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He’d gone so pale it frightened her. ‘Can you teach me what I need to know?’
‘Me?’ The word squeaked out of her.
‘There isn’t anyone else I can ask.’
The implication of his lone-wolf ways hit her then and she gulped. It occurred to her that he might need this baby more than he realised. She gripped her hands together in her lap. Admittedly, she and he did have to learn to work together—that’d be in the best interests of their child. And seeing the two of them working things out together in a rational, adult way would put both Angelo’s and Nico’s minds at rest.
If Ryan really was willing to make an effort then...then their baby deserved to know him, to have him in its life. Her baby deserved to be loved by as many people as possible. And... She swallowed. And if Ryan did suddenly decide that he couldn’t handle fatherhood, it’d be better to discover that now, before the baby was born.
You mean to test him to see if he’s worthy?
Was that what she was doing?
Who’s going to test you?
She closed her eyes.
‘Is everything okay with your meals?’
Marianna’s eyes sprang open to find Daniella frowning at their barely touched plates. ‘The food is divine,’ Marianna assured her.
The maître d’ planted her hands on her hips. ‘Would you like me to get Raffaele to prepare something else for you?’
‘No, no, Daniella. Honestly, the food is wonderful. It’s just...’ Marianna pulled in a deep breath. ‘Well, the fact of the matter is I’m pregnant, and food at the moment—any food—is a bit...iffy.’
Daniella stared, and then an enormous smile spread across her face. ‘Marianna! What exciting news! Congratulations!’
She bent and hugged her and Marianna’s throat thickened. ‘I...thank you.’
The maître d’ tapped a finger against her lips and then suddenly winked and wheeled away. Her smile speared straight into Marianna’s heart. She swallowed and blinked hard. She stared down into her lap and fiddled with her napkin.
Ryan ducked his head and tried to catch her eye. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Uh-huh.’ She nodded.
He brought a fist up to his mouth. ‘Are you crying?’
Marianna lifted her napkin and buried her face in it for a moment, before drawing back and dabbing at her eyes.
Ryan stared at her as if he didn’t have a clue what to do. He shuffled on his seat, but he didn’t run. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing’s wrong. It’s just... Daniella is the first person who’s actually congratulated me and...and it was nice. The news of a baby should be celebrated.’
Ryan’s face darkened. ‘I thought you said your brothers had been supportive.’
‘They have been, but...well, the pregnancy was obviously unplanned and...’ They hadn’t meant to make her feel as if she’d messed up. ‘They’ve been worried about me.’
On the table, his hand clenched. ‘And I acted like a damn jerk.’
She blew out a breath. She hadn’t really given him much of a chance to act any other way.
Daniella returned with an enormous slice of chocolate cherry cake—Marianna’s favourite. ‘Compliments of the chef,’ she said, setting it down with a flourish.
Darn it! Her throat went all thick again. Her emotions were see-sawing so much at the moment they were making her dizzy. ‘Thank him for me,’ she managed.
She promptly curved her spoon through it and brought it to her mouth, closing her eyes in ecstasy as the taste hit her. She opened them again to find Ryan staring at her as if mesmerised. A strange electricity started to hum through her blood.
They both glanced away at the same time.
Her heart pounded. Okay. In her mind she drew the word out. She and Ryan might be virtual strangers—in their real world incarnations—but they still generated heat. A lot of heat. She ate more cake. Ryan set to work on his fettuccine. They studiously avoided meeting each other’s eyes.
If they were going to successfully co-parent, they were going to have to ignore that heat.
What a pity.
She choked when the unbidden voice sounded in her head. She was shameless!
‘Everything okay?’
She pulled in a breath. ‘If we want this to work, Ryan—’
‘I for one really want it to.’
His vehemence made her feel less alone. She couldn’t afford to trust it too deeply, to enjoy it too much, but...it was still kind of nice. ‘Then we need to be really, really honest with each other, yes?’
He set his knife and fork down. ‘Yes. Even when it proves difficult.’
‘Probably especially when it proves difficult.’ She pursed her lips. ‘So, by definition, some of our conversations and discussions are going to be...difficult.’
The colour in his eyes deepened to a green that reminded her of a lagoon in Thailand where they’d spent a lazy afternoon. She swallowed and tried not to linger on what had happened after that swim when Ryan had taken her back to his beach hut.
‘You want to hit me with whatever’s on your mind?’
She dragged herself back.
The colour in his eyes intensified. ‘I swear to you, Marianna, that I mean to do right by our baby. And by you too. I want to make things as easy for you as I can. I don’t want you thinking you’re in this alone.’
It was a nice sentiment but... She motioned to his plate. ‘You can keep eating while I talk.’
The faintest of smiles touched his lips. ‘If we’re going to have one of those difficult conversations it might be better if I don’t. I wouldn’t want to choke, now, would I?’
Her lips kicked up into a smile before she managed to pull herself back into line. ‘I think there’s an enormous difference between being a good father and being a man who holds the title of father.’
‘I agree.’
‘To be good at anything means working hard at it, don’t you think?’
Again, he nodded. ‘I’m not afraid of hard work, I promise you.’ He met her gaze, his face pale but his eyes steady. ‘What I’m afraid of is failure.’
His admission had her breaking out in gooseflesh as her own fears crowded about her. She chafed her arms. ‘That’s something I can definitely relate to.’
He shook his head. ‘You’re going to be a brilliant mother. You shouldn’t doubt that for a moment. Already you’re fighting for your baby’s happiness—protecting it.’
But did it need protecting from Ryan?
‘You will be a wonderful mother,’ he repeated.
Her stomach screwed up tight. She hoped so.
His eyes suddenly narrowed. ‘Are you afraid you won’t be?’
‘No,’ she lied. ‘Of course not.’ She’d be just fine. She would! Besides, one of them feeling wobbly on the parent front was more than enough, thank you very much.
Ryan folded his arms. ‘It hasn’t been a terribly difficult discussion so far.’
Ah. Well. She could fix that. She pushed her cake to one side and pressed her hands together. ‘Ryan, in Thailand I...’ She faltered for a moment before finding her footing again. ‘I was coming home to Italy after a year spent travelling and working through Australia. Thailand was my...last hurrah, so to speak. That holiday was about having no responsibilities, being young and free, and living in the moment before settling back into my real life.’
A furrow appeared on his brow. ‘I understand that.’
‘You are an incredibly attractive man.’
He blinked.
‘But what we had in Thailand—all of that glorious sex...’ He grinned as if in remembrance and it made her pulse skitter. ‘It...it just doesn’t belong here in my real world.’
He sobered as he caught her drift.
‘If we’re to successfully co-parent, then sex has no place in that. Friendship would be great if we can manage it. Sex would wreck that.’
‘Too complicated,’ he agreed.
She shook her head. ‘It’s actually incredibly simple. You never want to marry while I’d love to find the man of my dreams and settle down with him. If we make love here—in my real world—I would be in grave danger of falling in love with you.’
He shot back in his seat, his eyes filling with horror. The pulse in his throat pounded. ‘I...’ He gulped. ‘That would be seriously unwise.’
She snorted. ‘It’d be a disaster.’ And if they were being honest... ‘I doubt I’d make a particularly gracious jilted lover.’
He raised both hands. ‘Point taken. We keep our hands to ourselves, keep things strictly platonic and...friendship.’ He nodded vigorously. ‘We focus on friendship.’
* * *
Ryan stared at Marianna, his heart doing its best to pound a way out of his chest. There couldn’t be any sex between them. Ever again. She’d just presented him with his nightmare scenario and... Just, no. It would wreck everything.
He swallowed and tried to slow his pulse. If only he could forget the satin slide of her skin or the dancing delight of her fingertips as they travelled across his naked flesh, not to mention the sweet warm scent of her and the way he’d relished burying his face in her hair and breathing her in.
He stamped a lid on those memories and shoved them into a vault in his mind marked: Never to be opened.
Marianna lifted another spoonful of cake to her lips. He glanced at his fettuccine, but pushed the plate away, his stomach now too acid. Marianna had told him the food here was superb, world class, but it could’ve been sawdust for all he knew.
He glanced across the table and his gaze snagged hers. ‘You really don’t mean to make it difficult for me to see our child?’
Very slowly she shook her head. ‘Not if you want to be involved.’
He wanted to be involved all right. He just didn’t know what involved actually entailed. ‘So...where do we go from here?’
She halted with a spoon of cake only centimetres from her mouth.
He tried not to focus on her mouth. ‘I mean, what do we do next?’
She lowered her spoon. ‘I don’t really know. I...’ She frowned and he went on immediate alert. It had to be better for her health and the baby’s if she smiled rather than frowned.
Also, it had to be seriously bad for her health—her blood pressure—to go about hurling vases at people. He made a mental note to try and defuse all such high emotion in the future.
Her spoon clattered back to her plate and she gestured heavenwards with a dramatic flourish. ‘It feels as if there must be a million things to do before the baby arrives!’
Were there? Asking what they were would only reveal the extent of his ignorance. He hadn’t been able to shake off her horrified expression when she’d realised he’d never so much as held a baby. So, he didn’t ask what needed doing. Instead he asked, ‘What can I do?’
She folded her arms and surveyed him. She might only be a petite five feet two inches, but it took all of his strength to not fidget under that gaze.
‘You really want to help?’
‘Yes.’ That was unequivocal. He needed to help.
‘I plan to move out of the family home and into a cottage on the estate.’
He wondered if her brothers knew about this yet.
‘It’s solid and hardy, but I’d like to spruce up the inside with a new coat of paint and make everything lovely and fresh for the baby.’
It took a moment before he realised what she was asking of him. His heart started to thud. She’d told him that if he was serious about becoming a good father, his time would no longer be his own. His mouth dried. Could he do this?
He had to do this!
He reviewed his upcoming work schedule. He set his shoulders and rested both arms on the table. ‘How would it be if I spent the next month—’ four whole weeks! ‘—in Monte Calanetti? I can work remotely with maybe just the odd day trip back to Rome, and in my spare time I can help you get established in your cottage, help you set up a nursery...and in return you can tell me what you see as the duties and responsibilities of a good father?’
Her eyes widened, and he was suddenly fiercely glad he’d made the offer. ‘You’d stay for a whole month?’
It wouldn’t interfere with the Conti contract, and he didn’t kid himself—he’d only have one chance to prove himself to the mother of his yet-to-be-born child, and he wasn’t going to waste it. ‘Consider it done,’ he said.
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_763b264e-9ecb-5283-87bb-766cf1c5640e)
MARIANNA STARED AT him and Ryan found himself holding his breath, waiting for her answer...her verdict.
She folded her arms. ‘That would help me out a lot.’
‘And me,’ he added, wanting her to remember that she’d just promised to tutor him in the arts of fatherhood.
She stared down at her cake and bit her lip. Her hair fell around her shoulders in a riot of dark waves, and it suddenly struck him how young she looked. He pushed his plate further away and glanced at her again. ‘How old are you, Marianna?’
