Scandalous Sins: Unwrapping His Convenient Fiancée / The Sheikh's Pregnant Prisoner / Snowbound with His Innocent Temptation

At the moment.

How could she forget the clock ticking on their relationship? It was front and centre in her mind. Each day that passed was another day closer to when they would go back to being friends. Friends without benefits. It would be torture to be around Cam without being able to touch him, to kiss him, to wrap her arms around him and feel his body stir against her. It would be torture to see him date other women, knowing they were experiencing the explosive passion and pleasure of being in his arms.

What if she never found someone as perfect for her as Cam? What if she ended up alone and had to be satisfied with being an aunty or godmother instead of the mother she longed to be? She had been embroidering baby clothes since she was a teenager. She’d made them for her sisters and brother’s wife Zoe each time they were expecting but she had her own private stash of clothes. It was her version of a hope chest. Every time she looked at those little vests and booties and bibs she felt an ache of longing. But it wasn’t just about having a baby, she realised with a jolt. She wanted to have Cam’s baby. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than to be with him, not just for Christmas but for ever.

* * *

After dinner they walked hand in hand through the Christmas wonderland of London’s streets. Violet had always loved Christmas in her adopted city but being with Cam made the lights seem all the brighter, the colours all the more vivid, the hype of the festive season all the more exciting. When they walked past the Somerset House ice-skating rink, Cam stopped and looked down at her with a twinkling look. ‘Fancy a quick twirl to work off dinner?’

Violet looked at the gloriously lit rink with the beautifully decorated Christmas tree at one end. She had skated there a couple of times with Stef and Amy but she’d felt awkward because they had brought their boyfriends. The boys had offered to partner her but she’d felt so uncomfortable she’d pretended to have a sore ankle rather than take them up on their offer. ‘I’m not very good at it...’ she said. ‘And I’m not wearing the right clothes.’

‘Excuses, excuses,’ Cam said. ‘It won’t take long to go home and change.’

Within a little while they were back at the rink dressed in jeans and jackets and hats and gloves. Violet felt like a foal on stilts until Cam took her by the hand and led her around until she felt more secure. He looked like he’d been skating all his life, his balance and agility making her attempts look rather paltry in comparison.

‘You’re doing great,’ he said, wrapping one arm around her waist. ‘Let’s do a complete circuit. Ready?’

Violet leaned into his body and went with him in graceful sweeps and swishes that made the cold air rush past her face. It was exhilarating to be moving so quickly and with his steady support she gained more and more confidence, even letting go of his hand at one point to do a twirl in front of him.

Cam took her hand again, smiling broadly. ‘What did I tell you? You’re a natural.’

‘Only with you.’ And not just with skating. How would she ever make love with someone else and feel the same level of pleasure? It didn’t seem possible. It wasn’t possible because there was no way she could ever feel the same about someone else.

Once they had given back their skates, they walked to the London Eye, where Cam paid for them to go on to look at the Christmas lights all over London. Violet had been on the giant Ferris wheel a couple of times but it was so much more special doing it with Cam. The city was a massive grid of twinkling lights, a wonderland of festive cheer that made all the children and most of the adults on board exclaim with wonder.

Violet turned in the circle of Cam’s arms to smile at him. ‘It’s amazing, isn’t it? It makes me get all excited about Christmas when usually I’m dreading it.’

A slight frown appeared on his brow. ‘Why do you dread it? I thought you loved spending Christmas with your family.’

Violet shifted her gaze to look at the fairyland below. ‘I do love it...mostly, it’s just I’m always the odd one out. The one without a partner. Apart from Grandad, of course.’

His hand stroked the small of her back. ‘You won’t be without a partner this year.’

But what about next year? Violet had to press her lips together to stop from saying it out loud. Once Christmas was over so too would their relationship come to an end. All the colour and sparkle and excitement and joy would be snuffed out, just like someone turning off the Christmas lights.

‘No one knows what the next year will bring,’ Cam said as if he had read her thoughts. ‘You could be married and pregnant by then.’

I wish...but only if it were to you. ‘I can’t see that happening.’ Violet waited a moment before adding, ‘Would you come to my wedding if I were to get married?’

Something flashed across his face as if pain had gripped him somewhere deep inside his body. ‘Would I be invited?’ His tone was light, almost teasing, but she could sense an undercurrent of something else. Something darker. Brooding.

‘Of course,’ Violet said. ‘You’re part of the family. It wouldn’t be a Drummond wedding if you weren’t there.’

‘As long as you don’t ask me to be the best man,’ he said with a grim look. ‘My father’s asked me to be his and that’ll be four times in a row.’

‘Wow, you must be an expert at best man speeches by now.’

‘Yeah, well, I hope this is the last time but I seriously doubt it.’

Violet thought of her parents and how loving and committed they were to each other and had been from the moment they’d met. They renewed their wedding vows every ten years and went back to the same cottage on the Isle of Skye where they’d spent their honeymoon on each and every anniversary. How had Cam dealt with his father’s casual approach to marriage? Ross McKinnon changed wives faster than a sports car changed gears. How embarrassing it must be for Cam to have to go through yet another wedding ceremony knowing it would probably end in divorce. ‘Maybe this time will be different,’ she said. ‘Maybe your dad is really in love this time.’

Cam’s expression was a picture of cynicism. ‘He doesn’t know the meaning of the word.’

CHAPTER EIGHT (#ue42be678-4086-5875-a52a-6059304618cf)

THE NEXT DAY Cam came home from work with the news that his contract with Nick Nicolaides had been signed that afternoon.

‘Let’s go out to celebrate.’ He bent down to kiss Violet on the mouth. ‘How was your day?’

Violet looped her arms around his neck. ‘My day was fine. You must be feeling enormously relieved. Was Sophia there at the meeting?’

‘Yes, but she was surprisingly subdued,’ he said. ‘I think she might’ve been feeling unwell or something. She got up to leave a couple of times and came back in looking a bit green about the gills. Too much to drink the night before, probably.’

Violet’s brow furrowed. ‘Could she be pregnant?’

He gave a light shrug. ‘I wouldn’t know, although, now that I think of it, Nick was looking pretty pleased with himself. But I thought that was because we finally finalised the contract.’

‘Maybe being pregnant will help her settle down with Nick instead of eyeing up other men all the time,’ Violet said.

Cam stepped away to shrug off his coat, laying it over the back of a chair. His expression had a cloaked look about it, shadowed and closed off. ‘A Band-Aid baby is never a good idea.’

Violet knew he was bitter about his parents and the way they had handled his arrival in the world. Did he blame himself for how things had turned out? How could he think it was his fault? His parents were both selfish individuals who ran away from problems when things got the slightest bit difficult. They moved from relationship to relationship, collecting collateral damage along the way. How many lives had each of them ruined so far? And it was likely to continue with Ross McKinnon’s next marriage. No wonder Cam wanted no part of the type of marriage modelled by his parents. It was nothing short of farcical. ‘True,’ she said. ‘But a baby doesn’t ask to be born and once it arrives it deserves to be treasured and loved unconditionally.’

A frown pulled at Cam’s forehead. ‘We haven’t discussed this before but are you taking any form of oral contraception?’

Violet felt her cheeks heat up. It was something she had thought about doing but she hadn’t got around to making an appointment with her doctor to get a prescription. There hadn’t seemed much point when she wasn’t dating regularly. But now...now it was imperative she kept from getting pregnant. The last thing Cam would want was a baby to complicate things further, even though she could think of nothing more wonderful than falling pregnant with his child. ‘I’m not but I’m sure it won’t be a problem—’

‘Condoms are not one hundred per cent reliable,’ he said, still frowning.

Violet felt intimidated by his steely glare. Why did he have to make her feel as if she was deliberately trying to get pregnant? There were worse things in the world than falling pregnant by the man you loved. Much worse things. Like not getting pregnant at all. Ever. ‘I’m not pregnant, Cam, so you can relax, okay?’

A muscle tapped in his cheek. ‘I’m sorry but this is a big issue for me. I don’t want any mishaps we can’t walk away from.’

Violet cast him a speaking look. ‘You’d be the one walking away, not me.’

His frown deepened. ‘Is that what you think? Really? Then you’re wrong. I would do whatever I could to support you and the baby.’