‘Home is fine,’ Carrie said.
Nik’s arm was still around her shoulders and she leant against his strong chest, letting the heat of his body warm her.
The scan photo was in her hand, and as she looked at the image of her baby she felt Nik’s arm tighten protectively round her. For a moment she let herself imagine that they were a normal loving couple, sharing in the experience of seeing their baby for the first time.
It had been awesome to see the baby, and she knew Nik had been affected by it, too. It was amazing to think there was a baby growing inside her
But for Carrie it was overshadowed by stress and sadness.
She loved Nik so much that being close to him, knowing he didn’t return her feelings, was like a physical pain. Leaning into his embrace was a bittersweet mixture of joy and regret.
‘Let’s go to the car if you’re ready?’ Nik said.
‘All right.’ She stood up, and they walked outside to the car park together.
‘You sit down and rest a moment,’ Nik said, opening the door of an open-topped black sports car that Carrie had never seen before. ‘I’ll tell Spiro to head back on his own.’
Carrie slid into the passenger seat of Nik’s car, feeling more alone than ever. She missed the comfort of his arm around her shoulder, and suddenly she hated the fact that she’d never even seen his car before. She’d only ever been in the limousine with Spiro, and it had never occurred to her that Nik had a personal car that he drove on his own.
This morning was the first time Nik had spent more than a couple of minutes with her since she’d told him she was pregnant, and she had realised two things.
She loved Nik, and she craved his company even more than she’d thought.
Being with him, especially with him acting as if he cared about her and her unborn child, was a kind of torture. A succession of emotions churned through her, knotting painfully inside her chest and tightening her throat so that she could hardly breathe. Tears welled up in her eyes and there was nothing she could do to stop them falling.
Nik walked back towards his convertible, thinking how lucky he’d been not to have missed the scan altogether. Seeing his baby on the screen had been simply amazing—but because of his reluctance to accept how fast his life was changing he’d almost been too late. He wouldn’t let anything like that happen again.
Suddenly he caught sight of Carrie’s face in the rearview mirror of his car. What he saw stopped him in his tracks.
She was staring at the ultrasound picture with tears rolling silently down her cheeks. She shivered slightly while she wept, but it wasn’t her tears that wrenched his heart so cruelly—it was the look of utter desolation on her face.
Almost without realising it, he started walking towards her. She turned her head slightly as he approached, and he caught a glimpse of her tear-stained face, but then she wiped her hands quickly over her cheeks and pulled her sunglasses down from on top of her head to hide her red eyes. Her hand was shaking and there was a fragility about her that tore at him painfully.
It hurt that she didn’t want him to know how she was feeling—but he knew it was his fault. He had driven a wedge between them, and now they were so far apart emotionally that she couldn’t bear him to see her upset.
But he had to find out what was wrong. She was holding the scan picture. It had never occurred to him to wonder whether she was happy to be pregnant.
He opened the passenger door and knelt beside the low-slung car, taking her hand in his.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you.’
‘It’s all right.’ Carrie’s voice was quiet, but steady. If he hadn’t seen the tears for himself he would never have guessed that he’d caught her crying. ‘I’m glad you managed to come when you did.’
‘You gave me a shock when you told me you were pregnant,’ Nik said. ‘I’m sorry I reacted the way I did, but I realised today how happy I am to be having a child.’
Carrie didn’t speak. She looked small and wretched—a million miles away from the fiery woman she’d been when they first me
t. And it was his doing.
The muscle of his heart clenched and his throat tightened painfully. He couldn’t be responsible for making Carrie so miserable.
But he’d married her for a good reason. This was all about doing what was right for his brother’s son. And now for his own unborn child.
Or was it?
Realisation hit him like a blow. It was about Carrie. Ever since the day they’d met, it had always been about Carrie.
Of course he’d wanted her, from the moment he laid eyes on her in that skimpy red dress. She’d been pure sex on legs—enough to make any man’s libido shoot into overdrive. But each time he’d seen her after that the need to possess her had deepened, and now he knew it wasn’t just sexual.