Free The Petrelli Heir by Kim Lawrence Page A

back the anger and glancing over her shoulder to make sure their conversation wasn’t being overheard.
    ‘For the record, no, I did
not
plan to get pregnant. And if I had been looking for a perfect genetic specimen to father my child I would not,’ she gritted through clenched teeth, ‘have chosen one who thinks he’s God’s gift … an arrogant, humourless, bossy idiot who—’
    ‘You have forgotten the limp,’ he drawled, cutting off her diatribe.
    Izzy threw up her hands in angry exasperation. ‘I don’t give a damn about your limp.’ And neither did any woman she had seen today, she thought, recalling the lustful female stares that seemed to follow his progress. ‘But I wouldn’t deliberately lumber my kid with a dad as stupid as you are. I always thought that when I had a child it would be with someone who—’
    She took a deep breath and, aware of the curious glances their impassioned exchange was receiving, she lowered her voice to a husky murmur and added, ‘I didn’t plan anything. I was …’ Her eyes fell. ‘I don’t normally …’
    ‘Jump into bed with a total stranger?’
    The interjection brought a flush of shamed anger to her cheeks. ‘I really don’t think you’re in any position to occupy the moral high ground … or is it different for men?’ she snipped back sarcastically.
    His face darkened with annoyance. ‘This is not about blame.’
    She elevated a delicate brow. ‘Just as well, because from where I’m standing you don’t come off very white-knight-on-a-charger in all this.’
    Roman watched her walk away, the child in her arms, her narrow back straight and proud. She was right: he was in no position to throw stones; his behaviour had been totally indefensible. So he had genuinely believed that there was no chance of him getting her pregnant, but, unwanted pregnancies aside, unprotected sex with a stranger made him criminally stupid.
    It made him the man he had always despised. Someone so selfish he was unable to think about anything beyond his own pleasure.

CHAPTER FIVE
    F OR the sake of her sanity, when Izzy left the reception she blocked everything out and tried to think of nothing beyond a quiet night at home with Lily. She had to try and regroup and get her head back together. Tomorrow would be time enough to worry about what she was going to say to Roman Petrelli.
    That was the plan, but as with most best laid plans it went sadly awry.
    Izzy’s went wrong in a major way the moment she opened the door of her cottage and found Michelle and her father standing there.
    ‘I had to tell him,’ Michelle said.
    Izzy sighed. ‘Of course.’
    It was after midnight before they left and at least by the time they had left her father was no longer planning to confront Roman Petrelli.
    Izzy was touched that he wanted to protect her but she struggled with the idea of anyone fighting her battles for her, having always been taught not to rely on anyone but herself.
    On the other hand she had been grateful for the help her father had provided when Lily had been born. It hadbeen Michael who had suggested she stay permanently in Cumbria with them—after all they were her family.
    Izzy had been touched by the offer, but she could think of no surer way to destroy the delicate new relationship she had found with her new family than imposing herself on them with her new baby. Besides, Izzy needed her own space too.
    It had been Michelle who had come up with the compromise that they could all live with, and Izzy had moved into the cottage on the edge of the village a mile or so from the family farmhouse where her half-brother and -sister had spent their childhoods.
    It was hard sometimes not to contrast their lives with her own. Her mother had taught her some valuable things like independence and self-reliance, but had not taught her about casual physical demonstrations of affection or the teasing that went with life in a close-knit family group.
    But despite the acceptance of the family