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out I was pregnant I wanted to tell the baby’s father. After all, there is no doubt that Gabe is his. And I believe he would support the baby.’

      ‘Of course he would,’ Nico answered carefully. He would give the world to get her real thoughts, and if taking himself out of the equation helped, then that was fine with him.

      ‘But I worry,’ Aurora said, ‘that he might suggest the other option.’

      Nico was silent.

      ‘Marriage,’ she said. ‘You see, he turned me down once, and I would always feel I had forced him into it.’

      ‘Okay…’

      It was a gentle okay. It gave no indication as to his thoughts. More an acknowledgment that he had heard her.

      ‘I think,’ Aurora said, ‘that he will want the second option—even if he doesn’t really want it. He’s a good man, and very respected by my family. They would certainly expect him to marry me.’

      ‘And you don’t want that?’

      ‘No. I think I would prefer option one.’

      ‘Okay…?’

      It was the same response as before, but it contained a question.

      ‘You see,’ Aurora ventured, ‘I think he might regret that day.’

      ‘Well, I don’t think he does.’

      ‘I mean, he never wanted to marry…’

      Silence from Nico.

      ‘But now he will try to do the right thing by me. I would hate that. I think our marriage would be a terrible mistake.’ She struggled to voice the picture that danced in her mind. ‘He would come to Silibri and see us now and then…perhaps at weekends…and then return to his life. I would have a husband and Gabe a father and we would have respect in the village, and he would have his life in Roma. His stunning apartment and…’ She did not finish.

      ‘And?’ Nico pushed.

      ‘Other women.’

      Her breath was held tight in her lungs as he seemed to consider it.

      ‘You’d be okay with that?’ Nico checked.

      And because it was dark she could not see his smile. And because she was so focussed on the awful scenario that danced in her mind she did not hear the tiny tease in his words.

      She missed, completely, the fact that Nico had made a joke.

      ‘Of course not,’ she snapped.

      ‘Do you love him, Aurora?’

      ‘Too much.’

      ‘Do you believe he loves you?’

      ‘If he does it is a very occasional love—not enough to endure a lifetime. Which is why I prefer option one.’

      ‘You will always have option one, where he supports both you and the baby, but what of option two?’ Nico persisted. ‘What if he wants marriage and a family now? What if he has changed his mind?’

      ‘Perhaps he is just saying that to humour me. You see, I know for a fact he would prefer a quiet wife who would stay in the background…’

      ‘You know that for a fact?’

      ‘Yes!’ Aurora said. ‘Because he told me so himself. And I’m not so good at being the type of wife he prefers. I could try to be her, though…’

      ‘Why would you try to be someone you’re not?’

      ‘Because if he makes the effort for me, then I should do the same for him.’

      ‘Would he want you to change?’

      ‘He wants serene, he wants elegant, and he wants calm and peace.’ She turned and looked at him in the darkness. ‘I could try to be all of that.’

      ‘You won’t last five minutes, Aurora.’

      ‘Watch me, Nico.’

      He did.

      Nico watched her sleep.

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN

      GABE!

      Aurora woke in an empty bed and no baby.

      No Nico.

      Yes, she had the nanny, but panic had her dashing down the grand stairs and through the long entrance hall—and then coming to a halt at the door of the kitchen.

      Nico sat on a bar stool holding her baby—or rather, their baby. He was wearing suit trousers, socks and shoes, but he was naked from the hips up and unshaven.

      Half executive, half temptation.

      ‘I overslept,’ Aurora said. ‘I never oversleep.’

      ‘It’s only seven.’

      ‘That’s late for me. Usually I’m up at six…sometimes five…’ She was gabbling. But she had to keep speaking about inane things because the sight of him, the delicious sight of him, was too much for this hour.

      ‘Gabe needs to be fed,’ Aurora said, holding out her hands for him to hand over their son.

      ‘I just fed him,’ Nico said. ‘And that is why I am not wearing a shirt. He vomited on me. The nanny is sorting me out another one.’

      ‘Oh.’ Aurora didn’t know what to say to that, but again held her hands out for her son. ‘Well, he needs to be changed.’

      ‘He’s already been changed,’ Nico said.

      ‘Did you do that too?’

      ‘No.’ Nico shook his head. ‘I left that to the nanny.’

      He smiled, and it was so rare that he did, that when he did she felt as if she wore skates and the marble floor was ice, for she wanted to glide over to Nico.

      Her outstretched hands were now for him, Aurora realised, so she dropped them to her sides.

      ‘He’s handsome,’ Nico said, looking down at his son.

      ‘Very.’

      ‘I would expect his father must be too,’ Nico said, slipping into the banter they had shared last night.

      ‘Not really.’ Aurora wrinkled her nose and teased him, but could not erase her smile. She tried to, but it just kept shining through.

      And then it dawned on her how terrible she must look, in his crumpled shirt and with a bruise on her cheek. Surely his perfect wife would be in active wear at this hour, all glowing from her morning yoga—or from having just gone down on him.

      Aurora preferred the thought of the latter, even if she had never done it before…

      ‘I’d better go,’ Nico said.

      ‘Where?’ Aurora asked.

      ‘Where do you think?’

      ‘Can’t work wait, Nico? Surely we have a lot to discuss and—’ She halted herself, for she had sworn at least to try and be the perfect wife. ‘What time will you be…?’ She swallowed. His perfect wife would not ask when he would be back. ‘I’m going to cook today.’

      ‘I have a housekeeper for that.’

      Although then he realised that she and her husband had both just gone on leave.

      ‘Or I have chefs down the road,’ Nico said. ‘And, anyway, you need to shop.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because you need new clothes. And a haircut.’ He picked up her hand. ‘And

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