‘Say one more word,’ she bit out, ‘and I am likely to spoil your handsome features!’
There was a choked gasp from behind her. ‘What did she say to you?’ he demanded roughly.
‘Nothing you would find unacceptable,’ she retorted. Then, because she knew she needed to calm down because she could feel the usual dizziness surging up to pay her back for allowing herself to get this agitated, she took a jerky step towards the door. ‘I need to—’
‘No!’ The hand that closed around her wrist stopped her from going anywhere. ‘I want to know what she said to make you so angry,’ Alex insisted grimly.
Mia rounded on him like a virago. Her teeth bared and her eyes spitting green fire, she hit out at him with her free fist. It missed its target because he ducked out of its way—which in turn sent her off balance so she stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn’t caught her to him.
‘What the hell was that for?’
‘Three days!’ she choked out. ‘She was ill for three whole days before my father condescended to let Cissy bring in a doctor!’
‘And you think I could be that callous?’ He looked white suddenly—white with anger. ‘I am not your damned father!’ he railed at her furiously.
No, she thought, you are just the man who is breaking my heart in two! ‘Oh, God,’ she said brokenly when she realised just what she was telling herself. ‘Let go of me,’ she whispered, feeling the all too ready tears beginning to build inside.
Maybe he sensed them threatening—certainly he could feel the way her body was trembling as he was holding her so close—because, on a driven sigh, he let go of her. ‘You should not let yourself get upset like this,’ he muttered. ‘In your present condition it cannot be good for you.’
Ah, her present condition. Mia allowed herself a tight smile. ‘I’m fine,’ she said grimly, pulling herself together. ‘It’s my sister’s health that worries me, not my own.’
‘Your daughter,’ he corrected.
‘Sister,’ she repeated. ‘She will not be my daughter again until I have safely delivered this child I am carrying now.’
Alex came with her to the hospital that morning, though Mia wished he could have shown a bit of sensitivity and let her hav
e this first very painful meeting with Suzanna alone.
As it was, the child took one look at her as she walked in the room and dissolved into a flood of tears. Mia just gathered her gently into her arms and held her there, struggling hard not to weep herself.
‘Daddy said you wouldn’t come,’ the child sobbed as she clung to her. ‘He said you didn’t want me any more because I’m a nuisance.’
‘That’s not true, darling,’ Mia murmured reassuringly. ‘You will never be a nuisance to me and I will always come if you need me. Always. Didn’t I promise you that the last time I saw you?’
‘But he said you’d gone away to start your own family!’ the child sobbed out accusingly. ‘S-so I’d better get used to you not being around! But I missed you, Mia!’
It was a cry from the heart that cut so deep even Alex, a silent witness to this tragic overload of emotion, could not stay silent any longer.
‘Hello,’ he said, stopping Suzanna’s tears as if he’d thrown a switch.
Her face came out of Mia’s shoulder so she could look towards that deep, smooth, very male voice, first in surprise because she hadn’t noticed him come in with her precious Mia and then with all the natural wariness of a child towards any total stranger.
A very tall, very dark, very handsome stranger, who was smiling the kind of smile that made Mia’s heart flip because she recognised it as the same smile he had once used on her—before her father’s bargain had effectively killed it.
‘My name is Alex,’ he introduced himself. ‘Mia is my wife.’
Wife. Her heart flipped a second time. He had formally acknowledged her as his wife for the first time ever, and the word seemed to echo strangely inside her head.
Like a lie that wasn’t quite a lie but still sounded like one nonetheless.
‘And you are Suzanna …’ With each gently spoken word he came closer, holding Suzanna’s attention like a hovering hawk mesmerising a wary rabbit. He came down on his haunches beside the bed where Mia was holding the child against her. ‘I am very pleased to meet you.’
He offered Suzanna his hand in greeting. Her tear-spiked lashes flickered to the hand, then uncertainly back to his face again—before finally looking to Mia in search of some hint as to how she should respond.
Don’t ask me, Mia thought drily. I still haven’t worked that one out and I’ve been living with him for months. She smiled reassuringly. ‘It’s OK. You can like him. He’s nice.’
‘Thank you,’ Alex murmured in a dry undertone that said he’d caught the mocking intonation behind the remark.