She tried to stamp out the sympathy that rose through her at the memory of the white-lipped panic that had sent him wheeling away from her, at the red-faced panic that had sent him hurtling back, at the grey- skinned despair that had sent him staggering across to that azalea bush.
Her throat ached. Her eyes stung. Her news had made him vomit.
He wasn’t kidding, was he?
Her temples throbbed. The ache in her back that had been plaguing her since yesterday increased in ferocity. A hot flush wrung her out and then a chil gripped her. She might not be able to stop herself from feeling sorry for Alex, but he was an adult, a grown up. He might not do happy families, but she did. There was no way on God’s green that she was going to let him hurt her baby.
Their baby.
No—her baby! Alex didn’t want this child. She did with every molecule of her being. She would provide for this baby and give it everything it needed.
She thrust her chin out. She’d coped perfectly wel without one.
She dropped her head to her hands with a groan.
She’d ached to have a father who’d wanted her, who’d loved her.
‘Kit?’
Alex’s face was void of al emotion. It made her catch her breath. How could he hide al that…that
She searched in vain.
‘You’re saying it’s mine?’
‘Yes.’
‘We used protection.’
She didn’t want to do this. She wanted to curl up and sleep the afternoon away. She wanted to forget al about Alex Hal am. ‘We’d have been better off if I’d been on the Pil .’
‘Have
you
thought
everything
through?
Considered al your options?’ He planted his hands on his hips, his eyes narrowed. ‘You know you have options, don’t you?’
‘You’re talking about a termination?’
‘That’s certainly one of your options and—’
That had her surging to her feet. She ignored the pain that cramped her back. ‘What a typical y male thing to say! You’re…’ She couldn’t find words enough to describe the entirety of his awfulness.
He wanted her to get rid of their beautiful baby?
Oh, that so wasn’t going to happen!
‘Look, I’m just saying it’s an option, that’s al . I was just checking that you’d considered
‘Is that so?’ She folded her arms. After the heat of her first flush of anger she went cold al over. Chil ed-her first flush of anger she went cold al over. Chil ed-to-the-bone cold. ‘But a termination would make your life so much easier, wouldn’t it?’
‘Only if the child is mine.’
For a moment she couldn’t breathe. He doubted it? He thought she would lie about something as important as this? She’d envisaged anger and shock, resentment, when she told Alex the news but not once had it occurred to her that he might not believe her. She’d never given him any reason to think she would lie.
She wrapped her arms about her middle to stop from fal ing apart. ‘I am not terminating my pregnancy.’
He didn’t blink. He didn’t flinch. ‘Fine. But if you claim the child is mine then I demand a paternity test be carried out upon the child’s birth.’
She hitched up her chin. ‘Alex, you’ve made it clear from the start that you’re not a family man.’
Wel , perhaps not exactly from the start. But he had rectified that particular misapprehension on her part with startling speed. ‘I don’t want anything from you. I assure you I have everything that I need. Frankly, I don’t know what you are stil doing here.’
His gaze sliced to the path that led around the side of the house—the path that would take him to his car and freedom. She recognized the hunger that
