Isabella turned off the shower and stepped out of the stall. It was ten o'clock at night, and she wanted to get to bed early so she'd be rested and ready when Jed arrived the next day.

Just thinking about it made her stomach knot with fear. She caught her reflection in the mirror and pulled her robe around her slender body. How much longer would she stay this slender? She had to tell her boyfriend she was pregnant.

Jed Salvatore was a successful thirty-five-year-old financier who also wielded the quiet power behind the Salvatore Group. They had met a year ago when she was working as a waitress at a well-known restaurant. Jed had come in for lunch with a group of investors, and the moment he walked through the door his eyes landed on the girl behind the bar. He stood there watching her — her wavy blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders, her body exquisite. The black skirt and white blouse she wore did nothing to hide her figure, and Jed smiled as he watched her cross the marble floor in her heels, her legs the kind that could make any man's imagination run wild.

He followed her with his eyes until she reached a table and turned to smile at the next customer. That smile stopped the breath in his throat. He wasn't seeing anyone at the time, and he decided then and there that this girl would be his.

Jed took his seat and requested that she be the one to serve him — and naturally, no one contradicted Jed Salvatore. Isabella approached the table because she'd been asked to cover it. When she got close and smiled at him politely, he noticed she was even more beautiful up close. An oval face, fair skin, vivid blue eyes, and lips that were frankly sensual.

Jed smiled back, and when he held her gaze she blushed.

He asked her to have dinner with him that evening. Surprisingly, she turned him down, saying she wasn't allowed to go out with customers. She needed that job badly — it was covering her expenses while she studied History at university. He left his card and mentioned he could offer her something better.

From behind the bar, Isabella watched him. He was perfect: dark hair, brown eyes, flawless lips, a strong jaw. He was every woman's dream.

Isabella came back to the present, grabbed a towel, bent forward, and started drying her hair.

"Ah!" She cried out as someone grabbed her by the shoulder. "Jed — is that you?" she exclaimed.

"I hope so. Who else were you expecting in your bathroom?" He laughed.

"Jed, I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow. I've missed you so much," Isabella said, and curled into his arms.

He pulled her against him and walked her to the bedroom. "Do you want something to drink? You just got back from your trip."

"I couldn't spend another day away from you. The only thing I want is you." He laid her back on the bed and stretched out beside her.

Thrilled by the desire he showed for her, Isabella began to caress him and kissed him with abandon.

He made love to her slowly, with a passion that left no inch of her untouched, carrying her all the way to the edge.

Hours later, lying in his arms, she wondered whether their son would look like Jed. She had always dreamed of being married before getting pregnant. He'd mentioned he had a surprise for her — could it be a ring?

Jed got up and went to get Isabella's surprise.

"Sit down. This is for your graduation," he said, handing her a box. She opened it. Inside lay a diamond necklace.

"Thank you, Jed, it's beautiful," she said, fighting to keep the disappointment off her face. In the year they'd been together he was always giving her things.

The next morning over breakfast, Isabella began to feel ill — the nausea that hit her every morning without fail.

She ran to the bathroom while Jed called after her asking what was wrong. When she came back out, he studied her with an expression that mixed concern with tenderness. She smiled, walked up to him, and placed her hand on her stomach.

"I'm pregnant," she confessed.

Pregnant? How could Isabella possibly be pregnant? he thought.

He'd taken every precaution, and yet— He was furious. Isabella had betrayed him.

"Jed, calm down. I'm fine. I understand it's a shock."

"Of course you think you're fine — you've got a diamond necklace and a baby on the way. And I suppose now you'll tell me it's mine?"

"Of course it's yours! You know you're the only man I've ever been with. We're a couple. I love you, and I thought you loved me."

"I don't love anyone. And I'm not going to be saddled with someone else's child. I never expected my lover to get pregnant."

"I'm not your lover."

"You were supposed to be on the pill. What happened?"

"That night I went with you to Rome for work, I forgot to take it with me. It was an accident."

Jed laughed. "Right. The one time I invite you along and you forget the pill. You're a very wicked woman." He picked up his briefcase. "I have a meeting I can't postpone. We'll talk later." He walked out of the apartment and slammed the door.

Isabella sat down on the edge of the bed, staring into nothing. Lover. Wicked. Someone else's child. How could he think that of her after a year of her life? After everything they'd shared?

She got herself ready for work — the job Jed had arranged for her, though today would be her last day, since she'd graduated and was hoping to go into teaching.

Jed arrived at his office in a foul mood. He would never forgive Isabella for this betrayal. Why had she done it? He slammed his fist on the desk.

"Damn it," he muttered. He picked up the phone and called his assistant. "Marixa, bring me some painkillers and cancel my meetings. I'm not available to anyone today."

"Right away, Mr. Salvatore."

Isabella showed up at Jed's offices. Predictably, Marixa informed her that Mr. Salvatore was unavailable and couldn't see her. But Isabella had no intention of waiting any longer, and she pushed her way inside.

"Mr. Salvatore, I'm sorry! I told her you couldn't receive her — I'll call security."

"Leave it, Marixa. I'll handle it." He looked at Isabella sharply. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I'm not your lover. I thought you were my boyfriend. I thought—"

He cut her off. "Enough. You're not so innocent. I've given you a car, jewelry, clothes — you could have had anything you wanted except a ring. I never offered you marriage. You're too vicious for your own good."

"Vicious? How can you say that to me?"

"If you thought you could trap me with an unwanted child, you should have thought it through more carefully. But don't worry — I'll call Roberto. He's an excellent doctor, a very good friend of mine, and completely discreet. He'll take care of the pregnancy. I'll cover the cost. Now go. I don't have time for this."

Isabella went home feeling wretched. Now everything was making sense — the fact that he'd never introduced her to his family or his friends, the expensive gifts he kept giving her. And what would she do now? He didn't want a child. He thought she was trying to trap him. And this Roberto — what did that mean exactly? Did he want her to have an abortion?

She was seeing Jed for what he truly was now: a womanizer. Cold. Ruthless. She made a decision: she would leave the apartment and end things with Jed.

She would not sacrifice her child. She stood up and moved toward the bedroom, catching her foot on the edge of the rug.

Jed Salvatore ended the video conference he'd been holding with someone on the other side of the Pacific. It had gone well. It was eight o'clock in the evening, and he was finally done with work.

He ran a hand through his hair and thought of Isabella. He'd managed not to think about her for a couple of hours, but he was out of excuses now.

Marixa, his secretary, stepped into the office.

"Do you need anything else from me?"

"No, you can go," he said.

"You look tired, Jed. Let me bring you a whisky and give you a massage — you'll be able to relax."

"The whisky, yes. The massage, no." He looked at his secretary, surprised she'd offered. He must look terrible.

Marixa was a very attractive brunette and an exceptionally efficient worker. He considered himself lucky to have her as a secretary — she never made mistakes. She would never have gotten herself pregnant.

Isabella was much younger, twenty-one, and he'd been her first. Maybe the pregnancy really had been an accident.

"Here's your whisky." Marixa set the glass on the desk and placed the bottle beside it. Then she moved closer and rested her hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you don't want that massage?"

"I'm sure, Marixa. Go home. I'll be fine."

"All right." She leaned down and murmured in his ear, "Don't forget we're leaving for Paris tomorrow — try to get some rest."

She's just worried about me, he thought as she left the office. Then he remembered how little he'd worried about Isabella that morning.

He picked up the glass and took a long swallow.

When had he become such a cynical, hardheaded bastard?

He'd never wanted to get married, but he'd always known that someday he'd have a child — an heir for his fortune. He'd had a happy childhood, a beautiful family, parents who loved him and two sisters who adored him.

At least, it had been that way until his mother died fifteen years ago, when he was twenty. Things with his father had grown rocky after that, once Victorino remarried — a much younger woman, a social climber, a cheap little schemer who flirted openly with Jed every time he went to visit.

He poured another glass. He didn't trust women — with the exception of his mother and his sisters. He'd never thought about getting married. But he also knew that no child of his would ever be a bastard.

Isabella. His beautiful, sexy Isabella. Would marrying her really be so terrible? They'd been together a year. When he'd met her in that restaurant, he'd pursued her for a month before she agreed to go out with him, then waited another month before taking her to bed — and to his surprise, she'd been a virgin. They got along well, in every way, right up until that morning when she'd told him she was pregnant. She was his most responsive lover, and as far as he knew she had never been unfaithful. The thought of her with anyone else disgusted him.

He'd made up his mind. If everything went the way he intended, he would make Isabella an honest woman.