Now that was a twist in the proceedings, she saw, as he stared at her down the length of his arrogant nose. She made a grab at the package.
This time he let go of it.
On a shivering breath she turned and walked into the bathroom, then closed and locked the door.
By the time she came out again, she was stunned, shaken, totally hollowed out from the inside.
Raffaelle was standing by the window, his body tense inside his well-cut jacket. When he heard the door open he spun round, then went perfectly still.
‘Well—?’ he said harshly.
Rachel pressed her pale lips together and gave a shake of her head.
Tension sizzled. ‘Is that ano , as in you arenot pregnant?’ he demanded.
Hands ice-cold and trembling where she clutched them together in front of her, Rachel nodded.
He moved—one of those short, sharp jerks of the body. ‘You have to be pregnant,’ she thought she heard him mutter beneath his breath. ‘Why did you feel sick—why the fainting?’ he asked hoarsely.
‘W-women’s stuff,’ she mumbled dully. ‘It—it’s like that sometimes.’ She added a shrug. ‘The real thing should h-happen any day now…’
Silence fell, one of those horrible awkward, don’t-know-what-to-say-next kind of silences that grabbed at the air and choked it to death.
Rachel couldn’t stand it. She was in shock. She wasn’t really functioning properly on any level. She’d been so sure that the answer to the test would come out positive, and if she did not find herself something practical to do she knew she was going to embarrass both of them by bursting out crying with sheer disappointment!
With no control at all over her trembling legs, she walked like a drunk towards the dressing room. ‘I’ll pack,’ she whispered.
‘What the hell for—?’ he raked out.
‘Time to call it quits, I think.’ She even added a flicker of a wobbly smile.
‘No,’ he ground out roughly. ‘I—don’t want you to go.’
White as a sheet, Rachel shook her head. ‘It might as well be now than next week—next month—’
‘No,’ he repeated.
‘But there’s no reason left for me to stay now!’
His wide shoulders squared. ‘Am I not a good enough reason?’ he demanded harshly. ‘Have our weeks together meant so little to you that you could just decide to leave me like this—?’
Stunned by the harsh husky agony in his tone, Rachel was further shocked to see how pale he looked.
Tears burst to life. ‘Raffaelle…’ she murmured pleadingly. ‘You know we only—’
‘No,’ he cut in on her yet again. ‘Don’t say my name like that—don’tlook at me like that.’
‘But there is no baby!’ She had to say it—had to!
‘To hell with babies,’ he bit out fiercely. ‘We can make babies any time! This is about you and me and whatwe want. AndI want you to stay!’
Was he saying what she thought he was saying? She just stared at him, not daring to trust what her ears were telling her. ‘Francesca—’
‘Forget about Francesca,’ he said impatiently. ‘I am blind to Francesca. I amblind to any woman who is not you.’
She took a wary step towards him. ‘Are you saying that you want me to stay even without a baby—?’
He threw out an angry hand. ‘Why do you need me to keep on saying it?’he thrust out. ‘I want you to stay…because I wantyou to stay!’