His consequences

PROLOGUE

Eight months ago... Efe Johnson ENTERED the hospital with determined steps. It was coming up to three weeks. They had to let her see him. Especially now that she knew. Not just suspected but knew she was pregnant. Before this,Xavier Tancredi family had only seen her as his personal assistant. Devoted, absolutely. His entire family appreciated her dedication. They couldn’t have transitioned the running of the multinational engineering firm back into his father’s capable hands without her. She’d been invaluable in those first difficult days after the crash. But she was only his PA and he’d been unconscious, with visitors limited to his immediate family. Plus his fiancée, of course. How, exactly, did an unconscious man get engaged? That’s what Efe wanted to know. Aside from crossing paths at a few family events,Xavier hadn’t even been seeing Bianca. The agreement between the families to eventually merge assets via marriage had been an expectation, not a written contract or even an emotional one. Xavier’s mother was the one who’d been pressing to formalize the engagement.Xavier had confided his reluctance to follow through with it to Efe that last day. Obviously his family didn’t know Xavier had left Efe the evening of the crash to inform Bianca the marriage wouldn’t happen. He’d seen Bianca. The woman had admitted to authorities that he’d been at her house and left again, so why was she acting like the marriage was on? Like plans had advanced from “maybe” to “absolutely”? How had she gone from family friend to fiancée in the sliver of time that Xavier had spent at the bottom of a cliff in a bashed-up car? The question tortured Efe every moment of every day while she waited for Xavier to wake up and explain himself. He’d stayed in a coma for so long, however, she’d begun to anticipate that if she did turn up pregnant, this baby might be a comfort to his family. Then he had awoken and she knew he would explain that she was meant to be at his side, not Bianca . Except that didn’t happen. His father had dropped by the office to explain that Xavier had lost a week’s worth of memories prior to the crash. He didn’t recall the ribbon cutting on the bridge in London and was quite anxious to oversee it, Señor Tancredi had added with one of his distracted frowns, the one that suggested he was exasperated by humans and their mortal frailties. Efe had stared, speechless,the Duke.Xavier private celebration of the paris bridge with her once they’d returned to Spain had given way to a heart-to-heart and eventually their life-changing body-to-body connection. Xavier remembered nothing of that? How did one process such news? All she’d felt was a void inside her. Like their magical afternoon hadn’t happened. Somehow she had swallowed back a dry lump and asked if she could see him. “Not necessary,” his father had told her. It really was.Efe wouldn’t believe Xavier loss of memory until he’d told her himself, especially now that the evidence of their lovemaking was confirmed by a tiny pink stripe on a wand. Surely if he saw her, he would remember? As the doors of the private hospital slid closed behind her, her mouth was arid, her skin numb, her limbs electrified by three weeks of sustained tension. Rough treatment in her teens had taught her how to keep a mask of confident indifference on her face , however. And working with Xavier had granted her certain entitlements these past three years. She approached the doors to the interior as though she had every right to enter. “ Madam ?” a clerk at the lobby desk called, halting her as efficiently as the electronically sealed doors. She wore a smart, modern uniform and was well foiled by the clean, peach and plum tones of the lobby. “Good day,” Efe said, . She added a respectful “Sister,” then said. Efe Johnson for Xavier Tancredi,” punctuated with her I-screen-visitors-too smile. We’re practically twins. The Sister tapped keys on her computer, then smiled benignly. “I don’t have your name on the list.” “I’m sure if you call, he’ll confirm he wants to see me,” Efe assured her. As the Sister picked up her phone to dial, the entrance doors swished open and Bianca entered. Bianca Amedeo, to be precise,. She definitely looked rich enough to have more names than she could use. Her tall, slender silhouette was practically haloed in designer labels with imaginary arrows pointing to her purse and earrings, lipstick and strappy heels. Her sundress was a fluttery cornflower blue with white polka dots, her sleek black hair a stunning frame for her elegant bone structure, lightly golden skin and bottomless eyes.
Efe hadn’t been able to fully cover the dark circles under her eyes and wore her work clothes—a gray pencil skirt with a matching vest over a white top. Given the worry she’d been enduring, along with a hint of morning sickness, her complexion was probably greener than her eyes. Xavier fiancée” did a small double take, then sauntered toward Efe. Efe hated her. Not because she was claiming to be engaged to Xavier , but because everything about her struck Efe as fake and calculating. Efe knew how to keep her feelings to herself, however, so she worked up the warm smile she’d perfected for Xavier many, many conquests. And she wouldn’t even think of those women right now. She was not one of a crowd. She wasn’t. Ignoring the weight of insecurity that descended on her, she moved forward to meet Bianca. “Miss Johnson. Thank goodness. I’ll go up with you to see Xavier .” “Did he call you?” Bianca asked with mild surprise and what might have been a flicker of uneasiness in her lashes. Efe was nothing if not honest, but she wasn’t above small prevarications when the stakes were this high. “His father said he was anxious to catch up on work, so...” Obviously he needs me, she intimated. Bianca took a small breath and manufactured a tight smile, like she was preparing for a difficult conversation. Sliding her gaze to the Sister, she asked, “May we speak privately...? Perfect,” she murmured as they were pointed to a small lounge off the lobby. The room was bright, but looked onto the street. Eggplant-colored cushioned benches lined the walls and a television on low volume hung in the corner. The space was no doubt utilized by drivers and other personnel who were required to wait for their employers, people not exalted enough to ascend to the patients’ rooms. Efe choked back a feeling of lowered circumstances that hadn’t sat so jagged and bitter in the back of her throat since her father’s death had drastically changed her mother’s situation in their Irish village. Controlling a wave of panic,Efe conjured an expression of mild interest while Bianca took great care closing the door, trapping them in the fishbowl. “You understand that he’s lost a piece of his memory,”Bianca said in what Efe imagined was supposed to be a break-it-to-her-gently tone. “I’ve worked with him for almost three years. He hasn’t forgotten that, has he?” “No, of course not,”Bianca said smoothly. “But he’s not up to working. His doctor suggests he put that off for a few months. If you have a concern at the office, you should take it up with Berardi .” Bianca didn’t stoop to titles. She was on a first-name basic with Xavier’s father, as her casual tone demonstrated. Even when the titles were the highest in the land. Efe swallowed. “He’s more than my employer. When you work that closely with someone, you care about his well-being. I’d like him to know we’re all wishing him well.” If her firm tone said, “Shut up and let me through the doors,” she couldn’t help it. Three weeks without Xavier distantly amused mouth, framed by sculpted stubble, was an eternity. Three weeks without aqua eyes that always met hers, never strayed below her collar, yet still conveyed masculine admiration, had left her dying of thirst. “Efe.Bianca lowered to perch on the edge of a bench. Oh, how grotesquely patronizing she was as she nodded at a spot opposite. Efe bit back what she wanted to say—don’t call me that. If she had to say “Señorita Amedeo,” she expected to be called Ms Johnson in return. “I’d rather stand,”Efe said. Bianca lowered her gaze, suggesting an ability to hold on to her dignity even when faced with impertinence. Forcing down the sort of curse that never crossed her lips,Efe set her bottom on the corner of a cushion. “Yes?” she prompted Bianca. “I understand why you feel so concerned. Why you think there’s some sort of familiarity between you.” Her dark eyes came up and they were tar-like, sucking Efe forward into suffocating blackness. “He felt very guilty when he came to see me that night.” Don’t betray a thing, her gut told her, but she licked her lips and asked, “Did he?” in a raspy whisper. Xavier might not have been in love with Bianca, but he was a man of honor. “I shouldn’t be doing this,” he’d said, right before they’d gone past the point of no return. He’d left her while she slept, leaving a text on her phone. Gone to see Bianca. It had stung to wake alone, but after everything they’d talked about leading up to falling into bed—or rather, falling onto his office sofa—Efe had been convinced he’d left to cut things off with Bianca. Surely that’s what he had done. Surely. But then, here was Bianca claiming they were engaged... “I haven’t wanted to bring this up. With anyone,” Bianca said firmly. “What is the use in smudging reputations or pointing fingers when faced with much more serious concerns? Especially when he assured me that he was simply sowing his final oats.” Her lip curled in a reflection of distaste. “What?” That’s what he had called her? Oats? The persistent ache in Efe’s chest, the one that had been seeded by his leaving her and going to Bianca in the first place, expanded with a creeping burn. “That wasn’t—” “You needn’t deny it,” Bianca said with a muted smile. “I appreciate your trying to spare my feelings.” Did Bianca have feelings? As far as Efe could see, Bianca’s ego had caught a brush of dust. Only mild annoyance tainted her expression. No genuine hurt. Nevertheless, she gave a little nod of determination that Efe read as being seen as an unwelcome bug in the house. Something to be squashed and swept out. “I had hoped we could both be spared this conversation, but... He said you were planning to resign when we marry. That’s right, isn’t it?” Efe searched Bianca’s dark eyes, trying to find the trick because she was sure there was one in the question. “You told him you don’t care for me,”Bianca explained, her smile now philosophical. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” “I didn’t say it like that,” Efe blurted. It struck her as bizarre that, for some reason, she found herself trying to cushion the impact to Bianca’s feelings, trying to salvage a relationship she didn’t care about, but it was ingrained in her not to upset the women in Xavier ’s life. She was glad she was sitting because she felt very off balance. She had told Xavier that it was one thing to field calls from last night’s airline hostess or a model he took on vacation. It was something entirely different to stand between a wife and her husband. A potential fiancée in this case, but she’d seen the writing on the wall. Bianca was gracious and elegant, but completely unafraid to pull rank. While Efe had grown fond of being the most important woman in Xavier ’s life. He had told Bianca she had said she didn’t like her? That was really unnerving. “However you said it, once he realized you would be leaving, he did what he does. Didn’t he?” Bianca said with a condescending tuck of her chin. “What do you mean?” Efe asked, but one glance at Bianca’s pitying smile told her exactly what she meant. “It wasn’t like that,”Efe muttered, heart skidding through its own roadside barrier to plummet down an embankment. She had meant more to him than a notch on his bedpost, hadn’t she? She was an honest person, especially with herself. She hadn’t been delusional about his feelings toward her. Had she? But had she really thought they were going to marry and live happily ever after? Their lovemaking had been impetuous, but somewhat inevitable. She had given in to yearnings that had gripped her from the first. But had she really imagined it was the beginning of something serious? Of a life with him? Deep in her heart of hearts, she knew she wasn’t the kind of woman a man like Xavier married. Facing that made her squirm inwardly, putting her right back in that mind-set of being small and worthless again. She had thought they were friends, though! That he really cared for her. “You’re legendary among his inner circle, you know,” Bianca said. “The PA who held out and therefore held her job for three whole years.” Like that was a joke. It was a deep mark of pride for her, but Efe found herself tightening her lips, not mollified in the least that gossip abounded about her even when there was no shame attached to how she was conducting herself. She hated being talked about. “To be honest, I would have trusted you after we were married,” Bianca said with a lofty elevation of her head. “You could have had a successful career for years to come. But of course we can’t go backward now. I’m very sorry it’s come to this.” Liar, Efe thought. Then, in a panic, wondered, Come to what? “He was very remorseful. Sorry he’d done it when we were so close to announcing things. Sorry, I think, that he’d made you into a conquest when he had had so much respect for you before.” His respect was gone? Efe’s heart stopped, ears ringing so loudly, she barely heard the rest of what Bianca was saying. She had a terrible feeling her mouth was hanging open. She was really nauseous now. Bile burned the back of her throat. “His ego got the best of him, Efe. You know what he’s like. You were the one that looked about to get away. It’s, well, it’s sad, isn’t it?” She c****d her head. They were friends, discussing the pitiful behavior of an incorrigible rake. “He promised he would be faithful once we were engaged and married, but he wanted me to know because you’d still be working for him.” “I don’t intend to cheat on her,” Xavier had said that day in his office, referring to Bianca. Had he viewed Efe as his last chance to enjoy his freedom? “He wanted to come clean because you work for him,” Bianca continued. “You’re not one of his passing fancies. He rightly felt he had to tell me and I admit I wasn’t prepared to start our engagement with you still in the picture. I insisted he end your employment as soon as possible, not keep you on until we married. I’ll have to live with the fact that I sent him away rather than letting him stay to talk things out. If he hadn’t been in such a rush to secure our engagement, he wouldn’t have been on the road that evening, trying to avoid that stalled truck...” Efe shook her head. No. That was not what had happened. “He and I talked that day,” she said, not willing to accept this without a fight, but she stopped herself. Xavier’s confidences were exactly that. She never, ever repeated the things he told her. “About his doubts? He was a bachelor with cold feet who wanted to persuade you to sleep with him! I wouldn’t give much weight to anything he said under those circumstances.” Cold feet, yes, he’d definitely been suffering that, but there were other things. “The way you talk about your family. Our family is a business. I prefer it, but I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be close like that,” he’d said pensively. His family’s negotiation to merge with the Amedeo family was very big business. Those sorts of deals weren’t dropped willy-nilly just so a man could sleep with his secretary, she knew that, but... But he had asked her to stay. “The kindest thing you could do,” Bianca said, like she was offering step-by-step instructions on how a mistress should conduct herself after discovery by a wife, “would be to leave. I’ll speak to Berardi, ensure you’re written the best possible reference. Given Xavier ’s condition, none of us wants a scandal. He’s facing a long, difficult recovery as it is. You don’t want to set him back, do you? I believe you do care for him.” I’m pregnant, Efe thought as waves of hot and cold humiliation washed over her. Was she really just the one that almost got away? She couldn’t believe it. He’d seemed so real that day. Not the playboy Bianca was referring to, but the man capable of reflecting on his life and deciding who and what he really was. “He doesn’t even remember it, Efe,” Bianca said with soft compassion. “I’m grateful. I plan to forget it as completely as he has. And we will marry,” she added, as if making a resolution that would be engraved into platinum. “We all know what sort of life he leads and what sort of wife he needs.” Efe stopped breathing, recalling that she had confided some of her background to Xavier that day. Had he mentioned any of that to Bianca during their little heart-to-heart? “I won’t claim he doesn’t value your work, but I hope you weren’t thinking he was in love with you?” Efe looked at her nails, manicure neglected in these past stressful weeks, cuticles chewed with anxiety. I’m pregnant, she thought again, but she could just imagine how that would play out: Xavier denying it was even possible, his parents thinking it was a ploy on her part to take advantage of his riches. Paternity tests. Delving into her background to discredit her. She couldn’t do that to her mother. Revealing her pregnancy would create bitterness all around and even if she could prove she was telling the truth, then what? Did she think he would marry her? Claim his child? At best she might see a settlement, but she and her sisters were evidence that even when rich men made babies and appeared to love them, they didn’t always make provisions for them. That was the real source of her shame over her upbringing—that her father had left them with no indication they were as important to him as he’d led them to believe while he was alive. All the denigration in the village combined didn’t equal the rejection she’d felt when it became obvious her father had left them nothing. Not even the ability to hold up their heads. Her mother had maintained that he’d loved them, which had kept her going, but Efe didn’t even have such a declaration of love from Xavier . He could very well have been using her. Ticking a final box. Did she really want to put herself through all of that for a check in the mail once a month that would just make her feel like a w***e? Her mother had managed without support payments and Efe would rather spare herself the humiliation of begging for scraps. “You were planning to resign,” Bianca said again. “Do. Before his father has to hear about this.” Because I’ll tell him, she seemed to threaten. Efe’s eyes burned. “I want to see him,” she said in a thin voice. “Please,Efe. I’ve been far more civil than anyone could expect me to be. Show me you have enough remorse, enough class, not to make this worse.” Class. Ouch. Perhaps Bianca did know where she came from. I hate you, Efe asserted silently as she rose and leveled her chin. Beyond the windows, the sunny brilliance of Valencia was a streaked image of blue sky and concrete gray, chrome and luxury-car black, early summer flowers blooming in a kaleidoscope of colors between. “He has my number,” she said. A tiny snort sounded, letting Efe know Xavier wouldn’t be dialing it on Bianca’s watch. Then she veiled her triumph with good manners, standing and opening the door. Efe didn’t offer her hand, didn’t look for Bianca’s. She was convinced Xavier would reach out to her, though. He had to. She wouldn’t disgrace herself the way her mother had, pleading for favors from the family of her children’s father only to be cast out anyway. If Xavier didn’t remember how and why they’d wound up making love, he’d think she was exactly as Bianca painted her: one more woman who’d fallen under his spell. No, if he called her, she wanted it to be because he missed her. It would be better that way, she assured herself. She wouldn’t be accused of trying to trap him with a baby. She’d know it was about her, not duty or obligation. In the short term, however, that left her with one option: go home to tell her mother she’d made the same mistake she’d grown up with.