The Mills & Boon Ultimate Christmas Collection. Kate HardyЧитать онлайн книгу.
wandering round the picturesque narrow village streets on Nexos, admiring colourful flowerboxes, sleeping cats, starlit eyes wide with interest while she drank lemonade in the café overlooking the harbour and watched the fishermen bringing in their catch. She made everything fresh, Apollo acknowledged in growing bewilderment; she made him see things through less jaded eyes.
* * *
Pixie could feel her facial muscles lock as she descended the stairs to welcome the arrivals. She refused to look at Apollo but she was seethingly conscious of him standing back in a stylishly crumpled beige linen suit teamed with a white tee shirt. She showed the doctor, the technician and the nurse into the room where their equipment could be set up and Olympia brought a tray of tea and snacks out to the terrace for them.
‘Pixie…’ Apollo said then, having demonstrated unusual patience for such an impatient man. ‘Could I have a word?’
No, no way, she wanted to scream at him but she couldn’t let herself scream. There would be no discussion about Izzy Jerome or about the promise he had given about trying to stay faithful. What was done was done and there was really nothing more to say. All she had to do now was draw a line under their marriage as such and default to the useful guidelines printed in her pre-nuptial contract.
‘Your office,’ she suggested, stealing an involuntary glance at him.
He hadn’t shaved and he was still gorgeous. Dark stubble shadowed his strong jaw line and outlined his superbly kissable lips. His black hair was messy, his stunning green eyes glittering warily below his black velvet lashes. He was sexy as sin and a pang of wanton lust pierced her pelvis. Guilty colour washed her pallor away. He had cheated on her with a blonde beauty, so how could she still respond to him on a physical level? Self-loathing inflamed her while she picked her passage through the team of caterers fussing over the chairs that were being carried into the ballroom where the party would be held.
The mere prospect of the party made her grit her teeth. All those people would be attending primarily to see her in her role as the wife of Apollo Metraxis, people who would know he was already playing away with another woman, and yet Pixie would have to pretend that nothing was wrong because that was what she had agreed to do when she chose to marry him. Luckily pretending, however, would allow her to retain a certain dignity, she reminded herself doggedly.
Her visceral reaction was to scream, shout and claw at Apollo and from the curious glances he was angling at her she could see that a major scene was what he expected. But Pixie was determined not to lower herself to that level. Whatever else he was, Apollo was the father of her child and, whether she liked it or not, he would remain a feature of her life for many years in the future. She was determined not to embarrass herself in front of him by revealing that she had made the mistake of becoming emotionally involved.
‘I’m relieved that you’re giving us the chance to talk before Mr Rollins gives you the scan,’ Apollo murmured in an unusually quiet voice.
Was he ashamed? No, Apollo didn’t do shame or fidelity when it came to sex, she reasoned painfully. He was probably genuinely grateful that she wasn’t making a big scene.
Pixie stationed herself by the window that looked across the sloping gardens and over the top of the trees and out to sea. She steeled her spine. ‘I want us to separate—’
‘No,’ Apollo interrupted immediately.
‘It’s in the pre-nup agreement,’ Pixie reminded him. ‘Once I’m pregnant I can if I wish ask to live separately and I would like to return to the UK as soon as it can be arranged.’
Apollo was powerfully knocked off balance by that announcement. Yes, that was in the agreement because before he married her he had assumed that he would want his freedom back as soon as possible. Had ever a man been so bloody stupid and blind? he railed at himself in furious frustration. ‘That is exactly what I don’t want.’
Pixie rested icy grey eyes on his lean bronzed face. ‘I don’t care what you want.’
‘You’re not even giving me a chance to explain?’
‘No, that kind of discussion would challenge my ability to be civil to you,’ Pixie admitted hoarsely, because inside herself where it didn’t show she was breaking apart. She hated him and yet she still wanted to be near him. She loathed him for betraying her and yet her weak, wanton body still hummed in direct response to the insanely hot attraction he exuded. The very thought of not seeing Apollo again for months on end threatened to rip her into tiny pieces but she knew the difference between right and wrong and she knew what she had to do to restore the boundaries she needed to feel safe.
And she could never ever feel safe with an unfaithful man. It didn’t matter that it had only happened once, what mattered was that she had made the mistake of thinking of their marriage as a real marriage and now she was being destroyed because she loved him. But he hadn’t asked her for her love or her possessiveness and he had even warned her that fidelity would be a struggle for him. How far in those circumstances could she blame him for what he had done? She had fallen for him and that was her mistake, not his.
‘This is crazy…’ Apollo breathed with sudden rawness, big brown hands settling over her slight shoulders. ‘You won’t even look at me!’
‘I’m being polite.’
‘That isn’t you… I don’t know you like this!’ Apollo growled in frustration. ‘Shout at me, kick me…whatever!’
‘Why would I do that?’ Pixie forced a frozen little smile to her lips. ‘We’ve enjoyed a successful business arrangement. My brother is safe and learning how to live without gambling and I’m carrying a baby I want very much. Now you can return to the freewheeling life you prefer.’
Even though his temper was cruelly challenged by that speech, his big hands withdrew from her tense shoulders and dropped away to slowly ball into fists by his sides because he genuinely didn’t want to argue with her and upset her. ‘Mr Rollins should be ready for you now,’ he pronounced with savage quietness.
Pixie chewed at her full lower lip, blaming him for the fact that the scan she had been eager to have had now been horribly overshadowed by his betrayal and her heartbreak. But maybe seeing the shape of her baby on a screen would restore her and cure the agony clawing up inside her. It hurt so much not to have Apollo any more. It hurt not to be able to allow herself to touch him. But a kick, never mind a kiss, would have released the pent-up rage and hurt she was holding back.
She wanted to tell him that she had gone down to the animal rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of the village while he was away and had met the staff and occupants as well as spotting a little dog very similar to Hector. She had wanted to share that with Apollo but then she wanted to share everything with Apollo, had in fact got used to treating him like her best friend, and in the wake of his infidelity that was a really terrifying revelation. What had happened to her pride? But now she could feel the new distance forming inside her and she clung to that barrier in desperation.
Having set up the equipment, the nurse and the technician were ready to give Pixie her scan. She got up on the mobile examination table, rested her head back on the pillow and pushed down her skirt to expose her tummy while the consultant talked smoothly about what she could expect to see. He referred to her blood test, which surprised her. Clearly he had consulted the island doctor for that result and she wondered why.
The gel the technician put on her stomach was cool and she shivered, eyes flying wide when Apollo moved forward and closed a hand over her knotted fingers. The amazing racing sound of the baby’s heartbeat filled the silence and she smiled in sheer wonder. The wand moved and then the heartbeat surged again.
‘Two babies, Mrs Metraxis.’
‘Two?’ she echoed in astonishment.
‘Twins. I suspected a multiple pregnancy when I saw the results of your first blood test…’
Shocked, Pixie locked her eyes to the screen while the consultant outlined the shadowy forms of her children. Children, not one child as she had simply assumed.