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‘You haven't seen anything of the island yet' he told her abruptly We’II remedy that tomorrow' For Emily's benefit, or for his own because he needed to put sorandfather?

CHAPTER TWELVE

ARE you sure you've got time to do this? Emily queried as Marco held open the door of the car for her before they set off to see so sunshine cast sharp patterns on the worn flagstones of the courtyard and Elad of the welcome coolness of the air-conditioned car Hadn't she read sonancy increased the blood flow and made one feel warmer?

Pregnancy She ached to be able to share her joy with Marco and yet at the same time, she was also afraid of his reaction If he should try to pressure her into having a terically, what else could he do? Even if he was prepared to understand and accept that she wanted to have this baby and bring it up alone, she suspected that his grandfather would be totally opposed to the idea The old king would surely put pressure on Marco to deal with her She didn't want to put Marco in that position and she wanted to keep her child as far away as possible froative kind of environht be the richest in the world, but so far as Emily was concerned they seemed to be as dysfunctional as they ealthy

Money wasn't ih for her needs She wanted her child to grow up confident that he or she was rich in love rather than money What she wanted, she admitted, was for her child to be raised somewhere very far away fro a royal bastard So as she going to do? Return to London without telling Marco she was having his child?

That was certainly her easiest option Eth to do it? Could she walk away froh already to do whatever she had to do to protect hi theto think about it However, did she also love Marco enough to spare hi to take on board prospective fatherhood and the probleh to deny her instinctive longing to share her neith hirowing joy at the prospect of having his baby?

It was an extraordinarily wonderful gift that fate was giving her: a child, and not just any child, but the seed of the man she loved She could picture him now; somehow Emily already knew that her baby would be a boy He would have Marcos features and perhaps a little of his arrogance He would look at her with Marcos eyes and she would melt with love for him and the h to demand his fathers name? She would deal with that when it happened For nohat concerned her most was her baby's health and whether she could leave Niroli without Marco suspecting anything So hoas she going to do that? She couldn't just tell him she didn't want him any more He would never believe her

Perhaps he would believe her if she told him she wasn't comfortable with her role in his life She wasn't even his fornised mistress, and she felt it could reflect on her business reputation Marco's own pride ht, when they had ed hi her breath a little, caught as she was between her maternal anxiety for her baby and the intense physical desire he always aroused in her But Marco was a skilled and a sensual lover, who knew every single one of her body's responses and how to invoke them There was no way he wouldn't soon notice a new desire on her part to make his penetration of her less intense

A small, sad semi-shtseeing journey they were taking together today could well be the last they would ether Now she was destined to set out on a new path, which she would share with this gift he had given her

‘Seat belt’ Marco reminded her He reached across to secure the belt for her before she could stop him Immediately Emily breathed in protectively There was no bump of any kind to betray her but still she felt a sharp clutch of anxiety for the vulnerability of her child It would be like this for the rest of her life, she recognised No matter that one day this baby she had conceived so unintentionally would be an adult; as a h, of course, there would be s she could not protect her child fro his father hadn't wanted him