Frowning at the silence, she moved further down the hallway, reviewing the brief but unsatisfactory details she had been given about her patient, concerned for his well-being.
‘Mr Smith? Can you hear me? Are you all right?’
Hearing a lock click behind her, she turned round, an involuntary gasp of shock escaping when she saw Kyle leaning back against the front door watching her. Dressed in black jeans and a black jumper, a day’s growth of stubble darkening his jaw, he looked dangerous and determined but mind-numbingly gorgeous.
‘Hello, Alexandra.’
Her heart started thudding madly under her ribs. ‘H-have you been called out too?’ She cursed her immediate reaction to him and the telltale breathlessness in her voice, backing away as Kyle began closing the gap between them.
‘No.’
‘Where’s Mr Smith?’
‘There is no Mr Smith,’ he informed her, that deep, husky voice sending a shiver along her spine.
‘Pardon? I don’t understand.’
‘This is my house.’ Her eyes widened in shock, and she continued to retreat as Kyle kept walking. ‘I needed to see you and I wasn’t sure you would come if you knew it was me.’
The breath lodged in her throat, panic welling inside her. ‘Kyle…’
She found herself in a small sitting room, and she tried to manoeuvre round the furniture as he bore down on her. ‘Sit down, Lexie.’
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’ She eyed the door longingly, but he moved to block her escape route. ‘I should go now.’
‘Not just yet. We need to talk.’
He looked and sounded so serious that she started to fear he had brought her somewhere private to sack her. ‘What about?’ she murmured, clutching her bag protectively against her, nothing but the width of the settee separating them.
‘Everything. Penny. Us.’ An intent blue gaze watched her. ‘I’m sorry if it seemed that I didn’t back you or believe in you.’
It had been more than seemed from her perspective. She looked back at him, uncertain, full of hurt and indecision, still unsure where this was going, what it was he wanted. Hard as it was, she tried not to focus on the ‘us’, knowing they were now past that. Kyle would never be hers.
‘Lexie?’
His gruff call reclaimed her attention and she nervously licked her lips. ‘What?’
‘Will you stay and listen?’ His uncharacteristic nervousness affected her more than she could say. ‘Please?’
‘All right.’
She sighed, giving herself a mental shake, unsure why she could never say no to this man. Relief passed his expression, softening the tension in his face, but he still didn’t smile. Instead, he rounded the settee to relieve her of her bag, took her hand in his free one and led her, unprotesting, through to the kitchen where she sat in silence, watching him anxiously.
‘Would you like something to drink?’ he asked, appearing as nervous as she was. ‘Tea, smoothie…or I could open some wine?’
‘A smoothie would be nice.’
Nodding, he took two glasses from a cupboard and then crossed to the fridge, pouring the fruity drink from a carton. Alex took the glass he gave her, glad to have something to do with her hands, enjoying the tangy mango and passion-fruit flavour as she sipped the drink.
‘I have a lot to tell you.’ He sat near her and dragged a hand through his hair. ‘Work first. Your report was excellent, invaluable, and we’re all really grateful for your courage in taking up the issue for the patients,’ he began, and she gazed at him, shocked and delighted. ‘I also found out that you and Lisa were right—Penny was behind the campaign to discredit you. Robert, Elizabeth and I were able to confront her late on Friday—you’ll be pleased to know she was dismissed with immediate effect. Penny’s gone, Lexie. And we’ll be reporting her to the nursing authorities, too. She’ll be finished as a nurse.’
‘Right. Good. I mean, I’m sorry, but…’ Her words trailed off as she met his compelling blue gaze.
‘Don’t be sorry. The patients come first. Always. There is no excuse for anything Penny did.’
Nodding, relieved, she focused on her drink. How did Kyle feel about it all? If Penny had been important to him, this had to be upsetting.
‘That’s not all, though,’ Kyle continued. Her breath caught as she listened to him explain what Penny had done, how she had schemed and lied and betrayed him, coming between him and Helen, helping to drive their troubled marriage further towards the divorce. ‘Penny said some terrible things. I had no idea she had planned it all. And she admitted she had done the same with you, telling me lies about you and you lies about me, with the intention of destroying our trust in each other and driving you away. I’m sorry, Alexandra.’
She shook her head, trying to grasp everything he had told her. ‘It wasn’t your fault, you weren’t to know.’
‘I should have trusted my feelings for you, trusted the special connection between us. But that Sunday morning I had no idea what was going on. I shouldn’t have left, Lexie, but I was confused and angry when you implied what we shared together meant nothing to you,’ he admitted frankly.
‘I thought you were going to give me the brush off and I couldn’t bear hearing you say it, so I said it first, giving you a way out, hoping you wouldn’t take it, but thinking it would make it easier for you if you did.’
‘Easier?’ He stared at her, incredulous. ‘It nearly killed me.’
Alex swallowed. ‘I was scared.’
‘How do you think I felt? For the first time since Helen—even before that—I felt good, had actually opened up, trusted someone with myself.’
‘I’m sorry. I thought—’
‘What?’
‘I already had doubts about whether you were ready for any kind of relationship after all you had been through. And then Penny said it was what you did—casual sex, flings,’ she whispered, seeing him blanche, his eyes darkening with a mix of anger and hurt. She almost lost the nerve to carry on but drew in a deep breath, knowing they had to clear the air. ‘I—I heard that was how things were and that I…That you thought…’ She closed her eyes, unable to face the fierceness in his midnight blue ones. ‘It was Penny who rang that day, before you left. I don’t know how she knew you were there—’
‘She admitted that saw my car wasn’t home and drove out to your house,’ Kyle told her tiredly, filling in the missing pieces.
Her eyes widened as she considered the lengths Penny had gone to, virtually stalking Kyle. ‘Oh!’
‘What did Penny say that morning, Alexandra?’ he demanded, refocusing her attention.
‘She told me that you were together, a couple, that you were using me and only wanted me because I looked like your ex-wife. That you stayed the night not because you cared for me but because you wanted to get Helen out of your system before going back to Penny.’
If anything Kyle looked even more furious, venom in his voice as he swore succinctly. Her alarm increased as he rose to his feet, took her arm and all but towed her with him out of the room. For one frightening moment, she thought he was going to throw her out on the street, but he turned up the stairs instead. She really didn’t think it was a good idea to go up there with him, but resistance proved futile, his hold uncompromising as he led her into a bland bedroom. He released her, unspeaking, as he rummaged through some storage boxes in a cupboard and then tossed her a photograph. A wedding photograph. A smiling Kyle, free of the shadows that now darkened his face and clouded his eyes. Alex’s eyes widened as she looked at his bride…petite, brunette and nothing remotely like her.
‘But Penny said—’
‘Penny said a lot of things.’ Sighing, he sat down on the end of the bed, looking weary and deflated. ‘I went to see them this weekend. Helen and Colin.’
He’d seen his ex-wife? She bit her lip. Did he still love her? ‘What happened?’ she managed.
‘I needed to know the truth. Now I do. I think Helen and I found closure yesterday,
and for the first time in a long while I can put it behind me and move on.’ He took her hand and drew her down beside him, explaining how he had cared for Helen but hadn’t been in love with her, how tepid their love life had been. ‘We both admitted we married for the wrong reasons, friendship was never enough to sustain it, and having a child wouldn’t have cemented what was already breaking. If we had truly loved each other then what happened would have brought us closer together, not torn us apart. It wouldn’t have been so easy for outside influences to come between us. Penny clearly saw that and played on it to maximise the problems for her own reasons. I was never unfaithful to Helen, and there has been no one since her…until you. Certainly not Penny. That never would have happened.’
Alex swallowed, still stuck on one piece of the information he had given her. ‘You hadn’t…There was no one at all since Helen?’
‘No one but you.’
‘Kyle…’
He turned her to face him, his fingers caressing her throat, her neck, making her whole body tremble in response. ‘From the moment I saw you I never stood a chance. You messed with my head, got under my skin, stole my heart. I’ve never been so happy, content, complete as when I’m with you. Our night together was the most magical I’ve ever known. And thanks to you I’ve been able to come to terms with what happened, to accept the loss of the baby was a fate of nature and not my fault. For the first time I’ve been able to believe that life is worth living, that I have a future—if you are part of it.’
There was no doubting his sincerity, and tears stung her eyes as he drew her into his arms. ‘Oh, Kyle.’
‘Lexie, what we have is too special, too strong, for Penny to have ever permanently come between us or kept us apart.’ He cupped her face, his eyes reflecting his every emotion as he looked at her. ‘It’s true, I do find it hard to trust. I was doubtful if I could ever have a relationship again, and Penny played on those insecurities, but she couldn’t stop it, couldn’t stop me loving you. And I do love you. So much.’
The tears that had threatened shimmered on her lashes. ‘I love you too!’
‘I hoped.’ A smile both tender and sexy curved his mouth, the pad of one thumb brushing away a bead of moisture that trickled beneath one eye. ‘I wasn’t sure how you felt. You’d so recently lost your father, you were vulnerable…’
‘You’re right. We both had issues from the past that made us more cautious, more insecure, and Penny’s interference magnified those, played on the doubts already bubbling. I’ve only had one really serious relationship and that ended on a sour note when Dad was taken ill. Mitchell turned out to be someone I never knew at all. I felt betrayed, foolish. There’s been no one since him; I gave all I had to caring for Dad. Then when I met you I was uncertain, not only because of your own reservations but because I had trust issues of my own, both in terms of trusting a man again and in trusting my own judgement.’
Kyle drew her closer and she yearned for his warmth, his touch. ‘What I told you that night is true, Lexie. I’ve never in my life felt the way I do when I’m with you.’
‘Nor have I.’
She met his kiss willingly, giving herself up to the moment, tasting him again, seeking his touch, breathing in his scent as she was swept away on the tide of passion that overwhelmed them. Shaking, urgent hands hurried to shed clothes. Mouths met, fingers caressed, stoking the unquenchable flames of desire to a fever pitch, and they fell back on the bed, need consuming them, their coming together frantic, desperate, indescribable.
Later, lying twined in the aftermath of their explosive, earth-shattering union, wondering if their hearts would ever beat normally again, if their breathing would ever slow, Alex forced her eyes open, scared this would turn out to be a dream and not real at all. The first thing she saw was Kyle watching her through eyes turned a dark navy with passion. His sexy smile did dangerous things to her insides. She sucked in a shaky breath and smiled back.
‘Hi,’ he murmured huskily, the fingers of one hand tracing her jaw, her eyebrows, the outline of her kiss-swollen mouth.
‘Hi.’ She swallowed at the emotions he made no effort to hide—love, desire, devotion. ‘Kyle, I’m sorry for doubting you.’
He shook his head, resting a finger over her lips. ‘Don’t, sweetheart. Let it go now. We’ve been over this, our insecurities and doubts made worse because we were both being played by a very calculating woman. It’s in the past. We start again from here. OK?’
‘OK,’ she murmured, distracted as his fingers whispered down towards her breasts.
‘In future we talk to each other, discuss our fears and our hopes and our dreams.’
She nodded her agreement, aroused by his touch. ‘Always. Can I ask you something?’
‘Of course.’
‘I know it’s silly, but—Why do you never call me “Alex”, always “Alexandra”?’
A laugh rumbled from his chest. ‘Now I’m going to sound silly!’
She wriggled in his arms, snuggling closer. ‘Tell me.’
‘Everyone calls you Alex. I don’t dislike it, but it’s kind of…unisex…and you are most definitely all woman. Alexandra is classy and feminine and special. Like you,’ he murmured, his mouth grazing down her throat, his stubble an exciting caress against her skin. ‘As for Lexie, that’s my private name for the woman I love.’
‘Kyle…’ Fresh tears, joyful tears, pricked her eyes as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.
‘I want to be with you for ever, to marry you, live with you, help you run your place, work with you, grow old with you. I want you to stay nursing at Glenside if that’s what you’d like, working alongside me.’ He drew back a few inches, eyes heated with desire as laid the palm of one hand on the gentle swell of her belly. ‘And I want to watch you bloom with our babies.’
‘You want children?’
‘Of course.’ A frown of concern creased his brow. ‘Don’t you?’
‘Very much. If they’re yours. But I thought, after all you had been through, maybe—’
A soft kiss on her lips silenced her. ‘I’ll never forget, but that is past. What we have is unique, Lexie, the present and the future are ours—for always,’ he vowed, and she didn’t know how to contain her happiness.
‘So how many babies were you thinking of?’ she asked with a teasing smile, hugging him close, breathing in the earthy maleness of him, running her hands over the delicious texture of warm, supple skin over taut muscle.
Amusement and desire shone in his sexy blue eyes. ‘About six. To start with.’
‘Is that so?’ Laughing, her heart swelling with love, she pushed him on to his back and wriggled provocatively on top of him, a mix of contentment and excited anticipation stirring through her as his arms closed round her, holding her close. ‘Then I guess we’d better get started and not waste any more time.’
‘My sentiments exactly.’
As Kyle looked into the face of the woman he loved more than life itself, a desperate ache of longing tightened inside him at the love and passion in Lexie’s eyes. He drew her down, meeting the hot intensity of her kiss, revelling in the magic between them, unleashing the rage of desire that only seemed to burn ever hotter each time they were together.
Lexie had rescued him from the darkness of his past and had brought him into the light. She had freed him to be himself, had accepted him for who and what he was, and loved him anyway. It was the most liberating feeling. She had awakened and welcomed his own needs, matched and returned the depth of his desire, was his equal, his friend, his confidant, his lover.
As their passion flared and their bodies came together once more, Kyle gave himself up to the magic of making love with Lexie, the explosive pleasure they found together, the sensation of being part of her, one with her. They hurtled together towards oblivion, two souls inseparable, two hearts united, two lives entwined.
He couldn’t wait to share the news of his joy with his special friends, Conor and Kate, Nic and Hannah, who each had found t
he specialness that he and Alexandra now experienced. His Lexie—the most loving and giving person he had ever known. By some miracle this amazing, wonderful woman wanted to give her love to him, and it was a gift he would treasure for the rest of their lives as they worked, lived, laughed and loved side by side.
In Lexie’s loving care he was safe, as she was in his…now and for ever.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5915-0
HIS VERY SPECIAL NURSE
First North American Publication 2007
Copyright © 2007 by Margaret McDonagh
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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His Very Special Nurse Page 17
