Feisty Firefighters Bundle

something.’ She looked around. ‘Is Meggie’s blanket here somewhere?’

‘You’re not planning to take Megan to some motel, are you?’ Laura was horrified.

‘She’s my baby.’

‘You’re not taking Megan anywhere,’ Jason told her firmly. ‘Not until we get a few things sorted out.’

‘I’ll have to stay here, then. I’m not going without her and I’m too tired to talk any more tonight.’

Megan hiccuped, then burped and then her crying stopped. The silence stretched on even longer this time. Laura tried desperately to make eye contact with Jason to warn him not to fall into the trap, but he was avoiding her gaze.

‘I suppose you could have Mitch’s room for a night or two,’ Jason conceded at last. He looked at Laura finally, a plea of his own written across his face. But Laura wasn’t prepared to go along with this. Megan might be this woman’s child but it just felt wrong to see the baby in her arms. She couldn’t stay in the same house as Shelley Bates.

‘It’s time I went home for a night or two, anyway.’

‘What?’

‘I think Shelley’s right. This is something the two of you need to sort out.’ She couldn’t bear sitting here like a piece of the furniture, watching her future unravel before her eyes. It was simply too painful.

‘You can’t just walk out.’ Jason followed her to the door a short time later. ‘What the hell am I supposed to do with Shelley?’

‘It was you that invited her to stay, Jase.’

‘Only because I don’t want her dragging Megan off to go hunting for a place to sleep.’

Laura shook her head. ‘You don’t need me here. I think you’ve got more chance of dealing with all this if I’m not here. You’ve got the rest of tonight and all day tomorrow to try and sort things out with Shelley.’

‘I don’t know how to sort things out.’

‘You need to decide what you want and don’t let her manipulate you into anything else.’

‘I want you to stay.’

‘What about Megan?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jason said miserably. ‘I know Shelley’s her mother but something doesn’t feel right.’

Laura said nothing. Of course it didn’t feel right. Any concern Shelley had for her child was blatantly fake. Jason, however, had developed a very genuine bond with his daughter and if he decided that Shelley wasn’t going to give Megan the love and security she deserved then he would do whatever it took to put things right. And of course he wanted Laura to stay. If he did end up keeping Megan, he would never manage on his own, would he?

Love came in so many shades. Laura knew that Jason was perfectly sincere in telling her he loved her, but did his love come anywhere near measuring up to the depth of her feelings for him? John used to say he loved her often enough when what he really loved was having someone around to love him.

Laura suddenly felt very, very tired. If Jason didn’t feel as strongly as she did right now, he never would, and she was not going to spend the rest of her life trying to earn a love that came anywhere near being reciprocal.

Megan was the key to all of this. The magic had begun with her unexpected arrival in their lives and now reality was kicking back in and choices had to be made. Jason had accepted responsibility for his daughter. Now he had to take responsibility for making those choices.

Laura knew she could never happily accept a future that didn’t contain Jason. Now it was time to find out whether he felt the same way about her, and the only way that could happen was if she stepped back.

Standing on tiptoe, Laura planted a soft kiss on Jason’s lips. ‘Good luck.’

‘I’ll need it.’ The last glimpse of his face as the door closed showed an expression as grim as his tone.

But it wasn’t Jason who needed the luck, it was Laura. And she had a horrible feeling that she had used up more than her fair share already in the last month. The fairy dust had well and truly worn off.

CHAPTER NINE

FOR once, the baby’s whimper at 5 a.m. came as a relief.

Jason rolled from his bed, tightened the frayed cord supporting his pyjama pants and reached into the nearby bassinet. At the touch of his hands, Megan fell silent. As Jason picked up his daughter, she smiled at him.

‘I don’t think you’re that hungry, are you?’

Knowing that Shelley was in the house made Jason reluctant to leave his room. He had transferred the bassinet in here last night, and closing the door firmly had given him a sense of safety. His own space to consider developments in the company of the things that had become most important to him.

Shelley had simply shrugged when he said he’d keep Megan in his room. ‘I guess you know where all the nappies and bottles are,’ she’d said. ‘We’ll sort all that out tomorrow.’

She might have raised an objection if she’d seen Oscar slipping through the gap before the door closed, but the dog was now part of the family as far as Jason was concerned, and his family needed protection. Laura should have been here as well. Jason eyed the empty bed and scowled.

How could she have packed a bag and deserted him at a time of crisis like this? Maybe he’d been wrong to feel he could trust her with his life. Maybe she wasn’t as strong as he’d thought. The going had got tough and Laura had got going in the direction of the nearest available exit.

With a deep sigh, Jason climbed back into his bed with Megan still in his arms. He pushed Oscar with his foot to make some more space.

‘You won’t get away with sleeping there when Laura comes home again, mate.’

Except she had gone home, hadn’t she? This wasn’t her home. She’d only been here because of Megan, and now Megan’s mother had returned to lay claim to her baby. No wonder Laura had left. Jason closed his eyes on a wave of misery. He’d been wrong in thinking that Megan might be the ace up his sleeve in his determination to keep Laura in his life on a permanent basis. Perhaps she was the only real draw card and if he lost his daughter then he would lose Laura as well. What did he have to offer apart from his daughter, anyway?

A reputation as a shallow Casanova, that was what. With an excellent specimen of the kind of woman that had populated his past right here in his house at present. He had a career with awkward shift hours that could put pressure on a long-term relationship and a house that he would have trouble affording the whole rent on if he had to support a family. Laura seemed to like the sex but the kind of passion they had been sharing for the last couple of weeks couldn’t last, could it? Jason knew from repeated personal experience that good sex wasn’t nearly enough.

‘You’ve got soggy pants,’ he told Megan. He poked her tummy gently. ‘Do you want some clean ones?’

Megan reached out and caught his forefinger with her hand, still so tiny that his finger looked ridiculously huge. Jason felt his eyes prickle as he watched the little starfish hand curl into a miniature fist with his finger locked firmly in its centre. Dammit-he’d had no sleep and too much to think about and his physical and mental exhaustion was turning him into a girl.

‘Not that there’s anything wrong with being a girl,’ he said aloud, apologetically. Megan beamed up at him and Jason groaned inwardly.

‘You’re not making this any easier, you know.’ With another sigh, Jason gave in and smiled back.

‘The way I see it, Peanut,’ he continued softly, ‘I haven’t got a chance of getting what I really want out of all this. If I get to keep you, I get your mum in the picture as well, and that’s not going to make Laura very happy. If I don’t get to keep you then I probably won’t get to keep Laura either. And…’ Jason’s voice dropped to a whisper. ‘I really like Laura, you know? She’s warm and funny and kind and very, very clever and…’

Jason’s gaze drifted to the empty side of his bed. Megan’s ears were way too young to hear about how he could never get tired of Laura’s soft, delicious body and the way it responded to his. He’d never go for a skinny chick again. No way.

Hell, he didn’t want to have to even think about going for anyone else.

He wanted Laura. So much that it hurt. Another smile from Megan twisted the knife in his gut. He also loved this tiny person he was holding. A very different kind of love but just as strong in its own way. Or was it so very