His face betrayed bewilderment. ‘But you told Alanna over the phone it was just sex with you! I heard you.’

‘I wanted to believe that was all I felt, because I thought you would never love me back. I was protecting myself.’

‘You really love me?’ he repeated, his expression still sceptical.

‘Would I risk falling pregnant to you if I didn’t?’

‘What?’

‘That day in the limousine. I lied to you. It wasn’t a safe time for me. But it was a done deed, and once I realised I might have just conceived your baby I was so happy, Mike. I can’t tell you how happy I was.’

‘But you didn’t know then that I loved you.’

‘I was prepared to have your baby by myself, if I had to. Look, I haven’t been trying to trap you, Mike. Honest. But I knew I wasn’t going to fall in love again for a long, long time. And I wanted a child. Your child. Oh, please don’t be angry with me. I know you always said you didn’t want children, but I think you’d make a marvellous father. You have so much love to give, Mike. All you have to do is open your heart to the idea. And have faith in yourself. I have faith in you. You’re a good man, Mike, even if you don’t believe so yourself.’

She stopped talking at last, her heart pounding as she watched his face for his reaction.

Clearly, he was stunned. Then quietly thoughtful. When he started to walk back towards the bed, Natalie swallowed.

‘You’re not angry with me?’ she choked out.

He sat down, his eyes no longer hard, or cold. He reached out to touch her face, wiping the tears from her cheeks with his fingertips.

‘What are the chances of your being pregnant yet?’ he asked softly.

‘Um. Fair to middling.’

‘But you might not be.’

‘No,’ she said, her heart squeezing tight. ‘I…I might not be.’ If he didn’t want her to have his baby, she would just die!

‘If you’re not,’ he said, a warm smile pulling at his mouth, ‘we’ll just have to keep trying, won’t we?’

‘Oh, Mike!’ She dropped the sheet and threw her arms around him, kissing him. He kissed her back, for quite a long while.

‘But we’re going to have to make this marriage work,’ he murmured as he pushed her back against the pillows. ‘No child of mine is going to be raised by a single parent.’

‘We’ll make it work, Mike.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, his eyes shining as his head began to descend again. ‘I reckon we will.’

EPILOGUE

‘YOU really don’t mind that it’s a girl?’ Natalie asked Mike.

They hadn’t wanted to know the sex of the baby beforehand. They’d liked the idea of it being a surprise.