Captive in His Castle(24)

Drago frowned. Jess shocked reaction was clearly genuine, and his anger faded with the realisation that she had been unaware that she was expecting his baby.

‘We both know we took a risk once and had unprotected sex the first night we slept together,’ he said in a softer tone. ‘Dr Marellis phoned earlier this morning, while you were still asleep, and confirmed that your blood test gave a positive result for pregnancy.’

Jess’s mouth felt parched. ‘He had no right to give you confidential information about me.’

‘Eduardo is an old family friend. Presumably he believed I had a right to know that you are carrying my child, and he congratulated me on my impending fatherhood.’

Jess shook her head, as if she could somehow dismiss his words. It couldn’t be true, she thought frantically. But why would Drago lie? Maybe the doctor was wrong about the test result? She knew she was clutching at a very fragile straw. A blood test to detect pregnancy was almost one hundred per cent likely to be accurate.

‘I swear I didn’t know,’ she said numbly. ‘I’m only a few days late and I didn’t think anything of it.’

That wasn’t absolutely true, she admitted silently. The nausea she had been experiencing in recent days had seemed frighteningly familiar, but she had been too scared to think about a possible cause. It had been easier to ignore her suspicions. But now she could not hide from the devastating truth. She had conceived Drago’s child—and from his furious expression he was no more pleased by the news than Seb had been when she had told him she was expecting his baby.

Jess began to tremble as reaction set in. She was going to have a baby. It was something she had assumed would never happen again. The trauma she had experienced as a teenager had left mental scars, and the memory of that terrible time, the desperate decision she had made, caused her to clench her fingers until her knuckles were white.

There was no doubt that she would go ahead with the pregnancy. Her acceptance of that fact was instant and resolute. But she had to face the bleak reality that her situation was no better than it had been years ago, when she was seventeen. She was older, and she had a job, she reminded herself. At least she had the means to support a child—although how she would manage to work as a decorator when she was heavily pregnant or with a newborn baby in tow was a problem she would have to face along with many others.

Caught up in her thoughts, she gave a start when Drago moved to stand by the window. His hard-boned profile looked so intimidating. She bit her lip. If only things had been different. If only they were lovers in the true sense of the word, and instead of standing stiffly on the other side of the room he had taken her in his arms and told her he was overjoyed that his child was developing inside her. Poor baby, she thought, and her heart splintered. She squeezed her eyes shut to prevent the sudden stinging tears from falling as she was overwhelmed by guilt. Two mistakes, two unplanned pregnancies, and two little lives affected by her stupidity.

‘What are you thinking?’ Drago turned back to face Jess, resenting the urgent, shaming desire that kicked in his gut as he studied her delicate beauty and the vibrant hair that fell past her shoulders in a rippling stream of red-gold silk. How could he be fantasising about making love to her when she looked so fragile that she might snap? he asked himself angrily. His only consideration should be for the child she was carrying inside her.

She gave a helpless shrug. ‘I’m thinking about how I’ll manage as a single mother. As long as I stay fit and healthy there’s no reason why I shouldn’t carry on working full-time until just before the baby is due. And afterwards—well, babies sleep a lot for the first few months, and I’m sure I’ll be able to take the pram on site—’

She broke off as Drago growled something in Italian. She guessed it was probably lucky she did not understand.

‘If you think I would allow you to take my child onto a building site you are even crazier than I believed when I caught you climbing down from the balcony of your room,’ he said harshly.

Her pale cheeks flushed with temper at his bossiness. ‘I don’t work on building sites. I decorate houses. I don’t build them. I realise it won’t be ideal to take the baby with me, but how else do you expect me to manage? I’ll have to work to support the baby.’

‘No, you will not. As my wife you will not want for anything. I will provide more than adequately for you and my child.’

Jess stiffened, sure that she could not have heard Drago correctly. ‘What do you mean, as your wife?’ she asked unsteadily.

‘Naturally I will marry you,’ he stated, in a coolly arrogant tone. His brows rose when she made a choked sound. ‘It is the obvious solution.’

‘Not to me, it isn’t.’ She bit her lip. ‘Last night you said you wanted our relationship to continue, but you had no intention of marrying me, did you?’ she said shrewdly.

‘That was different. Last night I did not know that you are carrying my heir,’ he replied bluntly.

‘Your heir!’ She quickly looked down at her fingers, which she had unknowingly been twisting together, determined not to let him see how much his comment hurt. Of course the only reason he was considering marrying her was for the sake of his child. ‘I’m expecting your baby, Drago—a tiny new human being that in a few months’ time will take his or her first breath of life. It’s rather too early to be planning the baby’s role as CEO of Cassa de Cassari.’

Jess’s description of the new life developing inside her touched a chord deep inside Drago and brought home to him as nothing else had the astounding, amazing reality that in a few months from now she would give birth to his child. Her pregnancy was unplanned and totally unexpected. She had seemed so certain she could not have conceived the first time they had slept together. But now, with irrefutable proof that she had not been protected, he was trying to come to terms with how he felt.

Immediately after his telephone conversation with the doctor he had been stunned—and, if he was honest, dismayed. His life was already busy enough, without the additional responsibilities that having a child would bring. But, like it or not, Jess’s pregnancy was a reality he needed to deal with. She was carrying the Cassari heir and he had a duty towards her and the child. His decision to marry her was not only driven by a sense of duty, Drago acknowledged. Now that his shock was fading he felt excited, somewhat overwhelmed, but ultimately delighted by the prospect that he was going to be a father.

The doctor had confirmed that the baby was due in January. As long as all went well with Jess’s pregnancy, Drago reminded himself. His euphoria faded as memories of Vittoria’s pregnancy returned to haunt him. He would always feel guilty that he had not paid her enough attention or taken proper care of her. He would not make the same mistake again, he vowed. Jess would receive the best medical care.

Her talk of working during her pregnancy sent a shaft of fear through him. She was so hot-headed and independent. He could not risk her deciding to go back to England to run her decorating company. The only practical solution, whereby he could keep a close eye on her during her pregnancy and be a full-time father to his child once it was born, was to persuade her to marry him.

‘I’m not thinking of the baby’s possible future role within the company. After what happened with Angelo I will not put the pressure of expectation on my child,’ he said ruefully. ‘But this baby will be a member of the Cassari family, and he or she has a right to grow up here at the palazzo. It is also our child’s right to be loved and cared for by both its parents. Surely, after growing up in a children’s home, you must agree that the best thing we can do for our child is to provide a stable family unit?’

Shaken by the fervour in his voice, Jess felt a lump form in her throat. All her life she had longed to be part of a family, and of course she wanted that security for her baby. But it had not crossed her mind that Drago would want his child, let alone that he would suggest they should marry. She knew he was not talking about the sort of marriage that featured in romantic films and fairy tales. He had not mentioned love. Was it foolish to want to be loved? she thought painfully. Was it selfish to wish that she mattered to someone?

‘We can give the baby security without getting married,’ she said quietly. ‘We could lead separate lives but still share parenting responsibilities.’

‘You mean we could go to court and argue over access rights and which of us the child will spend Christmases and birthdays with?’ Drago’s voice deepened. ‘Is that the best we can offer the little person we have created, who shares your blood and mine, cara?’

Jess bit her lip. She wondered if Drago had deliberately played on her ragged emotions with his evocative words. He did not know that she had once made the hardest decision a mother could make so that her child would have the best possible life. Now she was being asked to make another difficult decision—this time to marry a man who did not love her for the sake of the child she carried.