Wedding-Night Baby (18 page)

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Authors: Kim Lawrence

BOOK: Wedding-Night Baby
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‘Are you happy that he's chasing around the countryside with that...female?' ‘My happiness is neither here nor there,' Georgina snapped. ‘I haven't got any monopoly on his time. Callum is here to help with Rachel when I need him.'
‘And is that enough?' her mother asked.
‘It'll have to be,' Georgina said dispiritedly,
Lydia's expression softened but she pursued her topic with typical exhausting single-minded determination. ‘Doesn't it occur to you you could be a little more... welcoming to him?'
‘What do you suggest?' Georgina asked with exasperation. Did her mother really think she needed the inadequacies
of her situation pointed out? ‘I do the Dance of the Seven Veils on the kitchen table?'
‘If it works why not give it a whirl?'
‘Mother!'
‘Well, you could take a little more trouble with the way you look.'
‘Thanks for the moral support, Mother.'
‘I've no patience with this stiff-necked attitude of yours, Georgina If you want the man what's so wrong about showing him?' Her daughter was flushed-cheeked and thoughtful as she left the room. ‘You do want Callum, don't you?'
 
‘How long is Mother staying?' Georgina asked later when Callum returned. ‘She's driving me insane! I know I sound an ungrateful wretch,' she said ruefully as Callum gave her a quizzical look.
‘Here, have some.' He uncorked a bottle of wine and half filled a glass.
‘Should I?' she asked dubiously.
‘Half a glass of wine won't harm Rachel. It'll do her far more harm if her mother is ready to climb up the walls at three in the morning,' he observed sensibly. ‘You have to relax while you can.'
Georgina nodded and sipped the rich, ruby-coloured liquid. ‘I never thought it would be this tiring,' she admitted. God, Mother was right—I do look a wreck, she thought gloomily.
‘It's early days yet.' He pulled up a chair and sat astride it, resting his hands on the backrest. ‘You should go and get some sleep,' he observed, examining her pale face. ‘If Lydia wakes Rachel up again I'll strangle her and bury her at the bottom of the garden,' he offered generously. ‘Lydia, that is—not Rachel.'
This drew a laugh from her. ‘I expect I'm overreacting,
but nothing I'm doing is right, according to Mother,' she said with frustration.
‘Her mother probably did the same to her,' he said calmly. ‘Call it continuity.'
Georgina regarded him with wonder through the swirling liquid in her glass. His calmness constantly amazed her; nothing seemed to throw him—not her tearful outbursts or the baby crying at two in the morning.
‘I'm not sure I could have coped without you,' she said huskily. Her words drew his sharp gaze to her face. ‘I'm lucky.'
‘That's an astounding thing to hear you say,' he observed, his expression more cautious than amazed.
‘Mother was asking what our plans are.'
‘And what did you tell her?' he asked, a spasmodic clenching of a muscle along his jaw belying his casual tone.
 
‘I said I couldn't think beyond the moment.' She watched apprehensively as his jaw tightened and his lips thinned.
‘I see...'
‘But I can see we have to sort things out. We can't drift like this for ever. It wouldn't be fair—to either of us.'
‘I asked you to marry me.'
‘I suppose you did, after a fashion,' she agreed, her heart thudding as she picked her words with painful care. ‘It was a very emotional moment. I thought you might change your mind.'
‘That won't happen,' he said in a clipped tone.
‘It would be easy for me to say yes for all the wrong reasons. Can't you see that?' she pleaded.
‘I see you want to keep your options open.'
‘What do you mean?'
‘I mean now you have had Rachel there's nothing stopping
you taking up where you left off with May.' He was watching her with a curious intensity.
The completely unreasonable nature of his accusation roused her temper. ‘You've got some nerve after spending the night with Josie the day before Rachel was born!' She tried not to remember his absence but the memory was always there, nagging at her in contented moments.
He looked totally blank for a moment, then a faint flush mounted his cheekbones. ‘That seems like a lifetime ago,' he observed drily.
He didn't even bother defending himself, she thought, stilling her quivering lower lip with a sharp nip of her teeth. You're doing well, Georgina, she told herself. Don't cry now, she thought, gulping back a sob. Don't let him see you care.
‘If I told you I'd be faithful once we were married...' Once more his eyes avoided her face, almost as if he was embarrassed.
‘I'd laugh,' she said stiffly, with a toss of her head.
Her sarcasm made his eyes flash and his big, powerful body grow taut ‘Why didn't you tell me that you were at Mallory's that day to meet Mary, not May?'
The unexpectedness of this question left her staring as the blood drained dramatically from her face. ‘How did you...?'
‘I had a very interesting conversation with Mary when she phoned just after Rachel was born. She was relieved everything had gone well; she felt responsible for being late that day.'
He'd known that long! Georgina stared at him, trying to read his expression. ‘Why didn't you mention it?'
‘More to the point, why didn't you?' he parried. ‘I should have killed the bastard,' he reflected harshly, his fists clenching as he seemed overcome by a sudden spurt of violent anger. ‘When I think what he could have done.'
‘He made a few heavy passes at me,' Georgina confessed, attempting to sound casual. ‘I handled them clumsily. I never—'
‘Your sexual experience before me consisted of a few clumsy attempts with Alex, didn't it, Georgina?'
She gave a weak smile. ‘Two, if you're counting,' she admitted, recalling the miserable, inhibited occasions.
His eyes closed on a jagged sigh and he shook his head. ‘Couldn't you have told me that?' The words exploded from him as his eyes snapped open.
‘As a matter of fact, no, I couldn't. You didn't want to hear and I had no reason to imagine you'd be interested.'
He went pale but the ruthless glow in his blue eyes didn't fade. ‘I said some pretty vile things to you,' he said from between clenched teeth.
‘I can hear Rachel,' Georgina said, her maternal antennae picking up the faint sounds of their child's hungry cries. ‘I've got to go.'
Her daughter's immediate needs left Georgina little time to brood. Callum hadn't tried to stop her going; he'd just stood there with a peculiar, agonised expression on his face. He eventually walked in when she had just lain the small bundle back in her cradle.
Georgina straightened up and put her finger to her lips.
‘Come on through; we need to talk,' he said tersely. The movement of his eyes made her aware that she hadn't adjusted her clothes after feeding the baby. Fumbling with the buttons of her shirt, she followed him into the adjoining room.
‘Isn't it a bit late to hide your body from me, Georgina?' he said drily, his eyes on the creamy upper slopes of her generous breasts.
She paused, her clumsy fingers reluctantly falling away from their half-finished task. ‘When you put it that way, I suppose it is,' she agreed bleakly.
‘You're right—things can't go on like this.'
She had known this moment would come; he'd had enough, but steeling herself to hear him say so was the hardest thing she'd ever done.
‘I'm sure we can come to some sort of civilised arrangement. '
‘Civilised!' he growled in a tone that made her jump. ‘Who wants civilised?'
‘Why, you do, don't you? I've heard your idea of the perfect marriage and it wouldn't do for me.'
‘This should be the best time of our lives, Georgina. Tell me what would do for you.'
A solitary tear escaped and trickled slowly down her cheek. She was crying for what might have been.
Tell me what you want,' he persisted rawly, his eyes riveted to the spot of moisture.
‘I want you and Rachel.' She gritted her teeth and raised her clenched fists to her mouth as the forbidden truth escaped. No, no—just pretend I didn't say that.' She half turned away but he caught her shoulder and swung her roughly around to face him.
‘Say it again!' he demanded.
She made an ineffectual attempt to pull away. ‘Don't make this worse for me than it already is, Callum,' she pleaded.
‘Worse for you? Have you any idea what sort of hell it's been for me?' The jerk of his head indicated the brass-framed bed. ‘Every night, not able to touch you—' He broke off, his voice suspended by the pain that contorted his face. ‘Damn it, woman. Don't tease me with statements like that and turn away.' His hands tightened on her shoulders.
‘I'm not teasing you, Callum,' she protested, shocked by his response. ‘I'm sorry, but I fell in love with you. Do you see now why I couldn't possibly marry you?'
He went stock-still and she could feel a shudder gather strength and run along his taut frame. ‘I might be dense,' he said slowly in the strangest tone she'd ever heard, ‘but no, I don't see. Perhaps you should explain.'
‘I can't be pragmatic and sensible,' she shouted, her eyes dark with anguish. ‘I'd be jealous and...I wouldn't be the sort of wife you want at all.'
‘You mean the idea of me with another woman would drive you wild?' he suggested. ‘That you'd respond irrationally? Like I did when I thought of you with Simon May—or, for that matter, with anyone else but me?'
She blinked rapidly and succeeded in catapulting one of her contact lenses out ‘Oh, no!' she groaned in frustration. What brilliant timing! ‘Not now.'
‘What's wrong?'
‘I've lost one of my lenses,' she wailed, feeling against the nearest solid surface, which happened to be his chest, to find the offending item. ‘I can't see a thing.'
‘I don't mind you feeling your way,' he said softly, pressing one of her hands harder against the surface of his stomach. The delicious contraction of muscles under her fingertips made her gasp gently and raise her myopic wide eyes to his face. That he found her exploration arousing was evident as he pressed closer to her, making her insides melt.
She licked her dry lips. ‘Is this the right time to say I love you?' she asked tentatively, giving her lens up for lost She was never one to shirk a challenge, especially one with the sort of rewards this particular task could yield.
‘Absolutely the right time,' he growled, a fierce blaze of triumph in his eyes.
The kiss went on a long time as he plundered the moistness of her mouth. His hands moved in her hair and a series of fierce, hungry moans erupted from his throat.
When he lifted his head she stared at him in dazed submission.
‘I don't believe this,' she whispered hoarsely. ‘You hate me.'
He grinned. ‘If only life were that simple, my lovely Georgina,' he teased, running a finger around the firm curve of her chin and taking it firmly in the palm of his hand.
Georgina gave a shuddering sigh and smiled. It wasn't exactly an avowal of eternal love but she felt extremely optimistic.
The smile had a visibly powerful effect on Callum, who caught his breath in a series of hoarse gasps. ‘One smile like that and I'd never have lasted these past weeks,' he admitted. Whilst he spoke one hand was peeling back the half-fastened sides of her shirt. He proceeded to flick the front fastener of her bra undone. He swallowed as the creamy fullness of her breasts escaped. ‘Sweet mercy,' he breathed. ‘Can I touch? Or are you too tender?' he asked, drinking in the sweet fragrance of her hair.
‘Sensitive, but not tender now,' she said softly as he sucked the tips of the fingers she placed against his mouth. ‘Could you explain how this is happening, Callum?' she asked dreamily.
‘I didn't want to come to London or get involved in the internal wrangling of that bloody agency, and most of all I didn't want to fall in love with a wicked, red-haired witch in a silly hat.'
She couldn't stop smiling. ‘It was a very expensive hat.'
‘I have built-in prejudice when it comes to phrases like love at first sight.' He shrugged self-consciously. ‘You know my history. You hit me for six, woman, and I came up fighting,' he growled. ‘I'd seen firsthand what blind infatuation could do; I'd always been determined never to place myself in that situation and become a victim of my
own desire. Then that night in that damned awful hotel I fell at the first blow. I didn't even put up a fight.'

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