by Dani Collins
“I’ve told you. I have nothing.” She flung out a hand, voice raw. “I won’t be my mother, cleaning houses and raising my child on stale bread, marrying a stranger because I’m tired of poverty only to have him—” She cut herself off, throat flexing.
“What?” Ben prompted.
“You don’t care, Ben,” she dismissed tightly. “Will you give me a place to sleep? Please? I’ll work under-the-table, try not to cost you more than a bed and whatever doctor bills my pregnancy requires.”
The cynical side of him said there had to be a catch, but the prospective father and the lover who’d made that baby with her was appalled at how little she expected of him.
“I’ll do a paternity test. Sign anything you want,” she promised.
A pang reverberated in his chest. He realized there were dark circles under her eyes and tension around her mouth.
“You’re five months or so?”
She nodded.
“Everything is going well?”
Silence stretched. Her eyes welled with fresh tears and her mouth trembled. She was pale and scared. There was no mistaking that was fear gripping her.
Of course she was terrified. This news was sending his own brain into all-system alerts, trying to formulate a plan before he’d fully absorbed that he was going to be a father.
He moved before he realized what he was doing. He needed to hold her. She needed to be held. No matter what had transpired, they were having a baby.
She looked up with surprise as he closed in. Her breath hitched in a sob that held helplessness and apology, regret and plea.
As he closed his arms around her, the gaping darkness inside him began to heal closed. But even as he drew her in, she stiffened and gasped, a noise he thought was the beginning of a healthy dam break of a cry.
“It will be okay,” he murmured. It might have been a lie. He had no idea, but he tried to comfort her, ran his hands across her back—
She cried out again, stronger, and pressed her forearms against his chest. “Let go, let go.”
He did and she stood before him, head bowed into her hands, crying inconsolably while his arms hung uselessly at his sides.
“For God’s sake, Henriqua.” What did she want from him?
Then she told him, voice so faint he barely heard it, but her words nearly cut him in two.
“I need a doctor, Ben. He caught me taking his mail and beat me.”
Chapter 13:
If Ben had spent a lot of time with that tiny word lately. If he hadn’t hired her, if he hadn’t been so drawn to her, if he hadn’t hiked out alone with her that day. If he hadn’t sat next to her and said what should have remained unsaid and if he had resisted the compulsion to taste her, just once, perhaps he would still have his company.
Perhaps he wouldn’t be sitting next to her hospital bed, waiting with suffocating fear for the scan the doctor had ordered.
The baby’s heartbeat was strong and there wasn’t any bleeding, which was very good news, but the bruises across Henriqua’s back were the ugliest, most terrifying thing he’d ever seen.
He closed his eyes, the vision imprinted behind his eyelids for all time. If she hadn’t gone to Vincent’s, hadn’t wanted so badly to prove her innocence…
“Ben,” she said, soft and urgent.
He snapped his eyes open and shot to his feet, leaning over her, hand tenderly brushing the hair back from her pale cheek. “What’s wrong?”
She was on her side and he’d thought she was dozing, but she rolled onto her back with a small wince. She took his hand and pressed it to her middle.
Something moved. Under her gown and under the warmth of her taut belly.
He jerked his hand away on reflex, startled, then immediately felt foolish, but he hadn’t been around a pregnant woman since his youngest cousin had been born twelve years ago.
Henriqua’s smile fell away. “I thought you would want to know the baby is moving.”
“I do.” He gently set his hand back in place. This time he was disconcerted by a rush of emotion. Not just reassurance, but the stunning knowledge that his child was alive and moving and real. So tiny the pressure was nothing more than a coin sitting in his hand yet the weight of responsibility it thrust upon him was a mountain. And the swell of love injected into him was fierce and stinging and all encompassing.
He glanced into Henriqua’s liquid brown eyes and saw exactly what he was feeling. Relief. Excitement. Joy.
If he hadn’t kissed her that day. If she hadn’t moaned with an anguished type of pleasure that exactly matched the hunger digging its claws into him, he might never have made love to her. If he’d had a condom on him…
So many ifs that could have added up to a different reality today. He wouldn’t be standing here, his hand under the warm drape of hers, their baby’s fluttering movements holding both of them rapt with wonder.
He quit trying to rearrange all those ifs into any pattern but the one he had already chosen. They had led him to this moment and it was the most miraculous thing that had ever happened to him.
Chapter 14:
A week later, Henriqua was ensconced in a palatial penthouse overlooking both the Hudson and the East Rivers. All the exterior walls were windows, the floors were heated and the refrigerator blended seamlessly into the banks of cupboards. A woman, both nurse and housekeeper, came and went. Her main duty seemed to be to keep Henriqua off her feet.
After a scan, Henriqua had been kept in hospital overnight for observation, then released to bed rest until her next checkup. One of Ben’s cousins, Rozi, who was also pregnant, had brought her here. She projected warmth and understanding and Henriqua instinctively took to her, not that she could show it. She was too confused.
“My husband bought this as an investment,” Rozi told her. “Use of it is part of Ben’s compensation package. Viktor asked him to lead up the American division.”
Of what? Henriqua didn’t ask, too overwhelmed.
“I’m still not used to living like this, either,” Rozi said ruefully. “I offered Ben the use of the studio flat I’m giving up.” She chuckled.
“Where is Ben?”
Rozi sobered. “Colombia. Tracking Vincent.”
“No! He’s dangerous.”
“Kaine—Gizi’s fiancé—went with him. All of this…” The roll of Rozi’s hand encompassed the fraud and Ben’s subsequent fall from grace. “We’ve all been affected. When one of us faces trouble, we pull together. Ben will be in touch as soon as he can. Meanwhile, you rest. If you’re feeling up to it, Grandmamma would like to visit.”
All of Ben’s family trickled through over the ensuing days. Ben’s mother and sister were thrilled about the baby, his father pleased and proud. Rozi came to say goodbye when she left for Hungary, bringing Gisella, the leggy woman who’d loaned her hotel room that first night. Gisella had an update worth hearing.
“I thought Kaine was ruthless,” she said with elevated brows. “Once he realized Vincent was the one who made it look like Ben tried to dupe him, Kaine put his investigators onto finding the proof that clears both of them. Vincent is financially annihilated, but that’s not enough for Benny. Kaine said he’s sticking close to keep our dear, steady, occasionally arrogant but mostly good-natured cousin from murder charges.”
“Gizi,” Rozi admonished lightly.
The women shared a look that reinforced the familial bond Henriqua sensed between all of them, leaving Henriqua wistful for something like it.
The rest of the visit passed very pleasantly. Both women designed jewelry so they all spoke the language of gems and metals. Henriqua admitted that Ben had told her about the pair of earrings that briefly belonged to their grandmother. Rozi and Gizi told her the truth.
“Why are you sharing a secret like that?” Henriqua breathed, stunned they would trust her with it.
“You’re family,” Rozi said simply.
“Only if…” Henriqua set a hand below her navel, encouraged to believe if she hadn
’t lost the baby by now, the pregnancy would go to term, but even if it did, she still planned to give the baby to Ben. He didn’t want her.
“Did you hear the part about Benny’s need for revenge? You’re family,” Gisella assured her dryly.
Chapter 15:
There had been a time in his late teens and early twenties when Ben had found his family to be cloying. He had longed to prove himself and, despite the advantaged start they had given him, he thought he’d succeeded very well on his own merit. When he had first partnered with Kaine, he had considered them equals.
Things had turned contentious when Ben’s samples had turned sour and Ben had wanted to punch the man in the face for going after Gizi. Smart and independent as Gizi was, in his head she was still a naive ten-year-old given to believing romantic notions about earrings and eternal love.
Kaine had fallen in love with Gizi, though, and Ben had taken the heat for the fraud. He and Kaine had been in a cold war of sorts for Gizi’s sake and would have avoided each other indefinitely if Kaine hadn’t gone after Vincent with him.
Kaine had been as invested in bringing down Vincent as Ben was, but Ben hadn’t expected the man to shadow him into the jungle and counsel him so earnestly against cold-blooded murder.
“Your baby needs a father. Tell the authorities and let’s get home to our women.”
Ben hadn’t wanted to settle for merely seeing Vincent arrested. At least assault charges were added to the insider trading and fraud, though.
Now Ben was back in New York, exhausted and referencing an email from Viktor to find his new address while Kaine’s offer of start-up capital for a reboot of Barsi Minerals was still ringing in his head.
His upended life was righting itself. His family no longer faced dire straits. He could hold his head high again, even go back to a version of his old life.
There would be no off-grid explorations for rare metals, however. Not with a baby in tow. He had always seen himself as the type of parent who might have one or two business trips a year, but otherwise wanted to be involved daily with his children.
He had imagined his wife would be the same.
I didn’t have anything worth staying for.
He had been sleeping with an employee. That had definitely needed to end. At the time, he had even understood her desire to avoid being seen as getting ahead through any means other than her genuinely excellent work.
When he thought back on it now, he remembered her suggesting they wait until the job was finished and inviting him to get in touch if he wanted to pursue their relationship again.
He had forgotten that when he returned to the site, concerned by reports of wildly different sampling and learned she had fled. The betrayal at that point had been so deep he was sickened. He’d gone after her, but unlike Vincent, when Henriqua disappeared, she did it right.
Had she run again? The penthouse was silent, the master bedroom empty. He swore wearily and had a much-needed shower. He would have fallen into bed, but couldn’t recall when he had last eaten.
As he walked down the hall in a towel, he glanced into the guest room and halted.
There she was, fast asleep under a throw. Her auburn hair spilled across her pale cheek. She had one hand tucked under the pillow, the other curled beneath her chin.
The emotion that moved in him had him swallowing and padding softly across to stand over her.
He had never seen her sleep. They’d always made love in the dark, biting back their cries of pleasure to hide their affair. He had always left before light, guilty and regretful, hating himself for what felt like a weakness because he couldn’t seem to resist her.
Damn, she looked innocent.
Because she was innocent. She’d been a virgin. She hadn’t betrayed him.
He sank onto the edge of the mattress, humbled.
Chapter 16:
Henriqua woke with a start to find Ben sitting next to her. The freshly showered scent of him engulfed her, sending a rush of sensual awareness through her.
Her sharp reaction, inescapable and undisguisable, caused a domino effect of panic and insecurity. Confusion. She had been longing for him to come back to New York. She’d been bereft and uncertain, desperate to know what was going on. Part of her thrilled to see him, but a fresh anguish accosted her—because she understood now that it didn’t matter what had happened with Vincent.
She still had nothing, still had to give up her baby. Ben still didn’t love her.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” He drew the blanket higher on her shoulder. “How are you? How is baby?”
“Fine. I had a checkup this morning. I was really tired when I got ho—back.” She swallowed. “Vincent?”
“In jail. Staying there. Forget about him.”
Small comfort, but she murmured, “Thank you.”
“Did he hurt your mother?” he asked in a dour voice.
“I’ve been wondering that myself, thinking I should have tried harder to see her. He got in the way. Then she got sick and—” She threw her arm over her eyes, sniffed back tears. “Can we not talk about that?”
“Another time.” His hand settled on her thickened middle. “I’m glad the baby is okay.”
“Me, too.” She tentatively let her hand settle over his while still hiding behind her other arm.
His hand shifted away, slid beneath her. He gathered her, drew her into his lap and held her against his bare chest.
She turned her face into his skin, the feel of him too acutely sweet to bear. Tears slid out of her clenched eyes.
“I’m sorry, Ben. I didn’t know he was capable of all that. I’m so sorry.”
“Shh. It’s done. Behind us.”
“No, it isn’t and never will be. You had to pay those fines and lost your business.”
“I’ll recover. We’ll be fine.”
She drew back and wiped her cheeks, tried to think a clear thought, but kept welling up, unable to bear giving up her baby. What choice did she have, though?
“Will you let me see her sometimes?”
“Who?”
“At the scan today they said she’s a girl.”
The breath rushed out of him and his arms crushed her gently. “How are your ribs?” he asked, suddenly loosening his grip.
“I’m okay—”
He nearly crushed the life out of her. “A girl? It didn’t matter to me either way, so I don’t know why I feel like I won the lottery. We’re having a little girl, Ricki.”
She hadn’t heard that nickname since their last night together in Indonesia. She smiled sadly and forced him to release her, not wanting to believe this meant anything more than a moment of forgetfulness on his part.
She moved onto the bed beside him. “Just promise me that if she wants to go into science, you’ll support her.”
“You’ll be setting an example for her. Henriqua.” He caught her elbow, keeping her sitting even as she convulsively tried to stand and put distance between them. “We’re getting married and raising her together.”
“No, Ben. I told you the other night. I won’t marry a man just to support me. More than ever, I realize what a mistake that can become.”
Chapter 17:
Ben sat back, stunned. Aching like he’d taken a kick to the stomach. He wished he’d had the sense to dress before coming in here. He’d never felt so naked in his life.
“Do you not want to raise her? Is that it?” Were her feelings toward him interfering with her ability to bond with the baby she carried?
“Of course, I want my child! Do you listen at all?”
“Yes, I do,” he bit out. “I heard you loud and clear in Indonesia when you said your career meant everything to you and you didn’t want anyone thinking you were trying to get ahead by sleeping with the boss. You’re the one who wanted to end it, Henriqua. I was going to suggest we make changes so you could travel with me and we could have a relationship in the open.”
“What?” She staggered a little and nervously smo
othed her blue sweater over her bump. Black pants hugged her hips and thighs, making the most of her lush bottom and curvy hips.
How did she get more beautiful every single time he looked at her?
“When you said that about your career—” His chest still felt tight recalling it.
He had to stand, unable to take her looking down on him. He paced off a few restless steps, catching at his towel before it slid off his hips.
“I didn’t know what to think. I knew you were right. I never should have slept with an employee.” He ran his hand over his damp hair. “And it didn’t sound as though you were as invested as I was,” he admitted baldly. “I was trying to spare myself from falling into unrequited love. I thought you were right to suggest time apart to see how we really felt.”
Her face contorted with anguish and she showed him her profile. “And that’s the other reason we had to end it,” she choked. “You weren’t in love and didn’t want to be.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” he shot back. Then, because he knew the time for anything but the stark truth was long past, he admitted, “Time apart didn’t work, Henriqua. I fell anyway. Hard.”
She snapped her head around, scanned his expression. Her mouth trembled. “Don’t lie to me. I couldn’t bear it.”
“Why would I lie?”
“Because I’m having your baby. I know how much family means to you and I don’t want—”
“Stop telling me what you don’t want. Tell me what you do want. Not what you’re willing to settle for. Not that you’ll give me our baby because you think that’s best for her. You could have offered me our baby without fetching papers that damned near got you both killed.” His blood boiled anew as he thought of it. “You weren’t just trying to clear your name. You were trying to clear mine. Why?”
She bit her lips and shook her head, expression helpless.
“Say it, Henriqua. I need to hear it. Tell me you love me.”
