Australia: Bundles of Joy: Impossibly Pregnant / Top-Notch Surgeon, Pregnant Nurse / Caring For His Babies

He stroked her back, his hand burning a scorching trail through the thin fabric of her top. ‘Tell me how.’

‘Well, seeing as we’re in Hepburn Springs, aka spa country, why don’t you start with drawing me a mineral bath, followed by a massage, topped off with a facial?’ She accompanied her words by burying her face in his neck and nipping a light trail to his jaw.

‘I hear the nearby spa facility offers all that and more.’

His hand stilled in its exploration of her back as she planted a row of tiny kisses along his jaw and upwards, till she reached the outer corner of his mouth.

‘Who needs to go to a facility for all that pampering? I can offer you all that and more right here.’

He turned his head ever so slightly, fusing his lips to hers with the lightest touch.

The slow, burning kiss affected her more than any they’d shared before. As he deepened it, and she plastered her body against his, she wondered if this amazing toe-curling experience and its accompanying feelings indicated she’d already fallen for him, despite her vows to do anything but. Or could it just be plain old-fashioned lust?

‘Stop thinking and just feel,’ he murmured, caressing her body with skilled patience till she almost purred.

‘Feeling is scary,’ she said, arching against him despite herself, unable to stop the powerful surge of emotion that she didn’t dare label love that drew her to him.

‘I won’t let you down.’ He pulled away slightly, cupped her cheek and stared into her eyes, and for one endless moment, she almost believed him.

‘Can we slow things down a bit?’ As the words left her mouth, she wanted to take them back.

She’d taken things slow her entire life, pulling away from people, sabotaging relationships with men, not willing to get too close. And where had it got her?

Alone. Unable to sleep at night. And still hoping for the perfect man to walk into her life and rescue her from all the insecurities that plagued her as a result of knowing the one thing she couldn’t be in this lifetime—a mother.

Now the man of her dreams had come along and she was still balking, still holding back. Why? Wasn’t he worth taking a risk for?

And in that moment she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wouldn’t think, analyse or hold back this weekend. She would ‘go for it’ as Tahlia had advised, and damn the consequences.

‘Whatever you want.’ He hugged her tightly and she relaxed, knowing that at least for the next two days everything would be all right.

Despite her fears, she did trust him. He seemed to be more intuitive than most men she’d known, so why shouldn’t she take a chance and see where it led her?

‘The girls were right. You are Mr Perfect.’

He smiled and planted a quick peck on the tip of her nose. ‘In that case, I’d better start living up to my reputation. How about I draw you a mineral bath first and organise that massage you crave?’

‘Mmm … sounds like heaven,’ she said, knowing the only thing she really craved right now was him, but too scared to let go of all her reservations at once.

He released her and she immediately felt cold, bereft. ‘Why don’t you get changed and I’ll call you when the bath’s ready?’

She touched his cheek briefly, hoping he could read the clear signal in her eyes, the one that said I like you. A lot.

‘Thanks for inviting me this weekend. I’m really looking forward to it.’

‘So am I.’ He looked ready to drag her back into his arms and she didn’t move, already recognising it as a haven she could easily get used to. Instead, he gave her a gentle tap on the bottom. ‘Now go.’

She grabbed her bag and headed into the bedroom before the anticipation of sharing more than a kiss with Lachlan sent her sprawling. Or, better yet, breaking one of the priceless antiques in his friend’s holiday home.

Now wasn’t the time for clumsiness. She’d come to the decision that this weekend was about romance and she had every intention to enjoy it.

Lachlan glanced around the bathroom for the final time, hoping Keely would like it. He’d always thought candles and flowers were reserved for a dinner table, but Will, his friend who owned this place—and a regular Romeo with the ladies from all accounts—had insisted the way to make a woman feel special was to use stuff like that in the bathroom.

So he had and, though it wasn’t his thing, he had to admit the room looked pretty amazing. He’d never done anything like this before, but then he’d never liked a woman this much before.

It had taken every ounce of his willpower not to drag Keely into his arms and never let go earlier. The expression in her eyes had almost begged him to, in stark contrast to her whispered words to take it slow.

Despite her sassy attitude she appeared nervous, and the last thing he wanted was to scare her away. She meant too much to him and, though he might not ever take the relationship past the dating stage, who said they couldn’t date for months? Maybe years, if he was lucky?

Marriage wasn’t for everyone, and he knew plenty of people who remained in partnerships without an official piece of paper their entire lives. Hell, he’d counselled more married couples than those who weren’t, and even if he hadn’t seen the devastation the institution could wreak first hand with his parents, he would’ve probably stayed away from it anyway.

However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy a woman’s company in exclusivity and he had every intention of making the most of his time with Keely. If she let him.

He’d glimpsed the vulnerability in her eyes repeatedly, as if she wanted to trust him but couldn’t, and, though they hadn’t discussed it yet, he had a feeling there was more to it than a past boyfriend. She retreated inwards at times, to a place she wouldn’t let anyone else into and, though he respected her privacy, he needed to discover the reason behind her occasional aloofness before it drove a wedge between them.

Thanks to his deceitful mother, he stuck to the old adage ‘honesty is the best policy’ with an almost obsessive intensity and, though it might be too early to pry into Keely’s secrets, he needed to know the cause of that fearful expression in her eyes at times—and who, or what, had put it there—before they got in too deep. As for her strange withdrawal from him when he made the occasional joke, it hadn’t happened for a few days now and he’d lowered his guard, liking her warm, spontaneous side more and more.

A soft knock at the door had him casting one last critical look around the bathroom before he opened it.

‘I thought you might’ve fallen in,’ she said, pulling the robe she wore tighter across her front.

He tried to concentrate on what she’d just said, he really did, but it proved impossible with her standing there in a pale blue cotton robe looking like a cross between a knowing temptress and Orphan Annie.

He’d never known a woman so full of contrasts—one minute the savvy city girl, the next a defenceless waif who looked ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

Luckily, the only trouble she would encounter here would be if he couldn’t control his raging libido. He felt like a teenager around her, a totally foreign feeling. He was usually a man in control, a man who prided himself on being so. Though right now, with Keely standing in front of him looking good enough to eat, he was having a damn hard time remembering it.

However, if she wanted to take things slow, he would, even if he died of lust in the process.

‘No, just making sure everything was ready for you.’ He opened the door wider and gestured her in. ‘Come in.’

She stepped past him and he caught a faint waft of apples. She used a fruity shampoo, and when he’d been away in Sydney he’d found himself consuming apples by the basketful just so he could enjoy the smell of them and remind himself of her. Pathetic, really, but who could blame him? She’d got under his guard so quickly and so thoroughly his head spun.

He watched her mouth open slightly as she looked around, enjoying her reaction. Despite his feeling silly about the candles and flower petals, the appreciative gleam in her eyes vindicated his actions and made him feel ten feet tall.

‘This is incredible,’ she murmured, reaching out to take hold of his hand. ‘No one’s ever done anything like this for me before. Thank you.’

He squeezed her hand before raising it to his lips and kissing it. ‘Take your time in here. Enjoy.’

Keely stared at Lachlan, the muted light cast by countless candles illuminating his face in a sensual glow.

The trouble he’d gone to in here had blown her away: the candles, the scented bubble bath, the rose petals floating on the water’s surface, the fluffy white bath sheet hanging on a towel warmer and the soft jazz playing in the background. The room almost drugged her with its ambience, yet she had to remain focused if she were to thank the man responsible properly.

‘Lachlan, I … I—’

‘Shh … I know.’ He held a finger up to her lips, effectively removing the need for her stuttered thanks. ‘See you when you get out.’

Tears sprang into her eyes as he shut the door and as she stepped out of her robe and sank into the blissful warmth of the bath, she didn’t know if they were tears of gratitude or—dared she admit it?—tears of a much deeper emotion she’d vowed to avoid.

CHAPTER NINE

‘It’s not the size of the wand that’s important, it’s the way the magician wields it.’

Chrystal, an expert on wands.

KEELY had tried to switch off her thoughts as she soaked in the bath. She’d imagined floating on an endless blue ocean, sitting beside a tinkling waterfall and swimming with playful dolphins. However, her relaxation techniques had had the same effect as they usually did when she tried them at home to drop off to sleep: nothing.

Instead, every time she’d closed her eyes Lachlan’s image had popped up in front of her—his smile, the way his eyes crinkled in the corners when he laughed, how his eyes glowed after he’d just kissed her. Endless images that flitted across her mind, reminding her of how much she wanted him.

And how much she wanted to let go of her reservations and love him.

Yes, she’d finally admitted it. Despite being a realist with both feet firmly planted on the ground, despite all her silent protestations, and despite the fact that falling for a man like Lachlan would only end in heartache for them both, she was inches away from falling in love.

Women in love did stupid things. She’d seen it time and time again with her friends and office colleagues, not to mention first hand. Though, strangely enough, what she was about to do couldn’t be termed stupid. In fact, the tension between Lachlan and her had been building towards this since they’d first met. If she believed half the cosmic stuff Tahlia was into, she would almost say it was fated.

Taking a deep breath and tying her robe together, she ventured out of the bathroom. This was it. No backing down, no chickening out. No doubts about what he’d think of her body and whether she’d turn him on or not.

She wanted him and was determined to show him exactly how much. And if he was half the man she thought he was, despite his occasional insensitive comments, he’d accept her just the way she was.

‘Lachlan?’

The house seemed strangely silent. Dusk had fallen while she’d been soaking in the tub and no lights had been switched on yet.

‘In here.’ She heard a muffled reply and followed it into what she’d assumed was a third bedroom.

‘What are you up to now …?’ She trailed off as she opened the door and stepped into another fantasy.

‘Thought you might like a massage after your bath,’ he said, gesturing to the table set up in the middle of the room, covered in thick towels.

She stepped into the room, shaking her head in amazement. If she’d thought the bathroom had been impressive, it had nothing on this—a slow-burning fire, champagne on ice, lavender permeating the air from an oil-burner and soulful sax playing in the background. All in all, she could’ve spent a month in this room, as long as the man standing in the centre of it, with a proud grin on his handsome face, came with it.

‘If you’re trying to seduce me, you’re doing a good job.’ She smiled and crossed the room, standing on the opposite side of the massage table.

He shook his head. ‘This isn’t about seduction.’

‘Then what’s it about?’ Her heart thudded as he walked around the table and traced her cheek with the back of a finger.

‘I wanted to do something nice for you, to make you feel half as good as you’ve made me feel since I met you.’

‘But I haven’t done anything.’ She shook her head slightly, wondering if the prolonged soak had fogged up her brain as well as the bathroom mirrors.

‘You don’t need to.’ His hand dropped to her shoulder, where his fingers toyed with the collar of her robe, lightly skimming her heated skin beneath it. ‘You’ve made me happy just by being you. I haven’t dated in a while and have forgotten how special it can be with the right person.’

She stared at him, speechless. In all the years when her self-esteem had taken a beating, where had a guy like this been?

Correction, where had this guy been?

She’d been through the wringer with her weight issues, the accompanying hang-ups, the brush with an eating disorder that had ruined her chance at having children and the subsequent ramifications on her relationships with men since. Not to mention the hours of counselling that had left her questioning her own belief system rather than helping her overcome her problems.

And here, now, with just a few words, he’d made her feel whole again.

She blinked back the tears that had sprung into her eyes and reached up to twine her arms around his neck. ‘You know what I said earlier, about taking things slow?’

He slid his arms around her, the heat radiating off him warming her better than the slow-burning fire. ‘Yeah?’

‘I’ve changed my mind.’

And she set about showing him exactly how.

Keely floated into the office on Monday morning. She’d had the barest minimum of sleep for the entire weekend and didn’t care. She’d never felt so alive, so animated, as if she could take on the world and still have enough energy left over to tackle the solar system.

She had a pile of work to get through this week and, as she dumped her satchel and booted up her computer, all she could think about was Lachlan.

She would have to add one more criteria to her checklist for the perfect man: incredible lover.

If she’d thought his skill at kissing was impressive, it had nothing on his performance in the bedroom. And the lounge room. And the kitchen.

And if she’d thought massage was mainly used as a relaxation technique, she’d had to think again.

Scanning her e-mails quickly, she ignored the inter-office ones and opened Emma’s.

To: [e-mail]

From: [e-mail]

Subject: D&M

Hi Sweetie,

Got time for a D&M in the conference room?

Need a few details for Flirt website (and a few from your weekend away?)

C U in 10?

Em

Keely grinned. She knew her friends would be dying to hear the gossip from her weekend away with Lachlan and, despite the urge to keep them guessing, she fired off a quick reply.

To: [e-mail]

From: [e-mail]

Subject: Only 10?

Em,

Surprised you can wait 10 minutes.

Ideas for Flirt website coming along nicely.

Will bring my revamped work.

Have doughnuts and Macchiato at the ready.

C U soon.

K

Gathering up the Flirt file, she heard two beeps from her PC. The first e-mail was from Tahlia, reiterating what Emma had said and wanting ‘all the gory details’, the next from Lucy.

To: [e-mail]

From: [e-mail]

Subject: PM sucks!

K,

Took your advice, asked Aidan out for coffee.

Put the PM quiz to the test and he bombed, big time.

Wolf in sheep’s clothing doesn’t come close to describing him. How about ravenous wolf who devours his prey?

Dating is the pits.

How many men does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Three: one creep to screw in the bulb and two to listen to him brag about the screwing part. That sums up Aidan—Yeuk!

Luce (reformed dater)

Aidan a sleaze? Keely shook her head, hoping her lousy judgement in men didn’t extend to all facets of life. She could’ve sworn Aidan seemed like a nice guy, though appearances weren’t everything.

Feeling more than a tad responsible for urging Lucy to ask Aidan out, she typed a quick reply.

To: [e-mail]

From: [e-mail]

Subject: Forgetaboutit!

Luce,

Sorry Aidan the Ass turned out to be just that.

The solution? Get back out there. Your PM could be just around the corner.

Drinks, this Friday after work. Be there.

Let the search recommence …

K

Hoping that Lucy wasn’t too devastated about the Aidan fiasco, Keely headed out of her office, ready to face the music with her friends.

Several hours later, Keely sat in front of her PC and brought up the newest account that had just landed in her lap. Bountiful Babes promised to be a one-stop website for parents who needed the low-down on the joys of having children. Initially, she’d been reluctant to take it on—the fact that she loved kids and couldn’t have any rubbed in her face wasn’t good—but with the Rottie breathing down her neck she’d had no choice.

Besides, she’d sensed something else behind the Rottie’s urgency, almost as if they needed these new accounts to survive. Which was silly really, considering WWW Designs was one of the largest firms of its kind in the country.

However, she’d never juggled three prestigious accounts at once before, and this, plus the Brant assignment, added to her suspicions that something wasn’t quite right. The Rottie had been snapping at everyone’s heels for the last few weeks, raving on about deadlines and efficiency, and though she’d held her tongue because of the promotion she coveted, Keely had almost told her to shove it several times.

She’d managed to placate the Rottie with a pat on the head—figuratively speaking—and news that her assignment with Lachlan was proceeding extremely well. She’d just left out the part where her shadowing him had turned from business to pleasure.

As the preliminary work she’d done for the site flashed across the screen, she swallowed the lump of emotion that inevitably rose when she saw anything to do with babies. The motif she’d designed as a border for the web page—a chubby, chuckling baby in various poses—brought a smile to her face. From his ten perfect fingers and toes to his rosy cheeks and dimpled skin, he was adorable, and a stark reminder of what she could never have.

Sighing, she made an angry swipe at a tear escaping from the corner of her eye and turned away as someone knocked on her door.

She sat up straighter and fixed a smile on her face. Just her luck for the Rottie to come bounding in here and catch her sniffling. ‘Come in.’

‘How’s my favourite graphic designer?’ Lachlan strolled into the room and handed her a bag. ‘I come bearing gifts. Thought you could use something to boost your energy levels.’

She opened the bag and inhaled deeply, the seductive aroma of fresh cinnamon doughnuts making her salivate, before casting him a coy look from beneath her lashes. ‘I’m fine and there’s nothing wrong with my energy levels. In fact, I haven’t been this energised in ages.’

He laughed and chose one of the doughnuts from the bag she proffered. ‘Glad to hear it.’ He rolled his neck around as if trying to work out a kink. ‘I’m in dire need of another massage.’

Heat crept into her cheeks at his emphasis on the word ‘massage’. She’d done all that and more to him on the weekend away, displaying a brazen side she hadn’t known existed.

As Tahlia had laughingly pointed out after she’d given the girls a very brief version of events, she was working in the right place: WWW Designs could stand for Wickedly Wanton Woman or Wonderful Wowsing Witch. Both labels seemed appropriate at this stage!

She interlocked fingers and stretched forward, as if limbering up. ‘For you, any time.’

As desire arced between them and he crouched down beside her chair, she placed both hands on his chest and held him back. ‘However, right now I need to do some work.’

He captured her hands and held them against his chest till she itched to slide her fingers between the buttons of his ivory business shirt and caress the firm skin underneath.

‘I thought my website was nearly finished?’

She nodded, trying to think ‘work’ while this close to the man who had rocked her world repeatedly over the weekend. ‘It is.’

‘So what’s this you’re working on?’

He peered over her shoulder, ignoring her muttered, ‘A client’s work is confidential’, his face breaking into a huge smile.

‘That’s one cute baby,’ he said, his eyes glowing with a tenderness she’d never seen before.

She pulled away and swivelled her chair towards the screen, rattled by his reaction.

‘You like kids?’ she asked, trying to instil the right amount of casualness into her voice while hanging on his answer.

‘What’s not to like? They’re amazing, taking over your life and wreaking more devastation than a cyclone. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I helped raise my younger brothers and sisters and, though challenging, it was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.’

His words drove tiny daggers of pain into her heart, opening up wounds she’d thought healed. She had to ask the next question, knowing his answer would seal the fate of their relationship, one way or the other.

‘Do you want kids of your own?’

‘Absolutely. If the right woman came along, I reckon I’d like at least half a dozen of the little tykes.’

And, just like that, reality crashed in, leaving Keely struggling for air.

She’d known that dating Lachlan could prove disastrous but she’d gone ahead and done it anyway. Despite her feeble protestations, he was business; she’d fallen for him, and labelling their relationship ‘dating’ had been a lie on her part.

She loved him, had probably loved him before she knew what had hit her, and therefore had ignored every warning that she shouldn’t get in too deep. When relationships went too far, certain expectations came into play, and now she’d heard it for herself.

He wanted the one thing she could never give him.

And it would ruin them in the end.

Struggling to keep her voice steady, she said, ‘Why settle for half a dozen?’ She managed a brittle laugh before shuffling the paperwork on her desk. ‘Now, it’s nice of you to drop by, but I really have to get back to this.’

He frowned and stood up. ‘Is something wrong?’

She shook her head and tried not to blurt out Everything is wrong.

‘No, just the usual jitters that deadlines bring.’ She looked away, only to be confronted by the computer screen and the evidence of what she couldn’t give him, the pain ravaging her anew. ‘Raquel wants this done ASAP.’

He didn’t budge. ‘Are you sure this is about work?’

She had to meet his gaze, if only to convince him that she needed to be left alone before she burst into tears. ‘Of course.’

His direct gaze bored into hers, as if trying to see into the windows of her soul and read the secrets there. For now, she sure hoped the shutters were down.

‘I’ll leave you to it, then. Call me when you have a minute?’

She nodded and faked a breezy wave as she focused on the screen again, hoping he’d been fooled.