The Prospective Wife (23 page)

His eyes darkened; his fingers wove into her loose silky tresses and he pulled her face down to him. ‘I’ll let you be the judge of whether that confidence is justified or not,’ he rasped.

Kat knew her decision was a foregone conclusion.

‘There he is! There he is!’ Joe yelled beside her, but Kat had already seen the tall figure running towards the finish line amongst a group of serious club runners.

The fun runners, with their hilarious, often highly uncomfortable costumes, would arrive much later. These fit specimens were all similarly clad in running vests and shorts, but for Kat’s money there was only one pair of legs worth looking at!

Glancing down at the tiny figure asleep in the padded papoose sling nestled against her bosom, she wove her way between the crowds around the finish line, ultra-protective of her burden.

Matt was bent over his hands clamped against his thighs, breathing hard. He lifted his head as someone breathlessly called across congratulations.

‘Just a gentle jog…?’

He straightened up, a grin on his face when he heard the gently sarcastic gibe.

Close to, she could see his bronzed body gleamed with a healthy sweat, but otherwise he looked remarkably unaffected by the ordeal he’d just inflicted on himself. Kat was relieved; despite the fact he’d obeyed her strictures about a sensible training regime, she had had some reservations about him attempting the London Marathon so soon after his accident. Kat had never had any doubts that he’d finish; it had just been a matter of when, and in what condition!

‘Pretty good time…huh…?’

He sounded almost as proud as the first time he’d held their baby daughter and spoken her name. Kat watched with loving affection as he greedily swigged back a bottle of water.

A young woman came forward, bearing a shiny reflective body wrap to help him retain his body heat; with a nod Kat took it from her. She draped it carefully around her husband’s broad shoulders.

‘It didn’t give you any problems?’ she asked.

Matt shucked the foil wrap over his shoulders and slapped the side of his left leg. ‘None at all.’ His blue eyes darkened as they came to rest on his wife’s face. ‘You know, angel, when I promised myself, that day they told me I might never walk again, that some day I’d run the Marathon, part of me thought I might be doing it in a wheelchair.’

Kat’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I know.’

A grin banished the solemnity from his face. ‘One scenario I never,
ever
imagined was having the two most important women in my life waiting for me at the finish line.’

The unconditional love shining in his eyes brought a solid lump of emotion to Kat’s throat. She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder as he moved closer and lifted the corner of the tiny bonnet that covered their daughter’s downy head.

‘How has she been?’ he whispered.

‘A bit fretful earlier, but she’s settled now.’

Kat understood his concern. They were both still a little over-protective of their baby who, had she been born at full term, would now only be a couple of weeks old; as it was, nearly three months had elapsed since Kat had given birth. Little Anna had spent the first ten weeks of her life in special care.

During those traumatic weeks, when things had sometimes looked pretty bleak, Kat had grown to appreciate perhaps for the first time the strength of this man she’d married. She knew that without his love and unfailing support she couldn’t have survived that ordeal.

‘All we have to do now is make the sponsors pay up.’

Matt was wearing the logos of two charities very close to their hearts: one concerned with spinal injuries and the other a support group for parents of premature babies.

‘Leave that to me.’

‘Don’t I always?’ His pride was obvious as he looked down at his beautiful wife. ‘Do I get a kiss, or do you want to wait until I’ve had a shower?’

Smiling, Kat raised herself on tiptoes, one arm protectively across her chest and the sleeping baby. ‘Since when,’ she whispered in his ear, ‘did I have a problem with you being hot and sticky…?’

With a husky laugh he drank from her lips with even more eagerness than he’d displayed for the water bottle.

‘The next time we’ll have to do it together,’ he reflected thoughtfully.

‘I thought we did.’

With a grin Matt patted her behind. ‘Not
that
it, the Marathon it.’

‘Me?’

Matt laughed at the horrified expression on her face. ‘You’ll love it.’

‘Definitely not!’ she said firmly.

‘We’ll see…’

Kat sighed. She knew he’d talk her round; he always did. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad… She looked from her big, bold, media-shy husband, who was skilfully selling his chosen charities to a TV film crew who had recognised him, to their baby daughter and she felt a rush of pride; they were a team!

She had years of doing crazy things with Matt to look forward to. Was it any wonder she felt happy enough to burst?

ISBN: 978-1-4592-0051-7

THE PROSPECTIVE WIFE

First North American Publication 2002.

Copyright © 2001 by Kim Lawrence.

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