Their Baby Bargain

first moment he’d seen him. For a man unaccustomed to falling in love at first sight-or even love at all-Luke had come pretty close when he’d met Bruce.

But now, carrying the sleeping puppy into the kitchen, he had his first major doubt. What if Wendy didn’t like dogs? What if she hated animals? What if…?

And then his worst fears were confirmed.

He entered the kitchen and put the tiny, still sleepy and befuddled basset-hound puppy down onto the kitchen floor. Bruce stared up at his new surroundings in amazement, and he was all eyes and ears and tummy.

What next? Wendy stared down at the puppy in stunned silence. The puppy stared back at Wendy for one long moment, and then, sensing a mother figure and smelling the warming milk, he waddled solemnly forward-so his dangling ears were brushing the hem of Wendy’s nightgown and his huge eyes were gazing straight up at her. His small liver-and-white-spotted person quivered with anxiety. He looked and looked, and his tiny, whip-like tail slowly started to rotate in canine hopefulness.

She had to like him. To Luke, watching in silence, Bruce Basset looked almost irresistible.

But Wendy stooped down to floor level without saying a word. She touched Bruce lightly on his velvety ears-and she burst into tears.

Hell! This was appalling. What to do now? Of all things-to have made Wendy cry…

‘You don’t have to keep him. I didn’t mean… If you think I’ve already dumped enough on you I can take him back.’ Luke started forward, but then he paused as the puppy was scooped up into Wendy’s arms and she glared up at Luke as if she was a mother hen protecting her entire brood.

‘Take him back?’ Her voice was laced with emotion and tears were slipping down her face unchecked and unheeded. ‘Take him back? Don’t you dare!’

‘But…’ Hell, she was crying! ‘Don’t you like him? Wendy, what’s wrong?’ Unconsciously he stooped too, so his eyes were on a level with hers. The puppy was squirming in her arms, and his small pink tongue came out to lick away a tear.

Hey, the puppy knew what to do. Luke grabbed his handkerchief and moved in to help. Now there were two males attending to Wendy’s tears and it was all too much. Wendy was falling backwards, sitting on the floor and sobbing helplessly into Bruce’s velvety coat.

But she was also…smiling? Laughing through tears? Luke managed to get a piece of his handkerchief to her cheeks. It was licked aside by the puppy and, hell, he was jealous of a puppy!

‘You don’t want me to take him back?’ he tried cautiously and now he was sure she’d been chuckling. She was smiling at him through her tears and her eyes were shining like raindrops in a sunshower. She hugged the crazy, wriggling bundle of puppy, and she smiled and smiled-and Luke’s heart lurched as if it had never lurched in its life before.

‘Luke, if you knew how much I’d wanted to give Gabbie a puppy…’ It was all she could do to get her voice to a whisper. She hugged Bruce again, venting her overstrung emotions on his small squiggly person. ‘We have Home dogs-specially trained dogs skilled in being hugged by children in need-and Gabbie’s loved them. But they’ve never been hers, and every time she’s moved it’s been to a different dog. But this little one… She needs something to love so much…’

‘And you do, too,’ he said thoughtfully, watching her face. Somewhere inside something was starting to feel really, really good. He’d done something right! He’d made this woman happy. Luke Grey, independent mover and shaker, had made this lady happy.

And it felt-fantastic!

‘And me too,’ she admitted shyly. She lifted the little dog high so woman and dog were nose to nose. ‘I admit it. I haven’t owned a dog since I was a child, and I’ve wanted one so much. Now I have Gabbie and I have Grace, and I have Bruce.’ She turned to look at him with exactly the same look she’d bestowed on Bruce. Unswerving love. ‘Oh, Luke, thank you. I don’t know how to say it…’

‘You don’t need to.’

‘But Luke…’

‘No.’ He reached forward and caught a last errant tear, whisking it away with his forefinger.

And then suddenly he was so close. She was so lovely. God help him, a man would have to be inhuman to resist a sight like this.

He wasn’t inhuman. This lady before him was Wendy. Wendy! She’d been weeping and she was so, so near…

He moved just inches closer. She gazed at him with eyes that were loving and misty with tears, and his fingers caught her under the chin.

Some things were just inevitable. He kissed her.

And wow!

Heaven knew what went into that kiss. It was a kiss that had the power to change the world-or change the world of the two persons whose lips touched-and change the world it did.

She was so gorgeous. So…

Her lips were just as he’d known they would be. Just as he’d remembered from that fleeting kiss with the children between them. They were full and soft and warm and yielding-and tasting slightly of salt where the tears had slid unchecked.

The puppy was still there, somewhere between them, but his small warm presence did not intrude. He’d been woken from sleep, but a pup could tell these two soft bodies meant a small creature nothing but good. It was clear that Bruce believed he was on to a very good thing here…

As did Luke. Wendy felt so wonderful. It was all part of the magic of the night, he thought. It was part of the discovery of coming home. Home…

Here was his home.

Wendy was his home.

The discovery was no lightning bolt. It was more a sweet, insidious knowledge, creeping softly into his consciousness. He’d never known what he was missing until this moment, but here, in this moonlit kitchen, with the soft wuffling of a puppy between them, he found a missing link in his life that he hadn’t known was broken.

And Wendy?

For the life of her she couldn’t pull away. The knowledge that was already with Luke was playing its magic part on her as well. It was like a spell, numbing her brain, making her unaware of anything but how good this man felt, how strong were the hands that gripped her shoulders-how warm was the mouth on hers…

How achingly empty her life was without…

Without what? A man?

Dear God. Where had that thought come from? It slammed into her brain like a zillion volts and it scared her rigid. Of all the stupid, stupid things to think…

Luke was still kissing her-she was still letting herself be kissed-but suddenly things weren’t the same. The numbness had worn off. She’d been down this road before, letting emotion sway her… Letting hormones do their thing until she’d risked so much she had no right to risk!

No!

‘No!’

Heaven knew how she uttered the word. Heaven knew how there was enough space between them to say it but somehow, somehow she dragged herself back, and her eyes were fear-filled and dreadful.

He let her go. ‘Love, what is it?’

What had he called her? Love? He had to be joking.

‘What on earth do you think you’re doing?’ She clutched the puppy to her. Bruce looked up in faint reproach; it had been really cosy cradled between chest and breast, and he wouldn’t have minded staying there!

Luke’s voice, when he found it, was a bit shaken. ‘I thought I was kissing you.’ Somehow he managed a faint chuckle. ‘And I thought you were kissing me right back.’

‘It must have been the puppy.’ She gasped and scrambled to her feet. ‘I wouldn’t…’

‘You wouldn’t have kissed me? Liar!’

‘Luke!’ There was real distress in her voice and he heard it. A frown creased his eyes.

‘Wendy, what’s wrong?’

‘This…this is ridiculous.’