I was going to wait until after your doctor’s appointment, but that’s stil hours away.’
She sensed that he wanted to distract her from brooding on her worries about her baby’s health.
She started to lift her eyes, wanted to thank him again for easing her fears, but his chest and shoulders proved more of a distraction than his words. His chest started to rise and fal with a rhythm that matched hers. Her fingers clenched in the quilt.
A pulse pounded at the base of his throat. Firm, lean lips opened. Heat swirled through her.
That magnificent body leapt up. Kit’s breath caught and she started to lean towards him—
‘I’l be back in a moment.’
The words—hoarse with need—scraped out of his throat and caressed al the hairs on her arms into lifting as if in surrender. He surged out of her room, the muscles in his back rippling, and Kit melted back the muscles in his back rippling, and Kit melted back into her pil ows, her mind too fuzzed to work.
He returned a moment later, dragging another shirt on over his head.
Heat of an entirely different variety burned her cheeks, her face, her throat then. She wanted to cover her head with the bedclothes. Instead she buried her face in her lukewarm mug of tea while Alex opened the bedroom window wider to let in the cool morning air and then busied himself with her CD player.
He kept his back to her and she wondered if he was having as much trouble getting himself under control as she was.
Eventual y she managed to clear her throat. ‘You wanted to talk to me about something?’
He turned then, moved his chair another foot or so away from her bed. If he kept doing that he’d end up in the bathroom.
He sat. ‘That’s right, I did.’
‘Wel ?’ she prompted when he didn’t continue.
‘Kit, do you have a job lined up yet?’
She stared. A job? And then she rol ed her eyes.
‘You don’t need to worry about my finances. I had a very nice nest egg squirreled away before I left Sydney.’
‘Enough to cover expensive repairs on your house?’
She bit her lip and glanced away. She could get a bank loan.
Her stomach clenched and her pulse started to race. She’d better start job-hunting asap because she needed the house ready for when the baby came. She glanced back at Alex. She’d failed in providing her baby with a father. She couldn’t fail on this too. Alex had calmed her fears about her ability to be a good mother, but to prove she could be a good parent she had to get this house, and her life, on track fast. Finding a job was the first place to start.
‘Kit, I want to barter an exchange of labour with you.’
‘A…’ She stil ed. ‘Why?’
‘Because I think it would be to both our benefits.’
An exchange of labour?
‘I’d real y like you to finish that book project for McBride’s.’
‘Alex—’ she lifted her hands and then let them drop again ‘—there are any number of people at Hal am Enterprises more than capable of finishing that project. Didn’t you read my report?’
‘It was
‘Your name on the cover wil do that—your experience, your expertise.’
‘I can’t write the thing, though. You’re the one who translates al that so-cal ed experience and expertise into a compel ing, readable account. That’s where your expertise lies. We make a good team, Kit.’
She stil ed at his words. A team—her and Alex?
‘I want you to finish overseeing the work on the book because you are the best person for the job.
With an Internet connection here you can work remotely. You won’t need to go into the office.’
‘You said a barter of labour. What wil you be doing?’
‘Fixing your house.’
Her jaw dropped. ‘Alex, you’ve just returned from a month abroad. You can’t afford to take more time off work.’
His chin tilted at an arrogant angle. ‘It’s my company. I can do what I want. Besides, Donald has everything under control in the Sydney office.’ He shrugged and the arrogance vanished behind the beginnings of a smile. A wry smile admittedly, but potent for al that. ‘He’s doing a good job and I am only a phone cal away if there’s an emergency.’
‘But…’ Her mind wouldn’t work.
