Tall, Dark... Collection

She continued to look at him for several long seconds, drawing in a ragged breath before answering him. ‘Do you believe me when I tell you that I didn’t intentionally get pregnant, that it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to you?’

‘I believe you.’ He nodded. ‘I’m sorry that I ever accused you of behaving any differently. I apologise. Most sincerely. There’s simply no excuse for the things I’ve said, the things I’ve done.’ He ran a hand over his eyes. ‘You have every reason to hate me.’

‘I don’t hate you, Nick,’ she mused ruefully. ‘You’re the father of my baby, after all.’

Yes, he was. He was most certainly that. And even if he couldn’t hold on to Hebe, he could still continue to see her through their child.

It wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough. But if it was all she was willing to give him he knew he would have to accept that.

It was too late, far too late, for him to try to woo this woman, he had hurt her and wounded her too much for that ever to be possible.

‘I am sorry, Hebe,’ he breathed shakily.

She was very pale now. ‘Don’t be,’ she assured him gently. ‘I—I’ll go now, then?’ she prompted softly.

Nick wanted to get down on his knees, to beg her not to go, and convince her that it would all be so different if she would only stay with him. But that wouldn’t be fair of him. He had already messed up her life enough by giving her a child she had neither expected nor wanted, without adding to her misery.

‘Will you ever be able to forgive me?’ He couldn’t stop himself from groaning.

‘We can’t choose where we love, Nick,’ she said flatly. ‘It’s either there or it isn’t.’

And Nick could see that it most certainly wasn’t there for Hebe where he was concerned!

Maybe this was his punishment for treating her the way he had. To love a woman who would never, ever love him in return.

Hebe just wanted to get this conversation over with. She couldn’t stand it any more. She was sure now that Nick was going back to New York to be with Sally. He would make himself financially responsible for their child, but that was it.

Maybe it was better that it had happened now, before the two of them had made the mistake of getting married—but she just didn’t know how she was going to bear it.

Nick would pop in and out of her life and the baby’s, a virtual stranger to both of them, his life and his love elsewhere.

Was this how it had been for Claudia? In love with Andrew Southern but rejected by him, and discarded by Jacob Gardner, too, when he’d discovered her relationship with the other man?

But Claudia had only been eighteen years of age, whereas she was twenty-six and, as she had told Nick on more than one occasion, more than capable of taking care of herself.

She certainly wasn’t going to ask for the love of a man who couldn’t be with her because he still loved his first wife!

She stood up abruptly. ‘I really think I should go now, Nick. I’ll just go and pack my things. Thank goodness Gina hasn’t had time yet to find another flatmate,’ she added as an attempt at a joke. But her smile and the rest of her face felt as if they were rigidly set.

‘I’ll drive you back to your apartment—’

‘That really isn’t necessary—’

‘Necessary or not, I intend doing it,’ Nick insisted determinedly. ‘It’s the least I can do,’ he added.

‘Okay, then. Thank you,’ she accepted softly.

They both looked as if they had been through a war—and lost, Hebe decided as she went through to the spare bedroom to collect her things. She hadn’t really had time to unpack yet. Five minutes to throw her things back in the case, and she would be out of here.

Out of Nick’s life for good.

She only hoped she’d manage to hold back the tears until she was safely back at the flat. It would be just too humiliating if she were to start crying in front of him.

She didn’t belong here anyway, she decided with a last look around the beautiful bedroom with its four-poster bed. Neither she nor the baby belonged here.

‘Let me take that for you,’ Nick said, and he took the suitcase out of Hebe’s hand when she came back from the bedroom. ‘I—I have the portrait ready for you to take, too,’ he added calmly, indicating it wrapped on the sofa and ready to go.

He hadn’t been sure what to do about Claudia’s portrait. He had thought of offering it to the Johnsons before they left, but it hadn’t seemed quite appropriate somehow. But for Hebe, for the moment, it was the only picture she had of her mother, and it surely belonged with her.

He didn’t need the portrait to be reminded of Hebe, anyway. He knew he would have the image of her inside his head every day for the rest of his life.

Hebe looked startled by the offer. ‘Oh, I couldn’t,’ she refused stiltedly. ‘I—it’s an original Andrew Southern, worth a lot of money. Show it in your gallery or something—’ she added awkwardly.

‘It belongs to you, Hebe,’ Nick cut in firmly. ‘Not in a public gallery.’

She had taken just about all she could take from him today. She was holding on to her emotions by a very thin thread, and now she knew that he didn’t want even Claudia’s portrait in his apartment as a reminder of the mistake he had almost made.

‘Frightened you might get all the men panting over a portrait of the grandmother of your son or daughter, Nick?’ she taunted.

He deserved that, Nick decided heavily. And more.

‘I just want you to have it, Hebe,’ he answered abruptly. ‘It belongs to you and your family.’

But as Nick had said, it was hardly the sort of portrait she could hang over the fireplace in the family sitting room!

‘Fine,’ she accepted tersely. ‘I suppose I can always sell it one day, and put the money into trust for our son or daughter.’

Nick winced slightly. ‘I will provide for our child, Hebe. As I will provide for you.’

Hebe shook her head. ‘Only until I can go back to work again, and earn my own living. No need to pay for the mistake twice,’ she added derisively.

‘Our baby is not a mistake!’ he snapped impatiently, his handsome face livid with anger.

Hebe eyed him ruefully. ‘I was talking about me, Nick, not the baby.’

His dark brows were low over his narrowed blue eyes. ‘You weren’t a mistake either, Hebe,’ he muttered gruffly.

Hebe knew she was something he was going to have to explain to Sally when he returned to New York and the two of them had that ‘talk’. She only hoped the other woman would understand, would accept that he hadn’t compounded his mistake by actually marrying Hebe.

Which reminded her…‘I’ll leave it up to you to see that the wedding arrangements are cancelled.’After all, except for the day and time, she didn’t really know what those arrangements were, anyway.

‘I’ll see to that—yes.’ He nodded tersely. ‘Now, can we get the hell out of here?’ he rasped impatiently. ‘I’ve never liked goodbyes, and this one is—Let’s just go, huh?’ He ran a hand through the long thickness of his hair.

‘You’ll be wanting this back, too.’ Hebe started to take the yellow sapphire and diamond ring off her finger.

‘Will you please stop adding insult to injury?’ Nick snapped forcefully, glaring down at her. ‘The ring is yours. The portrait is yours. And anything else I can get you to accept from me will be yours, too.’

But not his heart.