Dating The Millionaire Doctor

He could probably cut it a bit. Get home at a reasonable hour.

To find the little wife waiting for him, with supper served and his slippers warmed?

Tori was right. It was a ludicrous concept. Only it had to be thought of. She had to stay.

Why?

He had a sudden vision of himself, aged about seven. Summer holidays. His mother off with one of her lovers. He in his grandparents’ mausoleum of a house on Long Island.

Lonely as hell.

Tori was having his baby, and his kid wasn’t going to be lonely. If he was going to be a father, he wanted his kid here, whether Tori agreed or not.

His kid?

He’d never thought of being a father. He’d had such a solitary upbringing; he’d simply expected more of the same.

He’d reacted calmly enough to Tori’s news. Or more. He’d been so stunned that all he could feel was concern for Tori. To think past that to fatherhood itself…

He’d have a daughter? A son?

The idea was so overwhelming he couldn’t take it in.

He let it swirl for a while, trying to figure things out, but no matter how he looked at it, one thing stood out. This child would not have his upbringing. His mother telling lies about his father. His parents continents apart.

She had to stay.

He’d marry the mother of his child.

She slept until ten, and when she woke Jake was standing over her, lean and long and gorgeous, wearing a sleek business suit, a crisp white shirt and a crimson tie. What the…

She glanced from him to the clock-and yelped.

He grinned and set toast on the bedside table, then sat on the side of the bed. It was such a familiar thing to do that she practically yelped again.

‘Feel up to breakfast?’ he said and smiled, and she thought, This man is the father of my child. That was such a seriously sexy, seriously wonderful thing to think that her toes practically curled.

But what was with the suit?

‘You’re dressed up, why?’ she managed.

‘I’ve been into the hospital so I could clear the rest of the day.’

‘I thought you had today off.’

‘I don’t do off days, but I’m free now. Moving on… You don’t look like you have morning sickness,’ he said, and she hauled her thoughts back to earth. Or almost back to earth.

‘I’m only sick if I move fast.’

‘Then don’t move fast.’

‘I won’t.’

He leaned forwards and took the pillows from the spare side of the bed, then wedged them behind her. And there it was again, that blast of caring. And of maleness. And of…want?

Down, girl, she told herself fiercely. You have twenty-four hours left of this man. There’s no use lusting after something-someone-you can’t have.

But she was definitely lusting.

He was handing over tea and she had to take it, even though there was suddenly a really big part of her that wanted to fling the tea onto his cool-grey carpet, grab him and haul him back onto his own pillows. He was the father of her baby…

‘So have you ever been to New York?’ he asked, and she blinked and had a couple of sips of tea and mustered her hormones into some sort of corral. But the boundaries she put around them looked frail. Very frail indeed.

‘No,’ she managed, and her voice came out a squeak and she had to try again.

‘So where have you been?’ He handed over toast. Her fingers brushed his and she practically yelped all over again. She had to get herself under control.

‘Um, Sydney?’ she ventured.

‘Is that the furthest?’ he demanded, astounded.

‘Yeah,’ she said, defensive, and then because she didn’t want him to think she hadn’t travelled because she was a wimp, she told him the rest. ‘Mum died when Micki and I were small. Dad had the veterinary practice up and we helped him, after school, every holiday. I thought I might travel for a bit after vet school but by the time I finished, Dad had Parkinson’s. Micki’s marriage was in trouble and she was in Perth. She couldn’t help. If I hadn’t stayed Dad would have had to sell up and it’d have broken his heart.’ She paused and then added quietly, ‘Though if he sold up maybe he’d still be alive.’

‘Hey, Tori, don’t.’ He smiled, coaxing her to let it go. ‘You can’t beat yourself up over decisions like that. And you’re here now,’ he said. ‘Your first overseas experience. You need to stay for more than a day.’

‘No.’ The thought terrified her.

‘Not necessarily with me.’

‘I’d mess with your life,’ she said and glanced at the spare side of the bed.

‘There’s no one.’

‘I didn’t mean that.’

‘Okay, you didn’t mean that, but I’m telling you anyway. If you want to sleep in my bed for the next month-’

‘No!’

‘No?’

‘No,’ she said, and she sounded desperate but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. ‘I need to get up now.’

‘If you need to sleep, then sleep.’

‘If I’ve only got one day in New York, I’m not sleeping.’

‘You should take more.’

‘I’m house-training Itsy,’ she said. ‘I can’t take more.’

‘Tori…’

‘I haven’t come to interfere with your life. I’ve just come to tell you and then to go.’

‘I can’t see that I can let you go.’

‘You don’t have a choice,’ she said, trying hard to sound firm and sure and confident. Was he planning on locking her up until this baby was born? Ha! She’d thrown him, she thought. She’d had a month to get used to the idea of a baby. He’d had less than a day.

‘So I’ll get up and you can point me to the Statue of Liberty,’ she said, moving right on.

‘Is that what you want to see?’

‘And the Empire State Building, and Central Park and Tiffany’s.’

‘Tiffany’s?’ he said blankly.

‘My very favourite movie in the whole world. Don’t you just love Audrey Hepburn?’

‘Like life itself,’ he said promptly, and she giggled and ate a bit of toast and thought, This could be okay. She’d do the tourist thing, maybe they’d meet for dinner tonight; they’d discuss practicalities like just how much access he wanted and how they were going to figure it out, and then she’d head back to Australia and get on with it.

‘I’ll go put on my walking shoes,’ he said.

‘You don’t have to come with me,’ she said, startled. ‘I’m guessing you’ll already have seen the Statue of Liberty.’

‘I might have,’ he agreed. ‘But she’s worth a second look. And to be honest, I’ve never once been inside Tiffany’s.’

CHAPTER TEN