Somehow he lost his voice as he wheeled to face her. That was a shock again. Wendy was wearing her gorgeous, faded nightgown, and her curls were tumbling free around her bare shoulders. Baby Grace was lying in her arms as she stood in the doorway between kitchen and living room. By the moonlight flooding through the French windows, Wendy’s face was tender and somehow vulnerable-and she was such a contrast from the woman he’d left in London that for the life of him Luke couldn’t think of another thing to say.
But she took pity on him and broke the silence. ‘I guess you’re not really a visitor.’ She smiled, and motioned to the sleeping baby she was cradling. ‘Don’t turn on the light. I’ve just got her settled.’
‘Is she…?’ Luke moved forward in the moonlight, peering down at his half-sister. She was deeply asleep, her tiny mouth curved into a smile of such bliss that Luke’s heart twisted. ‘Is she…okay?’
‘What do you think?’ Wendy chuckled softly into the stillness. ‘She shouldn’t be having a bottle in the middle of the night, but do you think I can persuade her of that? This young lady has a mind of her own-like her brother, I’d say. She’s just got her own way-
‘I…see.’ He didn’t. For some reason his brain was all fuzzy. But luckily Wendy appeared not to notice.
‘And now it’s bedtime, miss,’ she was telling Grace. ‘For the whole night!’ Wendy fixed the sleeping baby with a look of stern warning, but the tenderness behind her eyes gave her warning the lie. The stirring in Luke’s gut grew deeper. This feeling he was experiencing. It wasn’t just his baby sister doing the damage here, he decided. Help!
But Wendy’s attention was still not on him. She was concentrating solely on getting Grace back to bed without her waking. ‘Wait,’ she told him softly. ‘I’ll just be a minute.’
Without another word she turned and carried the sleeping Grace out to her bedroom. He waited silently. There was nothing else to do, and to stay completely still, letting the atmosphere of the beloved old house seep into his bones, suited him very well until she padded barefoot back-to where he was waiting with the same look of stunned confusion on his face that she’d left him with.
Then she flicked on a table lamp, and his mixed emotions grew even more muddled. Even more lopsided.
He stared around at the transformed kitchen in amazement. ‘What on earth have you done to this place?’
She smiled at that. ‘I scrubbed it,’ she said proudly. ‘
It certainly did. When Luke had left, the kitchen had been grimy and dreary from years of neglect, and in the few days he’d been away Wendy had totally transformed it. The stove was gleaming, and the table and old wooden benches had been scrubbed to within an inch of their lives. The walls had been painted a pretty powder blue and there were fresh gingham curtains hanging in the window. It looked…wonderful.
‘You did all this?’ He could hardly believe it.
‘With the help of your credit card.’ Wendy’s smile was teasing. ‘Elbow-grease and money. What a combination!’ Then her smile faded. ‘Did you get what we needed from Lindy?’
He nodded, lifting the precious documents from his breast pocket. But he wasn’t thinking about papers. He was having trouble thinking past Wendy. She was so incredibly lovely. So incredibly
She was so…Wendy!
Hell! He was acting like a moron here. With a wrench he hauled his thoughts back to the subject she was interested in. Documents. Grace. Not him.
‘Lindy’s signed the pre-adoption papers,’ he told her. ‘She did it in London, in the presence of two lawyers and a witness from the embassy. If she doesn’t change her mind in the cooling off period-and I’d be amazed if she does- then Grace will be ours.’ He faltered then at the look on her face, and he was suddenly uncertain of his ground. ‘I mean-’
‘You mean she’ll be
‘I…yes. I guess.’ He was all at sea here. He was trying to concentrate on Grace’s adoption, but all he could see was Wendy. She was so gorgeous-so sexy!-it was all he could do not to lunge around the table and take her into his arms for a passionate kiss.
‘Your bed’s made up in your grandparents’ room,’ she said placidly, as if unaware of the crazy mix of emotions charging around the room all by themselves. ‘At least, we assumed it was your grandparents’ room. The big front one with the double bed.’
‘Yes.’
‘It should be okay,’ she told him. ‘There’s clean linen and bedding. The only thing is…’
‘There’s a problem?’
She grinned. ‘Well, there’s sort of two bumps that you’ll have to straddle. I’d assume at a guess that you’re a lot bigger than your grandpa.’
That shook him. He didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. ‘Two bumps?’
‘I’d bet your grandma and grandpa had the same bed for their entire married lives,’ she told him cheerfully. ‘Gabbie and I made the bed up yesterday and you can see exactly where they slept. There’s deep contours linked together at the hip where they’ve lain side by side for years.’ The tenderness returned to her face. ‘I guess it won’t be too comfortable for one big person sleeping in the bed, but I don’t know. The bumps look…sort of…nice.’
It was nice at that, Luke thought, and blinked. His grandparents… Two lovers lying side by side, making their indentations in their mattress night after night as they slept-husband and wife for forty years. Why did the thought have the capacity to kick him sideways?
But he hauled his thoughts back together again. Somehow.
‘It’ll be fine.’ His voice was gruffer than he meant it to be and, for a minute she stared, sensing his confusion.
Then she too pulled herself together. Maybe she was starting to feel the emotion zooming around the room like electricity searching for a grounding. Maybe.
Or maybe she just thought he was a moron.
‘Can I make you a cup of tea before I go back to bed? Or can you manage on your own?’ She wanted to leave, he could see. Grace had woken her from sleep and now she wanted to slip back into her own bed and sleep again- alone. As was right and proper. He was her boss. She was his hired nanny.
But still he wanted to prolong the moment. Desperately. ‘How’s…how’s Gabbie?’ he asked.
As a delaying tactic, it was a good ploy. Her face softened. ‘Gabbie is great. Just great,’ she told him. ‘She loves this place, just like me.’ She smiled up at him with gratitude and the instinct to kiss her surfaced again and then some.
‘I brought her a present.’ His voice was gruff again. Too gruff. Stupid!
‘A present?’
‘I…’ He was stammering like a schoolboy, and that was how she made him feel. As if he was about thirteen years old-a schoolboy suffering his first serious crush. ‘It’s in the car. I need to bring it in straight away.’
‘Won’t it wait until morning?’ She was confused, and still she was intent on getting back to her bed. Away from him. ‘Gabbie’s asleep. A gift can wait.’
‘I might be only driving a hire car,’ he told her firmly-a man had some standards! ‘But I hate to imagine what even that would look like if I left this until tomorrow morning. No, Miss Maher…’ he somehow managed to smile at her confusion ‘…I won’t take you up on your offer of a cup of tea, but I’d appreciate very much if you could heat a little hot milk. I’ll fetch Bruce now.’
‘Bruce?’
‘I know I keep doing it,’ he said apologetically. ‘I just can’t seem to help myself. I’m sorry, Wendy, but I’ve brought you another baby!’
‘What?’ Her jaw dropped about a foot and he grinned at her reaction.
‘Just wait and see.’
He hadn’t known what to expect.
On the plane on the way to England he’d thought of this and it had seemed the most wonderful idea. He’d rung his Australian secretary while he’d been in London; she’d done all the legwork while he’d been talking Lindy into signing adoption papers, and when he’d landed back in Australia it had been organised so all he’d had to do was go and pick Bruce up and pay unseemly amounts of money.
At his first sight of Bruce it had seemed an even better idea. Bruce was…well, Bruce was just Bruce from the
