Even her mother had noticed her lack of energy and positivity in the last few days.
Xavier’s initial, shocked reaction to the pregnancy had been understandable—she recognised that—but to reject her love, then let her leave and not contact her again, was just plain heartless.
To be perfectly honest, it had broken her heart.
But then, she’d not contacted him either, she accepted with a thud of despair. She’d been too afraid to in case she saw that look of cool reproach on his face again.
Sighing loudly, she picked up a mug from a tray of newly washed crockery and rubbed the tea towel over it. It was all very well holing herself up here, but she was going to have to face him again eventually so they could work this thing out between them. She’d signed a contract to stay married to him for the next few months after all and there was no way she was going to welch on their deal. She wasn’t a quitter.
She was just finishing this thought when a familiar and stomach-twisting scent hit her senses.
Looking up, she found herself staring into the dark intensity of Xavier’s gaze.
‘Hi, Soli,’ he said quietly.
‘What are you doing here?’ she blurted, completely losing any poise she’d coached herself to exude when next confronted with him.
‘I came to talk to you.’
‘Here?’ she said, glancing around her, unable to keep the incredulity out of her voice.
The corner of his mouth twitched up. ‘Yes. I figured it’s as good a place as any.’
‘It’s not exactly private,’ she said, gesturing round at the tables full of customers and at her sister and mother, who were currently drinking coffee at the other end of the bar, celebrating a successful end to Domino’s first term at university. The two women were now watching them, their interest clearly piqued.
‘That’s my sister and mother over there,’ Soli hissed under her breath so they wouldn’t hear her.
‘Have you told them about us?’ he asked.
‘No. Not yet.’
He gave a sharp nod, but didn’t move away from the counter. ‘Well, we could go somewhere a bit quieter if you like.’
Suddenly she didn’t want to move away from behind the counter. She wanted to make him pay for his indifference towards her by forcing him to say whatever he had to say in front of all these people. To hell with his manly pride. She didn’t need to take his feelings into consideration any more, especially when he obviously had no intention of protecting hers.
‘No. Whatever you have to say to me you can do right here. I’m busy doing my job—I don’t have time to leave just so you can reject me again.’ She folded her arms and stared him down, determined not to let him win this time.
She might love him, much more than she was willing to admit right now, but she was damned if she was going to let him hurt her any more than he already had.
She and the baby would be fine without him and his money. She had enough love in her to count for two parents.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed her sister was still staring at them both.
‘Soli, did this guy break your heart or something? Is that why you’ve been moping around looking so broken since I got back?’ Domino called out.
Obviously they weren’t being as discreet as she’d hoped.
She swallowed and was about to answer when Xavier spoke over her.
‘Yes, I’m afraid I did. And I came here to apologise and tell your sister how much I love and miss her.’
He turned back to face her and looked directly into her eyes.
She just stood there dumbstruck, with blood rushing in her ears, wondering if she’d misheard him.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, with such emotion in his voice she knew immediately that he genuinely meant it. ‘I’m so sorry for hurting you.’ He put his hands on the counter and leant in closer to her. ‘I don’t work properly without you. You’ve changed me, changed the way I think about life and what love really is. I don’t deserve you, Soli, I know that, but I want you back. I want us all to be a family.’
‘Really?’ was all she could think to reply to that, her scrambled brain slow to catch up with everything he was saying.
‘Yes. Really. I got spooked when you told me about the baby because I’d promised myself I wouldn’t fall for you and it made me realise that I had. That I wanted you more than I should. I’ve been a complete idiot. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me—you and the baby.’
There was a loud gasp and a squeal from the direction of her mother and sister, but Soli ignored it, her attention focused solely on Xavier now.
‘You really want me back?’ she asked shakily.
‘Yes,’ he said with more determination in his voice than she’d ever heard before. He moved round to the opening in the counter and took her hand in his, gently tugging on it to ask her to follow him out to the floor of the café.
When they were both standing in front of the now mostly silent room—since the whole of the clientele appeared to have stopped playing their games to stare at them instead—Xavier dropped to one knee and looked up at her with such intensity in his eyes her heart nearly flew out of her body with excitement. His hand was shaking as he held onto hers tightly, their palms pressed hard together, and she realised with a shock that he was scared. He was afraid she would reject him, but he was still going through with this, in front of all these people.
He wasn’t hiding any more.
He swallowed, looking as though he was having trouble starting his sentence, but his voice was loud and clear when he spoke. ‘As you’re aware, I find it really hard to trust people, but I know—I guess I’ve always known, deep down—that I can trust you, Soli. I love the idea of you being the mother of my child. You’re the most wonderful, caring, compassionate person I’ve ever met and it would be a huge privilege to spend the rest of my life with you.’
There was a low murmur from the crowd, but he didn’t let it distract him.
‘I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make you happy. I’ll give you everything I have, everything, if you’ll come back home with me.’
She could barely breathe as the reality of his words began to sink in.
‘I love you, Solitaire McQueen. Will you marry me.’ He paused and smiled before adding, ‘For real this time?’
Soli thought her heart might explode with happiness.
Xavier loved her and he wanted them all to be a family. A real family.
‘I love you too,’ she sobbed, unable to control her emotions any longer. ‘And yes,’ she took a steadying breath, ‘I’ll marry you.’ She grinned through her tears. ‘Again.’
He kissed her hand before standing up and pulling her into his arms, where he held her to him so tightly she could barely breathe, before finally drawing away just far enough to kiss her deeply, with the love and emotion she’d always known he had in him.
‘We’ll make one hell of a team, Mrs McQueen,’ he murmured against her lips, and she knew, right then, that there would be no more games.
She’d won the ultimate prize.
EPILOGUE
Bingo—hold your nerve for the ultimate prize.
Five years later
‘FOUND YOU!’ CAME the excited voice of four-year-old Faith McQueen as she pulled back the curtain to reveal her mother crouched on the window seat behind it.
‘Darn! And I thought I had the perfect hiding place,’ Soli said with a grin, ruffling the hair of her eldest daughter and pulling her in for a kiss.
‘Mum, let go—I still need to find Dad and Joy,’ Faith said, struggling out of her arms, but not before dabbing one last wet kiss on Soli’s cheek.
‘Okay, go ahead,’ Soli said, unfolding herself from her cramped position with a sigh of relief and heading back to the kitchen, where she still had some last-minute preparati
ons to do for Xavier’s birthday meal.
She’d made one of her famous chocolate fudge cakes for dessert and she needed to get it out of the oven now so it’d be absolutely perfect.
It wasn’t long before Xavier came striding in through the door with two-year-old Joy on his shoulders and Faith clinging around his waist with her feet on top of his, doing the penguin walk.
‘You seem to have a new hat and pair of trousers,’ she joked. ‘Did you get them for your birthday?’
She laughed as Xavier shot her a rueful look while he tried, and failed, to prise his children off him.
He was amazing with them, as Soli had always suspected he would be, and they’d both become real Daddy’s girls to prove her right. He clearly adored them and had even hinted he’d be very happy to have more kids if she thought she might too.
‘Where’s everyone else?’ Faith asked, her eyes round with excitement when she saw the kitchen table laden with the special birthday meal.
She was talking, in part, about Soli’s mother, who had moved in with them and taken the downstairs bedroom when her Parkinson’s had worsened and it had become impossible for her to manage stairs. It was a great arrangement because it meant the girls could spend lots of time with their grandmother, and she absolutely adored having them around her. She often said to Soli that they kept her young.
After acing her degree at Oxford, Domino had gone on to do a pure maths MSc, and was starting a PhD at King’s College in London, so had moved in with them too last year, latterly bringing with her her boyfriend, who was another PhD in her department and deeply devoted to Soli’s brilliant sister. If the two of them had kids, Soli suspected they’d be so smart they’d go on to solve all six of the remaining mathematical Millennium prize projects or something.
The house was no longer the silent show home it had been when she’d first moved in. It was now always full of life and laughter, which Xavier happily asserted would have delighted his great-aunt Faith, and openly admitted that he loved too.
Soli had sold the business on to another board game enthusiast when she fell pregnant for the second time and had decided she wanted to be able to spend more time at home with both the children and her mother. She didn’t regret it for a second. It had always been her father’s dream really, and it had been high time she’d chased her own.
To that end, she’d enrolled in college to study fashion design, something she’d really enjoyed at school, and was now in the process of setting up her own clothing line, which she’d decided to call Solitaire.
It was all up for grabs, which was exactly the way she’d come to like it.
‘Speaking of birthday presents—’ she said to Xavier once he’d finally freed himself from his daughters’ vice-like grip.
‘You know I didn’t want you to get me anything.’ He gave her a mock-stern frown, then pulled her hard against his body, wrapping his arms around her. ‘Just this,’ he said, dropping his mouth to hers for a long, sweet kiss.
‘Well, I’m afraid I ignored your instructions,’ she teased, when they finally broke apart, flashing him a smile.
He let out a long, fake sigh. ‘Why am I not surprised?’
‘I thought you might like this though,’ she said, pulling out a long, flat package.
He frowned, taking it from her and pulling off the wrapping paper to reveal a pregnancy testing kit.
‘You’re pregnant again?’ he asked, his eyes lighting up with excitement.
‘I am,’ she said, grinning as he pulled her back against him and planted little kisses all over her face.
‘Well, that’s the best birthday present I’ve ever had,’ he said gruffly, grinning from ear to ear.
‘You realise there are going to be even more years of hide-and-seek to get through now,’ she joked, laughing as he began to kiss down her throat.
‘That works for me,’ he said, his voice muffled against her skin. ‘I know all the best hiding places in this house now.’
She smiled, thinking how much he’d changed since she’d first met him. He was so full of love and happiness with his place in the world now she barely recognised the withdrawn, emotionally scarred man he’d been then.
Contentment swelled in her chest as she looked at her family gathered around her.
Right at that moment she couldn’t have been happier. She had everyone she loved right there with her and an exciting future stretching ahead with Xavier by her side.
A future she was no longer afraid to face.
She was proud of the brave, strong and confident person she’d become, thanks to Xavier’s belief in her.
In fact, they’d made a pact that there would be no more hiding from life—for either of them—ever again.
He’d been absolutely right: they made the perfect team.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from
Christy McKellen
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All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from UNLOCKING THE MILLIONAIRE’S HEART by Bella Bucannon.
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Unlocking the Millionaire’s Heart
by Bella Bucannon
CHAPTER ONE
NATE THORNTON SHOOK the rain from his hair with vigour before entering the towering central office block in Sydney’s city centre. He’d had to reschedule planned video meetings to make the train trip from Katoomba at Brian Hamilton’s insistence, and he’d been further frustrated by his evasive remarks.
‘It has to be Thursday the ninth. I think I’ve found a resolution for your hero and heroine interaction problem. And there’s a publisher who’s interested in seeing a revised copy of your book.’
Late-night research had shown Brian Hamilton to be one of the best literary agents in Australia. After initial contact he had asked for, and read, Nate’s synopsis and first three chapters, then requested the full manuscript. His brutal honesty on its marketability had convinced Nate he was the contract negotiator he wanted.
Attempts to rewrite the scenes he’d specified, however, had proved that particular aspect wasn’t his forte. And when he’d been tempted to suggest cutting them out, the feeling in his gut had told him it wasn’t that simple, and to ask if the agent could find a better solution.
It wasn’t the pos
sibility of income that drove Nate to his computer. Astute investment of an inheritance and a significant part of his earnings while working abroad meant he was financially secure for years. Or, as his brother claimed, ‘filthy rich’—a phrase he detested. Although he envied Sam the satisfaction he’d achieved as a pilot in the air force, currently stationed at Edinburgh, north of Adelaide.
His compulsion to write had been driven by the need to put the hardships and traumas he’d witnessed as an international reporter where they belonged—in his past. Those harrowing images of man’s inhumanity to man were still in his head, though for the most part he managed to keep them buried.
There was nothing he could do regarding the way he now viewed life and interacted with new acquaintances. The walls he’d built for his own emotional protection were solid and permanent.
Frowning at the number of floors all six lifts had to descend before reaching him, he punched the ‘up’ button and tapped his fingers on his thigh. Okay, so he wasn’t so hot on the touchy-feely sentimental stuff. Hell, the rest of his hundred thousand words were damn good, and his target readers weren’t romantic females.
No disrespect intended.
The street doors sliding open drew his attention. The woman who came in brushing raindrops from her hair held it. He had a quick impression of black tights, then a flash of blue patterned fabric under a beige raincoat as she unbuttoned and shook it.
His mind registered long brown hair, a straight nose and red lips above a cute chin—great descriptive characterisation for an author, Thornton—then, as their eyes met, he felt a distinct jolt in his stomach.
Dark blue eyes framed by thick lashes stared, then blinked. Her smooth brow furrowed, and she swung away abruptly to study the board on the wall. He huffed in wry amusement at having been dismissed as un-noteworthy—not his usual first reaction from women.
The lift pinged and he moved aside to allow an exiting couple room. Another quick appraisal of the stationary figure of the woman, and he stepped inside.
A Contract, a Wedding, a Wife? Page 15
