‘Do you need some help packing your case?’
‘No, thank you.’ She frowned. She refused to be rushed into this. She had always dreamed of having a family—but a family very different from her own. She supposed now that this perfect dream was yet another example of her naivety. Life wasn’t simple, and there was no such thing as an ideal family. The only thing she did know was that she would fight like a lioness for her child. And if living in the lap of luxury in Italy turned out not to be the best thing for her baby, she’d come home.
‘Where were you planning to take me?’ she asked Marco, blaming pregnancy hormones for the vision of his home in Tuscany swimming in front of her eyes. She even allowed the daydream to progress... That wouldn’t be so bad, would it? Tending that beautiful garden as she waited for her baby to arrive? The sunshine would do both of them good—
‘To Rome, as I said,’ he repeated briskly. Her illusion was instantly shattered as he added, ‘That’s where the best doctors are, so that’s where you’ll be going. You’ll live in my penthouse, of course. What?’ he asked seeing her expression change from frowning to downright refusal. ‘Where did you think I would take you?’
‘Rome,’ she murmured distractedly. He’d said Rome, and she knew that to many people Rome would seem to be a dream destination, but Marco was so different in Rome, and he expected her to act differently too. What sort of life would she lead in Rome? Would he even be there when she had the baby? And how would she occupy herself until the child was born? And what would happen afterwards?
Questions crowded in on her. She was weak. She had been sick for days now, and though her doctor had promised the nausea would pass, she just couldn’t face dressing up and living Marco’s social life in Rome. But then it came to her that, far from parading her in front of his friends and business associates, he was probably thinking more about hiding her away. He wouldn’t want to flout his pregnant mistress in front of everyone. Not when she was his gardener, his part-time holiday staff, a young nobody with whom he’d had an ill-judged fling. His peers in Rome would expect a man like Marco di Fivizzano to settle down with an heiress, a princess or a celebrity at the very least. No. Marco wanted her under his nose so he could keep an eye on her—hide her away from the press, from everyone, so she couldn’t talk about her affair. He wanted to imprison her in his penthouse in Rome.
‘Cassandra?’
She stared up at him in shock.
‘Call me when you want your case carried downstairs.’
‘Wait,’ she called as he turned away. ‘I’m not coming with you. I’d have to give this a lot of thought first.’
He raked his hair with frustration. ‘What’s there to think about?’
‘My life—my child’s life.’
‘What kind of life are you going to give a child here?’ Marco countered.
‘What kind of life am I going to have shut away in your penthouse in Rome? Just because you can’t imagine bringing up a child in anything but palatial surroundings, it doesn’t make it right.’
Blinded by tears, she turned away. She knew her pregnancy hormones were racing out of control, making everything harder to work out than it should have been. Maybe it would be better to go with him, at least until she had regained her strength.
‘Please, cara...please, try to be sensible and come with me. I’m not going to imprison you. I’m going to treat you as my guest.’
‘Your guest?’ As if that didn’t hurt. ‘Your life is so different from mine.’
‘Yes, it is,’ Marco conceded, ‘but I can’t change it—not even for you.’
‘You can’t go anywhere without the paparazzi following you, and I don’t want that.’
‘You’ll learn to ignore them.’
‘Will I? I’ve got enough to do, learning how to be a mother.’
‘It’s not like you to avoid a challenge, Cassandra.’
‘I’ve never been pregnant before.’
Her feelings were so strong, so confused. Marco was inviting her into his world, which was everything she had always told herself she must avoid. He was the father of her child, and there wasn’t a part of her that didn’t yearn for them to take that journey together. How often had she longed for a real home and a real family? But that wasn’t what Marco was offering her. He was offering a part-time solution, which would make the inevitable break-up that much harder when it came.