He chuckled but she heard the strain behind it. He swung to her. ‘Kit, I’ve by no means decided—’
‘I know.’ She refused let him finish, wouldn’t let him talk himself out of the thought of becoming a father. She touched his arm. ‘But wil you promise me to at least consider the possibility? Just to…think about it?’
‘Kit, I—’
‘Kit, I—’
He broke off and dragged a hand back through his hair. ‘I’l think about it. But I’m not making any promises.’
‘Thank you.’
He rose and took her now empty plate. ‘Would you like some more?’
She shook her head.
‘I’l get started on the dishes then.’
Kit watched him take their plates inside, her hand resting across her stomach, her fingers crossed.
Three days later Alex wasn’t any closer to knowing if he could manage the kind of involvement Kit wanted from him.
Whenever he thought of that baby girl at the Rock Pool, though, a surge of longing cracked his chest wide open. Longing that had grown into a persistent ache.
He didn’t know what it meant. He’d discounted children and family for ever.
But Kit was carrying
He swal owed, remembering the first moment Chad had been placed in his arms and—
His mind shied away from the memory. Thinking about Chad, he couldn’t do it. It hurt too much.
Thinking about Chad made him want to throw his head back and howl.
He rol ed his shoulders, shoved his thoughts aside. He hadn’t signed up for any of this!
When he half-turned from the house to seize the crowbar Kit appeared at the very edge of his peripheral vision, sitting in her Cape Cod chair.
She’d gone stil , her fingers no longer flying across the keyboard of her laptop and suddenly he realized she’d ceased working to watch him. He swal owed and forced himself back to face the house. He pretended not to have noticed, told himself it didn’t matter, pretended it didn’t affect him.
Impossible! Al the muscles in the lower half of his body bunched and hardened. Her gaze had the physical presence of a warm caress, like a soft finger tracing wil ing flesh.
He gritted his teeth and ordered himself to focus on the job at hand. Several weatherboards on her cottage needed replacing before he could paint.
With crowbar primed, he started prising one off, steadily working his way along its length.
He’d wanted to refit the bathroom before he’d moved to the outside of Kit’s house, but the hardware store was stil awaiting delivery on the shower unit he’d ordered. The supplier was out of stock. He grimaced. He’d have to hide that particular bil from Kit when it arrived. The unit had cost a bomb and Kit would have a pink fit if she ever found out.
He set his jaw. The unit was top-of-the-line, non-slip, non-breakable glass, and easy-clean. The fibreglass base and interior meant no grouting. Kit had heaved a sigh of gratitude when he’d mentioned that particular fact. He figured she’d be busy enough with the baby when it came without adding a high- maintenance bathroom to her list of chores.
He wondered if she’d let him hire her a housekeeper or a cleaner.
If…?
The nails, rusted into the timber frame of the house, screeched as he worked the crowbar. Final y the weatherboard came free and he sidestepped it as it clattered to the ground.
If only he could sidestep other issues as easily.
From behind, he heard Kit’s quick intake of breath. He glanced over his shoulder to find her gaze glued to his butt. She licked her lips, her eyes dark.
She leant forward. He went hot, tight and rigid as rock.
He and Kit, they had chemistry. Maybe…
Her gaze lifted with a slowness and thoroughness that had him biting back an oath and fighting the desire to stride over there, drag her mouth up to his and have—
‘Oh!’
He blinked. Kit stared at him, her cheeks a deep, dark pink. She swal owed convulsively and then jammed her canvas hat onto her head.
jammed her canvas hat onto her head.
He swore. He tried to loosen his grip on the crowbar. Hanging out with Kit like this—it was murder! For Pete’s sake, why had she taken to working outside anyway?
She’d said it was to enjoy the sun. He’d told her that she just enjoyed watching him slave away. His teeth ground together. He’d been joking.
It didn’t feel like a joke any more.
He wiped his brow on his sleeve and let loose with another curse—low so she wouldn’t hear it. Who was
