‘I suppose that’s sensible,’ Leah agreed as he pulled out a chair politely for her to sit down.
‘Would you like a drink?’ he enquired, watching her hitch her long skirt to cross her slender legs, noticing that the top she wore was slightly transparent and merely enhanced the full thrust of breasts cupped in pale lace. As his attention strayed to her luscious pink lips, the thrum of arousal kicked off and he averted his gaze, furious with himself for being so ridiculously susceptible. Didn’t he ever learn the lesson that marriage had taught him? It was dangerous to allow himself to be vulnerable withanywoman. Hadn’t his mother taught him that from childhood as well?
‘Juice or a soft drink,’ Leah responded, striving to relax even in the face of the tension he emanated. Was he angry with her? Had something happened? She was travelling from her earlier calm towards edgy discomfiture, and she resented him for having that effect on her.
He nodded at the hovering manservant and a glass of chilled orange juice was brought and set in front of her. She felt ridiculously like a condemned prisoner, having a last wish granted as she sat there at the table while Gio remained upright beside the tall windows. It hurt too that she still recognised that his impossible good looks were matched by spectacular magnetism.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, driven into speech by the pulsing silence.
‘I have only one question to ask you and I expect an honest answer,’ Gio decreed arrogantly, the planes of his lean bronzed profile forbidding in the strong light flooding the room. ‘What is your relationship with Ari Stefanos? I have the right to know the truth on that score.’
Astonishment gripped Leah and her caramel eyes widened at the demand. How the heck did Gio know about her brother’s recent arrival in her life? Her newly discovered ties with her brother and the inheritance that had come with it were a secret and she had no idea whether or not her half-brother had any intention ofevergoing public with their relationship. The night before, Ari had seemed pretty much mortified by his father’s secret affair and second family, not to mention being rather ashamed of Christophe Stefanos’ undeniable negligence as a parent. Those were not solely Leah’s secrets to tell and she did not owe Gio Zanetti a truth that could cause embarrassment for her big brother.
‘My relationship with Ari is none of your business,’ she told Gio with composed cool.
‘Of course, it’s my business!’ Gio fired back at her. ‘Naturally I’m concerned if you are claiming that you are expecting my child when there isobviouslyanother man in your life!’
‘Oh, so your nasty suspicions have tipped over into actual fact now that you have apparently established that I really knowoneother man?’ Leah rounded her caramel-brown eyes to accentuate her stab at how ridiculous that statement was. ‘Do I have to move into a convent to convince you that you have been theonlyman in my life since I conceived?’
Angry colour flushed Gio’s hard cheekbones. In the smouldering silence, the manservant reappeared carrying plates. As he uncorked a bottle of wine, Gio informed him gruffly that they would serve themselves and he withdrew again.
‘I want an answer,’ Gio repeated stubbornly as the door closed.
Leah shook out her napkin with a positive flourish as she lifted her chin, her dark eyes steady. ‘You’re not entitled to an answer. You’re lucky that I was even willing to have lunch with you,’ she pointed out, lifting her knife and fork and quite determined to eat the delicious salad on her plate. ‘According to you, my claim that I’m carrying your child entitles you to some sort of medieval ownership of my entire person and my freedom. Don’t you see how unreasonable an expectation that is?’
‘All I asked was for clarification of your relationship with Stefanos, who enjoyed quite a raunchy reputation with women before his recent marriage.’
Leah wrinkled her nose with distaste at that unsought information about her big brother. ‘I suggest you look at your own playboy reputation with women before you start throwing insults in Ari’s direction—’
‘You’re not listening to me, are you?’ Gio growled, well-nigh incredulous as he watched her continue to eat with apparent composure.
Leah ate quietly for a few moments while she pondered his words. ‘You haven’t yet said anything which I want to hear. When I met you, you seemed such a straightforward guy,’ she confided wryly. ‘But I was sowrongin that estimation because you’re not at all like that. Under the surface, you have more turns and twists than a Gordian knot. You appear to be a womaniser who assumes all women are unprincipled, dishonest and unworthy of trust—’
‘That is untrue!’ Gio incised in a driven undertone, incensed at that reading of his behaviour.
‘From my experience it is totally true,’ Leah asserted, crunching through her lettuce with gusto and pausing again to think. ‘You invited me here for lunch simply to interrogate me. Even worse, you’re demanding answers to questions that you have no right to ask. I’m not married to you. I’m not dating you. I owe you nothing more than the information I’ve already given you.’
‘I am trying to establish a relationship with you—’
‘No, you’re not. You’re accusing me of carrying on with a married man. I assure you that there is no affair, but if you want an explanation of my relationship with Ari, ask him to elucidate. Ironically, he advised me to stayawayfrom you—’
‘Did he indeed?’ Gio slammed back at her rawly, his biting fury at that news illuminating his pale gaze.
‘Just until the birth, when I will allow you to have your precious DNA test as proof.’ Leah sighed. ‘And it was good advice, but I sort of thought I could include you sooner, which just goes to show how naïve I was. I mean, I actually believed I had been invited to a genuine lunch today aimed at improving our tricky relationship.’
‘How can it improve when you are determined not to answer my questions?’ Gio framed grimly. ‘And why are you suddenly trying to include me when you said you didn’t need contact with me prior to the birth?’
Leah pushed away her plate and tossed down her napkin. She stood up with thoroughly exasperated dark eyes locked to his lean, darkly handsome face. ‘I want my baby to have a father because I barely have a memory of my own. I was afraid that if I excluded you completely at this stage it could damage any potential bond you might develop with our child in the future. Iwasplanning to tell you that I’m having an ultrasound screening tomorrow afternoon at Mr Grove’s clinic on Harley Street, so that you could attend if you want to be involved. But I can see now thatthatwas a very foolish idea,’ she completed curtly as she paused only to grab her coat and bag and stalked back into the foyer.
‘Leah!’
Leah spun round, her pink pouty mouth compressed into an impatient line, and all Gio wanted to do was chase that expression from her face and erase the lowering thought that he had contrived, once again, to disappoint her.Per Dio,since when had he tried to measure up to a woman’s expectations whenshewas the one being unreasonable? After all, a simple test was all it would take to remove his doubts that her child was alsohischild. Where was the harm in a basic test?
‘I’m sorry, but when I saw you in Stefanos’ arms it looked distinctly dodgy,’ Gio ground out defensively.
‘Ah...that’s right, he arrived just after you left and so you saw him.’ Leah’s delicate brows pleated in confusion. ‘But you didn’t see any kissing or anything like that,’ she pointed out, frowning then before making the obvious deduction. ‘You’re a jealous toad, Gio.’
A flare of disconcerted colour ignited over his sculpted cheekbones. ‘I amnotjealous,’ he derided incredulously.