Read Online The Society Wife by India Grey - Free Book Online Page A

words tumble from her mouth. ‘I don’t want anything from you, Tristan. I don’t want your money, or any kind of recognition or admission of responsibility. I was on the pill, but I was ill when I was in Africa, so it’s my fault, I accept that completely, but I thought you ought to know that the baby is yours.’
    â€˜Who else knows?’
    â€˜N-no one.’ Despite the mildness of the evening she wasshivering violently now. ‘I haven’t told anyone. Not even Scarlet yet, but I can’t hide it for much longer.’
    â€˜You’re going ahead with it?’
    â€˜Yes!’ A white-hot spark of anger glowed in the dark void of her mind at the casual brutality of the question. ‘Yes, I bloody well am!’
    Nothing penetrated his terrible, glacial calm. ‘And you intend to name me as the father? On the birth certificate?’
    â€˜Of course!’ Her chattering teeth were so firmly clamped together that she spoke almost without moving her lips, her voice a low, furious rasp. ‘I won’t have my child growing up without a name. An identity.’
    â€˜No?’ He leaned back on the bench, lifting his head and inhaling deeply before turning towards her. His eyes were cold and measuring. ‘How much would it take to make you reconsider, Lily? I’m only going to say this once, so I advise you to think before answering.’
    â€˜You want to pay me off ?’ Lily gasped, torn between laughter and the urge to do something violent. ‘You want to bribe me to keep you out of your own child’s life? My God, Tristan, you cold, cold, bastard! Never. No way!’
    His eyes narrowed, but they stayed fixed on hers. ‘You’re quite sure? Even if it was for your own good?’
    She shook her head determinedly as strength and assurance ebbed back into her frozen body. She was on firmer ground here. ‘I’m not interested in what’s good for me now, Tristan. All I care about is my baby. I want it to know who it is, to have a history. An identity. Roots.’
    Things that she’d never had.
    In one lithe movement he stood up. The gentle evening seemed to darken as his broad shoulders blocked out the cloud-marbled sky. Slipping her feet from their high-heeled shoes, Lily tucked them up on the bench and wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging herself for warmth and subconsciously closing herself around the tiny, tentative life inside her.
    Tristan was standing with his back to her, looking out overthe garden to the dark tower. ‘Well, then. I hope you’re prepared for the alternative.’
    â€˜The alternative?’ Something about the way he spoke made the hair stand up on the back of Lily’s neck. ‘What do you mean?’
    He turned. ‘It’s all or nothing, Lily. If you name me as the father, we have to get married.’
    â€˜Married?’
    The tenuous thread of certainty that had anchored her a moment ago snapped, leaving her with the feeling that she was plummeting through space, and all logic, all familiarity had diminished to a tiny point in the distance.
    Married. The word that, when she was growing up, had always filled her with such wistful hope now sounded cold, comfortless, businesslike.
    â€˜But why?’
    â€˜Illegitimacy isn’t an option,’ he said flatly. ‘You have to understand that. My family bloodline stretches back, unbroken, for six hundred years. It’s my duty to respect and preserve that line. I can’t…’ here he faltered, but only for the briefest second ‘…I can’t knowingly let a child of mine be born and brought up outside of its heritage.’
    Stiffly, shakily, Lily got to her feet and walked slowly towards him. Standing in front of him, she looked into his eyes, trying to read the emotion that darkened them. ‘And yet a moment ago you wanted to pay me off?’ she said quietly. ‘You wanted me and this baby out of your