Nine Months To Claim Her by Natalie Anderson

CHAPTER SEVEN

ROSANNACOULDN’TTHINK. Her not getting that job, finding out her parents’ business was falling apart and learning her one-night lover was a total liar—wasn’t that enough? But to find out she was pregnant—with twins—in front of him? That life as she’d known it had just disintegrated for ever?

She didn’t listen as the doctor made suggestions for follow-up appointments. Leo agreed to something and then something else while she was too shocked even to pretend she was listening. Leo held her hand as he smiled and thanked the staff.

Somehow they were back outside. Somehow he hadn’t got a parking fine even though they’d been more than an hour. Somehow she was in the car, her safety belt on, and he’d pulled out into the traffic, driving with a certainty she couldn’t comprehend.

But in seconds she realised his fancy car was too small. She felt trapped in a myriad ways—on a journey, moving too fast with no idea of the destination or even when she might get a chance to take a breath. There was no way to slow this down.

‘Where are we going?’ she muttered.

‘Somewhere we can talk.’

He’d dropped the facade of the deliriously happy partner the second they’d got into the car and she wasn’t ready to talk about this yet.

‘I want to go home.’ She winced at her breathiness.

‘Where’s home?’ he asked.

‘Newcastle.’

‘Fine.’ He kept driving.

Rosanna stared at him. That was hours on the road. Hours in this too-confined space. ‘I’m not driving all the way there with you.’

His jaw clenched. ‘Can you just trust me to work this out?’

Rosanna wasn’t sure she could or should. She should be assertive and take control of her own life but she was so shocked by the news they’d just received that she was almost catatonic. Whereas Leo was all ‘action man’—decisive and fast, making it all too easy just to let him. Twenty minutes later they pulled up outside a charter helicopter business.

‘It’s a forty-five-minute flight.’ He glanced at her. ‘Give me a moment to arrange it.’

Less than a quarter of an hour later she was strapped in beside Leo while the pilot worked out the flight plan. She should have been excited, given this was her first helicopter ride, but she was too preoccupied to even feel nervous. Headphones muted the engine noise but she still couldn’t think. She was so inwardly focused she saw nothing of the view. When they landed in Newcastle there was a car waiting. Leo ushered Rosanna in and took his place behind the driving wheel.

‘What’s your address?’ he asked.

She gave it to him.

He plugged it into the navigation system, then frowned. ‘That’s the university?’

‘I live in a campus flat there.’

‘Alone?’

Her heart pounded. ‘Yes.’

His hands tightened on the wheel as he pulled out into the traffic. ‘What do you do?’

Thiswas how little they knew each other. He didn’t even know what she did for a job. ‘I did my science degree here and never left. I work as a teaching lab technician at the school of Biological Sciences.’

‘What does that entail?’

‘As a lab tech I prep experiments for the students, do demonstrations for them. Make sure the equipment and supplies are maintained. I help the senior researchers run their experiments and record data. I also take tutor groups—mostly first year students, drilling into them lab rules and etiquette.’

‘Biological sciences is what, plants?’

‘More like petri dishes. I mostly work with the microbiologists.’

He asked a few more questions—more details of her duties. And then the kicker. ‘Do you enjoy it?’

She hesitated but they pulled up outside her university flat before she had to answer. Rosanna was stunned by his efficiency, but felt no relief at arriving home—in fact she was struggling with having him in her small space. As she watched him assess her lounge with a single swift glance she knew she wasn’t going to be able to stay here. It wasn’t a place to raise one, let alone two babies. And she wasn’t going to be able to hold down her lab tech job either. She was in real trouble.

‘How long will it take you to pack enough for a week or so?’ Leo asked bluntly. ‘Because you can’t stay here.’

‘I can’t leave,’ she immediately argued. ‘I have work, for one thing.’

‘You can’t work, you keep half fainting. Besides, you can’t work around those chemicals any more, can you?’

She felt control slipping from her—she’d not even thought about that. There were protocols but she sensed Leo was a zero-risk kind of control freak. ‘Then where do you expect me to go?’

‘Seriously?’ He stared at her. ‘You know we need to sort this out.’

So the answer was obvious.

‘You’ve not been taking care of yourself,’ he added. ‘You’ve had symptoms for days and haven’t been to the doctor.’

Doctors cost money and she’d needed to work. She’d not wanted to put a foot wrong before that position was announced.

‘Stay with me at least for a couple of days while we talk through how we’re going to work this out.’

He made it sound so simple. But it wasn’t.

‘I’m not staying with you. That’s not happening.’

‘Then I’ll stay here with you,’ he said.

That was even worse. Her apartment was one bedroom and tiny and there was no way the man could stretch out on her sofa. Heat built in her cheeks. She refused to feel attracted to Leo. Refused. Except her damn body wouldn’t listen to what her brain was screaming and responded to him regardless. Her eyes wouldn’t stop looking. Her skin wouldn’t stop tingling. Those secret parts heated...

‘Or do you want to stay with your parents?’ he asked coolly.

She froze. She’d forgotten all about her mother, who must be wondering what in the world was going on. The thought of telling them her news made her stomach roil. Not because they’d be disappointed, quite the opposite. She had the awful feeling they’d want to take advantage of her pregnancy with Leo Castle’s children in a way that would be ludicrous, because everything to them was about bettering the business, enhancing their reputation and their aura of success and society. They would use this against Leo in their fight to win back those contracts. Suddenly she realised Leo knew that too. He must be hating this.

She pulled out her phone and saw she’d missed five messages from her mother. She’d put her phone on silent ahead of that terrible meeting that hadn’t happened and, with everything that had gone so catastrophically awry since, she’d forgotten all about it. She quickly tapped out a reply.

I’m fine—will call later!

Then she switched it off. She didn’t need to deal with a volley of messages back yet.

Leo watched her the entire time. ‘You know we need to talk, Rosanna.’

She leaned back against her counter and moistened her lips with a quick touch of her tongue.

‘You can’t have nothing to say.’

For the first time she saw frustration gleam in his eyes, but his voice remained measured.

‘What was that pantomime at the clinic?’ She suddenly burst with anger. ‘You were acting as if we were...’

‘I don’t want people talking.’ He shrugged negligently. ‘And I won’t have what’s mine kept from me.’

‘What’s yours?’ Something stirred within her—an odd mix of rebellion and primal satisfaction of her mate signalling his protective intent. ‘This is my body.’

‘You’re right, it is.’ He advanced upon her. ‘And I’ve seen first-hand how an unwanted pregnancy can ruin the life of a mother and damage the child irreparably. I won’t allow that to happen to you. I promise you’ll have whatever support you require.’

He was saying all the ‘right’ things yet somehow it made her feel worse. ‘So you’re saying I’ve won the unplanned pregnancy lottery?’

‘I’m saying you’ll never have to worry about whether you have a safe place to sleep, or enough money to feed your children, how to scrape together their sports fees, or pay for the constant clothes because they outgrow everything every three months.’

She suddenly realised that this was a personal list—that he’d really meant ‘first-hand’. Because he’d been that child and those were real crises that his mother had faced. She knew some of his ‘myth’—the battle to gain recognition as Hugh Castle’s son—but she hadn’t fully appreciated the real difficulties.

‘I’m sorry,’ she breathed.

‘So am I.’ He stood right in front of her like some fortress of strength. ‘But accidents happen. It wasn’t either of our fault, we just have to problem-solve the best way through it.’

He was moving too fast. His mind leaping ahead with a speed she couldn’t keep up with—talking about clothing and food and shoes while she was still in shock.

‘What do you want to do, Rosanna?’

Her heart thudded but her brain slowed again. It was as if his nearness lulled her into a false sense of security. That thread of desire tightened. As if everything would be okay if he kissed it better. It was shocking that, faced with the biggest crisis of her life, all she wanted was his touch. She desperately needed to get away from him so she could sort herself out.

‘I need time to think. Space to think.’

He paused, then stepped back towards her sofa. ‘Then I’ll wait until you’re ready to talk.’

‘You don’t trust that I’ll come and talk to you when I’m ready?’ she asked.

He briefly hesitated again. ‘Don’t take it personally. I don’t trust anyone. Certainly not with my personal business.’

He was more of a stranger to her now than that night on the terrace. That night he’d been courteous, kind, generous...focused on pleasing her. Now he was revealed as a ruthless businessman with an uncompromisingly hard core. This was a man who’d fought relentlessly for years—forcing his father to accept his existence and claiming all that was rightfully his. He’d done it before so he’d do it again. Goosebumps rippled across her arms. It wasn’t that he didn’t want these babies. He wanted to be involved. How involved?

‘Then I’m going into my room for a while,’ she said.

‘I’ll support you,’ he muttered as she moved. ‘No matter what.’

It made her oddly angry that he was putting this decision all on her. He’d offered everything, yet in some ways nothing. This was life-changing and huge and completely terrifying. As she turned the handle and pushed the door, stepping across the threshold, he called to her.

‘Fair warning though, Rosanna. I want these babies. They’re mine. And I’ll do all I can to convince you to have them.’

Leo watched her disappear into her bedroom, barely holding back the urge to chase her and haul her into his arms promising to do anything and everything to make her say yes to what he wanted. And what exactly was it he wanted? The primary instinct was to protect—both her and the babies. But the last thing he wanted was to ruin her life and he couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t. His existence had ruined his mother’s life—at least for periods of it. And he’d failed to protect her and care for her when he was big enough, when she’d needed him most... He’d gone to his father and begged for his help only to be denied and rejected again and then suddenly, shockingly, it was too late.

So having a family—children—wasn’t something he’d ever considered. He didn’t think he had the attributes. His bloodline sure didn’t seem to make good fathers; he’d figured he was better off not bothering. Besides, he was too busy with the businesses. He liked it like that. And babies? They were for a lifetime.

He released an uncomfortable breath. Everything had changed. That control over his destiny that he’d been so smug about? Obliterated.

Too bad. This wasn’t about him any more, but those babies. He was not letting them down. Not the way he had his mother.

All his childhood he’d been acutely aware of his mother’s financial and emotional struggles even when she’d tried to hide them from him. He couldn’t help Rosanna with emotional issues, but he could certainly help with financial. So at least in that way this outcome could be different. It could and would be so much better. It had to be. He wasn’t having anyone else suffer because of his mistakes and, while this pregnancy was a mistake, he wasn’t having his children believe their very existence was a problem or that they were ever a burden—not that his mother had ever said it. But he’d seen her struggle. And his extended family—her family? They’d made them both feel shame and guilt—and unwanted.

No, that wasn’t happening to these babies. There would only be acceptance and enrichment—literally. At least he could deliver that.

Another wave of panic rose at the prospect of actually parenting. He had zero clue how to be a father. His mother had been amazing but his father certainly hadn’t. He’d refused to admit he was even his father, let alone engage at all. And Leo hadn’t been the amazing son his mother deserved. He’d let her down the moment she’d needed him most. What made him think he could do any better for Rosanna?

He didn’t. But the very least he could give them was the security and safety that he and his mother had never had. Financial security and the safety of the Castle name would be like a forcefield around them. That had to mean marriage—the old-fashioned contractual kind where alliances were forged and kingdoms shored up. The political kind that ensured the safety of citizens. In this case, two tiny ones.

He just had to convince Rosanna. He glanced around her small lounge, gleaning what information he could, doing the diligence. Her flat was small but filled with life—literally. By the window was a tiered stand filled with pot plants while on a table in the corner was a tank with a lone, very odd-looking fish. He grimaced at the vitality. If it weren’t for paid employees, anything alive left in his care would’ve long ago died of neglect. He was too busy with work to remember to water things and he travelled for long stretches all the time... Not great attributes for impending fatherhood.

He rolled his shoulders and looked the other way, but there was more greenery. On the dining table was another plant alongside a pile of notebooks. He couldn’t resist peeking at the open one. Drawings covered the page—diagrams, to be precise—of the plant on the table. She’d written notes about it in very fine, neat writing. If she was a scientist, that meant she’d see reason, right?

Shut in her bedroom, Rosanna was a mass of contradictions. She grabbed a weekend bag and tossed it onto the bed, furiously dismissing the wicked thoughts that flashed in her mind when she saw her pulled-back sheets. How could she be thinking about getting hot and heavy with him again instead of getting to grips with how life-changing the revelations of the last hour had been?

She was pregnant. It was unplanned. She had no true partner. Sure, Leo would be there, but she sensed he meant that only in a business, ‘problem-solving’ sense. They didn’t know each other. Intimately and emotionally she was on her own and, even though he said he’d do the right thing, she was sure that he didn’t mean marriage. That ‘right thing to do’ wasn’t required in this day and age.

But she wanted these babies. It hit her in a huge wave of emotion and instinct. They were a miracle. Awe burgeoned inside and maybe it was insane to be so rapt at this prospect, given her personal circumstances, but she wanted these children so much she had to suck in a steadying breath. She was just going to have to be clever about how. People all the world over were successful single parents. As long as she loved them and they were together, they would be okay.

But she couldn’t manage on her own financially. Not now. She didn’t have any savings. She’d been a student too long and her technician’s salary was meagre. Her debt meant she’d have to continue to work and with childcare costs the way they were...? She couldn’t ask her parents for support; they had their own crisis to face. Besides, she didn’t want their unfulfilled expectations of her being transferred to her children...

The obvious answer was the one she most wanted to reject. Leo Castle had more money than he knew what to do with, but she didn’t want to be dependent on him. He had the right to be involved and have his say, but she had to maintain her independence. And as long as she kept her own physical distance from him that would be possible. When he was near, when he was touching her, she couldn’t think straight. She could barely think at all. There was no way she could keep her distance while they were here in her tiny flat. But she’d do whatever she had to, to ensure her babies’ well-being.

He glanced up as she walked out of the bedroom.

‘I think we should go back to Sydney to work through all our options,’ she said briskly, as if it were her own idea. ‘I’ll stay in a nearby hotel.’

Not with her parents. Not with him. Neutral territory. She’d begin as she meant to go on.

‘I have a spare bedroom. What’s the difference?’

She gritted her teeth. ‘Space.’

‘My apartment is larger than most hotel suites. You’ll have plenty of space.’

He wasn’t going to give up, he’d argue every point. It was the ‘sensible’ thing to do and they did need to talk and no doubt his apartment was massive. Plus, it would save her money. She could control her base impulses, surely? ‘Fine.’

‘You’ll pack your things?’

‘I already have. I just need to sort the plants and Axel.’

‘Axel?’

‘The axolotl.’

‘That weird fish?’

‘He’s not weird.’ She put some food into his tank and made a mental note to text her neighbour asking her to check on him while she was away. It would only be a couple of days. Then she scattered some nutrients onto her plants.

‘You don’t have as many plants as I thought you would.’ Leo came closer to watch what she was doing.

She sent him a sideways glance, not sure if he was being ironic. ‘It takes effort so I’m judicious about my selections.’

‘Really?’

For the first time Rosanna saw his dimple flash and something melted inside her. ‘I like the unusual ones.’

‘I can tell.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with something being a bit different,’ she said softly. ‘Or imperfect.’

‘I’m not good with plants,’ he muttered.

‘They just need a little of the right attention.’

He studied her plant stand, his gaze following the plastic piping she’d fashioned. ‘This is quite the set-up.’

‘It means I don’t have to worry about their heating and watering. It’s all on a timing system.’

‘You built it yourself?’

‘I work in a science lab,’ she said coolly.

‘So you can make all kinds of clever things from all sorts of nothing?’ He turned to look right into her eyes.

‘It’s just tinkering.’ She glanced away from his intensity. ‘And I don’t have the funds or the space to just go buy a glasshouse. But I don’t want them to die while I’m gone.’ She grabbed her current notebook and a tin of pencils, putting them safely into the top of her bag, conscious that he was still watching her closely. It was causing her innards to overheat again.

They didn’t speak on the helicopter flight back to Sydney but her heart pounded regardless. She knew Leo wasn’t just thinking, he was plotting and preparing plans for their future. What he wanted, why he wanted it and why she ought to agree with everything he suggested instantly...

Possibilities circled through her mind and she tried to think of counter-arguments to what he might suggest, only she kept coming up short. With a sinking feeling she suspected she had little leverage. She could only try to hold her own.