His Expectant Lover (8 page)

Andie stood in the enormous living room, surprised by the number of flowers that were everywhere. Obviously someone from the hospital had ensured that the flowers from her room had been delivered to Antonio’s penthouse. She delicately touched one perfect rose, her mind trying to understand everything. The diamond ring on her finger felt heavy but she couldn’t seem to take it off.

She’d woken up and found Antonio still in her hospital room, pacing like a caged animal. When she’d looked down at her hand, the diamond had just been there, resting on her finger. And it had looked too beautiful for words.

He hadn’t mentioned a wedding date, just told her that they would be married. He hadn’t said anything about the baby, but demanded that she give him a list of all her doctor’s appointments. After they’d left the hospital, with strict orders from the doctor to eat as much as she comfortably could, he’d driven her through the streets of Manhattan to this fabulous penthouse, then departed, telling her only that he would be back in time for dinner.

What time did he have dinner? Was she supposed to cook it? And what kinds of foods did he prefer?

And equally important, where in the world was the kitchen? She was hungry now, but she had no idea which way to go to find something to eat.

Andie knew that she wasn’t much of a cook, preferring to nibble on raw foods most of the time. It was easier and healthier, she thought. It was also faster. So in essence, she’d never learned to cook. Microwave? She was a master. Actually cooking – following a recipe where an oven or a stove were involved? She’d be a disaster.

But what was she supposed to do? Antonio had driven her home from the hospital, carried her from the car to this building’s elevator and then set her down once they’d entered this palatial penthouse.

And he’d left her here, standing in the masculine but comfortable looking great room, surrounded by flowers but without any other instructions. He’d said her clothes were moved into his place, but she wasn’t sure which way to go to find the bedrooms. He’d told her there was food in the kitchen and she should eat something, but which way did she go to find the kitchen?

He’d brought her dinner from some amazing Italian restaurant last night, tempting her with the cheesy pasta filled with vegetables and perfectly grilled chicken. She’d been truly grateful because the hospital food was less than enticing. Then he’d shown up this morning with chocolate croissants and warm hot chocolate and a fruit salad. She’d eaten as much as she could, but Antonio hadn’t been satisfied with that amount. He obviously wanted her spending all of her time eating. She smiled at how worried he’d looked when she’d put her croissant down this morning, barely half eaten. He might be a jerk, but he’d been very sweet about trying to find things she would eat.

“Good morning, ma’am,” a lady greeted her. Obviously, the woman had come out of one of the mysterious doorways.

Andie swung around, startled by the voice in the almost painfully quiet of the enormous penthouse. “Oh!” she gasped, pulling her hand away from the flower quickly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know anyone was here.”

The woman smiled kindly. “I’m Ms. Snyder,” she said, moving forward slightly. “I’m the housekeeper. Is there anything I can get for you? Are you hungry?”

Andie’s mouth fell open. A housekeeper? Looking around, she supposed Antonio needed someone to take care of this monstrously huge residence. “No, thank you. I don’t want to be a burden.” She’d known he was wealthy, but the man actually had two homes, both with servants! That idea was so astonishing to her, she wasn’t exactly sure what to think of it.

The woman’s smile widened. “Would you like to go through the menus for the next few days?”

“Menus?” Andie parroted, feeling more than a little foolish.

“Yes, ma’am. Mr. Alfieri said you might have specific preferences. I’ll incorporate anything you’d like for dinners or meals. He said you would probably be here for most meals as you work on your next novel.”

“My novel?” Antonio must have had a long conversation with this woman, Andie thought.

“Mr. Alfieri mentioned you were a mystery writer.” It was almost a question and Andie nodded her head, secretly thrilled that Antonio had introduced her occupation as writer instead of model. He was one of very few people who knew that she was an aspiring writer and it was exciting to hear someone else say it.

But meals? She had no idea what to request. “I’m sure anything you serve would be wonderful,” Andie finally said.

“Tonight, I am making a spicy chicken and asparagus. Will that be okay for both you and the baby?”

Andie’s hand moved over her stomach, a blush quickly rising to color her cheeks. “Yes. That would be great,” she finally said. It actually sounded wonderful, but she was overwhelmed by all of the changes that had suddenly occurred in her life, including someone to actually cook a meal for her. That was such a startling luxury, she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it.

The woman smiled kindly at Andie and something relaxed inside of her chest. “Well then, I’ll leave you to your schedule. What time would you like lunch?”

Again, Andie had no idea. “Um…I’ll just grab something myself,” she said, not wanting anyone to wait on her.

Ms. Snyder clasped her hands in front of her and smiled gently towards Andie. “I was given very strict instructions to ensure that you are to eat as much as possible during the day. How about if I bring you something warm and hearty in a few minutes? Would that be adequate?”

Andie could only nod, still feeling horrible about someone waiting on her. And of course Antonio had left those instructions so the kind looking woman wouldn’t dare to ignore them. A part of her wanted to call him up and tell him to stop directing her life. But the other part of her, the part that was using her brain and not being ruled by her emotions, knew that he was right and she should be eating to get her strength back up. Her hand once more covered her belly, wishing she could feel the little guy move, just to give her some reassurance.

Ms. Snyder walked back through the door from which she’d come earlier and Andie found herself once more alone, and not sure what to do. Yes, she’d love to sit down and curl her feet up underneath her. But she didn’t feel comfortable enough to do that. She was a stranger in a strange world, she thought as she looked around at the brown and black furniture surrounding an enormous fireplace. There was an amazing view of the city outside the floor to ceiling windows, but it was a gloomy day today. She bit her lip, thinking about what that view would be like on a sunny day. Or what about when the sun came out after a snowfall? Oh, goodness, just the idea was intoxicating.

She looked back at the flowers, taking the note from the closest one. “Antonio,” was all it read. No words, no sentiment, nothing but his name. She went to the next bouquet and read the note. Again, only the name “Antonio”. She went through every bouquet, reading each of the cards attached to the plastic “fork” and by the last one, she was completely confused. Out of thirty bouquets, twenty-five of them were from Antonio. The rest were from Marcus and Juliette, Davis and Kate, Dylan and Georgette, Adriana and Mitch and his mom and dad. She recognized the names of his siblings and felt that warm fuzzy feeling once more surround her.

Twenty-five bouquets? She was still reeling from that realization when she saw him walk out from the back of the penthouse. She’d thought he’d left the place but here he was, looking amazing and magnificent – and staring right at her as if she’d just stolen the family silver. He was talking on the phone with someone, making sharp, curt statement. “Yes. A whole line. Several designers.” There was silence for a moment and he held the phone to his chest. “What size are you?” he asked her.

Andie immediately felt self-conscious because of her huge stomach. “Enormous,” she said, her eyes wide while she tried to figure out what he was doing and who he was talking to. But instead of repeating her words to whoever was on the phone with him, his eyes moved up and down her figure. She self-consciously gripped the cheap, oversized men’s shirt she’d found at a second hand shop last month when her other clothes had grown too tight for expanding belly, feeling inadequately dressed. She hadn’t been able to afford maternity clothes so she mostly wore sweat pants that could fold down under her belly and enormous, men’s shirts that could cover her belly and hang down low enough to hide the fact that her pants didn’t come up very high.

Meanwhile, Antonio looked magnificent in another immaculate suit that fit him perfectly. Goodness, she wished she had something nicer to wear, something that would give her a small bit of confidence. This shirt and her sloppy sweat pants just weren’t doing anything for her feelings of inadequacy.

His eyes swept her figure and she wasn’t really sure what that meant. But he lifted the phone back to his ear. The only word he said was, “Tiny,” to the person on the other end of the line. “Yes.” He pulled the phone away again and asked her, “Is two hours from now good enough for you?”

She shook her head, still confused and wary. “Good enough for what?” she asked nervously.

“For clothes to be brought to you.”

Andie gasped and pulled back slightly. “You can’t buy me clothes!” she gasped, horrified by the possibility. No matter how self-conscious she was in her ill-fitting outfit, she simply couldn’t let Antonio buy her clothes. He’d done that in Italy when they were together. She couldn’t let it happen again. Out of the question!

Antonio simply stared down at her with a strange expression in his dark, blue eyes, then lifted the phone back to his ear. “Ten o’clock is fine.”

With that, he pocketed his cell phone and walked over to her. “My assistant is arranging for someone to stop by with maternity clothes for you. Choose whatever you like. But make sure they are comfortable enough for you.”

She squared her shoulders, furious with him for being so overbearing. “I’m not letting you buy me clothes, Antonio.”

He took another step closer, looking down at her with a hard look in his eyes. “Andie, if I come back tonight and you aren’t in something that both fits you and makes you feel better, I will personally rip these clothes off of you and get you something that I like.” He stepped back and pulled his cuffs down from his suit. “You’ve been warned,” he told her.

Andie watched with rising anger as he walked out of the penthouse. How dare he issue a threat like that! She’d wear whatever she damn well pleased!

Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure where all of her personal belongings were so she couldn’t easily stomp away in a huff herself. Looking around, she wasn’t even sure which way to go. The kind housekeeper had disappeared, Antonio was gone and she stood alone, confused about the flowers and lonely because she was so completely lost.

What had happened to her life?

Chapter 7

As she stood glaring at the doorway in which he’d exited, Andie was too angry to be courteous. He’d dumped her here in a strange place with unknown servants who had orders that he hadn’t run by her. Yes, she’d been hungry two days ago. And yes, she’d come to him for money. But that didn’t mean she was going to allow him to take over her life.

She looked around, trying to find her purse. But it was nowhere to be found amidst the flowers.

It was time to take back her control. She turned in the opposite direction from where Ms. Snyder had come and gone, determined to find her stuff and go back to her own apartment. She felt much stronger than she had yesterday and she would just figure out how to survive without Antonio’s money.

Of course, now that he knew about the baby, she was pretty sure he would want to be a part of their son’s life. And she had to admit that he had every right to want that. They could work something out. But it wouldn’t be with her living here!

Her mind jumped back to how amazing he’d looked a few minutes ago. She’d like to say that she didn’t feel anything for him any longer. After everything that had happened over the past several months, she should feel nothing for the man. But that simply wasn’t the case. He was amazing and every single nerve ending in her body had jumped in response to the way he’d looked at her. All her feminine pride was shriveling at what he was seeing and she’d instinctively wanted to look nice. For him! For the man she’d loved.

Andie sighed. She wasn’t sure what she felt for him now, but it definitely wasn’t nothing. She probably still loved him, but she was too angry and scared right now to sort through her feelings rationally.

She started searching through the various rooms, just opening doors now. But after finding a library with comfortable chairs in the first room, she was struck by all of the books. Floor to ceiling book cases, filled with books from just about any topic she could think of. Goodness, she could get lost in this room! Oh, how she loved to read. She loved mysteries and romances but also science and art, history and politics. She cringed at the large section on math with titles so complicated, she couldn’t even guess at what they might be about. And physics too, a subject which she’d avoided in high school and college. As an English major, she hadn’t really needed, or wanted, to delve into the physics or chemistry side of the world. She loved biology and psychology, but not the more complicated sciences. Antonio obviously loved those subjects because there were more books on those subjects than any of the others, but many more about business theory, military strategy and a wide variety of other subjects. She was impressed. The man certainly was well-read.

When she realized that she’d spent over an hour in this room, perusing the titles and flipping the pages of some of the books, she squared her shoulders and marched out of the library. She was on a mission, she reminded herself.

The next room was just as interesting with an enormous billiards table in the center and more windows along one wall. The other three walls were paneled in dark wood with a bar set up in one corner. She poured herself a glass of orange juice, remembering the doctor’s orders to make sure she drank plenty of fluids and stored up as many calories as she could.

She lingered in this room as well, picturing Antonio with his brothers playing pool in here, all of them looking suave and sophisticated. Her hand moved self-consciously to her belly, wishing she didn’t look so…big. Wishing that Antonio might think of her as…

A warm, bubbly sensation worked its way inside of her at the memory of how his eyes had surveyed her earlier and he’d called her “tiny”. She wasn’t tiny, but she supposed compared to him, she was small. Andie sighed, wishing she could figure him out. Also wishing she could figure out how she felt about him.

Okay, so that was silly. She knew that she was still physically attracted to him. But she refused to accept that she might still be in love with him. Those silly feelings that jumped through her body whenever he was around, that was just desire. Her love was gone, she said sternly to herself. She didn’t love him, had probably never loved him and refused to consider that she would ever be in love with him again.

Love was a nuisance.

She sighed and leaned against the pool table, looking up at the ceiling. How had her life become so complicated? Six months ago, she was running from shoot to shoot before hurrying home and diving into the next scene in her mystery novel.

Now she was lost in an enormous house, wearing someone’s discarded clothes and wondering what was happening, worrying about a man she had no right to worry about and trying to just find her purse!

Pushing away from the table, she walked out of that room and stuck her head into the next room. This was just another sitting room and she backed out. Following along the hallway, she found an office, an elaborate exercise gym with just about every piece of equipment possible, an indoor pool, another sitting room, a shockingly beautiful patio with trees and potted plants…good grief!

Going up the stairs, she found another office, six bedrooms and, at the end of the hallway, a bigger room which could only be Antonio’s. She stepped into this room, looking around at the dark colors and inhaling his scent. She told herself to get out of this room, that she was invading his private space, but she couldn’t leave. She loved just being in here and thinking about him…naked. Oh, goodness, she’d had so many dreams where she’d relived that night with him, remembered the way his fingers touched her body, making her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. And those feelings! Those glorious, shocking and mind-boggling feelings when he kissed her or touched her, and especially when he filled her up with his body. Never had she felt so alive!

With a sigh of longing, she turned around and walked out of his room. She walked back into the hallway and entered the first bedroom, opening up the closets and drawers. Nothing! She did the same thing to all the other bedrooms, glaring at the empty closet in the last bedroom.

If her clothes weren’t in the spare bedrooms…

She stood outside of his enormous bedroom once again, her body shivering at the very idea of entering it once more. She couldn’t go in there! It was his domain and too filled up with his scent and his presence.

“Ms. Knight?”

Andie jerked around, feeling like she’d just been caught doing something naughty. Ms. Snyder stood a few feet away from her with a kind smile on her features. “I’m sorry to startle you. But your visitors have arrived. I’ve put them into the library, if that’s okay? And I’ll serve coffee and tea? I can have herbal tea for you as well, if you’d like?”

Andie’s brow crinkled with that announcement. Visitors? No one knew she was here. Even if she’d had time to contact any of her friends, she didn’t even know where “here” was.

“I’m sorry, but I wasn’t expecting anyone,” she finally replied.

Ms. Snyder smiled again. “The designers?” she prompted. “With the maternity clothes that Mr. Alfieri ordered for you? They are here and,” she chuckled, shaking her head, “some of those dresses are fabulous!” she said with reverence.

Andie scowled as she remembered that phone call earlier today. “He’s being a domineering jerk,” she mumbled. But she walked down to the library, determined to tell the designers to pack up their clothes and go away, but the sight in front of her froze any words she might have been able to utter, her mouth hanging open at all of the gorgeous clothes on display. Three different designers had brought their maternity line of clothing, complete with dresses, casual clothes, evening wear and everything in between. Even shoes!

She glanced down at her worn out sneakers and her heart ached at the idea of turning down all of these lovely clothes. But she needed to take a firm stand. Antonio was trying to take over her life and she simply couldn’t let him do that.

“You’re not going to send them away,” Antonio said from behind her.

Andie spun around, craning her neck to look up into his impassive face. Where had he come from?! And why did her heart race and her stomach tighten with excitement simply because he was standing so close? She was pregnant! All of those feelings should be gone, obliterated. At the very least, she should be able to ignore them, simply because she knew that he didn’t love her.

She blinked, focusing on the here and now and not the past. Looking back at the truly beautiful clothes, she steeled herself from weakening at the temptation. Squaring her shoulders, she glared up at him. “I am. You can’t do this to me,” she said. It didn’t come out sounding very firm though because her voice quivered. He was just standing too close to her. Backing up, she put more space between them, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Where are my other clothes?”

He tracked her, not letting her move away from him. “I threw most of them away because they were no longer recognizable as clothing. The ones that are left, will be thrown into the trash this afternoon, which is why you need to pick new clothes.” He moved even closer, backing her up against something solid. “I will not have my wife wearing rags,” he stated quite firmly.

“I won’t wear any of these clothes!” she declared, but again, her voice was too breathy.

He looked at the ladies standing beside their racks of clothes. “We’ll send back anything she doesn’t want. Otherwise, send an invoice for everything.”

Andie was horrified. She knew these designers although she’d never worn their clothes. She’d never been able to afford anything from their stores. Everything had been way out of her range, even before her pregnancy. “You can’t do that! These clothes are too expensive!”

Antonio waited until the library door was closed before he replied. “You will wear the clothes and be comfortable. I know how much you love clothes, Andie. Why would you fight me on this, of all things?”

She struggled, wishing he would give her more space. She stepped around a chair, feeling better with the large obstacle in between them. “Because you are taking over! Ever since I showed up at your office, you’ve just been stampeding over everything. You’re not letting me make any decisions any longer.”

“You need my help. I’m helping.” He said that as if it were the only thing that mattered.

Her hands were fisted by her sides as she tried to get him to understand her position. “You’re being a domineering pain in the butt!” she retorted, all her pithy comebacks nowhere to be found when he was this close.

Antonio had to laugh at her slander. “Don’t try and save my feelings,” he teased.

Andie flushed but she was trying to get her point across. “Where are my clothes?”

“All around you,” he told her.

She was bristling with anger. “No. Those are your clothes. You bought them, you wear them!”

Antonio chuckled at the idea of wearing one of the maternity dresses. “Andie, you know you’ll be more comfortable in something that fits properly.”

She couldn’t argue with him there. “I’ll buy my own clothes. And I’ll sleep in my own apartment.”

That declaration forced his temper to flare. “Your apartment is gone.” She was not leaving his home and that was final!

She gasped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” he moved closer, the chair that had been in between them no longer the obstacle she’d been hoping it would be, “that you are here, in my home where you will stay!”

“I won’t!” she came back, panic filling her up. “You can’t make me stay here!”

He leaned down. “Listen carefully, Andie. You’re staying here where I can take care of you and our unborn child. And we’re getting married. And we will be happy, dammit!”

With that, he walked out of the library, almost slamming the door behind him.

Andie stared at the closed door in astonishment. If she hadn’t been so overwhelmed, she might actually laugh at his command. But as it was, she stood nervously in his amazing library and felt completely out of control of her life.

How could he have gotten rid of her apartment? Was that even legal? She had no idea, nor did she have the money to hire a lawyer to figure it out. She sank down onto the large, leather chair and let her head fall into her hands. She had to get some sort of control. She had to work through this piece by piece.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at all of the clothes. They really were beautiful, but she simply couldn’t wear them.

Walking out of the library, she still had to hunt down her purse. She needed her phone and she needed her computer.

She found Ms. Snyder in the kitchen, busy cooking up something that smelled amazing. “Ms. Snyder, do you know where my personal belongings are?”

Ms. Snyder smiled as she looked up. “Mr. Alfieri had me put everything in his room. I believe your purse and personal items are on the bedside table.” She continued stirring. “Oh, and Mr. Alfieri had me contact your agent to get your makeup preferences. I ordered everything, but if there is anything missing, just let me know and I’ll have that delivered to you.”

Andie was touched, despite her anger. Antonio was trying to help her, but he just didn’t understand why it was so wrong.

Okay, so maybe she didn’t either.

“Thank you,” she said and walked out of the kitchen. At the doorway, she turned back and smiled. “By the way, whatever that is, it smells delicious.”

Ms. Snyder beamed as Andie walked out.