Brides of Penhally Bay - Vol 2. Kate Hardy
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want to talk about this over the phone. Can I see you?’
‘With all the paparazzi swarming round? The surgery’s besieged.’
‘It’s bad here, too.’
‘I doubt if we can both give them the slip. So it’s the phone or risking more speculation. Your choice.’
‘Believe me, you won’t be the one in the news tomorrow,’ she said dryly. ‘That will be me. And then, as an ex-princess, I’ll cease to be news and they’ll go away.’
‘Ex-princess? What do you mean, ex-princess?’
‘I’ll explain when I see you.’ She swallowed hard. ‘So do I come over to you or are you coming here?’
‘I’ll come over.’
The few minutes it took to walk from the surgery to the vet’s felt like hours. Cars were parked everywhere—including on the double yellow lines—and people were shouting at him.
‘Congratulations, Dr Love-ak!’
Lord, how he hated the way they’d mangled his name for the headlines.
‘How does it feel to be a soon-to-be dad?’
How the hell should he know? He hadn’t really had time to take it in.
‘Are you going to be king of Contarini?’
Absolutely not.
‘Give us a smile!’
Yeah, right.
He resolutely ignored them. And he wasn’t leading them to Melinda’s back door either; he walked through the front door into the vet’s.
‘Dr Lovak!’ Rachel looked up from the reception desk at him, surprised. ‘I didn’t think Bramb—Oh.’ Her voice tailed off as she realised that, for once, the dog wasn’t with him.
At least there were no paparazzi here; he knew everyone in the waiting room. Though the sympathetic smiles mixed with speculative looks made him uncomfortable. He lowered his voice. ‘Can I nip through the back way to Melinda’s? I want to avoid the posse outside.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘How did you manage to keep them out?’
‘George told them the next person to step inside was the one who’d help him sort out the next gelding, with no an-aesthetic—and he’d be standing between the stallion’s back legs, holding the relevant bits.’
Despite his anger, Dragan couldn’t help smiling back at her. ‘George has quite a way with words.’ Not to mention that he was the same height as Dragan and much broader in the shoulders—if he drew himself up to his full height he could look very intimidating. ‘Maybe I should take a leaf out of his book. I could borrow an epidural kit from Kate and threaten them with the syringe.’
‘Ah, but then they’d have your picture all over the front page, captioned “Doctor Doom” or something like that,’ Rachel said.
‘Which might be marginally better than Dr Love-ak.’ He grimaced. ‘Thanks, Rachel.’
He went through the back of the surgery to the lobby, which also contained the door to Melinda’s flat, and knocked on the door.
When she answered, he could see how pale and unhappy she looked—and although his first instinct was to wrap her in his arms and hold her close and tell her everything would be all right, he held back.
Because he was extremely angry with her. For keeping this from him. For letting him find out something important through the press yet again. What else had she kept from him? All the secrets and lies…He didn’t want a life based on that, and he was beginning to realise that that was exactly what he’d get with Melinda. A life of subterfuge. Of keeping the stiff upper lip she’d once teased him of developing. And he really, really didn’t want that. He didn’t want their love for each other chipped away until he began to resent her and she started to despise him.
Without comment, Melinda stood aside and beckoned him in. She closed the door and followed him up the stairs.
Ah, hell.
Last time he’d been in this flat with her, he’d made love with her. Had that been the night they’d made the baby?
He clenched his fists. Why had it all had to go so wrong? Why did life have to be so bloody complicated?
‘So when were you going to tell me?’ he asked.
‘I only found out myself on Saturday afternoon.’
‘You saw me last night. Why didn’t you tell me then?’
‘Because I don’t know how pregnant I am. I wanted to wait until I knew the due date.’
He shook his head. ‘I don’t understand. No more secrets, you said. So how come the press knew?’
‘I have no ide—’ Her voice faded, and he could see the worry on her face.
‘What?’ he asked suspiciously.
‘Chloe wouldn’t have said a word. So they must have gone through my bin and found the test kit or the packaging. Dio. I can’t believe I was so stupid. What was I thinking?’
It took a moment for her comment to penetrate his brain. ‘Hang on. Chloe knows? You told Chloe before you told me?’
‘I needed professional advice,’ Melinda defended herself. ‘And apart from being a midwife, she’s one of my best friends.’
‘Don’t you think that the baby’s father should have been the first to know?’
‘What was I supposed to tell you? I’m pregnant but I have no idea how pregnant?’
‘I’m a GP, for pity’s sake.’ He stared at her. ‘Don’t you think I could’ve helped you?’
‘I’m not your patient—and it’s not ethical for you to treat me.’
‘You’re pulling me up on ethics?’
‘I didn’t mean it like that! I’m sorry.’ She raked a hand through her hair. ‘Look, I needed time to get used to the idea before I told you.’
Being pregnant was a huge life change, and of course she needed time to get used to the idea. And if she hadn’t been Princess Melinda, it wouldn’t have mattered. She would have had that time, and it wouldn’t have been spread all over the press before she was ready to talk to him.
Though he was still hurt that she’d told Chloe first. And there was the issue with the scan: she was pregnant with their baby, and she hadn’t asked him to go to the dating scan with her, as any normal man would want to do. It felt as if she’d pushed him out—that they were making a new family between them and she’d cut him off before he had a chance to be part of it.
‘So what are you planning to do? About the baby, I mean?’ When she didn’t answer immediately, he continued, ‘That is, I assume there really is a baby? It’s not just a way of forcing your parents’ hand?’
He regretted the question the second he’d asked it, because her face lost all colour.
‘I can’t believe you just said that.’ Her voice was a cracked whisper.
‘There have been so many secrets and lies flying about, I don’t know what’s true and what’s not any more.’
She swallowed hard. ‘I’m pregnant, Dragan. I did the test twice. Just to be sure. But I don’t know when the baby’s due—Chloe thinks I might be as much as three months already.’ A muscle twitched in the side of her cheek. ‘She’s got me an ultrasound appointment for next week. She’s coming with me.’
‘It didn’t occur to you that I might want to go with you?’
‘For pity’s sake, Dragan.