She watched a flock of rooks flying across the reddening sky. The days were getting shorter, and any day now the clocks would go back and winter would have begun. She picked Amy up as the little girl began to flag, and hugged her close, burying her head in the warm silkiness of her round little cheek. Amy giggled and wound her arms round Rosie’s neck.
‘I want cakes for tea,’ she confided to her mother. ‘And biscuits—lots and lots!’
Rosie laughed. With Amy around, how could she be sad for long?
They went through the gate at the back garden of the cottage and in through the back door. Rosie pulled off Amy’s boots, then with more difficulty managed to pull her own wellies off. Lily had been making scones and the lovely warm smell of them pervaded the kitchen. She couldn’t resist pinching one from the tray where they lay temptingly on top of the stove. Taking a large bite from it, she walked into the lounge.
She stopped suddenly. Someone was standing looking out of the window with his back to the door, a tall, broad figure. With the light in her eyes Rosie found it difficult to focus at first, then the man turned round, and for a confused moment Rosie wondered if she was hallucinating. Clear blue eyes stared into hers for a long, long minute, an unreadable expression in their depths. Then a familiar deep voice said very quietly, ‘Rosie Loveday—why the hell didn’t you tell me what’s been happening?’
Suddenly Rosie felt her knees buckle and sat down on the settee. ‘Andy…’ she managed. ‘Andy…what are you doing here? I thought you were in America. No one said you’d come back!’
‘Never mind all that.’ His voice was harsh. ‘I want to know why you kept me in the dark about your baby…our baby!’ He looked across at her grimly, a muscle working in his cheek. ‘Was it going to be kept a secret for ever—was I never going to know that I’d fathered a child?’
Rosie looked up at him wordlessly, her heart hammering against her ribs in the astonishment of seeing him. Her eyes drank in every aspect of him greedily—his strapping figure, strong mobile face and full lips. He hadn’t changed. He was just as she had dreamed about him every night since he’d left. And now he was here—here in this room, a few yards away from her!
‘I…I thought you had too many worries to load you with mine,’ she said at last, trying to sort out the myriad thoughts that whirled round in her mind.
Andy strode across the room and squatted down beside her, looking intensely into her eyes. ‘How ridiculous can you get? For God’s sake, Rosie, it wasn’t just your worry. Two people made this baby and one of them was me!’ His voice softened and he took her hands in his. ‘Did you think so little of me that you thought I couldn’t handle this—take on the responsibility? Surely you know me better than that!’
Rosie stood up abruptly and walked away from him, then turned round, her expression defensive. ‘It wasn’t that easy. You’d made it pretty clear that Keiron would always be your priority—and you were right to make him so. When you went back to America it seemed to make the whole situation more complicated…’
He snorted derisively. ‘Surely you could have written and told me! Why did you want to keep this to yourself? You have one child who has no father—why inflict that on another one? Don’t you think that’s rather selfish?’
An angry flush spread over Rosie’s cheeks, and her voice became more harsh. ‘Don’t you dare tell me I’m selfish,’ she said tersely. ‘As a matter of fact, I was going to tell you about the baby before you disappeared to America—although you’d made it pretty clear to me before that you didn’t want any more children, that Keiron was more than enough to handle!’
‘You certainly seem to have made some odd assumptions,’ he said sardonically. ‘It seems every little remark I made was taken very seriously!’
Rosie looked at him challengingly. ‘You certainly didn’t give me the impression you were in a hurry to come back. To be honest, the e-mails you sent implied that your life here was over. You barely enquired about me or Amy.’
He bit his lip. ‘I’m well aware that I must have sounded a little cold…’
Rosie gave a scornful laugh. ‘You sounded as if you were writing to a distant acquaintance!’
He took her hands in his and looked at her with serious eyes. ‘I did that on purpose, Rosie, sweetheart. I didn’t want you to feel…attached in any way to me—not with my problems.’
Rosie shrugged. ‘So you’ve come back. Would you have done so anyway, or is it only because you’ve heard I’m having your baby?’
‘Not only that,’ he said gently. ‘For God’s sake, you don’t know how much I’ve longed to see you, Rosie.’ He began to pace the floor restlessly. ‘Surely you can’t deny that we had something more than attraction between us. Didn’t we set each other alight?’
Rosie’s face coloured as he held her gaze for a second, then he continued, ‘When I had to go to the States, I felt the future I could offer you was something you wouldn’t want—to live in America, away from your loved ones, your new job, your lovely little cottage…Why should I uproot you, and make you take on all my baggage? It would have been selfish, to say the least. That’s why I didn’t want you to feel we were…involved.’
She stared at him coolly, although she felt her heart racing. ‘And has the situation changed?’
‘My feelings for you have never changed,’ Andy replied. ‘But other things have—I’ll tell you about those in a minute. But now we’re having a baby it doesn’t matter what the situation is, surely. Our duty is to give the child a happy home, two loving parents—don’t you agree with that?’
Rosie felt a surge of compassion for the man standing in front of her. He was good and kind, wanting to do the best for those he loved. And he was right—their baby deserved the best of everything. She loved Andy so much, and had done from the day she’d met him. She knew that now, and the fact she had never been sure that he would be fully committed to her didn’t matter any more.
She brushed a tendril of hair away from her face nervously. ‘I really did mean to tell you. It…it just seemed you had another life over there that I could never be part of. It didn’t seem fair to burden you—’
Andy jumped up in exasperation. ‘Burden me, my foot! Rosie Loveday—I don’t know how many children we’ll end up having but, by God, I want to know about each and every one!’
There was a short silence, then Rosie whispered, ‘What did you just say?’
Suddenly his fierce demeanour relaxed and a wide grin split his face. ‘I said I didn’t know how many children we’d have—probably one at a time!’
‘What…what do you mean…?’ Her voice shook, her brown eyes wide.
His arms slid round her waist and he pulled her towards him until their bodies touched. ‘It means, you silly woman, that we’re going to be together for ever and ever. I’ve not come back merely to be on the sidelines! We’re going to be a proper family—you, me, Amy and Keiron. And, of course, junior here.’ He patted her stomach gently. ‘Perhaps we ought to set the date for the wedding very soon, don’t you think?’
Somewhere inside her, little waves of happiness started to ripple through her body. This was unreal, wonderful and totally bewildering! She shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. ‘I don’t understand all this…How did you find out about the baby? Does everyone know?’
He chuckled. ‘Your Aunt Lily is a very wise woman,’ he commented. ‘I think she reckoned that I ought to be made aware that I was to become a father, and if you didn’t tell me—then she would! I received a very informative letter at the end of last week. I came back on the first flight available!’
‘But what about Keiron—and your ex-wife? How can she look after your son?’
His eyes danced. ‘Things have a way of working out. Of course, Roger is English and basically wanted to come back to his home here to recuperate. He was setting up a business in Chicago and only planned to stay there two or three years anyway.’
‘At least Sonia’s looking after him.’
&nb
sp; Andy gave a wry smile. ‘Perhaps I’m being cynical, but I feel the prospect of being a member of the aristocracy and living in a splendid castle seems to have helped Sonia overcome her homesickness! So you see, my sweet, there really is no reason why we can’t all live over here!’
‘So Keiron would have both his parents in England?’
‘That’s right. He would spend most of his time with us because Sonia feels Roger is now too old and frail to have a young child around all the time, but I think Keiron loves the thought that at least we’re all in the same country!’
Her eyes were bright with wonder. ‘It…it just doesn’t seem possible. You’re here, and you’re going to stay!’
‘Got it in one!’ He turned her face towards his and kissed her gently with soft lips. ‘I think I should tell you,’ he whispered in her ear, ‘that as soon as you came in, Lily took Amy out to tea with a friend. She wanted us to have an hour or two to get to know each other again!’
Rosie stared at him, then started to laugh helplessly. ‘Andy Templeton—you schemer! I just can’t believe all this is happening!’
The little waves of happiness became great rollers washing over her, and with all the naturalness in the world, she wound her arms round Andy’s neck and pressed her lips to his. He held her back from him for a moment, and looked down at her with such tenderness and love that her stomach gave that old familiar somersault of longing and delight.
‘My sweet darling,’ he whispered, ‘what have you been through, trying to deal with this on your own? I want you to promise me—never, never keep anything from me again!’
Then he bent his mouth to hers and kissed her with passion, his tongue teasing her lips apart, his hands exploring her body. Rosie felt her insides liquefy with a desire she’d dreamed of so often in the last months, and with abandon she pulled him down on the rug beside the fire.
She looked at him with an impish grin. ‘That’s a pretty tall order.’ She grinned. ‘You’ll have to convince me of that!’
He looked down at her, laughter in the depths of his eyes. ‘I’ll do my best,’ he promised.
Their eyes locked for a second, then with mutual delight and unspoken consent they started to undress each other, the long months of waiting feeding their desire. Andy slowly peeled off her jumper and bent to kiss the soft skin of her breasts and stomach, before helping her to wriggle out of her jeans. Then, with studied concentration, Rosie undid his shirt and trousers, marvelling at his hard, muscular body, the strength of his arousal. They knelt in front of each other for a moment, their naked bodies barely touching, and his blue gaze feasted on her rounded curves before his hands moved over her breasts and back, pulling her towards him, his fingers skilfully exploring the most intimate places of her body until she moaned with pleasure.
‘Beautiful Rosie,’ he said huskily, his lips trailing fire down her body. ‘It’s been so long…Do you know how much I love you, how often I’ve dreamed of doing this again with you?’
Rosie gave a low laugh. ‘This time,’ she whispered, ‘you don’t have to ask me if I really want you to make love to me—I think you know!’
Then all time stood still as their bodies became one in a glorious, passionate reunion.
‘Hey, Amy! Don’t drop all the cutlery on the floor! We’re trying to lay the table, not clear it! Why don’t you bring in that cake you made with Lily?’
Keiron grinned after Amy’s little figure as she bustled out to do as he said. She was some little kid, he thought affectionately. She followed him around like a puppy. It was rather nice to be adored and needed by the little girl—and he enjoyed spending time with her. He glanced round the room. He liked it here. It was so cosy and he was beginning to get used to being part of a family unit—America seemed a long long time ago.
Amy trotted back with a plate of well-cooked buns held precariously in her hands, followed by Lily bearing a trayful of delicious-looking sandwiches.
‘Here we are, Keiron—put that in the centre of the table. They’ll be here any minute…’
Lily looked flushed and excited, nervous energy having enabled her to clean the cottage from top to bottom that morning. She went to the window and peered out, then gave a little squeal.
‘Quick, my darlings! They’re driving up now!’
The three of them ran to the door and flung it open. Andy was helping Rosie out of the car. He turned round and smiled at them all, his smile widening as he saw the banner Keiron had placed over the lintel. WELCOME TO OUR NEW BABY, it said in big red letters. An amazing array of squiggles and crosses surrounded the words—those had been Amy’s contribution.
Rosie walked up the path, her arms filled with a pink-faced bundle wrapped in a white shawl.
She bent down towards them and pulled the shawl away from the baby’s face.
‘Keiron, Amy,’ she said softly, ‘your new little sister’s dying to meet you. Come and say hello to Carla!’
They crowded round and looked at the tiny baby with awe. Keiron put out a gentle hand and stroked her cheek. ‘She sure is pretty,’ he said softly. He looked up at Rosie and grinned. ‘Now I’ve got two sisters, haven’t I?’ He looked across at his father. ‘Next time, can we have a boy?’
Andy smiled, a very tender smile, at them all. ‘Now, that will be another chapter,’ he murmured.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-5697-5
TEMPTING DR. TEMPLETON
First North American Publication 2002
Copyright © 2002 by Judy Campbell
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Tempting Dr. Templeton Page 16
