Her Secret, His Love-Child (12 page)

Alex stopped then completed the distance more
slowly, not sure if he was reading the guard’s unspoken message correctly.

‘She went back upstairs,’ David said with a beaming smile. ‘She got halfway across the foyer and then seemed to change her mind about leaving. Turned around and got straight back in the lift.’

His heart turned over, then did it again.

When she’d left he’d feared she’d given up.

On him. And them. And a future together.

Her return upstairs gave him a sliver of hope.

Alex thumped David on the back and grinned. ‘Remind me to invite you to the wedding!’

‘What do you mean, he’s not here?’ Katrina demanded. ‘He was here two minutes ago.’

Justine nodded. ‘I know. I think he went chasing after you.’

Her heart turned over in her chest. ‘He did?’

Again, Justine nodded. ‘Well, he ran out of here as if the building was on fire only a couple of minutes after you left.’

‘Oh.’

Her heart flipped again. When Alex had let her walk away, she’d thought he’d given up.

On himself. On her. And on the possibility of them having a future together.

Surely the fact he’d gone chasing after her meant he hadn’t given up?

The thought made her legs give way beneath her and she sank down on the visitor’s chair on the opposite side of Justine’s desk.

At that particular moment the door to Justine’s office flew open. Without looking, Katrina knew who it was.
She could sense Alex. It was as if his presence somehow changed the air particles between them, creating an invisible string that joined them together.

Katrina turned her head. Although she moved at normal speed, it felt as if she were moving in slow motion.

Alex stood in the doorway, staring at her with an odd look on his face.

Katrina stared back.

Neither said anything.

She sensed rather than saw Justine looking back and forth between them. After a moment, the other woman rose to her feet and cleared her throat. ‘I think I’ll give you guys some privacy.’

Katrina heard her but barely registered a word she said.

‘You came back,’ Alex breathed when the door closed.

Katrina nodded, hands clenched tightly together in her lap. ‘I should never have left in the first place.’

She’d been halfway across the foyer before she’d realised that.

She’d been convinced that she couldn’t live with Alex knowing that he didn’t love her.

But saying goodbye had almost killed her.

She’d stopped in the middle of the vast foyer with tears stinging the back of her eyes.

And as she’d stood there she’d realised there was something worse—much, much worse—than living with the knowledge that Alex didn’t love her. And that was being without him altogether.

She needed him whether he loved her or not.

His face was all planes and angles. ‘Why not?’

‘Because it’s time I told you the truth.’

‘And what truth is that?’

Katrina dragged in a deep breath for courage and
flattened her spine against the back of the chair. Then she stared him straight in the eye. ‘I love you.’

Alex gasped. ‘Say that again.’ His voice was strangled; his eyes locked on her face.

Undecided whether his reaction was good or bad, Katrina said it again.

Pleasure swept through him, bright and sweet.

Accepting Samantha into his life had enabled him to put the past behind him. As a result, he’d achieved the sort of peace he hadn’t known existed. But the joy he felt now lifted his spirit, his soul, to another dimension.

A dimension where the light seemed brighter and the air smelled sweeter.

He smiled a big wide smile and watched Katrina blink.

Then he crossed the room in a couple of strides, grabbed her hands in his and pulled her to her feet, straight into his arms.

He didn’t waste time talking. Instead, he claimed her mouth with his, telling her without words exactly how he felt about her.

Only when he knew they either had to stop or find somewhere more private did Alex lift his head. He rested his forehead against hers. ‘You’ve made me the happiest man alive.’

‘Have I?’ she whispered.

He nodded and lifted his head so that he could look her in the eyes. He picked up her hands in his. ‘Will you marry me?’

She tried to pull her hands away, but Alex wouldn’t let her. She shook her head. ‘No. I’ll live with you, but I won’t marry you.’

Alex frowned.

Had he misheard her a moment ago?

He was sure he’d heard Katrina say that she loved him. So what was the problem?

‘Why not?’ he demanded.

She shrugged. ‘If I ever get married, it will be for the right reasons.’

Alex wondered if there was something wrong with the connection between his ears and his brain, because what Katrina was saying to him just didn’t make sense. ‘And what reasons would those be?’

If she wanted the moon, he would try to get it for her.

The stars? No problem.

He would create miracles if that was what it took to have Katrina as his wife.

She angled her chin. ‘Well, it certainly won’t be because you feel obliged to do the right thing for our daughter.’

He cupped the side of her face. ‘And is that the reason you think I asked?’

She nodded.

‘Well, it’s not.’

‘Then why?’

He smiled, filling it with the intensity of the emotions teeming inside him. ‘I asked because I love you.’

She gasped. ‘No, you don’t.’

‘I do.’ He smoothed the soft silkiness of her skin with his fingers. ‘I think I’ve always loved you.’

She shook her head. ‘I don’t believe that!’

‘Well, you should.’ His mouth twisted. ‘I seem to be very good at self-deception.’

She frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Do you remember when you first came back? You burst into the board room like you did today.’

‘What has—?’

He held up a hand. ‘Wait. Let me finish. Do you remember I commented that you’d disappeared without a trace?’

She nodded. ‘I remember. I made some crack about the TV show.’

‘That’s right. You did. I was glad you didn’t give what I’d said too much thought, otherwise you might have realised what it meant.’

She frowned again, clearly puzzled. ‘And what does it mean?’

Alex dragged in a breath. ‘It means I had a private investigator searching for you. Not just in Sydney, but anywhere and everywhere.’ He paused. ‘I was desperate to find you.’

Her mouth twisted. ‘That’s only because I was pregnant.’

‘Was it?’ He recaptured her hands and squeezed them even more tightly. ‘Don’t forget, at the time I was convinced I wasn’t the father.’

He felt her body jerk through their connecting hands as the importance of his words hit home.

‘So, why were you looking for me then?’ she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

‘That’s the question, isn’t it? I tried not to think about that too much. I didn’t like the implication. I had all kinds of excuses, but the truth is that I was missing you like crazy.’

Her eyes glowed. ‘Like crazy, huh? I like that.’

He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her waist. ‘You do, do you?’

‘Uh-huh.’ Her face grew serious. ‘You still don’t
have to marry me if you don’t want to. Or have any more children.’

‘I know I don’t,’ Alex replied with his usual arrogance. ‘But I want the world to know that I love you and our daughter, and the best way to do that is to put a ring on your finger.’ He put her away from him. ‘And I
do
want more children.’

Her brow wrinkled. ‘But you’ve arranged to have your vasectomy redone. Why would you do that if you want more children?’

Alex frowned and held her at arm’s length. ‘Who told you that?’

Katrina told him about the phone call from the doctor’s office.

His frown cleared. ‘I asked Dr Kershew to arrange the operation weeks ago,’ Alex explained dismissively. ‘It was just after I’d received the DNA test results. I was in a panic when I spoke to him. Maybe that’s why he took so long to get back to me. To be honest, I’d completely forgotten I’d even mentioned it to him. Now that I have my head straight, I’d love to have more children. A round dozen sounds like a good number.’

Katrina sputtered. ‘I always said you were an over-achiever. Would you settle for half a dozen?’

His face grew serious. ‘I’ll settle for anything you want. I just want to make you happy. Do you know what I want to do right now?’

She shook her head.

‘I want to take Sam and go home. I want to hold you both in my arms and tell you how much I love you. And then I want to take you to bed and start working on a brother or sister for her. What do you say?’

She took the hand he held out to her and squeezed it
tight. And then she smiled. It was the most beautiful smile in the world. ‘I’d like that. But I want you to know that, if all I ever have is you and Sam, I’ll still be the happiest woman in the world.’