by Tessa Radley
Avery was sitting on a ledge in a long pool. Water lapped at the top of her bikini-clad breasts in little waves. It rushed over an angled sheet of granite into the pool, sluicing over Avery below. Guy knew from experience that the water was hot—but not as hot as the next waterfall along.
Below the lime green triangles of her bikini top, her hands were touching her tummy with long, slow strokes that he found incredibly arousing. She wore a dreamy expression he’d never seen before.
“What are you thinking about?”
At the sound of his voice Avery started. Her gaze shot to his…then away. “Guy.”
She didn’t sound delighted by his presence.
A feeling of déjà vu crept over him as he stepped into the room and closed the door.
Avery gave him an uncertain smile.
“How are you feeling?” he asked coming closer.
Her face cleared a little, and she laced her fingers together. “A lot better, thank you. Joanie has magic hands and Melissa made sure she pampered me to death.”
His face softened at the mention of his sister. “Melissa has always been the nurturer in the family. I’ve just organized for you to stay with her for the night.”
“But I can’t just descend on her!”
“Of course you can—she’s looking forward to the company.”
“I’ll consider it.” Avery sank deeper into the water and her nose tilted up into the air.
He started to grin. Was it possible that his little spitfire was mad at him for doing something for her own good? “It’s already sorted out.”
She glowered at him.
She was cute when she was mad, and he had a feeling she was going to be madder still. Guy pulled his shirt over his head in one, swift movement, revealing a broad, muscled chest.
“What are you doing?” Avery shrieked.
“Easing out my tired muscles.” In two paces he’d reached the door, and locked it. Next he toed off his sneakers. When he shucked off his tennis shorts, Avery closed her eyes.
He slid in behind her and pulled her up against his naked body.
“Guy!”
He kissed her nape. The skin was warm and steamy, and her hair was swept up on top of her head. Irresistible. “What?”
“You shouldn’t be in here!”
They’d done this—and more—before. Already his body was hardening at the memory. But this time he had no intention of making love to her. Although Avery didn’t know that. This time he just wanted to hold her.
“Give me one reason why not?”
“We work together—I don’t want anyone to know we’re involved.”
“I’m not going to make love to you. I came to see if you’re all right.” He put on his most innocent expression, but it made no difference—she couldn’t see it at this angle.
“I’m fine. And I sure thought you were making love to me. Because you’re kissing the wrong part of me better.”
His husky laugh caused the soft bits of hair at her neck to dance. “I’ll kiss whatever part you want me to.” He blew lightly onto her neck and felt her quiver. So responsive.
He tightened his arms convulsively around her.
“Thank goodness you’re safe.”
The images that had flashed through his mind when a young woman had called to say that Avery had been involved in a car accident…
Guy shivered. He never wanted to re-live those excruciating moments.
The thirty seconds it had taken to get confirmation that Avery was alive were amongst the longest of his life. The piercing pain had been a thousand times worse than the two hours he’d spent waiting for her at Baratin the night of her birthday. Because now he knew what it felt like to lose her…
He’d spent forty-nine days without her.
After the past three weeks he was starting to feel like he never wanted to let her go.
Avery tilted her head back. “I’m a lot tougher than I look.”
“My mother thought she was, too.” The words came from nowhere. He hadn’t even thought about Mom for days. He usually tried not to talk about her at all. The topic always led to grim silences. But suddenly he couldn’t prevent himself saying, “She promised me and Blake that she would beat the cancer.”
Turning over, Avery looked up at him, her eyes luminous. “I’m sure she wanted to more than anything in the world. A woman with five young children would not want to leave them.”
“I was foolish enough to believe her, in the way a six-year-old does. I thought she’d get better.” How could he explain the devastation that he’d felt returning from a night at a friend’s home to discover that his mother had been taken into the hospital, that she’d passed away? “She refused to have chemotherapy, you know. She chose to die, to leave us all. How can a six-year-old ever be expected to understand that?”
Avery slid up and pressed a kiss against his lips. “You poor little boy.”
Hell. He didn’t feel very much like a little boy right now. Not with her lying breast to hip along his body, her legs tangling with his. He gave a groan. “Avery, I got in here to hold you, to comfort you, not to make love. But you’re making it very hard.”
A wicked sparkle lit her eyes and she moved her body against his. “Am I?”
The little witch.
Guy groaned again. “Have mercy…and don’t move.”
“Why not?”
He swallowed. “You might jolt your ankle.”
“My ankle is already feeling a lot better.”
But she shifted and slid onto the seat beside him. Guy wished she’d stayed where she was. Yet if she had, the temptation would’ve been too great to resist. Instead he placed an arm around her shoulders, marveling at the tenderness that welled up inside him, the contentment that merely holding her brought. It wasn’t something he’d experienced before.
Placing his index finger under her chin he raised it, and sealed her mouth with his kiss. Guy let himself sink into her…into the soft femininity that was Avery. Sweet. Feminine. Unique.
His.
When the kiss was over, he stared down into her blue eyes, stunned by how she’d inveigled her way into every crevice of his life in such a short space of time.
She blinked, and the spell was broken.
“There’s something I have to tell you.” She sounded subdued.
Guy wanted to shout “No.” He didn’t want to hear anything that might break this accord that lay like a golden thread between them, joining them in a way that was somehow special.
Yet he found himself saying, “What is it?” while he hoped furiously that there were no further revelations about Jeff, or anyone else in her life, to follow.
The deep breath that she took warned him that he wasn’t going to like it. But what she did murmur knocked the guts out of him.
“What did you say?”
She shifted in his arms, and Guy realized he was gripping her uncomfortably. He instantly slackened his hold.
“I’m pregnant,” she repeated more loudly, edging away from him.
“How?” His head spinning, he asked, “Forget that. Have you known all this time?”
She blinked. “What do you mean ‘all this time’?”
“Since being at Jarrod Ridge.”
“Are you asking if this is the reason I came to Jarrod Ridge?”
He hadn’t quite thought that far ahead. Now he considered it. Was this why she’d come? Guy shifted in the hot water. Had it been nothing to do with her Uncle Art at all?
Maybe it was what his subconscious mind was asking.
“Yes.” His tone was terser than he intended as he tried to process the information that Avery was going to have his baby.
She slowly shook her head, and he could’ve sworn that the divide between them grew—even though she didn’t move. “I only discovered today at the hospital.”
“You’ve had symptoms?” And she hadn’t bothered to reveal anything to him by word or action? He felt unaccountably put out.
“Nothing obvious. In fact, you started me worrying when you asked whether there’d been any repercussions after our time in New York. I hadn’t even thought about it. I bought a test from the drugstore—”
“So you had a suspicion that you were pregnant.” Guy found himself glaring through the water to the pale skin of her stomach just visible through the swirling water. He couldn’t see any sign that made her look remotely pregnant. “Thanks for letting me in on the secret.”
“Hey, hear me out.” She turned her head so that he looked square into her face. Her skin was dewy from the steam, and her eyes had darkened. She’d never looked more beautiful. “The test was negative—I took it twice. I wasn’t pregnant then—”
“But you’re pregnant now? How does that work?” Guy’s brows shot up. “That is what you’re trying to tell me?”
“Yes!” She was breathing quickly, her breasts rising and falling. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. And before you even think of accusing me of trying to fob off someone else’s baby on you—”
“That never occurred to me,” Guy said heatedly, forgetting all about her breasts at the accusation. “Whatever gave you the idea I’d think that?”
“Your reaction to seeing me with Matt?”
Well, she had him there. He couldn’t precisely argue without revealing his gut-grinding jealousy before he’d discovered Matt was her cousin.
“Your idiocy over Todd.” She raised an eyebrow. “Warning me away from Louis? Need I go on?”
Guy started to feel very foolish. “Are you sure you’re pregnant? It could be a mistake.”
“Stop clutching at straws, Guy. I’m probably pregnant.”
“Probably pregnant?”
But she didn’t laugh as he’d intended at his emphasis on the absurd way she’d put it.
“I am pregnant, Guy. I know it’s the last thing you want in your life. So I have no expectations of you. You are free. But you need to know I’m going to keep this baby.”
He stared at her. What did she expect him to say to that?
Of course he didn’t want a child—he didn’t even want a wife, or a partner, or a significant other. He was quite happy the way his life was.
But he wasn’t ready to lose Avery from his life either. For days he’d been dreading the idea of her leaving. He was no longer free—nor did he wish to be.
It struck him that the baby would give him a great reason to keep her in his life, without having to define to himself—or to her—exactly what their relationship was.
“Avery—” under the water he placed a hand on her thigh “—this gives even more reason why you should move in with me. You’re pregnant with my child. That’s hardly the kind of thing you can hide for very long. It’s bound to come out.”
Her thigh tensed. “You mean we should set up home together?”
Home? He wriggled like a trout hooked by a particularly attractive lure. “I was thinking we should live together and see how things work out.”
She put her hands over her face. “Guy, a baby is about as lasting an arrangement as anything can be. It brings responsibilities like motherhood…and fatherhood. You don’t have to assume that responsibility if you don’t want to. I absolve you.”
She was deliberately misunderstanding him.
Guy gave a sigh to vent his frustration and increased the pressure of his hand to make sure she didn’t try to bolt. “Dammit—” he hesitated “—it’s hard to take in. I never wanted a family.”
“That’s why I told you I’m not expecting anything of you.” Her hand closed over his. “Please understand I’m not trying to trap you.”
“I know that.” His certainty surprised him. His outburst had been boorish—the situation they were in was as much his fault as hers. He’d acted recklessly that night in the hot tub, and they’d both reaped the consequences. “And it’s no longer about what either of us want. I’m sure this is every bit as much a trap for you as for me. The last thing you must want is a baby—particularly as your work is going so well.”
After the Food and Wine Gala was over Guy had no doubt she’d have more work offers than she could handle.
“Not at all. I’ve always wanted a family…and kids.” That dreamy look was back on her face.
Guy’s heart stood still.
Sliding his hand out from under hers, he wondered if this had been a trap he hadn’t even suspected? Giving her a narrow stare, he said, “Did you deliberately not use protection?”
“No! I stopped taking the Pill when I went back to California. I’d sworn off men.” She gave him a wry smile. “And contrary to popular belief, I didn’t come to Jarrod Ridge expecting to have an affair.” Ouch.
Was this a trap? If it was, hadn’t he deserved to be caught? He hadn’t taken precautions that night in the spa, even though he’d taken great care every time since. But once was all it took…
Avery stood up in the water and said, “I’ll be going back to California in four days. There’s no point in my moving in with you and telling the world that your mistress is pregnant with your baby.”
Before he could temper his reaction, Guy burst out, “That’s insulting to us both. You wouldn’t be my mistress.”
“Scared you couldn’t afford me?”
Beads of water streamed over her curves…curves that Guy knew intimately. But Avery was so much more than a sexy body.
He tore his gaze away. “Don’t demean yourself! You’re far too proper, with too much sense of your self-worth, to ever have accepted such an inequitable relationship—and I have too much respect for you to suggest it.” Avery was far too independent to be any man’s mistress. Although Guy was sure there were men who would’ve loved to have decorated her with diamonds and paid for her upkeep. She was smart, sexy and spirited. What more could any man want?
She looked stunned by his heated defense of her. What could he say? It had startled him, too. He justified it by adding, “My dad would’ve torn a strip off any of his boys for making a decent woman such an offer. He always said that honor was part of the Jarrod name.”
Avery took two towels off a shelf, arranged one at the edge of the pool and sat down.
“A bit of a double standard, hmm? He must’ve kept a mistress, otherwise there would be no Erica.”
“He didn’t keep a mistress—not while my mother was alive.” Guy glared at her for even suggesting that. Then he conceded, “But he did seduce another man’s wife. Not much honor in that, I have to agree.” Which was only one of the reasons he’d so resented Erica’s existence. It went to prove that his father’s high standards were nothing more than hypocrisy.
“Maybe he was lonely,” suggested Avery.
“Lonely?” He shook his head. “That’s stupid. He had a family—maybe we were farflung, but we were his children. He had Jarrod Ridge…the business empire he always wanted.” Had it not been enough? Was Avery right? Had his father been lonely? Guilt pierced him. He shoved it aside, and focused on the woman who had turned his world upside down.
Leaning forward, Avery started to pat herself dry with the second towel. “I think it would be far better for me to stay with Melissa as you’ve arranged, and for no one to be any the wiser about my baby.”
Her baby? What about his rights? The surge of primal possessiveness took him aback. If Avery was planning to deny him access to his own child she was in for a surprise.
But it wasn’t worth fighting now. They both needed time to absorb that they were going to be parents.
Finally he sighed and pushed his damp hair out of his eyes. “If you’d rather stay with Melissa, I’ll take you to Willow Lodge.”
Twelve
Willow Lodge oozed mellow serenity.
It was set away from the main resort complex, in a spot sheltered from the winds. Inside, the walls and floors were crafted from wood the color of honey and dramatic picture windows looked out over the willows for which the lodge was named. The fragrance of lavender and beeswax lingered in the air, and Avery found herse
lf instantly unwinding.
And Melissa did everything to make her feel comfortable.
“Treat Willow Lodge like your home,” Guy’s sister said.
Avery took Melissa at her word. After sleeping under a down comforter and having a leisurely breakfast, Avery propped her leg up on a footrest in front of a window overlooking the willows and showing glimpses of the river beyond.
A constant trickle of visitors kept her entertained. Guy was the first to arrive. Shortly after Melissa departed for Tranquility Spa, he came through the back door.
“How’s the ankle?”
“Much better.” Avery turned her head. Guy wore dark trousers and a black-on-white striped long-sleeved shirt with elegant European panache. The years he’d spent in France showed. She forced herself to stop gawking at the man like a lovelorn teenager.
He came closer and his breath was warm on the top of her leg as he leaned down. “No sign of swelling.”
“Only a little bruising.” With her fingertips Avery found the tender spot.
“It will go all the colors of the rainbow before it fades.”
Avery groaned. “I hope not.” He was so close that she could detect the subtle green notes of moss and musk in his aftershave. “I’m keeping it iced. It’s helping—even though it’s freezing.”
“Good.”
Avery wrinkled her nose at him. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you were the one wearing an ice pack.”
He hunkered down beside her, and put his hand on her ankle. “Probably not.”
A delicious warmth cruised through her at his touch. Avery had thought her ankle too numbed by cold to respond to stimulus. Not so.
When he started to move his fingers in little circular strokes her breath hooked in the back of her throat. His hand stroked up her calf, across the back of her knees, and tantalizing shivers followed. The taunting fingers stopped just below the hemline of her fitted dress, and she knew if she tried to protest her voice would be nothing more than a thin thread of sound. Then Guy would know precisely how much he was rattling her composure.
She glanced away, only to be transfixed by the sight of his long, square-tipped fingers caressing her flesh.
