She thrust out her chin. Darn man!
‘Jeez, Kit!’ A large shape loomed in the doorway and her heart hammered al the way up into her throat. ‘What the hel are you doing on a stepladder?’
Alex!
This time her wobble wasn’t feigned. She recovered herself and clambered down before she real y did fal . She wouldn’t let him catch her.
She couldn’t let him touch her.
‘What on earth are you doing here?’ She wasn’t dreaming, was she? She hadn’t conjured him up through the sheer force of her longing?
But, as his dark malt scent hit her, she knew she wasn’t dreaming. She wanted to cry. She’d just about rid her house of that scent.
‘Alex?’ She did al she could to make her voice hard and demanding, which was difficult given that she could hardly breathe.
He looked delightful y and deliciously adrift.
No! He wasn’t delightful y and deliciously anything.
‘Find me a meat cleaver,’ Caro muttered.
Decision suddenly stamped itself al over his face.
It took her breath away.
‘Caro—’ his hands descended to her friend’s shoulders ‘—if I can’t make this right I’l meat cleaver myself. You have my word on it. But until then—’ he propel ed Caro out of the door ‘—I need you to give me and Kit ten.’
‘Kit?’
It hurt her to see him. It was wonderful too. ‘It’s okay.’
Caro shrugged and held her right hand up to her ear as if holding a phone. ‘Cal me.’
Kit swal owed and nodded. ‘I wil .’
Caro left before Alex could close the door on her.
‘Leave the door open,’ Kit said as Alex went to close it.
Shadows chased themselves across his face. ‘So you can cal for Caro?’
No, so she could breathe! His scent beat at her, making her light-headed. Not that she had any intention of confessing that.
She cursed her weakness for this man. And then She cursed her weakness for this man. And then had to swal ow at the baby’s sudden activity. As if it too sensed Alex in the room and couldn’t contain its excitement. The thought sent pain shooting through her heart.
She folded her arms and lifted her chin, stared at his throat. ‘What are you doing here, Alex? As you can see, the work on the house is done.’ Except for the nursery. And Alex wasn’t interested in the nursery.
He wasn’t interested in the baby.
He wasn’t interested in her.
Final y, she lifted her eyes to his and her heart started to pound as loud and hard as their baby’s kicks. The expression in his eyes, it said otherwise
—that he
She swal owed, stuck out a hip. She’d been wrong about him before.
A ridiculous shyness, a ludicrous nervousness, made her hands shake and tangled her tongue.
‘The house looks great.’
It did.
He suddenly frowned. ‘May I have a look at the bathroom?’
She gestured for him to go right ahead. It was easier than saying anything. It provided her with an opportunity to feast her eyes on him as he surveyed the newly appointed bathroom.
‘Do you like the shower unit?’
That unglued her tongue. She transferred her gaze from him to it and shook her head. ‘It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever clapped eyes on, Alex.’ Its fibreglass starkness seemed at odds with the rest of the room.
‘What on earth were you thinking?’
‘If it wasn’t for that shower unit I wouldn’t be here.
It’s that shower unit that’s made me come to my senses.’
She pressed a hand to her forehead. The man had gone mad.
‘And you. And Frank.’
She pul ed her hand away, narrowed her eyes.
Frank had been wonderful these past two weeks—
