Dating The Millionaire Doctor

unexpectedly.

‘You look great,’ he said, and she smiled, but absently. She’d put all sorts of effort into her appearance but now she was too nervous to think about it. How to tell him?

‘Why are you here?’ he asked, and at least that was easy.

‘After the wildfires we have lots of animals that can’t go back to the wild. Zoos are offering them homes. I was asked if I’d come with a consignment of two koalas and four wombats.’

‘To Manhattan?’

‘Close enough.’

‘Close enough to drop in for a visit,’ he said and tugged her closer. ‘So where are the dogs?’

‘At the lodge. Rob’s nursing a broken heart. He’s a great puppy sitter. But, Jake…I needed to talk to you. I was trying to phone you. But then they asked me to come with the animals. There’s something…’

They were in the crowded entrance to Emergency. People were bustling past them, intent, urgent. An ambulance was pulling up; people were spilling out. Life was happening all around them but Tori’s life was centred right here, on this moment, and it could wait no longer.

‘I’m pregnant,’ she said, loud enough for a guy pushing a wheelchair towards the entrance to grin and say, ‘Lovely news, dear. Come back in a few months and see how smooth I can push a gurney.’

Tori flushed from the toes up.

Jake stopped. They both stopped.

She knew what he’d say. She braced, waiting. No, she thought, wildly, she didn’t know what he’d say; for there were two alternatives.

He could say, ‘You told me you were safe.’

Or he could say, ‘Whose is it?’ Or, ‘How do I know it’s mine?’

She’d been trying to figure out answers to both, trying to force herself not to react. It was she who’d made the mistake. He was allowed to be angry.

But now… The silence was stretching out and she thought, Which, which…

‘Hey, it’s okay,’ he said finally, strongly, catching her hands in his. ‘Tori, don’t look like that. We can cope with this. But you will have to move here.’

She blinked. This was so much what she hadn’t expected. Simple acceptance.

You will have to move here… She could ignore that, she thought. That was an aside. What mattered most was that he knew. She’d told him.

‘I thought I was safe,’ she started.

‘So did I. I guess we were both wrong.’

‘No, but I told you… I thought…’

‘And I accepted your assurance because I wanted you,’he said, and his hands were firm and sure, imparting strength and reassurance. ‘Tori, I know you well enough to accept you’d never lie about something so important. But hey, we’re both medical. We both know the only true contraceptive is a brick wall. So where do we go from here?’

‘I don’t know,’ she managed, shocked almost beyond speech. She pulled away a little and stared up at him, searching for anger. She saw shock, she thought, but no anger at all. Not even revulsion. Just a man taking in important news and trying to deal with it as best he could. A man concerned for her. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered, awed.

‘For making you pregnant?’ His mouth quirked at the corners and she thought, He’s laughing. The concept of laughter right now was so ludicrous it was…ludicrous.

Maybe she wouldn’t mind a bit more emotion, she thought. Was she reaching for the stars to want joy?

‘I meant, thank you for not yelling,’ she said, thinking it wasn’t enough.

‘Why would I yell?’

‘Because I made a mistake. And…and for not asking me who the father is.’

There was a pause at that. ‘I have too great a respect for self-preservation for that,’he said finally, grave again. ‘I don’t want to be kicked into the middle of next week.’

‘I don’t think I could kick you that far.’

‘You’d be entitled to. Come to dinner. It’s close.’

They didn’t talk again until he ushered her into a late-night diner, where a guy called Louis greeted him by name and ushered them into an alcove he obviously used a lot.

‘Burger and fries for me,’ Jake said. ‘Louis does the best. Would you like some, too?’

‘No!’

‘Dry toast?’ Jake tried, sympathetically, and Tori screwed up her nose again and so did Louis, his eyes alight with interest.

‘How about hot cakes with blueberries,’ Louis said encouragingly. ‘A nice short stack, guaranteed not to overwhelm a lady. And maybe a glass of wine?’

‘Maybe hotcakes and tea,’ Tori said gratefully, and Louis beamed and disappeared and Tori was left with Jake and his nice, sensible reaction.

She’d sweated over this moment for three weeks now. Tried to figure what to say. Now it had been said. She’d done what she’d come to do.

She didn’t even need to stop and have hotcakes, she thought suddenly. She could go home. Only she wasn’t going home. Not now. Not yet. She was sitting in a late-night diner with Jake, about to have hotcakes while he assimilated fatherhood into his life plan.

Sensibly.

Anger was rising again. Unreasonable? Maybe.

She wanted joy.

‘How…’ he ventured at last.

‘I had a contraceptive implant.’ She’d rehearsed this question. ‘They last for three years. Only then my life fell apart and I forgot it was due for replacement. The night…the night we…’

‘Made love,’ he said gently, and she stared at her hands and nodded.

‘Made love,’ she repeated softly. ‘It was love, wasn’t it. Of a sort. All I could think that night was that I needed-I wanted-you, and I thought, Yes, I’m protected. Even after-wards I didn’t worry. Only then, when I tried to figure it out, all my records were burned in the fire. As were Dr. Susie’s, so the letters that were supposed to go out reminding people of routine stuff were never sent. So there you are. Comedy of errors. Resulting in one baby.’

‘Our baby.’

‘If you want a say…’

‘You’re not considering termination?’

‘No!’

‘Why?’

‘Micki’s baby died. There’s been enough death. I want this baby.’

Louis arrived then, with their meals. The normally jovial host had sussed them out by now. He left, with only a sideways, speculative glance at Jake.

‘So you came to Manhattan just to tell me,’ Jake said.

‘I don’t want anything from you, if that’s what you mean.’ She concentrated on her hotcakes and left him to his thoughts.

There were a million sensations running through him right now-shock, disbelief that this could be happening, overwhelming responsibility…yeah, and a healthy dose of fear, too. But the one that suddenly hit the top was anger.

‘You’ll take my help,’ he snapped, before he could control the anger behind his words. ‘It’s my call, too, Tori. You have my baby, then I’m in the equation, like it or not. You’ll stay here.’

Her face stilled. She met his gaze steadily, but he thought he saw a flash of fear behind her eyes. What had she expected?

What was she expecting?

‘No,’ she said. ‘You know where my home is, and it’s not here.’

‘Your home’s burned. Your home could be anywhere.’