The Blackmailed Bride's Secret Child. Rachel Bailey

closed the last distance between them, leaving their bodies almost touching. “Is it purely a cash transaction, or do you prefer real estate and jewels?”

      She slid sideways, moving across the room to put a couch between them as a teardrop fell and traced a path down her cheek. “Nico, I’m sorry.”

      He swallowed, making himself remember that crying was an easy feat for an actress.

      A second tear followed the path of the first. “You’ll never know how sorry I am for what you went through.”

      He watched her hands turn white as they clasped together. So, perhaps she had a conscience about betraying him after all? But words came easily, and these did nothing to assuage the ache in his chest.

      He took off his suit coat and threw it over the couch she was hiding behind. “You’re sorry.” He shook his head slowly. “You finally said it. For all it’s worth.”

      Beth heard the dismissal in his tone and bit down on her lip. She’d once known Nico as well as she’d known herself—but this man was a stranger. “Will you accept my apology?”

      Nico walked through an archway into her living room and paced before coming to lean a shoulder in the doorway to the hall leading to Marco’s room. Thank God her son was gone for the weekend.

      Nico crossed one polished black shoe over the other. “You wounded my pride by leaving with my brother. That’s not an easy thing to forgive.”

      “I understand that.” She softened her voice. “Honestly, I do.”

      He pushed off the doorway to stand tall and proud. “Do you really? You’re sorry for humiliating me in front of my family? For selling yourself to a man who hated me from the day I was born?”

      She knew the real hurt that he wouldn’t voice. For breaking his heart.

      If her heart hadn’t stopped bleeding since being wrenched from its home with his, how much worse must it have been for him to be left behind?

      Then, as if a veil lifted from before her eyes, she glimpsed deep inside him to the real Nico, so loving and sweet beneath the hard man. The Nico he hid from everyone, even himself.

      Before she could change her mind, she went to him, but she didn’t do it for the bitter man before her. She did it for the Nico she’d loved more than life itself—for the pain she’d unwillingly caused. She did it for the Nico who was still somewhere inside him, hurting.

      An arm’s length away, heart racing, she stopped.

      He watched her closely, face inscrutable.

      Being this close to him made her ache to move the last step. To touch him. To taste his skin. To feel his touch. Her body reacted to him as if no time had passed. As if they still belonged to each other.

      But that time of belonging was long gone. And she was more sorry for that than he could ever know.

      She held out her hand, a peace offering, trying to convey the regret that overwhelmed her without using words, which he now distrusted.

      Heat flared in his brooding eyes and his jaw clenched, but he didn’t move.

       He felt it, too.

      The explosive sparks they generated when they were together. It’d been there again since he’d knocked on her door earlier this morning. Perhaps what she was doing would set a match to the tinder, but she remained standing, arm outstretched, offering him her hand.

      Then his gaze softened and he came to her, wrapping her in his embrace and pressing her close. His body felt different to her memories—more solid, he’d filled out beautifully. She felt him shudder as she wound her arms around his neck, and they stood there, motionless for timeless minutes.

      But then she pulled away, not meeting his eyes.

      He didn’t make a move to stop her.

      She turned and walked away, needing space from the waves of emotion and desire still rolling through her.

      “Beth,” he rasped, but she couldn’t turn back or she knew she’d take him to her bed and that would only make everything so much more difficult … make his leaving utterly unbearable.

      She’d always worn her heart on her sleeve with him, and if she was to keep the secret from him about his illegitimacy until after his father passed away, then shemust keep emotional distance.

      She’d apologized, and that was the last time she could afford to drop her guard around him.

      If he caught her in a moment of vulnerability, and asked her the right question—could she be sure she wouldn’t blurt out the secret that could hurt him and his father so deeply? She’d been incredibly fond of Tim Jordan, and for him to lose the son of his heart while he was terribly sick would be cruelty. The only solution that was fair to Tim and Nico was to wait.

      The phone rang in the next room and she had to restrain herself from running to the kitchen for the salvation of the call.

      “Hello?”

      “Mrs. Jordan, it’s Noela from the winery.”

      Kent’s secretary. As Beth leaned back against the bench, she caught sight of Nico from the corner of her eye. He stood in the doorway, leaning a hand against the top of the frame, watching her.

      Beth swallowed and looked away. “What can I do for you, Noela?”

      “I’m just checking to see if you’re coming to the launch of Trio tonight.” Noela paused, then continued in a gentle tone. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through, losing Mr. Jordan, and we’d understand if you decided you’d rather not come.”

      Beth grimaced at the thought of attending the grand event tonight—the last place she wanted to be was with a huge crowd now Nico had turned her world upside down. All she really wanted to do was crawl into bed with a tub of chocolate ice cream. But she’d made a promise. “I’ll be there.”

      “Thank you, Mrs. Jordan. I know the staff will appreciate it.”

      Beth hung up the receiver and poured herself a glass of water. She needed Nico out of here, now, before he found out about the festivities at the winery.

      Knowing Nico, if he’d heard about the evening he’d have mentioned it by now, and she thanked the fates she’d be able to attend alone. This impromptu reunion was hard enough to handle without it being played out in front of one hundred of New Zealand’s high society.

      Nico pushed off the doorframe. He took three steps forward and leaned his hands on the bench on either side of her, trapping her with his body. “You walk away from me too often.”

      Heat radiated from him, reaching out and encircling her. Something she’d never forgotten about their precious time together was that she was never cold with him—his body heat had been enough for both of them when he held her.

      Would it be so bad to close her eyes and sink into his heat now? To forget the crazy situation they were in and let herself have one more night with the man who still owned her unwise heart?

      His breath was warm against her ear, and she heard the moment it changed to a shallower, more uneven rhythm.

      No matter what tricks her body was playing on her, she couldn’t let herself forget this wasn’t her Nico. This was a different man, one she had no future with. She couldn’t survive their separation a second time. She might be protecting him by not telling the truth about her marriage, his son, his heritage, but she had to protect herself, too. Guard her heart.

      She placed her palms flat on his muscular chest, feeling his racing heart beneath, and looked up into his unfathomable, black-lash-fringed eyes. “Nico, you have to go. You’ve got your apology, now we have to move on with our lives.”

      Slowly, he straightened. Then he smiled. “You’re right. It’s time for me to go. I know you’ll need plenty of time to get ready