The Pregnancy Proposal

by Helen Bianchin

  ‘Thank you,’ she said quietly.

  ‘My pleasure.’

  She smiled in response, chilling out from placing too much meaning on those two words, for they held connotations she didn’t want to explore.

  Just go with the flow, she bade silently as the mâitre ‘d seated them.

  Dusk was settling in, and soon darkness would fall, giving the night-scape a different dimension.

  The service was excellent, the food superb, and they lingered as long as they dared before leaving for the Casino, sited a few kilometres south.

  Throughout the day Tasha had become increasingly conscious of the man at her side. The light touch of his hand at the back of her waist, briefly resting on her shoulder, as he threaded his fingers through her own.

  It was impossible to ignore the warmth in his gaze, or the way he affected her.

  Was he aware of her increased heart-beat? The way all of her nerve-ends curled at his slightest touch?

  She’d have given anything to lean in against him and lift her face for his kiss…and almost did on one occasion as a sort of reflex action so familiar it became an unconscious movement she only just checked at the last second.

  The Casino was a hive of activity with people mingling everywhere, and Jared caught hold of her hand as they made their way down to the auditorium.

  Spectacular, incredible…were only two of the accolades Tasha summoned to describe the live show, for the music, costumes, theme were magnificent, and she said as much during the interval.

  Jared wondered if she knew how beautiful she was, not only visually, but on the inside, where it mattered. There was no artifice, no game-playing. She’d entered his life like a breath of fresh air, and had stayed.

  Somehow he’d not given much thought to if or when she might leave, and if it had crossed his mind he imagined it would be he who did the leaving. Not the other way round.

  ‘I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,’ Tasha declared, meeting his dark, gleaming gaze. ‘Isn’t it fantastic?’

  ‘Indeed. Shall we go get something to drink?’

  ‘OK.’

  They gained the foyer, and she slipped off to the powder-room while Jared fronted the bar.

  When she returned he was deep in conversation with Soleil. Coincidence, Tasha wondered, or design? It seemed a little too convenient for Soleil to have booked tickets for a live show at the Coast on the same night.

  A part of her registered they presented an attractive couple. Soleil’s rich auburn hair was a stunning attribute. Add a faultless figure, expensive clothes, perfect facial features, and it all added up to gorgeous.

  Jared slid an arm around her waist as she reached his side, and his smile was something else.

  ‘Soleil.’ The acknowledgement held polite warmth, a quality that was somewhat lacking in the solicitor’s response.

  At that moment the buzzer sounded, indicating patrons should return to the auditorium.

  ‘Shall we say upstairs in the Atrium bar after the show?’

  ‘Tasha?’

  The last thing she wanted to do was spend social time with Soleil. Yet she fixed Jared with a brilliant smile. ‘Why not?’

  The remaining half of the show was equally breathtaking, the finale amazing, and there was a sense of disappointment as the curtain came down for the last time.

  She was tempted to make the excuse she was tired, or nursing a headache…anything to give meeting Soleil a miss.

  It would be easy enough to do, except she was loath to provide Soleil with a victory, no matter how minor it might be.

  How hard had Soleil lobbied to act as Jared’s solicitor? The fact she’d used unfair influence to persuade her father’s recommendation was a given.

  Soleil was waiting for them, and she was alone. Jared found a table, and placed an order with the waitress, then he settled well back in his chair and steered the conversation to the show.

  ‘If you’ll excuse me for a few minutes?’ Tasha offered a polite smile and rose to her feet. Another change she’d discovered over the past week was the frequent need to visit a powder-room.

  ‘I’ll come with you.’

  Oh, great. If Soleil had a girlie tête-à-tête in mind, she could go jump in the lake.

  If Soleil made use of the facilities, she did so in record time, for she was refreshing her make-up when Tasha emerged.

  ‘Is there any substance to the rumour you’ve moved out of Jared’s apartment?’

  Oh, my, she didn’t bandy words, just aimed straight for the jugular. ‘Does it look as if Jared and I are estranged?’

  Soleil’s mouth tightened, and her eyes took on a hardness that was vaguely chilling. ‘Answer the question, darling.’

  ‘I’m not on a witness stand, nor am I obliged to discuss my personal life.’

  ‘If it weren’t true, you’d have issued a vehement denial.’ The other woman’s vividly painted mouth curved into a satisfied smile. ‘Just a little warning…Jared’s mine.’

  ‘Good luck.’

  ‘I never rely on luck.’

  Tasha closed her evening purse and walked towards the door, where she turned and offered a parting shot. ‘Merely manipulative engineering.’

  There was something exhilarating about having the last word, although she had a dire feeling it wouldn’t last long.

  She arrived back at their table ahead of Soleil, and met Jared’s speculative gaze with a brilliant smile.

  ‘Should I ask?’ His husky drawl held a tinge of humour.

  ‘Don’t,’ she advised a few seconds ahead of Soleil’s reappearance.

  ‘Are you driving back to Brisbane tonight?’ she queried as Soleil sipped her coffee.

  ‘No. I’ve booked a suite at Royal Pines. I thought I might have an early round of golf.’ She paused, then said smoothly as if the idea had just occurred, ‘Perhaps you’d care to join me?’

  To his credit Jared took his time and infused just the right degree of regret in his tone. ‘Thanks for the invitation, but Tasha and I have already made plans for the day.’

  None that she was aware of. ‘We have?’

  He offered a lazy smile. ‘Yes.’

  She glanced at Soleil and effected a light shrug. ‘It doesn’t appear golf is on his agenda.’

  He drained his coffee, then fixed the bill. ‘If you’re ready?’

  Tasha caught up her evening purse and stood to her feet. ‘Enjoy your weekend, Soleil. I’m sure we’ll catch up again soon.’ Unfortunately.

  She didn’t utter so much as a word as they took the lift down to the level where Jared had parked the car.

  ‘Would you care to tell me what that was all about?’

  Tasha didn’t shift her gaze, and instead she watched the tall, brightly lit apartment buildings lining the highway as they travelled the few kilometres to Main Beach.

  ‘Soleil chose to warn me if the rumour I’ve moved out of your apartment is true, she intends moving in for the kill,’ she relayed without preamble.

  ‘And your response was?’

  ‘I wished her “good luck”.’

  They reached the Main Beach turn-off, and within minutes Jared eased the car down into the underground car park of his apartment building.

  They rode the lift and exited at their designated floor. ‘Soleil bothers you?’ Jared unlocked the apartment door, then tossed the keys down onto a side-table.

  ‘She has a thing for you.’ She moved into the lounge, stepped out of stiletto-heeled pumps, and removed her ear-studs.

  ‘Should I be flattered?’

  ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ Tasha said with exasperation. ‘All women between sixteen and sixty have a thing for you!’ She resisted the temptation to throw something at him. ‘You’d have to be blind Freddy not to notice.’

  He was the antithesis of blind. Observing and interpreting body language was an integral part of his job. So, too, was the analysis of the human psyche.

  She was all too aware he could read her like a book,
and she wasn’t particularly inclined to bandy words with him tonight.

  She gathered up her shoes and her evening purse. ‘Thanks for dinner and the show. I enjoyed both.’

  ‘Soleil being the exception.’

  Honesty forbade anything but the truth. ‘Yes.’ She turned and walked the few steps to the spare bedroom, entered it and quietly closed the door.

  Within minutes she shed her clothes, cleansed her face of make-up, tugged on a cotton nightshirt, then she slid into bed, determinedly discarding any thought of Jared’s glamorous solicitor.

  She must have slept, for she woke in the dark, disoriented for a few seconds, until the need for a drink had her padding out to the kitchen.

  Moonlight filtered in through the glass doors of the lounge, and she extracted a glass, filled it with filtered water, then drank it down.

  For some unknown reason she felt too restless to return to bed just yet, and she crossed through the dining area to stand gazing out at the night-scape.

  The sky was a deep indigo, and she glimpsed the faint pinprick of stars high in the galaxy. Soon they’d begin to fade in a prelude to the encroaching dawn.

  Something moved at the peripheral edge of her vision, and she focused on the light, identifying it as a small jet plane en route to Coolangatta Airport some thirty kilometres south.

  Apartment high-rise buildings stood like tall sentinels, mostly unlit, apart from the occasional window. Street-lights illuminated the main thoroughfare leading to and from central Surfer’s Paradise, and there was an occasional glimpse of bright red and green neon.

  Traffic was minimal at this hour, and she watched as one crazy motorist raced another on the main road, only to be pursued by a police car with its red and blue lights flashing and siren wailing.

  Young hoons risking a drag race, caught up in the adrenalin rush…only to incur a massive fine, loss of licence, and a police record.

  ‘Unable to sleep?’

  She’d been so engrossed in the scene below she hadn’t heard or sensed his presence. ‘I woke up thirsty and came out to get a drink. Did I disturb you?’

  More than you know, Jared allowed silently. ‘I was awake.’

  Tasha didn’t say anything for several seconds, then she offered, ‘It’s so peaceful at this hour.’

  He was close, much too close, and she wanted to move away…except her limbs refused to obey the dictates of her brain.

  She was aware of him, the faint muskiness lingering from his cologne, his body heat, and his potent masculinity. He slept naked, and she had no trouble envisaging his image, the powerful musculature, his arousal.

  Her body swayed a little, almost as if it had a mind of its own, acutely sensitised and receptive to the primitive energy existent between them.

  Please, she begged silently. Turn and walk away. I don’t think I could bear for you to stay.

  She was like a finely tuned instrument, waiting for a master’s touch to release the music of her soul. To mesh with his and become something so bewitchingly magical it had the power to rob her of breath, sanity.

  She felt the touch of his hands as they cupped her shoulders, and her body sighed, then began to respond.

  The fine hairs on her skin lifted, seeking his caress, and emotion curled round her nerve-ends, tugging them into vibrant life.

  Jared didn’t move, and neither did she. It was almost as if they were teetering on the brink, each afraid to say or do anything to break the spell.

  Tasha felt his breath stir the hair at her temples, followed by the fleeting touch of his lips.

  His fingers lightly brushed aside a swathe of hair, baring her nape, and sensation spiralled deep within as he pressed his mouth to the curve of her neck, then trailed a light path to tease an earlobe.

  She should tell him to stop; and she should take the few steps to move away from him.

  Except she stayed, held by a primeval alchemy she found impossible to resist.

  A kiss, she told herself. Just…one kiss.

  He turned her gently to face him and slid his hands to cup her face, then his mouth closed over hers in a tender supplication that brought a lump to her throat.

  His tongue stroked hers, then curved to tease its edge from stem to tip in a persuasive dance, and she felt her bones begin to melt.

  The tips of her fingers brushed his shoulders in a light tactile exploration, only to withdraw as if afraid of the heat as his mouth began an evocative exploration…taking, giving, until she was helpless. His.

  It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough, and she groaned as his hand slid down to caress her hip, then slipped to her thigh to skim the bare skin as he pushed up the hem of her nightshirt.

  He adored the silky feel of her skin, it was so firm and smooth, and warm to his touch. Sensitive, just inside her hip bone, the indentation at the edge of her waist. He felt the slight tremor run through her body as his hand trailed low and teased the curls at the apex of her thighs. A husky moan escaped her lips when he explored the moistness, the satin cleft, and she sank in against him as he stroked the swollen clitoris.

  With one careful movement he pulled the nightshirt over her head and let it fall on the carpet, then he closed his mouth over hers in passionate possession.

  When he released her she could only look at him, lost in a sea of emotions so deep, so incredibly complex, it was all she could do not to cry out.

  With deliberate intent Jared cupped her bottom, then spread her thighs as he lifted her up against him.

  ‘I don’t think—’

  ‘Don’t,’ he bade huskily, ‘think.’ He buried his mouth in the sweet curve of her neck, savoured the sensitive pulse beating there, then he trailed a hand up her spine to cup her nape and caressed her mouth with evocative slowness.

  It was a flagrant seduction, and she told herself she didn’t care. She wanted this, needed to be swept away by the magic of his lovemaking.

  One night, just this one night. Was it so bad to want him so much?

  His mouth lifted, and she buried her face in the hollow at the edge of his neck, afraid of what he might see as he walked towards the bedroom.

  His bedroom, where moonlight streamed through the non-reflective glass, outlining the furniture, the large bed where he carefully laid her down before joining her there.

  ‘Jared—’

  He pressed a finger to the centre of her lower lip, then traced its soft fullness.

  ‘I want to pleasure you,’ he said gently, and her mouth quivered as his mouth trailed a path to her breast, savouring the tender peak before rendering a similar treatment to its twin.

  Heat arced through her body as he moved lower, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he pressed a series of open-mouthed kisses at her waist, her stomach, before moving low, intent on bestowing the most intimate kiss of all.

  At the first stroke of his tongue she went up in flames, spiralling high again and again, until she shattered as ecstasy overwhelmed her.

  Her skin was damp, heated as she reached for him, pushing his hands aside as she began a tasting feast that had the breath hissing through his teeth.

  There was only one way this could end, and she took him to the brink, then exulted in his possession, the long, slow thrusts as he took her on an evocative ride that was electrifying, mesmeric.

  Magical, she added dreamily a long time later as she lay held close in his arms, their limbs entwined, on the edge of sleep.

  The room was lighter as night turned into day with a new dawn. Soon the sun would rise above the horizon, gently flooding everything with light and colour as the city woke and came alive.

  Tasha’s eyelids swept down as she buried her head against Jared’s shoulder and slept.

  It was late when she woke. Ten, at least, she decided, too lazy to roll over and check the digital clock.

  She stretched a little, a purely feline movement, and brushed her foot against a hard, muscular leg. She froze for a second, then memory kicked in, and she turned her head
to meet Jared’s gleaming gaze.

  CHAPTER NINE

  ‘YOU slept well.’

  Tasha opened her mouth to say she always slept well after sex, then she closed it again.

  He lifted a hand and brushed gentle fingers down her cheek. His mouth curved into a warm smile that was wholly sensual. ‘What we shared was beautiful.’

  She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. ‘Great sex,’ she managed to accord lightly, and saw his eyes darken.

  ‘More than that. Much more.’

  She wanted to agree with him, but the words wouldn’t emerge. ‘I’ll go shower.’ She had to return to the prosaic, otherwise she’d say something stupid. ‘Do you want to eat breakfast in, or shall we go out?’

  It didn’t work. The pulse beating rapidly at the edge of her throat was a give-away, and her breathing was uneven at best.

  This close he was too much. Way too much. Her recollection of last night was hauntingly vivid, and she could still feel the effects of his possession.

  And worse, there was a part of her that wanted him again. Madness, she derided silently. Total insanity.

  He’d seen her naked a thousand times…more, if she was counting. So why was she suddenly reticent about slipping from the bed and walking into the en suite?

  Oh, damn self-consciousness, she cursed, and did it anyway.

  She turned the water dial in the shower to warm, then stood beneath the spray, gradually increasing the temperature before reaching for the soap.

  Only to give a surprised yelp as Jared stepped into the cubicle and took the soap from her hand.

  ‘Go away,’ she spat fiercely as he began smoothing the soap down the length of her arm.

  ‘Not a chance.’

  She put the palm of each hand on his chest and pushed…except it made not the slightest difference. He was immovable.

  ‘Jared—’ Her voice became momentarily locked in her throat as he ran the soap over her breast, and his eyes sharpened at her involuntary flinch.