Their Baby Bargain

There was only this night. This night and then…nothing?

There’d been nothing for ever, she thought bleakly. Since Adam’s death there’d been nothing, or even before that, when she knew she’d made such a mistake with her marriage. And now…safe in this man’s arms, with his hold on her tightening by the minute. It was so sweet… So seductive…

Don’t think of tomorrow…

She lifted her face, just a little, but it was enough.

‘Let me love you, Wendy,’ he said in a voice that was none too steady. ‘Let me love you, my love. Now and for ever.’

And who could resist? A girl would have to be less than human to resist.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened then the decision had been taken out of her hands. Luke was kissing her, so deeply she thought she’d drown. His hands were claiming her and she was being lifted into his arms and carried back to the waiting sandhills.

And she knew, whatever came tomorrow, for now there was only this night, this man…

And joy.

CHAPTER NINE

DAWN.

As the sun slipped over the horizon, Luke stirred with Wendy in his arms. He held her close, savouring this last, long moment of wonder, and then he kissed the nape of her neck to make her stir. Needs must…

‘Love?’

She woke, wondering, and, as she saw that it was daylight her eyes flew wide in panic. ‘No!’

‘It’s fine.’ His grip tightened. He wasn’t letting her go for the world, but it said a lot for his instinctive understanding of this woman that he knew what her first thought would be. Her children. ‘Nick and Shanni are staying at the farm for the night. You knew that. They’re not expecting us back until breakfast.’

She thought about this, panic subsiding. She grimaced-but then it was hard to grimace very much when she was feeling so light and so loved and so incredibly wonderful.

‘I’ve been set up,’ she said, and he chuckled.

‘You have. But soon…’ he glanced at his watch ‘…soon the staff from the resort above will come down and clear the remnants of last night’s debauchery, and we’re not exactly in a position to receive them.’

They weren’t. She blushed bright crimson at that. Good grief! If anyone had ever told her she’d sleep naked on a beach, wrapped only in a picnic rug, and not very securely at that…

‘A swim and dress, I think,’ Luke said ruefully. ‘Before we have visitors. What do you think, my love?’

What did she think? There was only one thing she wanted to do more than swim. But Luke was right, they had to be sensible-or a little bit sensible.

So she didn’t argue-and who could argue when he was lifting her and carrying her across to the river which was now deep and cool and wonderful with the incoming tide-and he was lowering her down into the water and she was gasping and laughing and holding him and devouring his wonderful body with her eyes.

And she was so far in love that she felt she could float not just in the water but anywhere. As long as Luke was beside her.

But…

This was tomorrow.

It was okay for a start. It was fine, even. Dressed-after a fashion, though they did look a whole lot less respectable than the two gorgeous diners who’d entered the restaurant the night before-they crept hand in hand up the track, skirted the resort buildings and made their getaway without sighting anyone.

‘Great.’ Luke grinned as he nosed his lovely little car out onto the highway. He looked across at his love and his grin intensified. ‘Though if we’d been seen they never would have recognised us from last night. You look like a mermaid, my love.’

‘You mean there’s seaweed in my hair.’ She lifted a strand of sea-soaked curls and regarded it ruefully. ‘Just as long as we can sneak inside at the other end.’

‘It’s still before seven. We have every chance.’

‘We have children and puppies,’ Wendy said. ‘We have no chance at all. Nick and Shanni will jump to all sorts of conclusions.’

‘Let them.’ Luke glanced sideways at her again, and the look on his face made her warm from the toes up. ‘They’ll all be right. Unless they figure we’re already married and even that-’

‘Luke…’ She faltered.

‘Yes, love?’

‘You’re going too fast.’

He eased off the accelerator and she gave a sideways smile. ‘I didn’t mean that.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean…marriage.’

‘It’s what I want,’ he said steadily. ‘I want you, Wendy. For ever. Can you handle that?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You knew last night.’

‘Yes, but…’ She faltered again and shook her head. ‘Luke, it’s happened so fast. I met Adam and married him fast, and it was such a mistake.’

His brow darkened. ‘I’m not Adam.’

‘No, but…’

‘But what?’

She stared across at him for a long, long minute, trouble written on her face. Then…

‘Will you sell this car?’ she burst out.

Silence.

Would he sell this car? Luke faced the road again, and unconsciously his foot pressed more firmly on the accelerator. Sell…

He didn’t love this car, he acknowledged, frowning into the silence. Not like he loved Wendy and the kids. But…

‘Why do you want me to sell it?’

‘Because it’s foolish.’

‘Because it’s like Adam?’

‘Yes,’ she burst out before she could stop herself. ‘To have a car that’s so powerful is so stupid!’

‘It’s not a stupid car, Wendy,’ he said carefully. ‘It’s a beautiful car. Sure, it’s expensive, but it’s a craftsman- made piece of engineering that gives me real pleasure. I have never used it unwisely. I have never driven faster than is safe, and I’ve never been stupid in it. But if you think that me owning it makes me like Adam…’

‘I’m sorry, but-’

‘I’m not like Adam,’ he told her, the frown still in his voice. ‘I’m me. And what else will you want me to do if we go down that road? Get rid of any suits that might make me look like Adam? Sleep on the other side of the bed to the one he did? Eat different brands of toast spread?’

‘It’s ridiculous, I know-’

‘It is ridiculous,’ he said. ‘It’s also insulting. You have to know that I’m different. I’m asking you to marry me, Wendy. I am asking you. But if you think for one minute that I’m like Adam then I don’t want a bar of it. So no, I won’t sell this car. Not because I can’t, or because I’m more attached to it than I am to you, but because it’s part of who I am. The whole package. Futures broker, nice car, leather jackets… If you want commitment then you need to love me for me, Wendy, or you don’t love me at all.’

And that was that.

What was he saying? he thought bleakly. Luke sat back and clenched his hands on the steering wheel until