The Rodrigues Pregnancy. Anne Mather

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ that Tony had been an unkind man. When they’d met for the first time, she’d been instantly attracted by his charm and good looks. What she hadn’t realised was that Tony had had a different agenda. While she’d been looking for a lasting relationship, he’d been looking for a mother for his son.

      He’d known she would never do anything to hurt Luis. The child had taken to her from the start and she’d let that blind her to his father’s faults. Besides, after a fairly ordinary upbringing in England, she’d been flattered by Tony’s interest in her. No one knew better than she did how persuasive he could be.

      Tony’s funeral had been a nightmare. Reporters from more than a dozen countries had been jostling for pictures of the ‘grieving’ widow. The fact that Olivia had found it impossible to put on a show for the media had aroused even more speculation. When she’d stood dry-eyed beside her husband’s coffin Olivia hadn’t realised that it would be her picture that would dominate the headlines for the following week.

      Yet, she’d got over it. And she had cried, too, in her suite at the house Tony had owned in Bal Harbour. They’d been together too many years for her not to feel some emotion. And she had cared for him once before she’d learned what a liar he could be.

      But, ultimately, it wasn’t Tony’s lies that had driven her to seek this seclusion. Her hand probed the slight swell of her stomach and her teeth dug into her lip. She was a liar, too, though there was no one now to accuse her of being a hypocrite. The guilt she had she shared with no one but herself.

      And for weeks after Tony’s death she hadn’t allowed herself to think about what had happened the night he’d died. She’d been kept too busy sorting out his affairs to pay any attention to herself. Which was good. When her mind was busy, she could put the past behind her. She could pretend that she hadn’t sacrificed her self-respect.

      Avoiding Christian Rodrigues had been harder. The man who had been her husband’s deputy, and with whom he had shared a common heritage, had never been easy to ignore. But he had shamed her; he had made her no better than the husband whose faithlessness she had despised. And now he was behaving as if it mattered to him what happened to her. That he had some right to say how she conducted her life from now on.

      It was ludicrous. He didn’t care about her. He’d proved that by seducing her that night. She couldn’t bear to be around him knowing how he felt about her. She was pretty sure he despised himself for allowing it to happen.

      She knew that he’d felt sorry for her. She was too old, after all; too unglamorous to attract a man like him. Christian was like Tony. He was ambitious as well as clever. When he chose a wife, she’d have status as well as beauty.

      It was when she’d discovered she was expecting Christian’s baby that she’d realised she had to get away. With Luis in college in San Francisco, there was nothing to stop her from leaving Miami. San Gimeno had seemed the perfect destination, and escaping here had been easier than she’d thought.

      For once, she’d appreciated the advantages that money had given her. Although much of his estate was in trust until Luis’s twenty-first birthday, Tony had left her well provided for. Of the six properties he’d owned around the world, two of them—the mansion in Bal Harbour and an apartment in Miami—now belonged to Olivia. And with a trust fund that would pay her something in the region of two million dollars a year, she need never worry about security again.

      Olivia had her own plans, however. As soon as—well, as soon as she returned to the States she intended to donate much of her inheritance to her favourite charities. She would keep enough for her and her baby to live on. But she had no desire for her child to know the hollow existence Luis had endured for so many years.

      Nevertheless, she’d been grateful for the luxury of hiring a private jet to bring her to the island. She wanted no one to know where she was until her baby was born. She didn’t want to hurt Luis, and she would miss his regular phone calls, but Christian must never know what he’d done.

      One of the smaller islands in the Bahamas group, San Gimeno had been left virtually untouched by the tourist boom. There were few hotels to speak of and its economy depended on its agriculture and fishing industries. It was the perfect retreat and although she’d only been here a couple of months, she loved it already.

      Leaving the veranda where she’d been sitting enjoying the view, Olivia trod across the grass to the palm-fringed dunes that edged the beach. The turf was coarse beneath her feet, but she was getting used to going barefoot. It gave her a sense of freedom and she liked it.

      It was so unlike the life she’d led as the wife of one of Florida’s richest men. She couldn’t imagine Tony appreciating the sight of his wife wearing a simple cropped vest and denim shorts. It had been important to him to feel proud of her, and she’d got used to doing and wearing what he said.

      But Tony was dead and for the first time since she was twenty-two she was her own woman. An independent being, with no one to please except herself. It was a tantalising thought. Yet she couldn’t deny a shiver of—what? Anticipation? Apprehension? She wouldn’t have been human if she hadn’t felt some anxiety about the future.

      Once again, an image of Christian Rodrigues filled her thoughts and her breath caught painfully in her throat. She had no doubt that—as she was Tony’s widow—he would be there for her, too, if she needed him. But she had no intention of asking for his help. Or indeed Luis’s, either.

      She still hadn’t decided where she was going to live after the baby was born. She might return to Florida or she might stay here. She might even go back to England. It would depend what she intended to do with the rest of her life. Whether the tentative ideas she had for earning her own living might bear any fruit.

      The sun was still hot upon her shoulders, and Olivia shifted restlessly. She was used to the heat. Florida could be unbearably hot and the humidity there was much greater than it was here. Nevertheless, she didn’t want to risk developing a fever. She had to stay well and rested. With a sigh of regret she turned back towards the villa.

      And saw her maid Susannah standing waiting for her at the top of the veranda steps.

      Immediately, Olivia felt a twinge of anxiety. She didn’t know why. It wasn’t as if she and the West Indian woman were close friends. But there was a rapport between them that Olivia had sensed as soon as she’d met her, and, recognising the agitation in the woman’s dark-skinned face now, she couldn’t help the sudden quiver in her stomach.

      ‘Is something wrong?’ she called, quickening her step, and Susannah moved aside to allow her to step up onto the veranda.

      ‘Um—no, ma’am,’ she said, but her tone was hardly convincing. Her hands twisted together at her waist. ‘You got a phone call, Mrs Mora. From the States. I wasn’t sure you’d want to take it.’

      Olivia’s jaw dropped. ‘A phone call?’ she echoed, her voice hardly louder than a whisper. Susannah knew that no one else knew she was here. Or rather, Olivia had believed they didn’t, she amended tensely. ‘I—who is it?’

      The housekeeper viewed her sympathetically. ‘I think he said his name was Roderick or Rodrigo. Do you want me to tell him you’re not here?’

      Olivia’s nails dug into her palms. Not Roderick or Rodrigo, she guessed. ‘Could it have been Rodrigues?’ she queried, hoping she didn’t sound as panicked as she felt, and Susannah nodded with some relief.

      ‘It could be,’ she said. ‘Do you know him?’

      Olivia СКАЧАТЬ