The Cost of Her Innocence

by Jacqueline Baird

  ‘Oh, come on, Beth. That’s not very hospitable after all we have been to each other....’ he drawled, and removed his sunglasses.

  She saw humour in his dark eyes, and more as he let his gaze roam over her, lingering on the swell of her breasts beneath the cotton of her dress with undisguised male lust.

  ‘No way,’ she snapped, feeling uncomfortably warm. ‘You agreed we would never meet again. I’ve kept my side of the deal, so what’s your excuse for turning up here and breaking it?’ she demanded.

  ‘Extenuating circumstances—and strictly speaking you’re wrong. I never actually agreed to stay out of your life, only never to reveal...’ He paused, then continued, ‘My inside knowledge of you.’

  Beth felt her eyes widen and the colour rise in her face at his choice of words, as she was sure he had meant it to. Without thought, she swung her hand in a swift arc to slap his face, but he caught her wrist.

  ‘Now, Beth, that is no way to greet an old friend,’ he drawled in a deadly low tone, and lowered her arm down to her thigh.

  She tugged her wrist free but had more sense than to try to hit him again.

  ‘I had a pretty tough job finding you again.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have bothered. You are not welcome here,’ Beth said bluntly. Leaning forward, before she could stop him, he flicked off her sunglasses and his dark eyes clashed with her angry green.

  ‘That’s better, Beth. I want to see your reaction when I tell you the reason I am here.’

  Beth went very still, her face expressionless, when really she was so mad she wanted to throttle him. But she realised his being here and his last comment sounded like a threat. She looked out to sea for a long moment to regain her composure and reviewed every one of her past encounters with him in her mind. She came to a conclusion. She slowly turned her head to glance up at his harsh, handsome features through the fine curtain of her lashes.

  ‘There is nothing that you can do or say to me that is worse than you have done already,’ she said with deliberate softness.

  Amazingly, dark colour washed up his face and he drew back, his mouth twisting. ‘I sincerely hope not,’ he said cryptically, a frown creasing his broad brow.

  Beth had the odd notion he was not only embarrassed, but worried.

  ‘But get me a coffee and I will tell you.’

  His tone was hard and demanding again, and it set Beth’s teeth on edge. For a moment there she had begun to think that Dante was almost human. Big mistake...and not one she intended to repeat.

  ‘No,’ she said defiantly. ‘I remember what happened the last time you demanded coffee....’ She glanced up and caught the gleam of desire in his dark eyes that the memory of their last meeting had evoked and felt an answering surge of heat spread through her body. Stupid thing to say.... She lowered her eyes to try to gather her wits. But focusing on the open neck of his polo shirt was not helping her....

  ‘I did not invite you here, but obviously your investigator informed you I own this place,’ she said in a voice that was not quite steady. She ploughed on regardless. ‘I do not want you here. I have absolutely no interest in a single word you say. Is that clear enough for you?’

  ‘Yes, but it might be difficult,’ Dante said, looking down at Beth.

  He felt a strange tightening in his chest as he did so. It was incredible how young, how innocent she looked, with her hair washed and left to dry in surprisingly silken waves. She wore no make-up, and was wearing a simple, brightly patterned summer dress that skimmed over her breasts and slender body. He noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra and stiffened, remembering the full firmness of her breasts and the erotic taste of her nipples in his mouth. He also remembered that thanks to him she was not physically innocent anymore—and, of course, the real reason he was here.

  His mouth tightened grimly. He was angry for letting her obvious attributes get to him and, straightening up, dismissed the wayward thoughts from his mind, determined to get this over with quickly.

  ‘Look at me, Beth,’ he demanded, and watched her raise her head, her expression guarded. ‘This is a serious matter. Are you on the pill?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ she said without thinking.

  ‘In that case we might have a problem. It may have escaped your attention, but I did not use protection when we had sex. You could be pregnant, and if you are I need to make suitable arrangements.’

  ‘What?’ Beth cried, appalled, as the true reason for Dante being here registered in her mind. It had never occurred to her that she might get pregnant—how stupid was that? Would she never learn? Was she sentenced to go through life being made a fool of by this man? she wondered. ‘You didn’t use...?’ Of course he hadn’t. She hadn’t noticed, but he had just said so, and she suddenly had a hysterical desire to laugh.

  ‘No. It was my fault and I take full responsibility. I am prepared to take care of everything, all the monetary aspects, should the worst circumstance arise.’

  ‘You are unbelievable! You sound like a lawyer even when you drop a bombshell like that on me!’ Beth exclaimed, thinking the only thing that would be arising was her stomach if his suspicion was true. Because no way would she take a penny from Dante Cannavaro under any circumstance.

  ‘What can I say? I am what I am?’ He shrugged negligently.

  Ignoring him, Beth swiftly thought back over the eight weeks she had been here and realised she had been so busy planning and working she hadn’t noticed she had missed her period. Suddenly Dante’s fear was a very real possibility. Her recent aversion to coffee, which Janet had remarked on when Beth had switched to drinking tea, now held a different connotation. But she hadn’t been sick—well, not physically. Though she had felt nauseous and had blamed it on the pervasive smell of the decorator’s paint that had filled the house for weeks.

  The little colour she had leached from her face. The very idea filled her with horror; not the thought of a baby—she would love to have a child of her own, someone to love unconditionally—but with Dante Cannavaro as its father! To be connected to him for years by a child didn’t bear thinking about....

  Then another even more disturbing thought occurred to Beth. What exactly was he offering to pay for—take care of?

  She looked at him with dislike. ‘By “monetary aspects” do you mean you will pay for an abortion if I am pregnant?’ she asked.

  ‘Is that what you want?’ he prompted, his hard face expressionless.

  ‘No, never,’ she said instinctively.

  ‘Good, because if that was what you wanted I would have done everything in my power to convince you otherwise. So, are you pregnant or not?’

  She turned her head to stare out to sea again, suddenly very afraid. Dante was a powerful, clever man, and very persuasive—as she knew to her cost. If she was pregnant, and if she had a healthy baby and he decided to claim custody, where would that leave her? She was probably worrying unnecessarily, but Dante was a lawyer, and she had no doubt he was ruthless enough to use her past history against her in court. What chance would she have of keeping the baby herself?

  Beth looked back at Dante and considered lying. She had loved her adoptive parents, and had no idea who her biological parents were. All she knew was that as a baby she had been left in a sports bag in the emergency department of a hospital. Her mother had never been found. With her own lack of a true identity she knew instinctively that there was no way she could refuse her own child the right to know its father.

  ‘I don’t know. It’s too early to tell,’ she said calmly. It wasn’t really a lie, there could be other reasons why she was late, but offhand she could not think of one.

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

  He rose to his full intimidating height and Beth swallowed hard.

  ‘You are an intelligent, adult woman—you must know if you have missed menstruating.’

  ‘I am not the ridiculous one here,’ she shot back. ‘I have some excuse, but for a man of your age and experience to forget protection is rid
iculous.’

  ‘Point taken.’ Dante grimaced. ‘But you still have not answered my question. Have you missed your period?’

  ‘Maybe. I don’t know. I’m not regular anyway,’ Beth said, and immediately wished she had told an outright lie. But she had been so shocked at the thought of pregnancy, and Dante had been so blunt, she had not had time to think things through properly and had simply reacted.

  ‘I don’t have patience and I am a busy man. I need to know now, so I can rearrange my schedule if I have to without too much inconvenience. I have a meeting in Rome at midday tomorrow as it is. When I arrived in London yesterday I expected to find you there—not miles away in the middle of nowhere. You said there was a café? Come, I need a coffee.’ He reached out a hand. ‘And if there is a pharmacy we can get a pregnancy test at the same time and settle the matter now.’

  Beth’s mouth fell open. ‘Are you crazy? I could never buy a pregnancy test in the chemist here. Everyone knows me and it would be around the village in a flash.’

  ‘So we will go to the nearest town.’

  Beth tried to argue with him. What man in his right mind went looking for a woman after what had been basically a one-night stand and demanded a pregnancy test? The nearest town was a forty-minute drive away, and she was going there this afternoon with her friend Janet and her daughter anyway. She would get one then.

  But he was not prepared to wait. Nothing she said would deter him, and ten minutes later she was sitting in his car.

  Silently seething in the passenger seat, Beth watched as he walked around the bonnet and slid into the driving seat. She caught the male scent of his aftershave as he closed the door, saw his chiselled profile, the slight darkening of his firm jawline and the sensuous mouth. Hastily she dropped her gaze, but the denim pulled tight across his thigh so close to hers was no help. Everything about him was so masculine... Her heart skipped a beat and it was hard to breathe. He affected her senses in every way, and yet he was the last man on earth she should be attracted to.

  ‘Nice car. What happened to your Ferrari? Tired of it already?’ Beth asked snidely. Anything to take her mind off the sheer physicality of the man and her own troubled thoughts.

  ‘You happened,’ Dante shot back.

  ‘What do you mean, I happened?’ Beth queried.

  He turned in his seat to look at her, a rueful smile twisting his lips. ‘After I left your apartment I was driving back to my place when it suddenly struck me what I had done—or, more precisely, not done. It was just as big a shock to me then as it was to you today, and for the first time in my life I ran into the back of a truck at a red light and buckled the front of my car.’

  ‘You hit a truck?’ Beth exclaimed, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. ‘With your new Ferrari?’ She knew that Dante loved his cars, and it gave her great pleasure to realise he was just as likely as the next man to crash his car.

  ‘It is back in the factory in Italy being repaired—which is why I am driving the Bentley. I was in America until ten days ago, and I meant to pick it up when I got back to Italy. I never got time.’

  ‘You seem to have plenty of time to come here,’ she said flatly.

  ‘Yes—but only because I made a mistake with you. I do not like indecision of any kind and I am not prepared to wait any longer. It is essential that I know if you are pregnant. If you are I will need to make some readjustments to my life and so will you. We are in this together, Beth, whether we like it or not.’

  Dante had ended on a serious note, and Beth looked away as he started the engine and they moved off.

  He was right, she thought fatalistically. Better to find out now. Though in her heart of hearts she had a growing conviction that she was. If the pregnancy was confirmed she was going to have to deal with Dante Cannavaro...and, given her past experience with the man, the thought did not fill her with confidence....

  CHAPTER SIX

  TWO HOURS LATER a very subdued Beth got out of the car in front of her house, still mortified by the way Dante had behaved at the chemist. He’d had no shame, demanding to know from the female assistant which was the most reliable pregnancy test while Beth had stood embarrassed by his side, wishing the ground would open and swallow her up—or preferably Dante...

  Now, after so long in his company, her nerves were stretched to breaking point and the thought of what lay ahead added to her stress levels. Her happy mood on waking up was long gone....

  ‘Let’s go inside and get this over with,’ Dante commanded and, clasping her hand in his, he led her up and into her own house.

  ‘Wait a minute.’ Beth stopped in the large hall and tugged her hand free from his, her palm tingling. She looked frostily up at him. ‘I am quite capable of taking care of this myself. In fact I would prefer to.’

  ‘No way. This is my responsibility and I want to know.’

  ‘Are you stupid or what?’ Beth demanded in exasperation. ‘I am giving you a Get Out of Jail Free card. You can walk away—forget you ever met me. Most men would leap at the chance.’

  ‘I am not most men, and I can’t do that. I remember all too well that we had sex, and if a baby is the result then it is mine as much as yours. Though the thought of being a father, wondering if I will be a good one, is worrying.’

  Inexplicably Beth’s heart squeezed at the hint of vulnerability in the dark gaze he turned on her.

  She had not seen Dante look anything but arrogantly sure of himself, and it was a shock to see his big body tense. She realised this was probably even more of a shock for him than for her. Dante Cannavaro was not the type of man who ever made a mistake in his business or personal life and he did not tolerate other people’s mistakes. He believed his judgement was infallible, and now he had made a possibly life-changing mistake.... No wonder he looked shaken....

  ‘Take this.’ He pressed the pregnancy kit into her hand and glanced around. ‘Tell me where the kitchen is and I’ll make myself a coffee while you do the test.’

  They were standing in the wide hall, which had two doors opening off on either side to the reception rooms. The main focus was a central staircase that divided halfway up and curved into a galleried landing on the first floor.

  Beth indicated with one hand to the right of the staircase. ‘Down there is the kitchen.’

  To her astonishment he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a hug, dropped a light kiss on her lips. ‘Don’t worry—it will work out fine either way. I will make sure it does,’ he declared, and turned to walk away.

  Stunned, Beth looked down at the box in her hand and up again. She wanted to throw it at Dante’s back as he strolled off to the kitchen. He was so confident everything would be fine...while she was the opposite—a nervous wreck. But she knew she was only delaying the inevitable and began to ascend the stairs. Her lips were tingling from his kiss, her head was spinning with the enormity of what she was about to do, and her feelings on the result were ambivalent...

  Twenty minutes later Beth walked downstairs and entered the kitchen, her face a blank mask. She dropped the test on the table, where Dante sat, and without a word stalked out and down the hall to her sitting room. With a sigh she sank down on the sofa and let her head fall back against the soft cushions.

  Binkie padded over to rub against her ankles and Beth’s lips quirked at the corners in a brief smile. ‘Soon, Binkie, it will no longer be just you and I. There will be a baby as well.’ Somehow saying the words out loud finally brought it home to her that she was pregnant.

  ‘Amazing. You can tell your damn cat you are pregnant, but I get the test thrown at me.’

  Beth glanced up to find Dante bristling with anger, staring down at her. Her own temper rose at the injustice of it all. ‘I love my cat, whereas you I could not give a damn about. And whichever way you get the news delivered the answer is the same—and it is your fault. If you hadn’t tracked me down to tell me I might be pregnant I wouldn’t have realised for ages, and when I did I definitely would not have told
you,’ she spat, her pent-up emotions finally boiling over. ‘It seems to be your goal in life to try to destroy mine. First you are instrumental in sending me to prison, then you try to chase me out of my apartment with your threats and finally you seduce me. A hat-trick is the term in football, I believe. But as I am pregnant it seems you have scored an own goal.’

  Beth spoke derisively, but inside she was falling apart. This morning she had got out of bed, happily looking forward to the day ahead. Then Dante had turned her life upside down yet again.

  * * *

  Dante, like most Italian males, was mad about football, and his lips twitched at her last comment. She was sitting down, her arms folded across her middle—which pushed her perfect breasts upwards. Not that they needed any help. His blood heated at the thought.

  Damn it, how could one redheaded woman have such an instant effect on his libido? This was serious.

  ‘Look on me as the villain if you must,’ he said curtly. ‘But it does not alter the fact that you are expecting a baby, and as the father I intend to be fully involved with my child, with or without you...understand?’

  Beth looked up at Dante, towering over her, and let her eyes trace the hard bones of his tanned face, the cool, determined eyes, the powerful jaw and tight mouth.

  ‘Yes.’ She understood all right. It was what she had feared when he had dropped the bombshell on her a few hours ago. But this time she was ready for him. It was amazing how knowing she was having a baby gave her strength, and she determined to fight him anyway she could. ‘That is easy for you to say, but have you really thought this through, Dante?’

  Beth deliberately drawled his name, looking up at him through the veil of her long lashes.

  ‘After all, you are an extremely powerful and extremely wealthy man, according to Tony. What will your friends think when they discover the mother of your child is a convicted drug dealer you sent to prison? You threatened me with the press. I can do the same.’ She saw his dark brows shoot up in surprise. ‘Not so nice, is it, when a threat goes against you?’ she opined. ‘When you demanded I kept out of Tony’s life you labelled me as some kind of femme fatale. So maybe I decided you were a better bet and deliberately allowed you to seduce me in the hope of getting pregnant and getting your money. Can you live with that?’