Because her injury had affected her and she wasn’t so good at maintaining that image? Or had she changed over the years? Curiosity stirred.
‘Why did we marry if we weren’t in love?’
She made it sound as if no one married for any other reason which, given their history, was laughable.
‘Because you came to me with proof you were pregnant.’
It was like setting off a bomb. She goggled up at him, her face changing colour as she swayed on her feet.
Angelo almost reached out to steady her but she found her footing and straightened her shoulders. He watched her hand slide across her belly. Was that a conscious gesture, designed to convince him she couldn’t remember?
This constant doubt messed with his head. He turned and paced away, swivelling round to find her not looking at him but into space. She looked bewildered. And bereft.
He marched back, hating the way her expression made him feel.
‘No, you’re not a mother and you didn’t lose the child.’ Belatedly he realised his words were too abrupt but instinct urged him to eliminate any doubt in her mind as soon as possible.
Slowly her head turned and her eyes sought his. ‘It was a mistake, then? I wasn’t pregnant?’
Angelo felt her confusion and shock and almost reached out to take her hands. She looked in need of support.
Hell! It was only a couple of days since she’d washed up on the beach. Guilt bit him. He wasn’t managing this well.
‘Come.’
He ushered her to the armchair and watched her subside abruptly, as if her knees gave way.
When she was settled he took the chair opposite.
‘There was no baby.’
She opened her mouth to question him but Angelo raised his hand. Better if she just let him tell the story.
‘You’d been here for six weeks. I’d had to return to the mainland to work after a couple of weeks but you stayed on. I commuted, staying here every weekend and working a couple of days a week from here. But in all that time you didn’t leave.’
Her brows twitched as if she didn’t understand the significance of that, but it was something Angelo had checked and double-checked, given what happened later. Nor had she had any visitors.
‘Then one day you travelled to the mainland for an appointment. A medical appointment.’
He paused, taking in the way Ally leaned forward as if eager for more. Did she really not know?
‘When I saw you that evening you were shocked but excited. Somehow, despite being on the pill, you’d got pregnant but you hadn’t told me of your suspicions because you thought it couldn’t happen. Then you showed me the foetal scan taken that day with your name on it, and a letter outlining your follow-up appointments with a gynaecologist.’
Angelo grimaced at the sour tang filling his mouth. ‘Marriage wasn’t on my radar but I love my family and I know my duty. I knew too that I’d love my child, no matter how it was conceived.’
A pang of regret pierced him. Would he ever know what it was to care for a child of his own? His lifestyle, reinforced by the lesson of distrust that he’d learned from this woman, made it less likely.
‘We married out ofduty?’
Her voice sounded small and wary and Angelo narrowed his eyes, trying to read her expression.
‘What’s wrong with that?’ He frowned. ‘I believed myself responsible for a new life coming into the world. I couldn’t walk away from that.’
She surveyed him silently and Angelo had the feeling she was weighing him up. What did she see?
‘Even if it meant marrying someone you didn’t love?’
He hitched one shoulder. ‘You think I should have chosen personal preference over fatherly responsibility?’