Jack's Baby

by Emma Darcy

  Nina shook her head. “I’m all organised. Just washing up breakfast things. Have you got time for a cup of coffee?”

  “If it’s no trouble.” Having been welcomed, Sally sailed in, looking sunnily superb in a wheat-gold suit. She perched on the stool by the kitchen counter, her bright hazel eyes alight with curiosity and interest. “How’s the babe this morning?”

  “No problems so far. She only woke to be fed once during the night. I couldn’t ask for a more contented baby.”

  “Let’s hope it lasts.”

  For more reasons than one, Nina thought as she put the kettle on and spooned instant coffee into a mug for Sally. Jack might come to love a good baby, though babyhood was only the start of a long, trying journey with children. Would Jack last the distance?

  She pushed the worry aside and gave Sally a warm smile. “Thanks for organising the nappy service for me.”

  “Piece of cake.”

  Nina waved at the coffee table. “And the lovely flowers. They’re perfect.”

  “Oh, Jack bought those. I only put them in the bowl.” She gave Nina an arch look. “That guy is worth marrying, Nina. He cares a lot about you.”

  “Mmm, we’ll see,” Nina answered offhandedly. The kettle whistled. Glad of the distraction, Nina turned away to make the coffee to Sally’s taste. “Any bookings for me?” she asked, turning the conversation to business. She didn’t want to discuss Jack. Her feelings about him swung from wild longing to helpless despair.

  Sally was not slow on reading signals. She obligingly picked up the cue. “I’ve tried to keep this week clear for you, but weddings always throw up last-minute little traumas. Juliette Hardwick has lost weight and wants her dress taken in. I’ve scheduled a fitting for seven o’clock tonight. Can do?”

  “Of course.”

  If Jack came for dinner, as he planned, he’d have to understand she wasn’t always available when he wanted her to be. Most clients came after normal working hours. It was the only time they were free, and Nina had to accommodate them. Running one’s own business was a lot different from working for someone else. Customers came first. The baby’s needs came ahead of Jack’s, too. Nina could see his patience running out very quickly.

  “Tomorrow’s free,” Sally continued, “but Friday night Belinda Pinkerton and her mother and her three bridesmaids are coming for a consultation. Seven-thirty. They want your advice on what would best suit them.” Sally rolled her eyes expressively. “Could be a big job in it for you, Nina.”

  It was a thrilling thought. Nina grinned, her eyes dancing with excitement. “I’ll sharpen up my sales pitch.”

  “Nothing like a complete showcase to advertise your talent,” Sally encouraged. “Belinda likes dramatic. Think about it. And the Pinkertons have serious money to spend, so think big.”

  “Great!”

  Sally drank some of her coffee then casually remarked, “I would have dropped in last night but I didn’t want to intrude on anything private.”

  Nina’s burst of pleasure dimmed. She just didn’t know where she was going with Jack.

  Sally noted the change and grimaced. “I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing in letting Jack bring you home.”

  “No.”

  “He was very eager.”

  “Yes.”

  The monosyllabic replies drew a deep sigh from Sally. “I know it’s none of my business, Nina, but the guy seemed very sincere. I had a long talk with him after we left the hospital the other night. He’s dead-set on marrying you.”

  “Maybe.”

  Sally gave her a sharp, penetrating look. “You don’t want him?”

  Nina winced. “It’s not that.”

  “Well, if you’re worried about the business, Jack assured me he’d respect and support any outlet you wanted for your creativity. He said he understood how you felt about it and knew how important it was for your own sense of achievement and fulfilment. The guy really impressed me, Nina. I don’t think you’d have any trouble with him on that score.”

  Sally was right. Jack wouldn’t interfere with any opportunities that came her way. He valued his own work and would apply the same value to hers. It was only the time spent on the baby he’d resent.

  “When he was here yesterday, he noted how you’d raised the table and said he’d make you one that fitted all your work requirements,” Sally went on. “Save you from getting back problems.”

  Nina couldn’t help smiling. Jack would enjoy getting it right for her. He was quite obsessive about getting things right. Unfortunately, babies and children threw unpredictable spanners into perfect plans. Could Jack learn to live with that? Her smile drooped into a grimace. He’d been totally fed up with the way his friends’ baby had disrupted the infamous dinner party.

  “I’d snaffle him if I were you,” Sally said confidentially. “The guy is pure gold. He’s got money. He’s got brains. He’s got great muscles. And he’s not going to mess with our partnership.”

  Nina sighed and confessed the wretched truth. “He doesn’t want children, Sally. That’s why I broke up with him in the first place.”

  Sally’s eyebrows disappeared into her flyaway fringe. “He turned his back on you when you got pregnant?” she squawked in outrage.

  “No. I didn’t tell him I was pregnant. I knew he didn’t want children. He’d told me so in no uncertain terms.”

  Sally ruminated over these facts as she finished her coffee. She set her mug down and gave Nina the benefit of her wisdom. “Well, he hasn’t exactly been put off by Charlotte, has he? Why didn’t he run the other way once he found out you’d had his baby?”

  Nina shrugged helplessly. “He still wants me. I don’t think Charlotte is real to him yet. He remembers how it was between us and he wants that back.”

  “Hmm.” Sally clacked her perfectly manicured fingernails on the counter. “Is he coming to visit this evening?”

  “That was the plan. If he hasn’t had second thoughts.”

  “Right!” Sally’s authority finger shot out to emphasise points. “Leave Charlotte with him while you deal with Juliette Hardwick. If he wants to skip out of minding the baby, he’s history. If he takes it on, he’ll start finding out Charlotte is real. Put him to the test, Nina.”

  Having settled the matter to her satisfaction, Sally slid off the stool, supremely confident of pertinent results.

  “But it mightn’t prove anything,” Nina argued, not liking the idea of leaving Jack in charge of her baby. “Charlotte sleeps most of the time.”

  “It’s a question of attitude,” Sally claimed, making a jaunty exit. She paused at the door for a curtain line. “And don’t forget to give him a reward if he does good. I’m a great believer in the reward system. It encourages performance.”

  The door closed.

  Right! Nina thought, mentally girding her loins. There was no good to be gained in mushing around with negative pessimism. If she wanted decisive answers, risks had to be taken. If Jack came tonight, she would leave Charlotte with him. After all, he was her father. His reaction to the idea of being left in sole charge of a baby should tell her something.

  Attitude.

  It should be a dead give-away.

  CHAPTER NINE

  A GLANCE at her watch warned Nina to stop dithering. It was almost five o’clock. Jack finished work at four. She wasn’t quite sure what his plan was, but it didn’t take long to get from Roseville Chase to Lane Cove. She wanted to be ready for him. For tonight’s appointment with Juliette Hardwick, as well.

  She always wore black for business. It was classy while also being unobtrusive. It was important for the women being dressed for a wedding to outshine everyone else. Since it was Nina’s job to ensure they achieved that result, she didn’t want her own appearance to be a distraction. Black was also the perfect foil to show up their dresses in the mirror as she moved around them, tucking and pinning.

  With having to breastfeed Charlotte, it was far more practical for her to wear a button-through tunic,
but vanity kept pulling her towards the silky two-piece, which featured a cowl neckline and a gold-link belt. It was definitely her sexiest outfit, soft and swishy, the fabric clinging to her curves, accentuating her femininity.

  She had worn loose clothes through most of her pregnancy. Now that she had her figure back, more or less, the temptation to really feel like a woman again argued against common sense. Besides, Jack had seen her looking a frump in the hospital. It wouldn’t hurt to remind him of how she could look—a sort of welcome, and a reward if he really was as good as his word about being a dad for Charlotte.

  She wasn’t sure how far a reward should go at this stage. Sally did have a point. Some positive encouragement might help to establish a more positive attitude. It was worth trying, anyway. If Jack saw her making an effort for him, he might make more of an effort with Charlotte.

  Decision made, Nina whipped her favoured outfit off its hanger and quickly pulled it on. Her waist wasn’t quite back to normal, but her breasts were bigger, so her figure still balanced in a satisfactory fashion. She slipped on a pair of soft gold slippers and hunted through her earrings for the black and gold dangly set that complemented her short hairstyle.

  She’d washed and blow-dried her hair into perfect shape earlier this afternoon. The longer sections on either side of her face now curved smoothly along her cheekline. It was a sophisticated style, cleverly shaped to her head and cut higher at the back to accentuate the curve of skull and neck. A gamine-style fringe softened the overall sleek severity of the cut and served to make more of a feature of her large, dark eyes.

  In keeping with Sally’s policy of always looking good, Nina had taken time with her make-up, using both a light and dark grey shading to add emphasis to her eyes. Her thick black lashes looked even more lustrous with mascara. She’d balanced deep red lipstick with a subtle application of toning blusher, making her cheekbones slightly more dramatic. Sally insisted that hands were important, too, so a matching red varnish glossed her well-kept nails.

  Now that her hair was short, Nina enjoyed wearing earrings. She had a long neck, and they really added style and made a statement with whatever she was wearing. Having found the pair she wanted and fastened them to her lobes, Nina felt a definite lift in spirits as she surveyed her reflection in the mirror. Not bad. Not bad at all. She grinned at herself. Jack would see a big difference between yesterday and today.

  Not that she wanted to encourage him too much, more laying a promise on the line if he was prepared to toe it where Charlotte was concerned. No mother without daughter. A package deal. And Charlotte was not to be short-changed. Nina was determined on that.

  She moved over to the double bed where the capsule occupied one side, propped around by pillows for extra safety. Leaning over the snugly sleeping baby, she inhaled the fresh, sweet scent of her. It had been a delight bathing Charlotte this afternoon, tiny arms splashing, legs kicking, her eyes wide open, staring up at Nina as though querying the experience while obviously enjoying it. The world was so new to her. Nina hoped nothing would spoil it for her daughter for a long, long time.

  She moved quietly out of the bedroom and was passing the kitchenette when the knock on the door came, startling her into an abrupt halt. Her heartbeat accelerated with a hop, skip and jump. It had to be Jack. Fate had dictated that their paths cross again. She silently begged not to be disappointed as she composed herself as best she could and took the last few steps to admit the father of her child.

  With a hopeful little smile appealing to all that was good in Jack, she opened the door. The same kind of smile was waiting for her, but she barely saw it. Her heart contracted at the sheer male vitality that hit her. Jack was dressed in jeans and a cream and navy body shirt, and his tall, muscular frame seemed to leap at her.

  He’d had his hair trimmed, and his face looked so clean-cut and handsome, Nina couldn’t help staring, drinking in all his attractive features, the high, wide forehead punctuated by strongly arched eyebrows, eyes of deep river green sweeping over her with drowning intensity, the striking sculpture of his nose and cheekbones and the teasing sensuality of his full-lipped mouth. She could smell the spicy aftershave lotion he had splashed on his shiny smooth jaw and had a mad urge to taste it, to run her tongue over the slight dimple just above the strong, straight line of his chin.

  “Nina.” Intense relief and awed pleasure. His face broke into a dazzling grin. His hands came up, gesturing appreciation of the picture she made. “You look fantastic.” He laughed. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck, you’re so stunningly beautiful.”

  She laughed, too. He’d had the same impact on her.

  “Even your hair…” He shook his head in wonderment.

  “You preferred it long?”

  “No…it’s different, but it does suit you.” Emphatically positive.

  “I know you liked it long, but it got in the way with bending down to get hems right on dresses.” She prattled, tingling with nervous excitement.

  “Doesn’t matter.” His eyes said he adored her any way at all.

  Nina’s stomach curled. “You look great, too, Jack.”

  He took a deep breath. “May I come in, Nina?”

  “Oh!” She expelled the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She felt as skittish as a teenager on a first date, wanting everything to be perfect yet frightened of doing the wrong thing, going too far, not going far enough. It was silly. They’d had a baby, for heaven’s sake, yet somehow the remembered intimacies made it worse. So much hung in the balance.

  “I’m not going to jump you, Nina,” Jack said softly. “I realise you need time.”

  He understood. Relief and pleasure coursed through her, resulting in a brilliant smile. “I’m glad you came, Jack.” The words bubbled from her as she stood back and waved him in. “I’m sorry about last night, pushing you out so—so…”

  “It’s okay,” he assured her. “It must have been a big strain, the baby, me, everything.”

  “Yes, it was. I didn’t know what to think,” she blurted.

  “We’ll work it out, Nina.” His eyes were serious, wanting her agreement.

  Her heart swelled with hope, and the love they had once shared shimmered through it. She wanted to throw herself at him, hug, kiss, make love with wild abandonment, revel uninhibitedly in the joy of being together again, of touching, feeling, knowing he was her man and she was his woman. She shut the door and forced herself to be sensible.

  “I’d like that, Jack,” she said with overwhelming sincerity.

  The air between them was suddenly hyper-charged with hopes, dreams and desires. Jack seemed to teeter forward on his toes, then rocked firmly back on his heels. His hands lifted towards her. He clapped them and said heartily, “Well, how’s the kid been today?”

  The kid.

  It cleared Nina’s mind of its heat haze, but she didn’t take offence at the term this time. Jack meant well. He was trying. “Fine!” She smiled. “She loved her bath. You should have seen her, Jack. It was so…”

  Her throat seized up as the realisation hit her she was blathering on like a besotted mother who had no conversation bar her baby’s trivial activities. It was one of Jack’s criticisms of the effect of having children.

  “Go on,” he urged.

  She swallowed. Her mind seized up. She couldn’t think of anything bright to say. “You’ll think I’m a vegetable.” The words slipped out on a helpless sigh.

  “Nina, I want to share everything with you. Don’t shut me out.” The anguished plea in his voice, in his eyes, tore at her heart.

  “But you said…”

  “Forget it. It doesn’t apply to us.”

  She shook her head, unable to sweep the argument that had parted them under the carpet and pretend it never happened. “I don’t want to bore you, Jack.”

  “You won’t.” He stepped forward, his hands lifting instinctively to her upper arms to press persuasion. “Seeing your face light up with joy, your eyes dance w
ith delight—it could never bore me, Nina. I want to know what’s behind the happy glow. I want it to spill over onto me. It’s warm and wonderful and…” He expelled a long breath, and his thumbs fanned her flesh, wanting to draw her into him, enforced restraint allowing only a gentle caress. “Please don’t hold back from me.”

  Her chest felt as tight as a drum, and her heart was playing percussion instruments on a wild scale. The desire in his eyes played havoc with any control she had, yet some thread of sanity wove through the swarm of feelings, reminding her what had triggered this passionate outpouring from Jack.

  “You mean you want to hear about Charlotte’s bath?”

  “Yes. Anything. Everything,” he replied vehemently.

  She gave a nervous little laugh, her lashes sweeping down as a wave of self-consciousness increased her inner turmoil. “It’s nothing, really,” she dismissed in an agony of doubt.

  “Nina, don’t throw it away.” A gentle finger tilted her chin, drawing her gaze to his. He smiled an appeal. “You always made such fun out of telling me what you’d been doing. Let me enjoy listening to you again.”

  She tried to relax, tried to respond, but it felt hopelessly flat now. It would sound forced and false. “I’m sorry, Jack. I’ve gone cold on it.”

  “Let me get you a drink.” He released her and strode into the kitchenette, talking brightly, trying to coax her into being her old, natural self with him. “You used to keep sherry. Are you allowed a small tipple or do we stick to cups of tea? Tell me what you’d like.”

  “A small sherry wouldn’t do any harm,” she decided. “There’s a bottle in the cupboard next to the fridge. Just a splash over lots of ice.” She needed cooling down, too.

  “Okay! Coming right up.”

  She sank onto the stool on the other side of the kitchen counter, not offering to help, letting him find things himself, needing time to settle herself down and get a grip on what she should be doing. It was difficult not to simply feast her eyes on Jack, moving competently around, fixing them both drinks as though he was perfectly at home here. Except it might be different once she really introduced the baby into the equation, making it a test situation.