Their Baby Bargain

by Marion Lennox

  ‘It’s…it’s fantabulous,’ Gabbie said, awed. At the sandy end of the cave, the chamber roof was maybe eight feet above their heads, making a comfortable and easy place to unload their boat. ‘Can we paddle in the water with the fishes?’

  ‘You can do more than paddle,’ Luke told her. ‘This is the very best swimming place in the world. The fish here are only tiny-the little ones seem to know it’s a safe, safe place, and the water is never over your head. I persuaded Wendy to bring bathers and towels-and a picnic lunch-so the day is ours, and the magic cubby is ours and the rest of the world might well not exist.’

  ‘You didn’t bring your mobile phone?’ Wendy asked and for the life of her she couldn’t keep a note of bitterness from her voice, but Luke didn’t appear to take offence. Not today. Not with Wendy.

  ‘No, Miss Cynic, I did not bring my mobile phone,’ he told her. ‘Nor did I bring my computer. I am having a day off.’

  ‘And yet the world will survive?’ Why was she doing this?

  ‘I hope it does,’ he said gently, watching her face. ‘Today’s a try-out. If the world manages to get along without me today, then who knows how long I might take to get to know my family?’

  ‘He’s staying for how long?’

  ‘I don’t know. Weeks.’ Wendy’s voice was a panicking wail down the phone, and Shanni blinked. ‘He’s set up his office in a spare bedroom. He spends a couple of hours in there every morning but the rest of the time…’

  ‘The rest of the time he spends with you?’

  ‘He spends with the children,’ Wendy retorted.

  ‘Yes, but you’re with the children.’

  ‘I know.’ Wendy tried to get a hold on herself and failed completely. Luke had been here for a week now, and she was getting more unsettled by the minute. ‘This wasn’t in the original agreement. Shanni, I don’t know how to handle it.’

  ‘Most nannies have to work in the same house as an employer,’ Shanni said cautiously. ‘It’s not unreasonable for an employer to stay.’

  ‘But he said he wasn’t-’

  ‘You think it’s a bad thing for the children?’ Shanni interrupted. Wendy wasn’t making much sense.

  ‘No. Of course I don’t. Gabbie’s in love with him. The puppy adores him. He’s bonding with Grace.’

  ‘Well, where’s the problem?’ Shanni said reasonably.

  ‘I…’

  ‘You’re not falling for him yourself?’

  ‘No. Of course not.’

  ‘Then you just need good employee-employer guidelines,’ Shanni said brightly. ‘A contract. You want Nick to draw you out a nice legal agreement?’

  ‘We have a contract.’

  ‘Days off? Holiday pay? Employer staying at his end of the house between dusk and dawn?’

  ‘Shanni-’

  ‘You can’t be too careful.’ Shanni chortled. ‘It sounds to me like this man has you badly rattled.’

  ‘He has.’ Wendy took a deep breath. ‘Shanni…’

  ‘Yes, love.’ Her friend heard the worry and reacted accordingly. ‘Okay. I’ll be serious. Something’s really worrying you?’

  ‘He’s…he’s taken them all for a ride.’

  Silence. Not many people would have known what this meant to Wendy, but Shanni did.

  ‘In his sports car?’

  ‘Mmm.’

  ‘You’re going to have to get over this, my dear,’ Shanni said in her best schoolmarm voice, and her tone was almost enough to make Wendy chuckle.

  ‘Quoth the greybeard.’

  ‘Yes, well…’ Shanni laughed too, but her concern remained. ‘You need to learn to trust.’

  ‘I know. But Gabbie-’

  ‘You need to learn to trust.’

  And there it was in a nutshell, Wendy thought as she replaced the phone. This was the perfect job. She should just relax and ride with the punches.

  She should stop thinking Luke was trying to seduce her. She should stop thinking Luke was putting the children at risk every time he put them in the car he loved so much.

  She should…trust.

  She didn’t. Not one bit.

  ‘How much longer are you planning to stay?’

  She shouldn’t ask, but ten days had gone by and he’d shown no sign of moving. Instead, Luke seemed to be wheedling his way deeper and deeper into the running of the house, and he was doing it every way he knew how.

  It was Luke who’d taken on the responsibility for Bruce’s house-training-and very well Bruce was going too. He hadn’t made a puddle for three days now.

  It was Luke who had gone into Bay Beach and found a whole heap of easy readers-fun little books that were designed to make a child ache to read-and it was Luke who was setting himself up on the veranda each afternoon and saying ‘P-U-P says pup,’ and making Gabbie follow. Gabbie was so excited she could hardly leave her wonderful new books.

  For Gabbie, reading seemed the most exciting thing in the world-apart from Bruce-and, watching her, Wendy had to suppress a faint twinge of jealousy at the bond that was forming between man and child.

  ‘Join us. Help us read,’ Luke often said, as he caught her watching them, but she whisked herself off back to housework that didn’t need to be done or something equally trivial-because sitting beside them while they read was beguiling and bewitching and…dangerous!

  It had been ten days and the tension was mounting day by day until she felt she was near to breaking point. Like now. He was so close! The children were in bed and she was washing the dinner dishes. Luke had returned after tucking Bruce into his basket and he’d picked up the tea towel and started wiping-just like an old married man. It was suddenly far too much. This unspoken intimacy that was growing stronger by the minute…

  ‘How long do you intend staying here?’ she demanded again as he failed to answer, and his brows raised in a quizzical smile.

  ‘Am I getting under your feet, then?’

  She concentrated on an infinitesimal grease spot on her frying pan, giving it her sole attention. ‘Yes. A bit. I just wasn’t aware that you’d ever thought of staying on.’

  ‘I hadn’t,’ he said seriously. ‘But things change.’

  ‘Like what?’

  And that was a mistake. As soon as she said it, she knew the question was a bad error of judgement-because it had to have an answer. But the question was out in the open now, like an upraised sword, with the power to bring all down around it.

  And he brought it down. Finally.

  ‘People change,’ he said gently, and he laid down his tea towel and turned to face her full on. ‘People like me. Two weeks ago, if you’d asked me what I thought of staying in the country, I would have told you I’d think it was purgatory-to be stuck in a farmhouse with a woman and two babies and a puppy. Now I’m starting to think it’s purgatory to be anywhere else.’

  ‘I guess…I guess that’s because of Grace,’ she stammered, still concentrating fiercely on her frying pan.

  But suddenly the frying pan was taken out of her hands. Her wet hands were pulled to lie between his bigger ones-heavens, there were soapsuds and the soapy foam was squeezing out between their entwined fingers-and Luke was looking down into her eyes as if he was about to make a declaration.

  And he did. She couldn’t stop him. She desperately didn’t want this, but he was saying it anyway.

  ‘No, Wendy,’ he said softly. He caught her look of startled alarm and he gave her another of his gorgeous quizzical smiles. ‘I know this is way too soon. I know you’re scared. So I’d really like to tell you that I’ve decided to stay because I’ve fallen in love with my little sister-as indeed I have-or because I’m falling hard for Gabbie and Bruce-and I’ve done that, too-but the truth is, my love, that I’ve fallen for you. For you, Wendy.’

  ‘Luke-’

  ‘You are not to look scared,’ he told her sternly. He smiled down at her with such a smile that her heart lurched within her breast. ‘I refuse to make you look scared. I will not rush you anywhere you
don’t want to go, my love. But the truth is, Wendy, that I’m falling deeper into somewhere I’ve never been before. I never thought I’d fall in love, but I’m totally smitten with you, and I’m prepared to hang around for however long it takes for that fear to disappear from your eyes.’

  How to react to this? She tried to pull back but he wouldn’t have a bar of it. His grip on her hands grew tighter.

  ‘It never will,’ she managed, and the look of blank rejection on her face made him frown.

  ‘I’d like to know why I don’t have a chance,’ he said softly, and his hands were warm and strong and infinitely seductive. ‘Am I so dreadful?’

  ‘No. Yes!’ She hauled back then, and he did release her, then stood watching as she turned fiercely back to her too-clean frying pan. ‘You forget, I’ve been married before,’ she told him. ‘I’m not in the market for another relationship.’

  ‘Your husband’s been dead for six years,’ he said, still watching her with eyes that were gently concerned. ‘Does losing one love preclude any sort of relationship ever again?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘He must have been quite a man.’

  ‘If only you knew.’ She shook her head, and then, to her fury, she felt tears well up behind her eyes. Good, she thought. Let him think it was sorrow for Adam that was holding her back. ‘Marriage-commitment-is something you only do once,’ she managed. ‘Or at least it’s something I only do once. And if you keep being…ridiculous…then you’ll have to find a new nanny for Grace. Gabbie and I will have to move on.’

  ‘That’s crazy.’

  ‘It is,’ she said savagely into her dishwater. ‘It is indeed. To mess with a perfectly good employer-employee relationship because you want an affair…’

  ‘It’s not an affair I want, Wendy,’ he said, and she cast him a startled glance. Heavens, he almost sounded as if he meant it.

  ‘But that’s all it would be,’ she retorted. ‘We’re two completely opposite people. I’m your employee, Luke Grey, and that’s the way I want to keep it. So it’s that or nothing. Now, are you going to go back to Sydney-or New York-or wherever? Or not?’

  He knew that much at least. ‘Not,’ he said decisively. ‘It’s occurred to me that I’m perfectly content here. Okay, you don’t want me to touch you-I can live with that. For now. I promise I won’t touch you unless you want. I’m a patient man. So let’s get back to thinking I’m here for the children’s sakes, and to get you used to me being around. For I intend to stay-for the children’s sakes-for a very long time. Okay?’

  ‘Luke-’

  ‘It has to be okay,’ he said heavily, and picked up his tea towel and started to wipe. ‘It seems to me we have no choice. Either of us.’

  Which was all very well, he told himself later that night, in the time when he should be sleeping. It was fine to say he had all the time in the world. In a sense, he did. He’d reorganised his job so he could work from here with only the occasional trip away. He could keep himself busy and occupied and useful.

  But how could he keep his hands away from Wendy? When every single minute his body’s need was deepening to a fever pitch-to a need that he’d never known in his life.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  LUKE and Gabbie were halfway through a very exciting story when the car pulled up. The girl who emerged was about Wendy’s age, pert and pretty. Accustomed to Gabbie bolting for cover every time a new person arrived, Luke was amazed to see Gabbie drop her book and launch herself down the veranda steps to hug the new arrival with joy.

  The child was met with joy in return. Gabbie was lifted, whirled around, and then carried back to the veranda-where Shanni drooped herself into a deckchair, sighed with relief and surveyed Luke with satisfaction.

  ‘Hi. I’m Shanni Daniels, local kindergarten teacher and friend of Wendy,’ she said placidly. She put a hand down to fend off Bruce’s soggy welcome. ‘Down, dog. Great puppy, Gabbie, but I’ve already had a bath today.’ She grinned at Luke. ‘And I’m assuming you’re Luke?’

  Her smile was infectious. He smiled back. ‘I’m Luke.’

  ‘Great. Wonderful. Just don’t ask me to get up and shake hands and you’ll have a friend for life.’ She groaned theatrically. ‘Wow, this chair is good. Early pregnancy isn’t all it’s cut out to be. Don’t even think about offering me refreshments. Unless…’ Her eyes widened in hope. ‘Unless you have dill pickles on hand?’

  Luke grinned down at her, and joined her in the neighbouring chair, as Gabbie and Bruce whooped off cubby-wards. ‘Sorry, ma’am,’ he told her, not without sympathy. ‘Wendy’s in town as we speak, doing the grocery shopping, but I can’t remember that we put dill pickles on the list.’

  ‘Then, you mustn’t be pregnant. Very wise. Oh, to be a man.’ She patted her still very flat stomach in contentment, giving the lie to her complaints, and then she directed her full attention on Luke. What she saw seemed to satisfy her. ‘Nice,’ she said.

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘Oh…nothing,’ she said airily. ‘Actually, I sort of knew Wendy was grocery shopping. I saw her in the supermarket car park and had a quick word with her. She wasn’t driving the Aston Martin, I see.’

  ‘We’ve bought her a wagon. She likes it better,’ Luke said shortly. His smile died. ‘So you knew Wendy was in town, then.’

  ‘But yet I came on out.’ Shanni’s smile widened and glinted with mischief. ‘I wanted to check you out while she wasn’t here,’ she confessed. ‘You see, Wendy wasn’t too keen on me visiting you.’

  He blinked at that. What was Wendy playing at? Being the protective employee? ‘That was good of Wendy,’ he said cautiously. ‘But I don’t mind visitors.’

  She chuckled. ‘No, it wasn’t good of Wendy at all. If I thought it was because she was protecting your privacy, or that she wanted to keep you all to herself, then I might have obliged and stayed away. But it was because she doesn’t want me to put in my oar.’

  ‘And do you put in your oar?’ He was fascinated.

  ‘All the time,’ she confessed. ‘I’m a McDonald-or I was until I met my Nick-and the McDonald girls are famous for oar-putting-in. Now, about Wendy…’

  ‘What about Wendy?’

  She looked at him closely. ‘Why exactly are you staying here? Wendy said you never intended to.’

  ‘That was before…before…’

  ‘Before you fell in love with her?’

  Luke’s eyes flew wide. This was some conversation. What a question! His face shuttered down in distaste, but Shanni held up her hands in entreaty.

  ‘No, don’t look like that and don’t tell me to butt out,’ she begged. ‘I’m no good at butting out, and I’m so fond of Wendy. It’s just… As I said, I met her in town and she told me you were still here and she wished you weren’t-and she said you’d never intended to stay and she’s so uncomfortable with your decision.’

  Her keen eyes probed Luke’s, asking question after question, voiced and unvoiced. ‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ she said, and the smile was back in her voice. ‘You’re in love with her?’

  How was he to answer a question like that? Luke sat back in his chair and stared at this amazing friend of Wendy’s. Shanni stared right back, determination meeting determination. And suddenly there was nothing else to say.

  ‘Yes,’ he said simply, and he knew it then for the absolute truth. ‘Of course I’m in love with her.’

  ‘Yes!’ She beamed, as if she’d expected no less. ‘Of course you are.’ She beamed some more. ‘Wendy’s wonderful. I can’t understand why the whole world’s not in love with her, but it’s taken until now-until someone like you-to expose her. Well, well. How very satisfactory.’

  ‘If you can tell me how it’s satisfactory when she won’t let me near-’

  He got no further. ‘You know she’s been married?’ Shanni demanded, pressing right on to what was important. She was ignoring the anger on his face. This was a totally inappropriate conversation between strangers but she seemed totally
unaware of boundaries.

  He might as well reply. She was going to press on regardless.

  ‘I know that.’ It was all Luke could do not to grind his teeth at the thought of her previous marriage. ‘To Adam? I gather he was perfection plus.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Shanni said cautiously.

  ‘But-’

  ‘But what?’ Shanni’s brow was wrinkling as if she was deciding what to say next.

  ‘It’s his perfection that’s the problem.’ Luke shook his head in despair. ‘She says she’s a one-man woman. Married for life. I don’t stand a chance against that.’

  Shanni considered this seriously. ‘You don’t help by being rich and handsome,’ she said, thinking it through.

  He blinked again. ‘Pardon?’

  ‘If Wendy could feel sorry for you, it might help.’

  That was a bit much. ‘Oh, great,’ he said bitterly. ‘That’s very helpful. You’d like me to lose my fortune, get a limp or a scar or something, maybe forget a bit of personal hygiene! I’m not aiming for lame-duck sympathy here.’

  It was enough. She chuckled, put her hands behind her head and surveyed him with care. ‘Well, no. Maybe not. But has she told you about Adam?’

  ‘Only that he was perfect.’

  ‘She can’t have told you that, because he wasn’t,’ she told him honestly. ‘Adam was rich and carefree and thoughtless. He and Wendy had only been married for six months when he tried to overtake a truck in blinding rain. There was an oncoming vehicle, but he thought his gorgeous fast car had enough power to get past. He was wrong. He killed himself, he killed a baby in the oncoming car and he put Wendy in hospital for six long months.’

  There was nothing to smile about there. Luke stared at Shanni in horrified disbelief. Shanni looked calmly back at him, watching his reaction. What she saw seemed to satisfy her, because she gave a brisk nod and rose.

  ‘There. I knew she hadn’t told you everything. She doesn’t speak of it. The town knows that her husband died and she was badly hurt in the car crash, but they don’t know Adam was responsible for the little one’s death. She only told me once, and that was in a really bleak moment. It’s a nightmare she can’t shake off-that she feels somehow responsible herself. Because she didn’t stop him.’