‘You might have told me what you had planned.’
‘As you always tell me what you’ve got planned?’
There was a long silence, and then he said tensely, ‘That’s not the point.’
‘Isn’t it? I thought we were equal—or is one of us more equal than the other? I don’t have to ask your permission before I do something. Or do I? I really appreciate what you’ve done for me. I know I wasn’t well when I came here, and I know I was too stubborn to admit it back in England, but now I’m well enough to go back to work.’
‘You will still need to rest.’
‘I don’t need to rest. I’m fine. I’ll be even better when I’m working outside in a garden again.’
She refused to back down. He loved her fire, but it irked the hell out of him.
‘What are you doing, Marco?’
Reaching out, he removed the single clip holding up her hair so that it tumbled in unruly waves around her shoulders.
Gathering it up again, she pinned it firmly back in place.
‘Am I supposed to take that a sign?’ Marco demanded.
‘Yes. A sign that I need fresh air,’ she said, staring levelly at him until he stood down.
‘What about the roof garden?’
‘What about the roof garden? You’ve never mentioned a roof garden to me. Are you telling me there’s a garden here?’
‘Let me show you.’
He led the way through the door that took them up via some steps to one of the most magnificent views in Rome.
‘Oh, my,’ she breathed, so taken aback that for a moment she didn’t even notice the carefully laid-out garden and just soaked up the view. ‘To think I didn’t even know this was here.’
‘I should have mentioned it to you,’ Marco admitted, ‘but I so rarely come up here—’
‘And you couldn’t wait to get away as soon as we arrived,’ she suggested, careful to keep her expression neutral.
‘Maybe,’ he admitted. ‘But now you know it’s here, couldn’t you keep yourself busy up here?’
‘Fill my empty hours, do you mean?’ She shrugged. ‘This is beautiful, Marco, really beautiful, but it’s all planned out—down to the last, carefully manicured square inch. There’s nothing here for me to do, except admire—which I do. But I need more than this. I need a proper job.’
‘Isn’t the baby enough for you?’
‘My question is this: will I be enough for the baby if I just sit here idle and wait for our child to arrive?’
Marco flinched a little at her mention of our child, and then he turned away to lean his hands on the wall as he stared out across Rome.
‘You’re never going to accept that I could make life easy for you, are you, Cassandra?’
‘I don’t want easy. I just want a chance to do the job I love.’
He seemed to understand that. Turning, he reached out his hand to capture a stray lock of hair to tuck behind her ear.
‘I could admire you if you weren’t so damned annoying,’ he admitted.
She huffed wryly and relaxed a little. Perhaps they were both guilty of taking themselves too seriously at times.
‘I’ll try to be worthy of your admiration, and slightly less annoying,’ she promised. And then, for the first time, they shared a smile.
They left the beautiful roof garden, and went down to the main part of the penthouse, where she hovered as Marco prowled the room. Tension grew between them, and threatened to engulf her when Marco came to stand in front of her.
‘Come to bed with me, Cassandra.’
Breath hitched in her throat as he stared down at her. She knew that smouldering look in his eyes, and her body was desperate to respond to him. This had nothing to do with pregnancy hormones. She wanted Marco, and not just physically but with every yearning, aching part of her soul.
Leaning forward, he brushed her lips with his.
Several seconds passed. It was as if time stood still in those potent, charged moments. Resting her hands on Marco’s arms, she allowed him to back her towards his bedroom.
Putting his arm around her shoulders, he shut the door behind them, and then he worked on the buttons of her shirt and let it fall. Cupping her breasts, he dipped his head to suckle through the fine lace of her bra, and then he unhooked it and disposed of that too. Lowering her unflattering maternity jeans carefully over the swell of her belly and her hips, he helped her step out of them. Taking hold of her hand, he led her towards the bed, and pushing the bedclothes out of the way he lowered her gently onto the pillows.