Harumi been worried Seungri would try to make love to her in the shower again, but he was as good as his word. They were dressed in record time and Seungri was on the phone to his assistant when a gentle rat-a-tat-tat sounded on the door.

“Mother,” she breathed.

Seungri turned from the phone and gave her a sharp look. He cut the connection abruptly and crossed the room to open the door. Cecelia Wharton Hitome  stood on the other side, looking fragile and quite lovely in her pale pink Moschino suit.

“You must be Alexandra’s mother,” Seungri said as he led Cecelia through the door.

Harumi had to stifle a groan at his slip of the tongue. Her mother’s face pinched and she swung on Harumi, for once forgetting the social niceties.

“So, this is what you do when you’re living high as Alexandra. Have you no sense of decorum at all? You’re in Tokyo now, where you are known as Hitome. What do you think the society will say when they discover you’ve spent the night with some foreigner in his hotel room?” she asked in an outraged voice.

“Think of your sister. The scandal could adversely affect Hunter’s business dealings.”

“I sincerely doubt Hunter’s business associates care one way or the other about the behaviour of Chessie’s pregnant sister, as for the society…I’m not taking out an ad in the paper. Why should anyone back home know?” Or care, she asked herself silently. Her mother lived in such a rarefied milieu, she didn’t know how ninety percent of the world thought and functioned.

“Don’t you forget that you are Wharton lineage,” her mother said as if that should explain it all. “Yet, by the look of this,” she said, waving a newspaper in Harumi’s face, “you have completely forgotten that fact. How could you allow this sort of information to become public knowledge?”

Harumi put her hand out toward Cecelia. “May I see, Mama? The accused has a right to know the charges.”

Cecelia flung the paper toward Harumi with an absolutely surprising lack of restraint. When Harumi saw the headline and pictures, she understood why.

One picture was of her and Seungri leaving the restaurant they’d had lunch in yesterday. The other was of her and Seungri yelling at each other at The Ritz. The headline read, “British Tycoon and Lover Reunite: Does The Tycoon Now Believe the Baby is His?”

With a sense of impending dread, Harumi read the article. She was named as the famous French model Alexandra Kogemi and the quiet living Harumi Hitome. The writer speculated as to the reason for her dual personas and the effect her pregnancy had on Seungri’s scuffed plans to marry Phoebe Kwon.

Seungri’s denial that he was the father was quoted, apparently having been overheard by the enterprising photographer or someone who’d been with him.

The writer went on to say it appeared Seungri now accepted his role as father and ended the article with a pithy comment regarding a possible marriage between them.

Harumi felt sick and she made a mad dash for the bathroom. When she finished retching, Seungri was there with a cold wet wash cloth for her face and a glass of water to rinse . When she was done, he swung her into his arms and carried her back into the main room of the suite. He set her gently on the cream colored sofa.

“I’m going to order some food, all right.”

She couldn’t take it in. She couldn’t even look at her mother, knowing how furious and disappointed in her Cecelia was bound to be. She’d spent years living two lives to protect her mother from embarrassment and possible scandal, only to have it all torn apart with one sleazy newspaper article.

“SeungHyun, they know…Everyone knows about us, about the baby, about Alexandra.”

He laid his finger against her lips. “Shh. All will be well. You must trust me. Now what do you want to eat?”

“Dry toast and maybe a little fruit.”

He shook his head, his expression wry. “That is not sufficient sustenance for you and the baby. I will order your drytoast, fruit and some food besides, I think.”

“Why ask me if you plan to do what you want anyway?” she asked petulantly, glad to focus on something less volatile and damaging than the newspaper article.

He chuckled. “Perhaps because I like to hear your voice?”

Her mother gave a most unladylike snort, reminding both Seungri and Harumi she was there.

Seungri turned to Cecelia. “I understand your concern and will do everything in my power to mitigate it, but I will not allow you to harangue your daughter. She is in too fragile a state right now.”

“How dare you?” her mother demanded.

“Can I order anything for you?” Seungri asked, ignoring her mother’s outraged question.

Apparently realizing when she was faced with a will stronger than her own, Cecelia subsided. She took a seat in one of the armchairs opposite the couch, her expression dour. “Tea might settle my nerves.”

“Then I shall order you some.” He went to the phone to do so, but kept his body toward them as if he were watching her mother to make sure she said nothing to upset Harumi.

His concern felt nice and Harumi had to admit she was glad she wasn’t alone to face her mother’s recriminations. When he finished making the order, Seungri returned to sit next to Harumi on the smallish sofa. He took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly then turned the full force of his charm on her mother.

“Mrs. Hitome, allow me to introduce myself. I am Lee SeungHyun.” His smile would have melted stone. He stood and leaned toward Cecelia, extending his hand. “It is an honor to meet the mother of the woman I intend to marry.”

Harumi in air so fast she choked on it while her mother’s “just on a lemon” look turned to calculated charm in the space of a single heartbeat.

Cecelia patted her perfectly coiffed ash-blond hair and smiled at Seungri.“Please, you must call me Cecelia. Marriage will be just the thing to alleviate the scandal. I’m so glad you’d already thought of it. Olivia been so impetuous these past six years and I declare the last three months have been the worst.”

“Olivia?” Seungri said with a confused face while looking at her.

“Olivia is my English name”. She said before turn her face to her mother “I haven’t agreed to marry him.” She gritted her teeth at her mother’s digs.

Cecilia dismissed Harumi’s words with a wave of her hand. “Of course you will, dear. Now let’s start making plans. It will have to be a quiet affair if there’s any hope of avoiding more scandal.”

Harumi hadn’t told her mother anything about Seungri, including the details of their breakup. But she doubted it would have made any difference in the older woman’s current outlook. In Cecelia’s mind, babies came after marriage. Therefore, to preserve appearances, Harumi had to be married.

“This isn’t the Middle Ages, mother. You cannot give my hand in marriage to a man without my permission.” She turned her head to meet Seungri’s eyes.

“And you can’t take it.”

“Olivia, is that reporter correct? Is this man the father of your child?”

Harumi’s vocal chords froze. An affirmative answer would be her downfall with her mother.

“Yes,” Seungri said when Harumi refused to.

“Then there can be no question that you will marry him.”

“On the contrary.”

Harumi didn’t like the feeling of pressure emanating from both her mother and Seungri.

“I’m perfectly capable of having this baby alone. If that upsets you, I’m sorry.” She was proud of her little speech until her mother’s eyes filled with tears.

“Wasn’t six years spent worried someone would discover my daughter’s lifestyle enough a cross to bear? Now everyone knows.” She sniffed and Harumi felt a tug on her own emotions even though she suspected the tears were a tool as well used as her mother.

“Now you balk at making things right. Think of the baby,” was Cecelia last emotive appeal.

“You say lifestyle like my being a model was the same as selling my favors to the highest bidder.” Harumi was more comfortable on the familiar ground of arguing her career choice rather than her current predicament.

Her mother shuddered. “How can you say such a thing? To even imply…”

Clearly words failed her and two tears spilled over to trail down her powdered cheeks. Harumi felt the familiar sense of failure well up in her. “I’m sorry, mother. I shouldn’t have said it.”

Her mother dabbed at her eyes with a perfectly white, lace trimmed handkerchief and simply shook her head in mute disapproval. Knowing there would be nothing accomplished by sticking with the current subject, Harumi asked, “What are you doing here, mother?”

The paper with the damaging story had only come out that morning, not enough time for her mother to have made the trip unless she had already planned it.

Her mother sniffed and turned appealing eyes to Seungri. “I’d come to try and talk some sense into Olivia, to mend fences before Christmas. A family should spend the holidays together, don’t you think? But she’s been so stubborn about her unfortunate circumstance, refusing to do anything practical to diminish the scandal. And here she is again, refusing to marry you. Is it any wonder I’m almost ill with my worries?”

“I do not consider the conception of my child an unfortunate circumstance,” Seungri replied in freezing tones.

“I also fail to see why the fact your daughter modelled under the name of Alexandra is such a tragedy for you. From what she has said, her work supported both you and your younger daughter for several years.”

My, my. When Seungri decided to defend someone, he came out with both guns blazing.

“But she didn’t just model did she? She was your mistress, a tycoon’s plaything,” Cecelia said, quoting the article.“Now she is pregnant with your child. The Wharton have never had so much scandal attached to their name. What the nuns would think, I have no idea. Why, I’m terrified to send my monthly letter to Mother Superior for fear of letting something slip.”

“Nuns?” Seungri asked.

“The convent, remember?” Harumi whispered.

“Ahh…those nuns.”

Cecelia said, “Mother Superior didn’t approve of the Alexandra debacle any more than I did.”

The unfairness of her mother’s constant disapproval cracked something open in Harumi. “My life as a model was hardly a debacle. SeungHyun’s right. It kept you in designer dresses and Madeleine in school. If I hadn’t created Alexandra Kogemi, how would we all have lived? I can’t see you getting a job.”

Her mother gasped. Someone knocked on the door. It turned out to be room service and Seungri insisted Harumi eat before the conversation was resumed. Her mother drank her tea with an expression of martyred stoicism.

When they were done and Seungri had called to have the dishes removed, he resumed his seat beside Harumi. Putting an arm around her waist, he met her mother’s gaze.

“Let me make a couple of things clear. One, I intend to marry your daughter. And two, it will not be some hole in the corner affair not befitting the bride of a Lee.”

He ignored both her and her mother’s outraged gasps and stood.

“I’m glad you took the time to come by and see us,” he said, taking her mother’s arm and gently lifting her from the chair before he guided her to the door, “but as I’m sure you are aware, Harumi and I have a great deal to do before the wedding. Perhaps we can get together this evening or tomorrow to discuss plans.” He continued talking as if he had both her and her mother’s complete cooperation as he led Cecelia from the suite.