Their Baby Bargain

She should stop thinking Luke was trying to seduce her. She should stop thinking Luke was putting the children at risk every time he put them in the car he loved so much.

She should…trust.

She didn’t. Not one bit.

‘How much longer are you planning to stay?’

She shouldn’t ask, but ten days had gone by and he’d shown no sign of moving. Instead, Luke seemed to be wheedling his way deeper and deeper into the running of the house, and he was doing it every way he knew how.

It was Luke who’d taken on the responsibility for Bruce’s house-training-and very well Bruce was going too. He hadn’t made a puddle for three days now.

It was Luke who had gone into Bay Beach and found a whole heap of easy readers-fun little books that were designed to make a child ache to read-and it was Luke who was setting himself up on the veranda each afternoon and saying ‘P-U-P says pup,’ and making Gabbie follow. Gabbie was so excited she could hardly leave her wonderful new books.

For Gabbie, reading seemed the most exciting thing in the world-apart from Bruce-and, watching her, Wendy had to suppress a faint twinge of jealousy at the bond that was forming between man and child.

‘Join us. Help us read,’ Luke often said, as he caught her watching them, but she whisked herself off back to housework that didn’t need to be done or something equally trivial-because sitting beside them while they read was beguiling and bewitching and…dangerous!

It had been ten days and the tension was mounting day by day until she felt she was near to breaking point. Like now. He was so close! The children were in bed and she was washing the dinner dishes. Luke had returned after tucking Bruce into his basket and he’d picked up the tea towel and started wiping-just like an old married man. It was suddenly far too much. This unspoken intimacy that was growing stronger by the minute…

‘How long do you intend staying here?’ she demanded again as he failed to answer, and his brows raised in a quizzical smile.

‘Am I getting under your feet, then?’

She concentrated on an infinitesimal grease spot on her frying pan, giving it her sole attention. ‘Yes. A bit. I just wasn’t aware that you’d ever thought of staying on.’

‘I hadn’t,’ he said seriously. ‘But things change.’

‘Like what?’

And that was a mistake. As soon as she said it, she knew the question was a bad error of judgement-because it had to have an answer. But the question was out in the open now, like an upraised sword, with the power to bring all down around it.

And he brought it down. Finally.

‘People change,’ he said gently, and he laid down his tea towel and turned to face her full on. ‘People like me. Two weeks ago, if you’d asked me what I thought of staying in the country, I would have told you I’d think it was purgatory-to be stuck in a farmhouse with a woman and two babies and a puppy. Now I’m starting to think it’s purgatory to be anywhere else.’

‘I guess…I guess that’s because of Grace,’ she stammered, still concentrating fiercely on her frying pan.

But suddenly the frying pan was taken out of her hands. Her wet hands were pulled to lie between his bigger ones-heavens, there were soapsuds and the soapy foam was squeezing out between their entwined fingers-and Luke was looking down into her eyes as if he was about to make a declaration.

And he did. She couldn’t stop him. She desperately didn’t want this, but he was saying it anyway.

‘No, Wendy,’ he said softly. He caught her look of startled alarm and he gave her another of his gorgeous quizzical smiles. ‘I know this is way too soon. I know you’re scared. So I’d really like to tell you that I’ve decided to stay because I’ve fallen in love with my little sister-as indeed I have-or because I’m falling hard for Gabbie and Bruce-and I’ve done that, too-but the truth is, my love, that I’ve fallen for you. For you, Wendy.’

‘Luke-’

‘You are not to look scared,’ he told her sternly. He smiled down at her with such a smile that her heart lurched within her breast. ‘I refuse to make you look scared. I will not rush you anywhere you don’t want to go, my love. But the truth is, Wendy, that I’m falling deeper into somewhere I’ve never been before. I never thought I’d fall in love, but I’m totally smitten with you, and I’m prepared to hang around for however long it takes for that fear to disappear from your eyes.’

How to react to this? She tried to pull back but he wouldn’t have a bar of it. His grip on her hands grew tighter.

‘It never will,’ she managed, and the look of blank rejection on her face made him frown.

‘I’d like to know why I don’t have a chance,’ he said softly, and his hands were warm and strong and infinitely seductive. ‘Am I so dreadful?’

‘No. Yes!’ She hauled back then, and he did release her, then stood watching as she turned fiercely back to her too-clean frying pan. ‘You forget, I’ve been married before,’ she told him. ‘I’m not in the market for another relationship.’

‘Your husband’s been dead for six years,’ he said, still watching her with eyes that were gently concerned. ‘Does losing one love preclude any sort of relationship ever again?’

‘Yes!’

‘He must have been quite a man.’

‘If only you knew.’ She shook her head, and then, to her fury, she felt tears well up behind her eyes. Good, she thought. Let him think it was sorrow for Adam that was holding her back. ‘Marriage-commitment-is something you only do once,’ she managed. ‘Or at least it’s something I only do once. And if you keep being…ridiculous…then you’ll have to find a new nanny for Grace. Gabbie and I will have to move on.’

‘That’s crazy.’

‘It is,’ she said savagely into her dishwater. ‘It is indeed. To mess with a perfectly good employer-employee relationship because you want an affair…’

‘It’s not an affair I want, Wendy,’ he said, and she cast him a startled glance. Heavens, he almost sounded as if he meant it.

‘But that’s all it would be,’ she retorted. ‘We’re two completely opposite people. I’m your employee, Luke Grey, and that’s the way I want to keep it. So it’s that or nothing. Now, are you going to go back to Sydney-or New York- or wherever? Or not?’

He knew that much at least. ‘Not,’ he said decisively. ‘It’s occurred to me that I’m perfectly content here. Okay, you don’t want me to touch you-I can live with that. For now. I promise I won’t touch you unless you want. I’m a patient man. So let’s get back to thinking I’m here for the children’s sakes, and to get you used to me being around. For I intend to stay-for the children’s sakes-for a very long time. Okay?’

‘Luke-’

‘It has to be okay,’ he said heavily, and picked up his tea towel and started to wipe. ‘It seems to me we have no choice. Either of us.’

Which was all very well, he told himself later that night, in the time when he should be sleeping. It was fine to say he had all the time in the world. In a sense, he did. He’d reorganised his job so he could work from here with only the occasional trip away. He could keep himself busy and occupied and useful.

But how could he keep his hands away from Wendy? When every single minute his body’s need was deepening to a fever pitch-to a need that he’d never known in his life.

CHAPTER EIGHT

LUKE and Gabbie were halfway through a very exciting story when the car pulled up. The girl who emerged was about Wendy’s age, pert and pretty. Accustomed to Gabbie bolting for cover every time a new person arrived, Luke was amazed to see Gabbie drop her book and launch herself down the veranda steps to hug the new arrival with