Allan laughed harder. He bent down and before she could figure out what he was doing, he lifted her and draped her over his shoulder. She squealed, grabbing hold of the back of his waistband.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking my wench onboard, and then I’m going to have my way with her before we set sail.”
“Aye aye, captain,” she yelled laughingly.
Allan lifted her short sundress and kissed the bare part of her rump. She squealed and slapped his ass. She was so precious and unlike anyone he’d ever met. He tried to remember the last time he’d had so much fun in his life, but he couldn’t recall. This was all Riana’s doing. Riana…my own little unicorn.
Chapter Eight
Allan listened and watched Riana, remembering the one night weeks ago he walked into their hotel room to find a box of condoms on his side of the nightstand. He’d been confused by it. He knew she liked making love—no, having sex—with no barrier between them, so what brought on the change?
“Riana,” he’d called out to her.
“Yup,” she then walked out of the bathroom in her lace underwear and his heart picked up the pace. He was never going to get used to seeing her naked without his cock immediately appreciating her with a tight, very painful salute.
At least they hadn’t been at the beach. He smirked at the memory.
A few days before that, when she’d shed off the pool dress to expose a swimsuit held together with string and barely any fabric in between, he became worse than a horny teenager. Without a word, he’d dragged her behind some rocks, pulled the strings to release her wonderful charms and took her against a rock. They’d collapsed in the sand in a tangled heap of exhaustion. His legs had never shaken so damn hard before after release. He’d thought he had hurt her until he heard her laughing. She tied her swimsuit back on and ran into the sea. He went in after her and pulled her deep enough to take her again. It was so exciting, especially with the risk of getting caught.
And he’d also come to like not having barriers between them—except the ones he put up. So this new turn of events didn’t sit well with him.
He held up the box. “Explain.”
She took off the diamond teardrop earrings and set them into the carved wooden jewelry box. He had offered to get her a better one—a more expensive one—but she liked the carvings on the two dollar box. It annoyed him he couldn’t spend as much money as he wanted to on her, but he also respected her for it.
She shrugged. “They are condoms, your size. I’m sure because I know how big—”
“Why now?” he demanded, cutting her off. Her talking about his size especially when she was prancing around in tiny lace lingerie that made her sexier than if she were naked had made it next to impossible to think of anything else except…
She shrugged again. “In case I forget to take my pill.” She pulled what resembled a compact out of the nightstand drawer and held it up. “My three months are up and I can’t get a shot.”
Allan groaned. He didn’t want to use a condom, not with her. “Damn! Can’t you get a shot here?”
“I tried, but the hotel doctor thought it best to use these instead. I couldn’t remember what I’m on and he doesn’t want to risk putting me on anything I might react badly to.”
Allan groaned again. It wasn’t impossible to find out what she was on, but it was impossible to get that information in the next minute. He wanted her, now!
“What time do you want to take the pill?”
She knelt on the bed and moved closer to him on her knees. “I have to take them at nine in the morning. We are usually awake by then, so there is less of a chance to forget.”
What she really meant was morning sex would remind her she needed to pop a pill. He’d just have to remember, too. He liked that option better and to make sure they stuck to it, he set a nine o’clock reminder on his Blackberry.
“I’ve set an alarm,” he announced then pulled her until she was flush against him.
“So no condoms?” She was breathy. Her nipples felt like pebbles against his chest.
He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. “No condoms. How about a shower?”
But after the alarm went off the next morning, he decided the pill could wait ten minutes when she pushed her bare derriere against his already raging erection.
Those ten minutes had turned into half a day and he thought, what could it hurt?
What could it hurt? He’d actually thought that. But watching her now three weeks later, her head over the toilet bowl for a second week, he knew it was the dumbest question ever asked by a man since time began.
“Are you pregnant?”
He felt her back stiffen under his hand. She moved away from the toilet to hunch back on her heels but fell against him, too exhausted to hold herself up. It worried him how frail she was getting with each passing day.
“I’ve never been on a yacht or any other kind of water vessel before, Allan,” she responded, weakly.
“You weren’t sick when we sailed in Bari.”
She sighed, sinking to the ground so that she could lie on the cold, tile floor. “Going out to sea to test my sea legs for a few hours a day for a week doesn’t compare to how long we are taking now to get to…where are we going again?”
“Riana—”
“Allan, I’m not pregnant. It would take months for the effects of the injections to completely wear off and my period would be back to being regular, so chill. I’m too tired to fight about this.”
Allan brushed her hair back from her pale perspiring forehead. “I’m sorry. We’ll dock soon, I promise.”
She tried to push herself into a sitting position but not before her hand slipped from under her. Allan caught her and rested her against his chest. Okay, he was getting even more scared now. Judging by the heat of her hand on his bare thigh, her fever was getting worse.
“No offense, I love sailing with you, but setting my feet on land is an exciting thought equal to the anticipation of you making love to me,” she joked then groaned, burrowing her face into his chest.
Allan pressed the cold cloth on her forehead, neck and chest. “I’ll try not to be offended by that.”
“Good—oh God.” She tried to move quickly to the toilet but she was too exhausted. Allan quickly lifted her over it. He held her hair up and rubbed her back as she retched what smelled like bile.
They needed to dock as soon as possible.
Once she had nothing left to vomit, Allan carried her limp body to bed. He left her in her comfortable underwear and tank top, stripping off everything else including the comforter on the bed and covered her with a light sheet. Then he pulled out his travel map and searched for a good hospital at San Marino.
He hadn’t planned on stopping there. They were already over the scheduled two months and according to his lawyer he needed to get to Venice in the next three days. He was glad that Riana had agreed to spend a few more weeks with him, and Loraine was nice enough to enroll her in her teaching college before she left for France, which made convincing her to stay easier. But this wasn’t how he had wanted to spend the borrowed time with Riana—with her head over a toilet.
Allan moved to Riana—thankfully fast asleep—and kissed her warm forehead. “Hold on babe, just for a few more hours.”
* * * *
Riana sat nervously at the doctor’s office. The tapping noise was the only thing she could time herself off of to keep her breathing steady.
In just a few minutes it’s all about to come crushing down around my ears.
She spared a cautious look at the cool, reserved man sitting next to her, fiddling with his Blackberry.
Allan had insisted on coming with her and it worsened her anxiety as her suspicion grew.
Please don’t let me be pregnant! Please don’t let me be pregnant!
Allan grabbed her knee and squeezed. She turned the same time he did. But instead of the frightened kitten look she was sure she was givi
ng him, he looked calm and confident his lips pulled in a slight smile.
“Stop that. There is nothing to worry about.”
“Stop what?” she croaked.
He chuckled. “The tapping of your foot.”
So that’s what it was. And now he wanted her to stop the one thing that was keeping her from having a panic attack. “Sorry.”
He nodded and turned back to his Blackberry, his hand still on her knee. After what felt like five hours of silence, when it was truly just a minute, Riana couldn’t bear it anymore. She needed a distraction and she couldn’t tap her foot anymore. She kept waiting for the door to open and the man with the white coat to announce her fate like he was passing a death sentence.
Yup. She could already picture it. The door would fly open and the doctor would stand there like an avenging angel in his white coat, his thick, black rimmed glasses barely hiding his bulging shocked eyes as he stared at her test results like incriminating evidence. Then Allan would stand up and ask, ‘what’s wrong doctor’? The doctor would look at her and sneer, ‘She’s trapped you, Signore Sinclair. This woman is pregnant!’ Allan would gasp, then pull her out of the chair and shake her promising not to let her see a dime of his money. Then he would abandon her in the hospital and take off with the sexily dressed nurse, who just came out of nowhere promising not to get pregnant.
She’d cry, of course, beg, and his only response would be to kiss her goodbye and it would then be Steve and Claire all over again. But this time it would be Allan, the man she loved, punishing her in the worst way possible. Riana felt her heart squeeze. She wouldn’t survive it.
Riana sighed and shook it off. God, I have such an overactive imagination!
Allan rubbed her leg, knee to hip and without shifting his eyes from his Blackberry he asked, “Are you cold?”
“No.” Then after a short silence she said, “Allan, thank you for coming with me but you do know it wasn’t necessary?”
He turned to her and smiled encouragingly. He lifted his hand from her thigh after giving it a small squeeze and caressed her cheek with his knuckles. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t poison you with my cooking on top of making you sea sick.”
Riana chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad and this is not your fault.” But maybe it is, in a good way, she confessed silently. I want to be pregnant, but I don’t want you to know and end up hating me because you think I trapped you.
She held back a sigh and leaned into his palm when he opened his hand. If only I had the courage to say those words out loud.
“Well, I can promise you this, you’ll do all the cooking from now on. You cook better than me anyway.”
Riana quirked a brow. “I did offer.”
He chuckled, leaning close and kissing her on the tip of her nose. “I know. I just didn’t want you doing all the work.”
“Allan, you are sailing the yacht and attending to some of the work you ignored because of me. The least I could do is cook and clean and make sure you sleep.”
“You attend to my needs. All my needs, just like a perfect—” he stopped short and pulled away from her, clearly shocked by what he was about to say next.
“Allan, what is it? Like a perfect what?”
He dropped his hand from her cheek and cleared his throat. “Nothing. I’m sure the pills for the sea sickness will work.”
Riana nodded, feeling remorseful for the words he’d refused to utter. For some reason she had a feeling it was as close a confession to his feelings for her she would ever get.
Why couldn’t things just be simple?
She felt Allan’s hand on her knee again. She was tapping her foot again.
“Sorry. I’m not a fan of hospitals or people with white coats.”
Allan laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m here to protect you from the white coats. I won’t leave you alone with this.”
Will you be saying that when the doctor says ‘congratulations you are going to be parents’?
The door opened and Riana jumped. Allan rubbed his hand over her thigh like he was trying to calm a startled horse.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered then turned to the doctor. “Doctor, I hope its good news?”
“Yes, it is.” He smiled at her then turned to Allan and Riana felt like it was the first sign of dooms day. Her world was about to come to an abrupt end.
“Okay. So what’s—” Allan was cut short by his ringing phone and Riana sent a silent prayer of thanks to the heavens.
“Go on and take it. We’ll wait.”
Allan’s brows furrowed. “Are you sure? Because I’m sure it’s important. Melody wouldn’t have called me if it wasn’t, she usually texts.”
Thank God! “All the more reason to take it.” She hoped she didn’t sound too enthusiastic.
He smiled and gave her brief kiss on the lips. “Thank you for understanding. I’ll be right back. Excuse me, doctor,” he said, then stood up and moved to the door.
Riana held her breath until the door was closed behind Allan before she turned to the doctor with the fear of a man facing a shooting squad. “I’m pregnant, aren’t I?”
He smiled. “Signorina, shouldn’t we wait—”
“Yes or no,” she pushed, cutting him off.
“Yes. Congratulations, Signorina.”
Riana waited to feel like her world was coming apart but all she felt was warm and scared, her hand automatically moving to her flat belly. Warm because she shared her body with another human being—Allan’s precious baby—and fear because its father was going to blow a fuse.
It was a dream and yet a nightmare come true. He couldn’t find out. Not yet. Maybe when they were back in the States…
“Can you blame my morning sickness on sea sickness or food poisoning?”
He looked at her, confused. “Yes, Signorina, but—”
“When he comes in, I want you to say it was a touch of food poisoning. He’s going to be disappointed if he thinks the one thing he loves is making me sick, so you can’t say I’m sea sick.”
“Signorina!”
“Please!” she begged, very close to tears.
After a long while he nodded solemnly. “Fine. But I have to put you on a drip to hydrate you. Dehydration and anemia is not a good combination for your body especially since you are pregnant.”
Riana nodded. “That’s fine. Just tell him it’s for something else.”
He leaned back in his seat giving her a skeptic look. “If you don’t mind my asking, Signorina, why the falsehood?”
Riana swallowed hard and blinked back the tears. “I love him too much to survive his hate.”
Just then, the door opened and Allan walked in quickly taking his seat next to her. He took her hand kissed it and then pressed it against his chest. “You okay?”
She nodded, her throat too constricted to speak. He is so loving. He would make a wonderful father.
He turned to the doctor with a faint smile. “Sorry about that. Now where were we?”
The doctor cleared his throat and glanced at her before turning to Allan. “Signore, your moglie—”
“She’s not my wife,” Allan quickly corrected.
She’d heard that word before so many times and Allan always flinched, followed by a tight smile. But he never told her what it meant. Now she knew and Riana felt like she’d been hit with a sledge hammer in her chest.
After a long silence the doctor went on. “Scusi, the signorina has a case of food poisoning. I would like to put her on a hydrating drip because of all the water she lost from vomiting.”
“That’s it?” Allan sounded relieved which only saddened Riana. He sounded like he’d dodged a bullet. Had he really thought she was pregnant?
“Si, Signore.”
Allan stood, pulling her with him. “We’ll just check into a hotel then I’ll bring her back.”
That would be a bad idea. The way she was feeling, she couldn’t be alone with Allan, not yet.
“No. Why don’t you d
o that and I’ll stay here. It will probably take an hour and then you can just pick me up.”
Allan stared at her quizzically. “I thought you hated hospitals?”
She rubbed his chest and forced a smile. “I do. But I’ve got to be brave sometime. You won’t always be there to hold my hand.”
How true those words were, especially when she thought of the moment she was going to bring his child into the world, alone. She hoped that by then she would have found a way to make him see she hadn’t tried to trap him and a baby was a blessing, to both of them.
He nodded hesitantly, kissed her long and softly, and then turned to the doctor. “Take care of her. She’s important to me.”
Riana almost sobbed at his words. Could he truly have meant that?
“Si, Signore.”
He kissed her again. “If you need me…”
“I’ll scream out your name and you’ll come flying in.”
He chuckled. “There is that. Or you could just picked up the phone and call me.”
Riana shook her head. “Damsels in distress never use the phone to call their superheroes. It ruins the whole sweeping her off her feet picture.”
Allan laughed hard. “Gosh, Riana, the things that go through your head. You are a breath of fresh air, you know that?”
She smiled, quickly drawing her lower lip into her mouth when it wobbled.
Allan kissed her one last time, and then walked out of the room. Riana dropped back onto the chair and released the sob that she’d been struggling to hold down.
She felt the doctor’s hand on her shoulder. “He may not want to admit it, but he loves you.”
“No, he doesn’t.” She wasn’t that naïve to lie to herself about that matter.
“There is one thing a man will always recognize on another man when he is close to his woman. His body screams possession and his face speaks adoration.”
“You have no idea how I wish you were right.”
He tapped her shoulder. “Us men are also one other thing, and that is slow to recognize what we feel and too afraid to admit the emotion is love. I’ll send a nurse for you when we’re ready.”
Her Venice Affair (The Albury Affairs) Page 11
