page5 (1/1)

There was no escaping it now, no easy way to break this She had to tell hiht now The suspicion in his eyes warned her of that

‘Be sure of what, Lisa?’ Max de up, al her

‘I…’ She tried to forer snared her attention and her words dried up

‘What, Lisa?’ His voice thundered and inside she ju

The words failed her as she looked up at hiain ‘I’nant’

Max’s world rocked violently Not for the first tilish or his native Spanish He’d thought she’d con the divorce papers, to tell him she’d moved on, had a new lover, but her words still ricocheted through hied wife, the wo his child? A child he hadn’t wanted, a child he wasn’t ready for, not when everything fro into the present with the force of a tidal wave

He focused his attention on the woman he’dat a young age that such emotions hurt His mother had loved his father and that had hurt her—badly He’d loved his father and when he’d walked out it had al words echoing fro he’d steadfastly refused to acknowledge since that day

Never forget you have Valdez blood in your veins

Ever since then he’d tried to forget He’d been resolutely deterht of the Valdez banking family He’d been entirely successful until a lawyer had contacted hi him of his father’s death Then his half-brother had done the same and now the whole sorry mess was splashed over every damn newspaper

He pushed his childhood memories back, but didn’t take his eyes off Lisa as she stood there, holding her nerve, those green eyes locked with his She was more than aon his every word, didn’t sile in an act of coyness Lisa was real and honest She’d grounded hiht stands Then she’d told him she’d had a job offer in America and he’d known he couldn’t let her walk away, that he had to try and open up to her, to love her

That hy he’d married her, but very quickly he’d realised that had been a ether, they should never have married and he cursed the weakness of his desire for this redhead, which had driven him to make her his wife

Finally he found his voice ‘Pregnant? What about the pill?’

He couldn’t be a father He didn’t want to be a father, didn’t want to take the risk that he’d be the saly head Now it had In more ways than he could believe possible

Lisa was pregnant Froht How could she calmly stand there and tell his that happened?

‘I think you have sorowled the words at her, annoyed at her reluctance to say anything else

She pulled out a chair and sat wearily at the table and he could clearly see just how pale she was beneath her ely away, along with the fear of the past, as he sat opposite her She clasped her hands in front of her on the table His gaze lingered on her long slender fingers and the glitter of the diaold he’d placed on her third finger over a year ago She still wore his rings? Why, when the divorce papers he hadn’t yet signed were on his desk at home? Had she put the his child?

‘We had a lot of wine that night, Max I guess suffering the after-effects of that had an effect’ She paused and looked at hi I even considered until I realised that I could be pregnant’

Did she seriously think he’d buy that? Too lasses of wine?’

‘It was more than a few and you know it’ Her hot retort fired back at him, much ing life to her cheeks ‘I was ill after I left’

He narrowed his eyes as he replayed that night in hisafter He recalled how his head had been splitting in two, how every noise had made him wince, especially the slam of the door as Lisa had left He’dable to drink one She was right They had drunk far too much wine Or had that been a cover up for the sudden defrosting of his estranged wife? After all, she hadn’t needed much persuasion to return to his bed