Uncertain Destiny. Кэрол Мортимер

have changed in the morning; she would still be pregnant and, from the hardness of his expression, Justin would still be denying the child was his.

      She shook her head, several tendrils of fiery hair escaping the loose upsweep on to the crown of her head. ‘The baby isn’t going to disappear overnight,’ she told him.

      ‘Are you refusing to share a bed with me, Caroline?’ He spoke softly.

      She never had, not from the beginning, unable to fight the truth of his claim at their first meeting. They always wanted each other to the point of desperation; just a look from her or the murmur of her name from Justin and the two of them would be making love. It had been that way since she first went out with him.

      But they couldn’t make love tonight, not with the baby’s existence standing so solidly between them. She would never be able to forget that Justin had accused her of carrying Tony’s child; not even the mindless pleasure she could always find in Justin’s arms could make her forget that.

      She heaved a ragged sigh. ‘I have to, Justin,’ she told him emotionally. ‘We have to settle the matter of the baby before I—–’

      He stiffened, and suddenly Caroline had a feeling much like a person in a courtroom must do just before Justin began to cross-examine them.

      ‘The matter is settled, Caroline,’ he bit out. ‘The child inside you is not mine. It is a medical impossibility for it to be so.’

      ‘But—–’

      ‘Medically impossible, Caroline,’ he repeated harshly.

      ‘Doctors make mistakes—–’

      ‘Not this time.’ His voice was a cold rasp.

      ‘But they have to have done,’ she insisted desperately. ‘I was a virgin that first night we were together, you know that!’ She looked up at him appealingly.

      He gave an acknowledging inclination of his head. ‘But you did insist on seeing Tony—alone—after that, to explain that you intended marrying me,’ he reminded her calmly.

      Caroline felt the colour leave her cheeks, staring at him as if she couldn’t believe what he was suggesting. ‘Justin, you can’t think, believe—–’

      ‘What other explanation can there be for your pregnancy?’ He shrugged dismissively.

      ‘You prefer to believe I went to bed with Tony just before we were married rather than that the doctor who told you you’re sterile made a mistake?’ she gasped in a pained voice.

      His gaze was narrowed. ‘Yes.’

      She sat down suddenly. ‘Then you’re right, discussing this any further wouldn’t help at all,’ she said dully, blinking back the tears.

      He nodded abruptly. ‘I’ll sleep in the spare bedroom tonight,’ he told her harshly. ‘We’ll have to decide tomorrow what’s to be done about the baby.’

      That roused her from the sea of pain she had been drowning in. ‘What’s to be done?’ she repeated slowly, reluctantly, watching him warily.

      ‘I don’t want children, Caroline,’ he stated abruptly. ‘I never have.’

      What did that mean? That he wanted her to leave and take the baby with her, or that he just didn’t want the baby?