not that stupid.’
He’d messed it up. Gemma thought he wanted a domestic servant, he decided ruefully as he brooded over her refusal. He didn’t. He wanted an equal.
But…it would be nice if she took over the things he didn’t want to do. His fantasy was of a wife like his mother had been-Gemma walking the kids to school, Gemma reading to the kids before tucking them in at night. Gemma being there for them as he couldn’t be.
Why couldn’t he be?
Because he was the doctor, he thought. The breadwinner.
Damn, Gemma was a doctor, too. Her qualifications were every bit as good as his.
His fantasy was of her helping him-taking the load off his shoulders-making practice in this tiny town a pleasure instead of the burden it had become.
And in return he could help her out of her financial difficulties. He could…
His thought hit an obstacle there. What else could he do?
Hmm.
It was a bit of a one-sided coin, Nate conceded. But… she was so weary. She was so darned stressed. You’d think she’d fall on his offer just to share her load.
Was he offering to share her load? Or extend it?
He needed to find out what was going on in her background, he decided. If there was still a husband then who was he and why had he left Gemma so burdened? What were her debts?
He needed to know more-and to keep her here until he knew.
‘So no more proposing,’ he told himself firmly. ‘And no more kissing. Because she’ll run a mile and this may well be the best chance you’ve got of getting yourself a sensible wife and mother for Mia.’
A sensible wife and mother…
Gemma knew exactly what Nate was asking-and why. Sensible Gemma. Hadn’t she always been that?
Her earliest memories had been of being the sensible one. Gemma, who’d always taken second place to Fiona. Gemma, who’d stayed home and done the housework while her mother had taken Fiona to one beauty pageant after another. Gemma, who had never been able to go on school trips because all the money had had to be used for Fiona-for Fiona’s ballet lessons and deportment lessons and make-up and clothing… Gemma, who had worn Fiona’s cast-offs right up until the moment Fiona had died.
Gemma, putting everything aside-interrupting her medical studies for a year to nurse her grandfather because her mother had refused to do it. That had been the year Fiona had almost become Miss Australia, and who could have stayed home and nursed an old man when that had been happening?
Then her mother had become ill herself. Fiona hadn’t helped. Of course she hadn’t.
Then taking on Cady… And trying to back away from Alan.
And finally the awful time spent nursing Fiona as she’d neared death.
Yep, that was Gemma all right. The sensible one. And here was Nate asking her to be that all over again.
Well, he could take a hike. She should leave right now.
But… Cady was so happy. Every day he was regaining his health. Mrs McCurdle and Graham thought he was the best thing since sliced bread-they were spoiling him rotten and they were just what he needed. Every time she decided to pack her bags and leave she’d hear Cady’s delicious chuckle and she’d pause.
It was so unfair.
There was a part of her that whispered that Nate’s offer would be so easy to accept. So…sensible. Make this arrangement permanent by marriage, and cope with the consequences later.
But she couldn’t marry-even if she wanted to. How on earth would Alan react? She daren’t let herself think about it.
But the consequences were already with her.
‘I’ve fallen in love with the man,’ she whispered into her pillow, and the knowledge was as bitter as gall. Damn. Damn, damn and damn.
And a few more words besides.
‘I don’t swear. I never swear so why am I lying here making my pillow blush?
‘It’s Nate. He’s got me so confused I don’t know who I am any more.
‘So marry him.
‘As if that’d solve anything. As if you could, even if you wanted to. You’ve got rocks in your head, Gemma Campbell. The likes of Nate Ethan aren’t for the likes of you. You’d give him your heart on a plate and he’s already made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t want it. He only wants Gemma the workhorse.’
Gemma the workhorse turned over and punched her pillow so hard a clump of feathers came sailing out of the lining and landed on her nose. She sneezed, and even smiled.
But she wasn’t smiling when she finally fell asleep.
Nate found Gemma in the pool.
Every morning since Milly had been released from hospital Gemma had taken her into the pool and was patiently teaching her to swim. She’d had five lessons now and it was hard to say who was most pleased-Milly or her proud mother, who was beaming and beaming as she watched the lesson from the poolside.
As Nate walked into the poolroom Mrs Jefferson bounced up from the bench where she’d been watching. Milly’s mother was practically bursting with excitement.
‘She did five strokes on her own. Five strokes! Can you believe that? And two weeks ago we thought we’d lost her.’
Nate looked in the water and Gemma and Milly were as flushed with triumph as Sandra Jefferson.
‘That’s great.’
‘Do you want to see, Dr Ethan?’ Milly called, and without waiting for a response she dived underwater. Her tiny arms splashed the water-
‘That’s six. That’s six!’
If I’d told her to try and hold her breath that long to build her lung capacity, she would’ve stared at me blankly, Nate thought. There were miracles happening here.
‘Now my lesson’s finished, Cady’s coming in with me,’ Milly told him.
He knew that. That was why he was here. Mrs McCurdle had been dressing Cady in his swimming trunks when Nate had stopped for an early lunch, and he’d been unable to resist.
‘You’ve got your bathers on, too,’ Milly shrieked, pointing at Nate. He was wearing his trunks. ‘Look! Look, Dr Campbell. Dr Ethan’s coming in, too.’
Gemma looked-and saw.
She didn’t look exactly delighted, Nate thought. She didn’t look exactly anything.
Or maybe that wasn’t the truth. Sure, she was wearing an ancient costume which looked like it’d fit a woman twice her size. It was stretched out of shape with age and the colour was indeterminate. But she was flushed with pride and she was smiling at the little girl in the water beside her. And, Nate thought suddenly, she has… something. An indescribable something. Not the stunning good looks of Fiona or Donna but a sort of magnetism…
He was dreaming.
Then Cady came bursting through the door, towing Mrs McCurdle behind him. When he saw Milly and Gemma in the water he yipped in excitement.
‘Can you cope on your own?’ Nate quizzed Gemma, and she smiled and flushed.
‘I… Yes.’
‘You wouldn’t like some help?’
There was only one answer to that. ‘I’d love some help.’
‘Right.’ And he dived in feeling suddenly, crazily joyful. Like the sun had just come out.
Because of Milly, he told himself.
Yeah, right.
