Confessions of a Pregnant Cinderella

by Abby Green

‘Oh.’

  He looked at her. ‘You say that a lot.’

  ‘Do I?’

  ‘Yes. You do.’

  ‘Well, if it’s annoying you I can always leave.’

  The thought was immensely appealing—to get away from this man’s far too disturbing orbit.

  He shook his head. ‘Oh, no, you don’t get to walk away so easily.’ He looked at his watch as he stood up. ‘We have an appointment with my doctor in an hour—we’ll leave in forty minutes. I’ll be in my study till then, making some calls. Finish your breakfast.’

  Skye watched him walk around the table. ‘Are you always so bossy?’

  He didn’t stop, nor did he look at her. ‘Always. Be ready to go in forty minutes.’

  Skye breathed out when he’d left the room, her insides unknotting marginally. His scent lingered, musky and masculine. She marvelled to recall how charming he’d been when she’d first met him. Presenting a far more benign façade to the world.

  To a woman he’d wanted.

  Right now Skye wondered if she’d ever see that charming side of him again. It seemed not very likely at all.

  * * *

  ‘Well, Ms O’Hara, I can confirm that you are indeed pregnant.’

  Skye sent a look across the doctor’s office to Lazaro, who was staring straight ahead.

  She answered the doctor. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘And I called your own doctor, who has confirmed that the three-month scan shows that everything is progressing normally.’

  Lazaro interjected. ‘She was sick this morning...it was pretty intense.’

  The doctor glanced at Skye, who shook her head. ‘It was fine. Just the usual morning sickness.’

  ‘Which should hopefully dissipate now, as you go into your second trimester.’

  ‘Yes, that’s what I’ve been told,’ Skye said, not sure whether to be heartened or annoyed by Lazaro’s concern about her morning sickness.

  She could imagine that it might look scary, and no doubt he wasn’t used to seeing the women he consorted with display such basic bodily functions in front of him. The thought almost made her smile. Almost.

  They were wrapping up the appointment when the doctor said, ‘I’ll have my secretary book you in for a scan when you’re about twenty weeks along.’

  Skye opened her mouth, about to tell the doctor that she wouldn’t be here then, but Lazaro spoke before she could.

  He said, ‘I’ll have my assistant set up the appointment, but thank you.’

  They were in the back of Lazaro’s chauffeur-driven car before Skye could round on him. ‘You shouldn’t have let that doctor think I’ll still be here when I’m five months pregnant. There are perfectly good doctors in Dublin.’

  Lazaro was looking at his phone. He said, ‘What’s your address again?’

  Skye reeled it off, not sure why he wanted to know.

  After a few seconds he handed her the phone. She could see an image of her street, and the building her apartment was in. She winced. It didn’t look good. The houses on either side were boarded up, and there was a huddle of young guys near the steps down to her flat. It looked as if a package was being passed from one guy to the other. Not to mention the piles of dumped rubbish.

  ‘This is where you live?’

  Skye nodded, and said defensively, ‘It’s not that bad. One of the houses is actually being renovated now.’

  Lazaro wasn’t impressed. ‘So it’s turning from a drug pick-up corner into a construction site?’

  She didn’t answer.

  Just then Lazaro’s phone rang and he took the call. It was something about a building he was investing in, in Venice.

  They were pulling up outside the hotel again when he terminated the call and got out, coming around to open her door for her.

  When they were back in the penthouse apartment he led her into the living area and turned to face her, his hands in his pockets.

  ‘So, are you telling me you plan on living out your pregnancy in that hovel? And is that where you would bring the baby home to?’

  Skye felt cornered and defensive. ‘Not everyone is lucky enough to grow up living a mile above the streets, Lazaro. People have babies all around where I live and they survive and thrive. It’s not a ghetto.’

  He looked grim. ‘I didn’t grow up living “a mile above the streets”. Far from it, actually. I know exactly what those kind of areas are like, and what goes on there, and there is no way any child of mine is being brought into the world in a place like that.’

  Skye was caught by what he said, but now was not the time to be distracted. She fought to retain her composure. She’d already missed her flight. ‘Well, I’m sorry, but that’s all I can afford. It’s good enough for me and I’ll make sure it’s good enough for my baby.’

  ‘Our baby.’

  Her heart thudded against her breastbone. ‘You believe me, then?’

  The doctor had informed them that her ultrasound confirmed her due date, and it tallied with the date they had spent the night together. Pretty irrefutable proof of Lazaro’s paternity. But he’d been totally expressionless when the doctor had said that, so she wasn’t even sure if he’d heard.

  Lazaro sighed heavily. ‘Well, apart from what Dr Rubén said about the due date, there were two of us there that night and I had no protection with me. It was my responsibility more than yours.’

  Skye was a little taken aback at this admission. ‘I really did think it would be okay...but I was wrong.’

  ‘When the baby is born we’ll do a DNA test to confirm paternity, but until then I’m treating this as my child.’

  Skye flinched minutely at that. He was prepared to believe her and take responsibility, but he wouldn’t totally trust her until he could prove it emphatically. She guessed that in his shoes, with his vast wealth, it made sense. Still, as someone who took people as they came and trusted her gut judgement about them, she found it stung not to be trusted.

  ‘I’ve missed my flight. I called work earlier, and they’ve excused me for today, but I have to be back tomorrow or I’ll lose my job. I need to buy another flight back today. I know you don’t like where I live, Lazaro, but all I can do is try and find somewhere else when I go home.’

  With a housing crisis in the country Skye didn’t hold out much hope of finding anywhere else she could afford, but there wasn’t much more she could do.

  She’d turned away to go and get her things from her bedroom when Lazaro spoke from behind her.

  ‘Have you listened to a word I’ve said?’

  Skye stopped, and turned around. Lazaro looked incredulous.

  ‘Going back to that flat and that job is not an option. Not now. I have a responsibility to you and to this baby.’

  Skye put a hand on her belly, as if to protect it. ‘But you’ve said you won’t believe it’s yours until we do a DNA test.’

  Lazaro waved a hand. ‘That’ll just be a formality.’

  He shook his head and moved towards her. Skye’s body tensed against her inevitable reaction. How galling that she should still want him when he was probably looking at her and wondering how on earth he’d lost his mind that one night in Dublin?

  ‘I have to go down to my estate in Andalucía tomorrow, to take care of some business. You’ll come with me and stay there for a while, until we figure out a long-term solution. Everything has changed now, Skye. You’re pregnant with my child and I’m going to be involved one hundred per cent.’

  * * *

  Lazaro watched the expressions flit across her expressive face. It was fascinating. It was one of the things that had drawn him to her in the first place—every emotion laid bare for the world to see. Not a usual occurrence in women of his acquaintance. Leonora had been like a sphinx...

  Right now Skye’s emotions were running through anger, frustration and someth
ing he couldn’t quite decipher. Not resentment... Impotency?

  He knew he was in a position of power here, and he wasn’t afraid to use it if it meant that he could keep her where he could watch her, try to see if he could salvage anything from this situation and take care of his child’s future.

  It struck him then. The equanimity with which he was taking this news of becoming a father. Because it didn’t feel real.

  Maybe he was still in shock. Maybe if Skye had looked pregnant...

  He suddenly had a mental image of her body growing and ripening with his baby. It was curiously vivid and provocative. Provocative enough to make him say curtly, ‘The truth is that you have to face the fact that your life has changed as much as mine has. We are both responsible for this and we’re in it together. How that will pan out remains to be seen, but for now your place is here. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it doesn’t appear as if there’s a whole lot tying you to Dublin. You have no other family?’

  He saw her wince slightly at that, and pushed down the twinge of his conscience.

  She shook her head. ‘No, it’s just me.’

  Why did Lazaro suddenly feel like a heel? And also, more disconcertingly, a strange tug of resonance? He, too, was pretty much alone in the world. Always had been. He trusted very few—only one or two people. A couple of friends he’d made along the way.

  Her chin came up, and her eyes were sparking with blue fire. They looked like bright sapphires.

  ‘I do have a life, you know. I’m an independent person. The only reason I will consider your suggestion to stay here is because it’ll be for the good of the baby—but don’t assume that I’ll say yes just because you don’t like what I do or where I live. You have no jurisdiction over me and I could have just as easily decided not to tell you about this baby. But I did.’

  To Lazaro’s surprise, Skye picked up her handbag and put it over her shoulder.

  ‘I’m going to go out to a coffee shop and take a little time to think things over. Then I’ll let you know what I plan to do.’

  He was too stunned to say anything as she turned and walked out through the door, her bright red hair falling down her back. And then she was gone.

  Lazaro looked around him. He saw her passport was still on the table and something eased inside him. She might try to run but she wouldn’t get far.

  He went over to the window, restless. He had to consider what she’d just said—that she could have easily not told him he was to be a father. Cynically, he didn’t believe that for a second—not when she knew he was worth so much. But at the same time he had to concede that there were plenty of instances where men weren’t informed of their fatherhood. And the thought of a child of his, out there in the world unbeknownst to him, made his blood run cold.

  His whole life he’d cultivated a deep and abiding anger at his parents for doing what they had. Essentially disposing of him like an unwanted package. That anger had driven him and fuelled him to achieve and to succeed—which he had done, many times over.

  But he was honest enough to admit that his anger masked a deep hurt that they’d abandoned him to save their own reputations and precious legacies. So, no matter what happened now with Skye and this baby, they would always be a part of his life. He would never visit the same treatment on his own flesh and blood.

  Last night might have been an unmitigated disaster, and it had derailed his plans, but once he’d dealt with Skye and the future of their child he was confident he would get things back on track.

  The fact that he wanted her was a weakness he would not indulge again.

  As if to taunt his resolve he saw her emerging from the lobby of the hotel, some twenty floors below him. She lifted her face to the late-summer sun and her hair glinted bright red. He watched her pull it up into a careless topknot and saw more than one man do a double-take as they walked past.

  Lazaro’s eyes raked over her slim form. The perfectly proportioned curves. She truly was a million miles from Leonora’s classically elegant beauty, but his hands had never itched to trace Leonora’s body.

  It was Skye he’d been thinking of even as he’d prepared to commit himself to another woman. Her curves he’d thought about...her pert breasts—

  Basta.

  He stuffed his hands into his pockets.

  He’d never envisaged marrying for lust, or for any emotion. Those things were dangerous. Those things were not controllable. And Lazaro knew he needed to be very controlled in all he did because he would always be held to a higher standard than anyone else. Because the people whose opinion he cared about would want to see him fail.

  Blissfully oblivious to Lazaro’s tangled thoughts, Skye pulled sunglasses from her bag and set off towards the coffee shop across the road, looking for all the world like a carefree student.

  Who had just been given a golden ticket for life, Lazaro surmised grimly. He refused to believe she wasn’t aware of just how powerful her position was.

  She disappeared into the coffee shop and he had to curb the urge to go after her. Instead he made a call on his phone, and after a few seconds saw one of his men go and take up a spot near the café.

  He was fairly sure she wouldn’t disappear, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

  * * *

  Skye had been sitting there for so long that she was beginning to get looks from the staff. She knew Lazaro hadn’t been happy with her just walking out. When a man like that said, Jump! everyone around him usually asked, How high?

  Skye’s mother had dated a millionaire for a while. Skye mostly remembered him for the yacht he’d had moored in Cannes. And for how much fun she’d had exploring the town with the kids she’d met from the surrounding streets and the children of the marina workers.

  Skye remembered that he had been a nice man, if not very interested in her. The relationship hadn’t lasted long, though. He’d wanted her mother to commit, and as soon as she’d started to feel stifled and controlled they’d left.

  Skye had learnt from an early age not to get attached to anyone. The first few times when she and her mother had lived somewhere and then left suddenly it had devastated her to leave her friends behind, or adults she’d become close to. The secret was never to allow anyone to get too close.

  The fact that Lazaro had managed to sneak under her guard to such an extent that she’d let him be the first man to make love to her was not something she wanted to investigate. She told herself that it had been purely physical...that her virginity had been weighing on her. It had been something she’d wanted to get rid of and he’d happened to come along when she was ready. That was all.

  Liar, whispered a voice.

  She ignored it.

  But she’d never been in this kind of situation before—where, no matter what happened between them, Lazaro would be in her life for ever, thanks to this baby growing in her belly.

  She told herself she wasn’t afraid of getting emotionally attached to Lazaro. Their one night of crazy passion had clearly been an aberration, and the man had told her he didn’t believe in love. She was too smart to risk losing her own heart. That had been packed up tight a long time ago.

  All that was important now was the baby. And she had to admit that he did have a case. She didn’t have ties to Dublin. No more than to anywhere else. She didn’t have extended family. And her job was a decent one, in a good restaurant, but it was hardly putting her on the ladder to get anywhere.

  In truth, she’d really just needed to get some space away from Lazaro. Put her thoughts together. Make him see that she wouldn’t just follow his orders like some kind of robot.

  Her skin prickled and her pulse-rate quickened even before she saw him. Damn, said a little voice in her head. She looked up and there he was. Standing in the doorway, uncaring that he was blocking it. Scanning the room from behind dark shades.

  His head stopped moving when he spotted h
er. He took the shades off and Skye could have sworn she heard every woman and most men in the place sigh audibly as he cut a swathe through the line of people waiting for their coffee.

  He sat down opposite her, long legs stretched out, trapping her. ‘Had enough time to think? You’ve been here for an hour.’

  Skye scowled at him. And then she admitted defeat. ‘I have thought things through, yes. And I’ll go along with your suggestion. For now. Because I think it’s best for the baby. After all, we need to get to know one another.’

  A wary look came into his eyes at that. Intriguing, thought Skye.

  He leant forward. ‘I’ll have an assistant go to Dublin to sort out your apartment and pack things up. We can put your furniture et cetera into storage and ship everything else.’

  She flushed. After a lifetime of travelling light, all her worldly possessions could fit inside two large suitcases. ‘I really don’t have that much, and the furniture belongs to the landlord.’

  ‘Fine. I’ll have one of my PAs come round this afternoon to go through with you what needs to be done.’ He stood up. ‘Ready?’

  Skye felt seriously disorientated for a second. She hadn’t imagined things would move in this direction or so swiftly. She’d thought she’d be back in Dublin by now, dealing with the huge life-change coming down the tracks towards her.

  And then Lazaro held out a hand, and Skye’s chest tightened with a surge of emotion she couldn’t control. For a second she had the sensation that she wasn’t alone. For the first time in a long time. It was seriously disconcerting. And seductive.

  Very quickly, though, she told herself that it didn’t mean anything. A lot had happened and she was feeling vulnerable.

  Skye ignored Lazaro’s outstretched hand for fear that touching him would expose her in some way and stood up, saying, ‘I’m fine, thanks.’

  She preceded him out of the coffee shop and back into the sunshine.

  He stopped at the entrance to the hotel and said, ‘I have to go to my office for a couple of hours. I’ll send one of my PAs over. We leave for Andalucía tomorrow morning.’