Sitting in the back, listening to Sebastian take a call on his phone, he was a million miles from the man she'd met that night in Mumbai, and when she looked back on it now, it all seemed like a flimsy mirage, because this man was acting as if he wouldn't kiss her again if his life depended on it.

‘… and then Daddy said that I simply must have the house in Holland Park, and I said …'


Sebastian let the woman's irritating voice tune in and out, nodding occasionally to signal his interest when really he had no more interest in the anaemic blonde sitting opposite him than he would in the overweight maître d' who'd shown them to the table. Which was strange as up until recently blondes had been his preference—the cooler, the better. He scowled inwardly. Until he'd met an exotic Indian princess.

It had been too late this afternoon to cancel the date and some rogue part of him had wanted to keep it, make boundaries clear with Aneesa. But he hadn't been able to get the wounded bruised look from her eyes out of his head all evening. Her eyes were so damn expressive. And beautiful.

She'd meekly followed him around his state-of-the-art penthouse apartment with its stunning views of London and had lightly asked, ‘Always the penthouse?'


And he'd answered glibly, ‘It's the best.' And had winced at how crass that sounded.

His housekeeper, Daniel, a man in his fifties who Sebastian would trust with his life, had immediately taken Aneesa under his wing, and when Sebastian had been leaving, she'd been sitting in the kitchen on a high stool, looking about sixteen and discussing Indian curry recipes.


As his focus came back into the exclusive restaurant, Sebastian felt suddenly impatient. He cut abruptly across the woman, whose name he struggled to recall. ‘I'm sorry but I'm afraid I'll have to go …'

Her lipsticked mouth opened and closed, making a coil


of disgust settle in Sebastian's belly when he remembered another mouth, with naturally red lips, full and infinitely more kissable. His body tightened in response.

He hustled them out of the restaurant, ignoring her protests, and bundled her into a taxi, and with that impatience rising he got into a taxi himself and headed home. When he got to his building, he strode straight past the concierge and into the lift.

And it was only when he went in his front door and let the quiet of the apartment wash over him did he realise how fast his heart was hammering. He prowled silently to the bedroom he'd shown Aneesa to earlier and pushed open the door. A bedside lamp threw out a halo of light over where she had fallen asleep half sitting up in the bed. A book lay open by her side and Sebastian went over and picked it up, only noticing then what the title was: What to Expect When You're Expecting.

With a funny feeling in his belly he put it down and looked at Aneesa. Her long lashes were fanned out, casting shadows on her cheeks. He'd only met her once before, as cataclysmic as that meeting had been, and yet, he felt as if he'd known her forever. Exactly as he'd told her that night, like a gauche teenager.

Seeing her again, having her here, a physical reality in his home, the knowledge that she was pregnant was a shock to his system that was only now beginning to wear off. And on the heels of that was a disturbing build-up of ambiguous emotions he didn't want to look at.

Physically he wanted her with a fierceness that scared him. And yet he knew if he so much as touched her, a storm would be unleashed. A storm he didn't want to deal with. A surge of emotion made his gut clench even though he denied it furiously. He couldn't afford to forget that if she wasn't pregnant, she wouldn't be here now. She wouldn't have come just because she wanted to. He wouldn't have to be dealing with this. His conscience pricked—tonight's date would have still been a disaster, even without Aneesa's arrival. The truth


hurt; he'd been dealing with her presence since that night in Mumbai….

His eyes drifted down, and feeling like a voyeur but unable to stop himself, he could see that the soft rise and fall of the swells of her breasts under her T-shirt looked fuller. Was that because of the baby? Suddenly the thought of watching Aneesa's body ripen with his child made him feel alternately euphoric and claustrophobic.

He backed away and out of the room again and it was only when he was fighting his usual losing battle with sleep some time later did he register his dominant emotion when he'd returned home to find her asleep in bed; it had been relief. To Sebastian's disgust, when he closed his eyes, all he could see was an image of storm clouds threatening over every horizon.

The following morning, when Sebastian returned from his regular six-mile run, the sun was rising in earnest and he was disconcerted to find Aneesa up and pottering about the kitchen. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail and she was wearing sweatpants and a long-sleeved T-shirt.

Hardly out of breath, Sebastian said, ‘You're up early.'

Aneesa whirled around, colour flooding her cheeks, and it made inexplicable satisfaction course through Sebastian. She recovered swiftly though; he could see that faint reserve return.

‘I'm always up around dawn to do my meditation and yoga practice.' She looked at him steadily. ‘Will that bother you?'

Sebastian shook his head and tried to ignore the vivid mental images flooding his brain of Aneesa doing stretches. He brushed past her and her fresh scent teased his nostrils. Almost angrily he yanked out the coffee beans to make fresh coffee.

Hesitantly Aneesa asked, ‘Are you sure you don't mind?

You seem a little … edgy.'

Sebastian gritted his teeth. ‘I'm sure. I'm just not used to living with someone, that's all. Was there something you were looking for here?'


Now she shook her head, wide eyed. ‘No, I just made some herbal tea, which Daniel got for me yesterday.'

She was standing by the solid-wood island, sipping her tea. There was feet separating them and yet Sebastian could feel sweat breaking out on his brow, which got worse when she asked politely, ‘Did you have a nice dinner last night?'

No! Sebastian wanted to shout, but calmed himself down and said smoothly, ‘Lovely, thank you—pleasant food and pleasant company.'

Now why had he said that when it had been anything but? Feeling seriously disgruntled he left the coffee and muttered something about taking a shower and walked out of the kitchen.

Aneesa watched Sebastian leave, taking his intense force field of energy with him, and sagged back against the counter. She put a hand on her belly and tried to breathe deep to calm her thundering heart. Surely this intense physical reaction every time she saw him couldn't be good for the baby? But he'd smelt so good, of musky sweat and pure man. He'd obviously been out jogging, dressed in sweats like her and a T- shirt which had been all but welded to his damp chest.

If it hadn't been for Daniel distracting her yesterday evening and making her feel thoroughly at home, she was afraid she would have let Sebastian see exactly how affected she'd been by watching him go out for the evening, dressed in a black suit and crisp white shirt. His subtle aftershave had told her, with a woman's intuition, that he'd most definitely been going on a date.

And yet what could she say or do? He patently didn't welcome her presence, baby or no baby. He had a life; he must have lovers. He'd been very clear that night in Mumbai that he didn't want anything more to do with her. And yet here she was.

A wave of loneliness and homesickness washed over her

and she escaped into her bedroom before Sebastian could come back and see her distress.

After pacing impatiently in the main drawing room of


the apartment for about an hour, Sebastian looked at his watch for the umpteenth time. Where was she? He needed to speak to her before he went out to work but there was no sign of her.

Finally he went to her room and knocked lightly on her door. Hearing nothing he went in and saw her sitting cross- legged in the middle of the room, eyes closed, back straight and palms facing up resting on her knees. She looked so serene and peaceful that Sebastian tried to creep back out again but just then her eyes opened. In a second she'd got to her feet in one graceful motion. ‘Was there something …?

‘Just what do you expect to happen here?' The words came out baldly and Sebastian winced inwardly. He seemed to lose any ability to be suave and smooth around this woman.

She frowned. ‘What do you mean?'

He gritted his jaw. ‘What I mean is that I hope you haven't come here with some notion that we can happily play house just because we have a baby coming. Because that scenario is not something I am interested in.'

Anger bubbled within Aneesa, and something more emotional that she valiantly tried to keep down. A dark flush rose into her pale cheeks; her eyes flashed. ‘You're afraid that I've got some plan up my sleeve to get you to marry me and make an honest woman of me?'

Sebastian threw out a hand. ‘How would I know? Isn't that what every woman wants?'