him solely for his wealth.
Her gaze trailed over his body. He was every inch the virile male. ‘I can’t believe you waited so long.’
‘I was in love with you, Jenna. I wanted to make love to you and only you, not to have meaningless sex for the sake of trying it, or for physical relief.’
She looked at him through her tears. ‘You’re quite a guy, Max Bennett.’
He shook his head. ‘I should’ve fought for you back then. It was the lie about you having been pregnant with Curtain’s child that made me angry and cynical. I wondered what the hell
I was doing having passed up countless opportunities to have sex with what seemed to be a never-ending stream of attractive women who threw themselves at me. Thinking you hadn’t waited for me—that I hadn’t meant as much to you as you had to me and you’d forgotten me—I was determined I wasn’t going to spend my days pining after you. In my mind, you were gone.’
Every word twisted like a knife in her gut.
‘I admit I went a bit crazy afterwards,’ he continued. ‘I had a series of short-lived affairs. I told myself there was someone out there who could capture my heart—someone who’d value it and want to keep it.’
Raising a hand, she wiped away the moisture of the tears she hadn’t been able to hold at bay. ‘I hope James rots in prison for all he’s put us both through.’
‘James doesn’t matter anymore. He can’t hurt either of us now.’ He raised a hand and also wiped her cheek. ‘What I can tell you is that you’ve been the only woman in my heart and this time I’m not giving up on you.’
Oh geez. The sincerity in his tone squeezed at her chest and fresh tears threatened.
His fingers trailed down to rest under her chin, urging her to look at him. The sheer intensity of his expression made her swallow as her heartbeat kicked up into a gallop.
‘I have every confidence we’ll be lovers again, Jen.’ His expression became less intense and he teased, ‘I hope you won’t practice revenge and make me wait four months.’
Four months? At this rate she’d be lucky to hang on four more seconds.
But, she had to wait and waiting was starting to turn into sheer hell. Physically she found him extremely attractive and on an emotional level, there was no denying how much she liked him—how much her very soul seemed to resonate on the same frequency as his in perfect harmony.
He released his gentle hold of her chin and trailed his fingertips down over her cheek again.
Her breath hitched.
It was all too clear he believed they belonged together, and after all she’d heard, she was starting to believe it too, but she didn’t want to make any commitments until she knew exactly who she was and what she was doing. She needed to know what she wanted her future to hold before she thought about what their future might hold.
‘Max—’
‘I know.’ His hand dropped away and he leant back into his seat. ‘No pressure. But I can’t deny I want you to marry me and be my wife.’
When David had talked to her about marrying her and supposedly resuming a sexual relationship, Jenna’s heart had never skipped a beat or raced out of control as it was doing right now.
‘It’s too much, too soon, Max,’ she said breathlessly.
Way too soon, especially as his declarations came hot on the heels of her near miss with David.
He nodded again. ‘I know. Slowly, slowly.’
Kick. Kick.
The baby moved, reminding her again of its existence and of the need for her to consider its future as well as her own.
Not content with a couple of kicks, the baby began to perform what felt like an aerobic workout inside her.
The baby. She kept thinking of it in those terms, but it wasn’t just any baby. It was her baby.
Max’s baby.
Their baby.
A baby that must’ve come as just as much a shock to him as it had to her. While she hadn’t made any huge connections with it, Max hadn’t even had the chance to do so.
Making a quick, spontaneous decision, Jenna shoved her reservations to one side and reached over to pull Max’s hand away from where it’d gone back to resting on the steering wheel. She placed it over the spot where the baby had kicked.
‘Hang on,’ she told him as he looked at her with raised eyebrows. ‘Any moment now, junior will resume exercising.’
It was the first time she’d called the baby ‘junior’. In fact, it was the first time she’d called the baby anything at all.
A smile curved Max’s mouth and excitement flared in his eyes.
It wasn’t the baby’s movements that caused Jenna’s stomach to flutter with wild excitement. It was the intimacy of Max’s hand on her body and the way their gazes meshed together as they waited for …
Kick.
There it was.
‘It’s incredible.’ His voice was full of awe.
Kick. Kick. Flip.
‘I can’t work out whether it wants to be a football star or a gymnast.’ She laughed.
He laughed with her as his hand moved in a small circular motion over the spot where he’d felt their child.
‘Does this happen very often?’
‘It’s becoming more frequent. At first, I wasn’t sure whether it was movement I was feeling because it was so faint it was almost like bubbles inside me.’
‘These movements are way more solid than bubbles.’
‘Try sleeping with them—or try sleeping when our child is pressing on your bladder first thing in the morning.’
Our child.
Gosh. Jenna was stunned at how easily those words tripped off her tongue. In the act of sharing the baby with Max, it was the first time she’d felt an absolutely positive connection to it. This sharing of their child was not only bringing her closer to their baby, it was also bringing her closer to Max.
‘Sorry to hear you’ve been uncomfortable.’
‘It’s not so bad.’ Suddenly, she felt awkward again. ‘I’m told it gets worse.’
‘Did you get morning sickness?’
‘Not really. A bit of queasiness and I completely stopped drinking coffee because I couldn’t stand the aroma, but no actual throwing up.’
‘That’s good.’ He lifted his hand to brush a stray tendril of her hair off her cheek and tuck it behind her ear. ‘Thank you for sharing the moment with me.’
‘You’re welcome.’ He was more than welcome. She bit down on her lip before she admitted, ‘Before now, I confess I haven’t taken any great joy in our child.’ As he frowned she tried to explain in a way that didn’t make her seem like an uncaring monster. ‘Every time I’ve felt it move, it’s been a reminder of the responsibility to come and it’s sent me into such panic it’s been impossible to be excited.’
‘You can depend on me. I’ll help you share the responsibility, Jen. It’ll be new for both of us, but we’ll manage like every other couple manages with their first child.’
‘I’m starting to realise it.’ She believed him. She knew Max was here for the long-term and it was amazing the speed at which she was adjusting and finding it more comforting than foreign. ‘Knowing you’re here makes me feel less panicked.’ It was even more than that and she owed him the admission. ‘Actually, knowing I’m not alone … Sharing the baby’s movement with you now was the first time I’ve ever felt even a tiny bit happy about being pregnant.’
‘I want it to be a happy time for both of us, sweetheart.’
‘It should be, shouldn’t it? Do you think I’m really unfeeling?’
‘I think it’s wholly understandable you haven’t been able to become excited about the pregnancy. Surely one of the most exciting things is sharing the news with your partner as soon as you know, and you were robbed of the opportunity. You were told you were having the child of a man you didn’t know and couldn’t feel anything for. It isn’t any wonder you couldn’t make a connection when it must’ve all been so unlikely to you.’
He was so good for her. So understanding. ‘Only another nineteen weeks and it’ll be all too real.’
‘Have you had scans?’
‘Yes. I have a photo somewhere back at the hotel. I’ll show it to you when we get back.’
‘I’d love to see it.’
‘There’s another scan due at twenty-eight weeks.’ Should she? Of course she should. ‘I suppose … That is … Would you like to come with me?’
‘Definitely.’ He reached out, took her hand in his and squeezed it. ‘Luca told me how special it was to see the ultrasounds when his wife, Olivia, was pregnant. They were both caught up
in baby fever, reading books, decorating the nursery. Maybe if we do all that together, you’ll start looking forward to our baby’s arrival?’
She wasn’t so sure about launching into absolutely everything with him.
So much for slowly. There were all sorts of logistics to work out.
‘Maybe.’ Her stomach rumbled right on cue. ‘Right now, I think I need lunch.’
Chapter 9
Max knew he had to give Jenna some physical space, but damn it was hard. Once it would’ve been completely natural for him to put his arm around her and keep her close by his side as they walked to the picnic table under a huge oak tree. Now, he refrained from doing so but had to carry the picnic basket between them to stop himself from reaching out to her.
Despite Dr Gerber’s prediction it would most likely continue to be awkward with Jenna for a long time to come, an easy familiarity had sprung up between them.
A couple of tables away from where they were headed, Max saw another couple and recognised them as members of the security detail he’d employed. They’d arrived earlier to set themselves up under the guise of picnickers but would be ever vigilant in case there were any threats.
It frustrated the hell out of him that there were no leads yet as to who had tried to run Jenna off the road. It would be impossible for him to relax until the attempted murderer or murderers were behind bars and Jenna and their child were safe.
He shot a sideways look at the swell of her abdomen. When he’d felt their baby kicking, he’d been so moved he’d been dangerously close to tears. The number of times he’d been emotional of late was not good for his masculine image.
He might have a reputation for being quite a hard headed negotiator when it came to making multi-million dollar deals, but when it came to the woman he loved and their unborn child, he was incredibly moved by the sheer depth of his love for them.
‘What’s on the menu for lunch?’ she asked him as he threw a red and white checked cloth on the table.
All your favourites. ‘For starters we have …’ He opened the lid of the picnic basket with a flourish and proceeded to pull out each item as he named it. ‘Avocado mousse, iced cucumber soup, mushroom profiteroles and creamy ham and mushroom puffs.’
Seduced by the Stranger (Billionaires & Babies, #2) Page 10
