Modern Romance August Books 1-4. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ unwise,’ Leo murmured drily.

      ‘In what way? He’s a very good friend.’

      ‘But that’s not all he wants to be,’ Leo incised. ‘Matt is in love with you.’

      Grace was aghast. ‘That’s complete nonsense!’

      ‘A friend would be relieved when the father of your child arrived to take an interest in your predicament. But a would-be lover feels threatened and annoyed and that’s what he is,’ Leo spelled out impatiently. ‘You’re not stupid, Grace. Your very good friend wants you living here with him because he’s in love with you.’

      ‘That’s completely untrue.’ Strikingly taken aback by his contention, Grace turned away in an uncoordinated half-circle. She was picturing Matt, his behaviour and his caring ways while wondering if it was possible that she could have been so blind that she had not noticed the depth of his feelings for her. ‘What would you know about it anyway?’

      ‘I only know what I saw in his face once he realised who I was,’ Leo said grimly. ‘You’re really not doing him any favours staying on here...unless of course you’re planning on returning his feelings?’

      ‘Er...that would be a no,’ Grace muttered guiltily while recognising the terrible unwelcome truth in Leo’s arguments. If it was true that Matt wanted more than friendship from her, it was equally true that there was no prospect of her offering it. The intensity of her attraction to Leo had concluded for ever any prospect of her trying to make more of her relationship with Matt. From the instant Leo had taught her of her own capacity to feel so much more mentally and physically than she had ever dreamt she could feel, her former conviction that she and Matt would make a great couple had died.

      ‘Then move into my apartment where you will not be under pressure,’ Leo advised softly.

      Grace wanted to slap Leo for cutting through all her possible protests by employing the one credible argument calculated to make her think again. Matt spent a lot of time with her. Matt was always there for her, eternally helping her and discussing her worries, but she was doing Matt a disservice by living with him if he was hoping for more than friendship from her. In that scenario the sooner she got out of Matt’s home and put some distance between them, the better, she reasoned guiltily.

      ‘When?’

      ‘I see no point in wasting time. Why not now? You can’t have that much stuff to pack. You’ve only been here a couple of days,’ he pointed out smoothly, reining back any hint of satisfaction in his demeanour.

      Matt was threatening to get involved in a situation that was none of his business and Leo wanted him eliminated before he interfered and caused trouble.

      Waiting in the small reception room, he listened to Matt raise his voice and Grace mute hers as she explained that she was moving out. The mother of his child, historically not a happy role in his family experience, but if adoption was in the offing he needed to come up with a viable alternative. Grace hadn’t even paused to consider the idea when he’d suggested marrying her. Cynical amusement filled Leo because he was too clever to cherish illusions about what made him so appealing to the female sex in general: first and foremost his great wealth followed by his looks and his sexual prowess. Yet Grace had thumbed her nose at that winning combination, doing what no other woman had done before in rejecting him. Although she had not rejected him the night when it all began, Leo savoured with an appreciation that was yet to pall in spite of the news he had received earlier.

      A battered suitcase, two boxes of files and a pile of books now littered the hall. Matt insisted on helping them transport Grace’s possessions out to the waiting limousine and Leo’s driver climbed out in consternation to whisk the case out of his employer’s grip while two of his bodyguards grabbed up the boxes.

      ‘Look after her...don’t hurt her,’ Matt breathed in a charged and warning undertone before Leo could climb into his limousine.

      ‘I won’t,’ Leo countered, his accented drawl curt and cool, his ego challenged by the tone of that advice.

      ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this,’ Grace lamented, because she was already suffering second thoughts. Leo had extracted her from Matt’s flat at the speed of light.

      ‘Right now, you need time out to decide what you want to do next,’ Leo told her levelly. ‘A few days...a few weeks, whatever it takes. You shouldn’t be trying to make life-changing decisions virtually overnight.’

      ‘You don’t want me to go for adoption?’ Grace said, her slim frame tensing, her fingers folding together tightly on her lap.

      ‘Adoption entails you cutting me out of the situation entirely. Why would you want to do that?’ Leo queried softly. ‘I am willing to help in every way possible. There are other options and I think you should consider them.’

      Grace breathed in slow and deep, fighting the sense that he was putting her on the spot because she knew that was unjust. She was in a highly stressful situation and any decision she made would put her under pressure. ‘This year of my degree I have to spend a lot of time working long unsocial hours in hospitals. Coping with that while pregnant will be a challenge.’

      ‘We can find some way to work around the problems. I’ve made an appointment for you with a doctor, who’s a friend of mine,’ Leo told her quietly. ‘We’re calling in with him first—’

      ‘A doctor? Why, for goodness’ sake?’ Grace demanded impatiently.

      ‘I want confirmation of your pregnancy and the reassurance that you are in good health,’ he admitted quietly.

      Grace breathed in deep, suppressing her frustration. He had a right to that official endorsement, she reasoned ruefully.

      Leo’s friend was in private practice and her pregnancy test was processed at supersonic speed before the suave, smoothly spoken doctor gave her a brief physical check-up and the usual advice offered to pregnant women.

      Having satisfied Leo’s request, Grace was quiet when she slid back into his limousine and thinking about her baby. Possibly she had been a little too quick to consider the avenue of adoption, a solution that would enable her to continue her life after the birth as though she had never been pregnant. Obviously the idea of reclaiming normality had appeal but what sort of normality would it be when she had to live for ever after with the awareness that she had given up her baby? A cold chill clenched Grace’s spine at the prospect of that ultimate consequence. Adoption was final and could well sentence her to live with a secret heartbreak and sense of loss for the rest of her days. Suddenly, the chance to think at her leisure, while not having to worry about where or how she lived or what other people thought, shone like the most luxurious indulgence in front of her. Leo, she dimly appreciated, could talk a lot of good sense when it suited him to do so.

      When they arrived at the block of exclusive apartments where Leo lived, his guards and her luggage went in the service lift, imprisoning her with Leo in the opulent confines of a far smaller and less utilitarian lift. She met his stunning eyes once and her heart stuttered as she immediately turned her head away, only to be greeted with a mirrored reflection of him instead: the luxuriant blue-black hair she wanted to tousle with her fingers, the arrogant angle of his head and the firm jut of his jaw, the sheer blazing confidence that inexplicably drew her like a magnet. Her mouth drying, she swallowed with difficulty. She felt out of step with herself, challenged to recognise the stranger she became in Leo’s presence, a stranger with random, often inappropriate thoughts and no control over her own body.

      ‘Stop СКАЧАТЬ