BY SATURDAY evening Aneesa was worn out. She'd spent the day with Sebastian and his assistant exhaustively going through the hospitals and prenatal doctor recommendations, before finally making some choices. And while for her it was hammering the reality of her pregnancy home more and more, if anything it seemed to make Sebastian retreat further and further.

Late this afternoon he'd absented himself from discussions and gone to his study. When Aneesa had been letting his pleasant middle-aged assistant out of the apartment, the PA turned to Aneesa and confided, ‘I'm very happy for you both … I've always hoped that Sebastian would—'


The older woman had stopped abruptly and blushed and then said awkwardly, ‘I'm sure you don't need to hear my ramblings. Goodbye, dear.'

And she was gone, leaving Aneesa wondering what on earth she'd been about to say. She whirled around with a guilty flush on her face as if she'd been caught out when Sebastian said from behind her, ‘I thought we'd stay in to eat tonight.

Frankly, I'm bushed.'


Aneesa looked at him carefully. He did look tired and her heart clenched. She nodded. ‘That's fine with me. I'm tired too.'

He nodded. ‘Good. Daniel will have dinner ready in about an hour if you want to take a rest beforehand.'


So solicitous, so polite. The perfect host. And the father of her baby even if he didn't want to deal with it. Aneesa let out a breath when she watched Sebastian walk back into his study, and she retreated to her room where she lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling.

She wondered churlishly if Sebastian was letting a woman down tonight. If he'd had to cancel a date with the woman he'd seen the other night? Acrid emotion scared her


with its intensity and she turned over and struggled to take a nap, eventually giving up with a deep sigh and having a shower instead.

She just couldn't relax knowing Sebastian was close by.

After her shower she got dressed in loose harem pants and a sleeveless vest, and left her hair down. When she went into the dining room where Daniel was just serving the starter, Sebastian stood and Aneesa felt inordinately shy. He'd obviously showered too, and his hair was wet. He was dressed in fresh jeans and a T-shirt. And looked handsome enough to make her step falter.

She cursed herself as she sat down; she was no better than a groupie with a crush.

Sebastian was grateful for Daniel's solid presence when Aneesa had appeared in the dining room. Or else he wasn't sure if he would have been able to restrain himself from smashing the heavy oak table aside and picking her up like some kind of caveman to bring back to his bedroom, to ravish her.

She was temptation incarnate. All at once deliciously

curvy yet slender, silky olive skin and a tantalising glimpse of shadowy cleavage under her flimsy top. Her loose trousers merely hinted at the length of supple leg underneath and it didn't take much for him to remember how they'd felt wrapped around his back, squeezing tighter and tighter … like the muscles of her—

‘Wine?'

Sebastian looked wildly at Daniel for a moment, acutely aware of Aneesa sitting down beside him, her scent on the air. He finally got out a strangled, ‘Yes, red, please.' And managed to sit down again too.

Aneesa smiled widely at Daniel, hoping that her inner turmoil wasn't evident on her face. ‘No wine for me, thanks. I'll just have water.'

And then they were alone. Aneesa looked anywhere but at Sebastian, and the tension mounted, until suddenly, to her utter horror and chagrin, she heard herself say with an edge to


her voice, ‘I hope I'm not keeping you from any commitments tonight?'

Sebastian was to her left at the head of the table, one leg touched off hers, making her blush and move her own away from the contact.

‘No.' He drawled, ‘No … commitments. I'm all yours.' She looked at him abruptly—was he flirting with her?

But even as her heart started to thump perilously, she saw that he looked far from flirtatious, more coolly stern. She let out a breath and struggled for equilibrium. ‘That's good. I'd hate for you to feel like you had to entertain me.'

Sebastian had to curb his impulse to tell her exactly what he did want and at that moment Daniel returned with drinks. The thought that she might possibly be concerned about him seeing other people sent a rush of something far too disturbing to analyse through him. And when she was so close like this, it was hard to try and recall why he shouldn't be wanting her.

Aneesa was relieved to have something else to focus on and concentrated on her starter and main course as if it was the most interesting thing she'd ever encountered. Right at that moment she couldn't see herself sticking it out living in Sebastian's apartment for longer than another day, never mind a couple of months.

‘So, how did you end up in Bollywood movies?'

His question took her aback and she looked at him to see that he was relaxed in his chair, watching her. Suddenly her appetite fled and she put down her knife and fork.

She took a sip of water, mouth instantly dry. She'd answered this question a million times, what was wrong with her? She just hated that she'd been so duped by such a shallow world for so long….

‘I was in a shopping mall with school friends when I was seventeen. We were in our final year and a scout from a model agency spotted me.' She shrugged, feeling embarrassed. ‘The next thing I knew, I was being entered for Miss India and I won

… and after that the movie offers came flooding in.'


Sebastian's eyes were narrowed on her. ‘You sound like you regret it.'

She shrugged again, avoiding his eye, fingers pleating the heavy linen napkin. ‘I was young and spoilt. I got seduced very easily into a world that's very false.' Her mouth twisted. ‘Unfortunately for a long time I believed everything people were saying to me, believed in a myth …'

‘Believed that your fiancé loved you.'

Aneesa sucked in a breath and looked up into Sebastian's glittering blue gaze. He sounded so … sympathetic. She nodded. ‘Yes, that too. But it was my own fault. If I hadn't become so blinded and self-absorbed I would have spotted him a mile away.'

Sebastian grimaced. ‘If only it were that easy. Hindsight is a great thing.'

Aneesa half smiled and saw Sebastian's gaze drop to her mouth, making it tingle. She blushed again.

His gaze lifted. ‘So … do you regret it? Do you miss it?'

Aneesa half shrugged and shook her head at the same time. ‘I regret my own immaturity, but no, I don't miss it, and that's been a surprise. I've realised that it  wasn't  really  me after all.'

She quirked a smile. ‘Before I got so entranced by my own reflection I actually wanted to study medicine and had all the grade A's to back it up.' Her smile faded. ‘And yet my parents stood by me and let me change course. And I repaid them by humiliating them in public in front of everyone they know.'

To her surprise Sebastian leaned forward and took the hand that was compulsively pleating the napkin. His hand was warm on hers, making tingles shoot up her arm, to her breasts where she could feel her nipples stiffen into points.

‘You can't beat yourself up forever. You said yourself that you've paid them back.'

She was more than moved by the glimpse of the man she'd met that first night and terrified that he would see something of her reaction. She pulled her hand free. ‘Perhaps


you're right.'

She didn't see the way his jaw clenched. And to her utter relief Daniel came in at that moment and brought tea and coffee, and cleared away the dinner plates. Sebastian served them both and then indicated that they should take their drinks into the living room.

Aneesa curled up on a big chair far from the couch where Sebastian was once again sprawled out, his long powerful body attracting her eyes more than she could resist. He'd flicked a remote and the low soothing tones of jazz flooded the room from discreet speakers. To try and distract herself from the seductive music she asked, ‘So what about you? How did you end up in the hotel business?'

He cast her a glance, clearly reluctant to divulge anything. Aneesa was just regarding him steadily.

Sebastian felt a constriction in his chest. He always did, whenever anyone wanted to probe into his life, and yet … he'd just asked Aneesa about her life and was still reeling slightly from the depths she'd hidden from him, and the world.

He ran a hand through his short hair, the gesture unconscious. ‘I remember being taken to a hotel with my brothers and sister for one of our birthdays when I was much smaller. It was one of the best hotels in London and I'd never seen anything like it.'

He wasn't about to reveal to Aneesa how it had made an impact on him because it had been so ordered and sleek. A world away from their chaotic home life in rambling Wolfe Manor, which had been too huge to instil any kind of order. He also wasn't going to reveal how his father had got blind drunk and the staff had discreetly whisked him away to a suite until he'd slept the excess off. And how that was the first time Sebastian had ever seen anyone make his father and his embarrassing behaviour disappear.

On some level since then, he'd wanted to have that control, and as he'd grown older, he'd wanted to own that control. Ironically he'd never felt in less control right now.

Instead he just said to Aneesa, ‘I went to college and


studied business and economics. Once I inherited my share of my father's money, I invested it in a hotel in London which was just a shell of a dilapidated Georgian building. It's right beside an old church, so I saw the potential for it becoming a wedding venue as well as being a perfect base for a hotel. I had an excellent architectural design team, and once that one had taken off, the rest followed all around the world.'