KIARA LAUGHED AS Lucas accepted Marnie’s insistence that she was fine, and that he really should go and tend to his own patients now.
As schoolgirlish as she knew it was, she had to look back as he disappeared into the GP surgery. And, to her surprise, she was rewarded with another one of those soft smiles of his as he glanced back too. The kind of smile that ribboned round her heart and freed a chorus of invisible birds, singing as if it were the first day of spring and not the beginning of November.
Sweet crumbs and empty biscuit tins, indeed!
It wasn’t a saying she’d heard before—and maybe Marnie had made it up, to prevent herself from swearing too much, as many mothers in labour did—but it actually suited what she was feeling. The two encounters she’d had with Lucas—her new colleague, no less—had been like delicious crumbs, strewn on a path that only led to danger. For her anyway.
Yes, he was gorgeous. And, yes, it was a bonus that he worked in the health profession—she’d learned early on in her dating ‘career’ that not many people understood the strange demands of a midwife’s role. It wasn’t as if babies worked to a schedule when they decided to appear. But those alarm bells had rung for a reason when their paths had all but literally collided yesterday. Lucas Wilde was a father. And where there were fathers there were usually mothers. And mothers very rightly didn’t like it when their husbands wove them a tale of deception in order to woo a twenty-something midwife who thought she might be starting a family of her own one day...
Nya’s steady voice pulled her attention back to where it needed to be. On Marnie.
‘That’s right, love. Let’s get you in here and pull off some of these layers before—Oh! Easy, there, darling... Kiara, do you think you could help Marnie get her things off while I run and let the desk know we’re here and ready for action?’
‘Absolutely,’ Kiara said, guiding Marnie over to the bed. ‘Why don’t we get your coat off? Then you can have a seat and I’ll help you with everything else.’
‘None of it’s gone according to plan!’ Marnie panted. ‘I have lists. I have charts. I do this for a living! I thought I was the one in control.’
We all think we’re the one in control.
Kiara stemmed the quip. It wasn’t what Marnie needed or wanted to hear. It also referred to a dark mark on her own past that she wanted to leave behind. Which was exactly why she needed to remember to give Lucas the cold shoulder whenever their paths crossed again. But smiling at him was so easy! She hadn’t noticed yesterday that there was a twinkle in his eyes when he tried to be funny. How he could make dad jokes sexy was beyond her. Dad jokes should never be sexy. Especially to her.
She knelt down and got to work on Marnie’s winter footwear. ‘That’s right...just sit back against that big, snowy mound of pillows while I get these boots off for you.’
‘Sorry about all the laces,’ Marnie apologised. ‘Again—not part of the plan.’
Kiara smiled up at her before putting both the boots in a small cupboard ready for the expectant mother’s personal items. ‘It’d be great if babies listened when we told them the plan, wouldn’t it?’
Marnie laughed appreciatively. She gave her belly an affectionate rub. ‘I was out for a walk. I thought it’d be good for the baby and my swollen ankles if I had some gentle exercise. I had my first contraction when I was out on the beach, but I thought it was a Braxton Hicks so decided to ignore it. If I’d known it was the real thing I would’ve worn some slip-ons.’
Marnie gave a self-deprecating chuckle, then sighed.
‘Heaven knows why I thought I’d be the one in charge of all this.’ She pointed at her stomach, and for just a moment her smile shadowed as she said, ‘I guess it’s because I’m the one who organised this whole scenario. Her,’ she corrected herself, her smile warming again. ‘She’s not a scenario. She’s a her.’
‘Oh?’ Kiara said, keeping her tone light, but neutral.
She’d learnt hundreds of babies ago that it was always best to leave the baby’s origin story to the mum to tell. Not every family came pre-packaged with a fairy tale romance, a diamond ring and a baby nine months after the honeymoon.
Another contraction hit before Marnie could explain, but once it had passed, and Kiara had got Marnie out of her clothes and into one of the soft hospital gowns, she glanced at the empty chair usually occupied by the birth partner and thought it was safe to ask, ‘You didn’t say before, but is there anyone you’d like me to ring?’
Marnie’s cheeks coloured. ‘No,’ she answered curtly, and then, her forehead creasing apologetically, added, ‘Sorry. Sorry... I’m pregnant on my own through IVF treatment—which most people already know. I haven’t had to explain how I got to look like a beached whale without having a boyfriend in a while.’
‘You just let me know what I can do to help, okay?’
Kiara meant it, too. Having a baby was a big step. Having it on your own was even bigger. It took courage to do what Marnie was doing and she definitely wasn’t judging. Everyone’s path was of their own making, and Marnie’s voice was rock-solid. She wanted a baby and now she was having one. Exactly the same way Kiara wanted to celebrate this Christmas with complete and utter abandon.
Okay, fine... It was a little bit different. But the endgame was the same. She and Marnie were living their lives by their own rulebooks. And she respected that.
Kiara silently began hooking Marnie up to the relevant monitors, making it clear that it was up to Marnie how much she did or didn’t say.
‘Do you mind if I take a little look,’ she asked eventually. ‘See how far along you are?’
‘Please,’ Marnie said. ‘I’d do it myself, but...’ she pointed at her large belly ‘...this is in the way.’
Kiara glanced at the door, certain that Nya would be reappearing any minute. ‘I know you work here, but I think that if there was a day of all days when Nya would be happy for you to sit back and let someone else do the work, today would definitely be the day.’
The women shared a warm smile. And Kiara thought she’d look forward to working with Marnie when her maternity leave was finished.
‘Nya’s probably got stuck at the desk answering four million questions. If you want to take over for her, please feel free.’
‘Are you sure? If she’s your midwife—’
Marnie gave a combination of a laugh and a moan. ‘When you work as a midwife everyone’s your midwife.’ Her smile softened. ‘Nya has been the one to do all the exams, but it’s shift-change time, so honestly... Oh!’ Her hands flew to her belly. ‘You can go ahead. Please.’
‘Right you are, then. But if you want me to step aside for Nya, just say.’
Kiara gloved up, put some gel on her hand and pulled a stool over so she could do a quick examination.
Rather than flinch, as many patients did at the first touch, Marnie suddenly beamed a big, huge, beautiful smile. ‘I’m going to be the mother of a little baby girl!’
‘You are!’ Kiara beamed back. ‘And...’ she finished her examination ‘...by the looks of things, you’ll be holding her in your arms and picking out the perfect name any minute now.’
‘Sorry...sorry!’ Nya appeared at the door, her smile mischievous as she briskly walked to the wall-mounted glove dispenser. ‘A woman having twins cornered me on the way here, but I knew I’d left you in capable hands.’ She gave Marnie a discerning look. ‘You’re choosing names already, are you?’
Marnie nodded and then, as a contraction hit again, somehow managed to get out, ‘I know—I haven’t—physically experienced—this—before—but I’m pretty sure—’
‘You’re crowning!’ Nya and Kiara chorused in tandem.
At Marnie’s request, Nya took on the hand-holding role. Then, after two, possibly three minutes of encouragement, some deep guttural cries and some concentrated pushing later, Kiara was holding Marnie’s baby girl in her arms.
‘She’s a beauty!’ Kiara held her up so Marnie could see, and as if on cue the little girl uttered a loud cry, announcing her arrival in the world.
They all laughed and, exhausted, Marnie fell back against her pillows.
Nya and Kiara cleaned and dried the baby, then placed her in Marnie’s outstretched arms so that they could share that all-important skin-to-skin contact both mother and baby craved organically.
Kiara was relieved at how easy it had been to fall into a rhythm with Nya who, despite being her boss, was treating her as an equal, only taking the lead when it came to finding things—which, to be fair, was something Kiara did need guidance with.
‘Nothing like starting your first day with a baby born in the first ten minutes,’ she said, and grinned.
Nya shared a complicit smile with her. ‘It’s the best way to start a new post, isn’t it? One perfect baby on a beautiful day.’
Nya prepared a Vitamin K injection and Marnie reluctantly handed her little girl over to Kiara for weighing and measuring. They dealt swiftly with the umbilical cord and the placenta, offering Marnie a local anaesthetic for the inevitable pain she felt, and finally moved the new mother and her freshly swaddled daughter to a bright, clean bed.
‘I can see why new mums sometimes get teary at this part,’ Marnie said, blinking back her own tears.
Kiara gave her a warm smile. ‘There are a billion hormones running rampant in your body right now,’ she told her. And she was also alone. There was no one special to share this life-changing moment with.
She pictured this moment for herself. Her brain summoned the images and she was shocked to see that Lucas was the one standing in the room next to her—not her ex, Peter. It wasn’t so much a clear image of Lucas as a doting father, but more his presence she imagined. That calm, warm, humour-filled aura that had surrounded him from the moment they’d discovered Marnie on the driveway.
‘I know...’ Marnie sniffed, already holding out her arms for her baby again. ‘I’ve known all that professionally for years, but now I feel like I truly know it. In here.’ She tapped her heart. ‘I don’t know how she’s done it, but this little girl has made me complete. I feel like I’ve just become the person I was always meant to be.’
Kiara smiled, but said nothing, knowing that her voice would squeak up into the higher registers if she did. She knew the feeling of knowing there was something missing in her life...not yet having it. She also knew that the sense of wholeness had to come from within. That more than likely whatever had led Marnie to go through IVF and have this baby alone had been a step in the process of recognising and owning the type of woman she wanted to be.
Kiara wanted to be a woman who could trust and love a man again. She wasn’t going to tar all men with the same brush her ex had been lavished with, but...
Again, an image of Lucas flashed up in her mind’s eye.
She tried to bat it away but it wouldn’t go.
This was insane. She’d barely met the man. And yet just a few moments in his presence and she’d known instinctively that he was someone she could rely on. Professionally. Obviously. Just because looking at him set butterflies loose in her tummy, it didn’t mean she couldn’t take a step back and acknowledge that, at her place of work, he was a good man to know.
The thought snagged.
Having a doctor’s respect meant a lot to her. Perhaps that was why she’d been so smitten by her surgeon boyfriend. A surgeon dating a midwife... It was so clichéd. But that first time Peter had asked her opinion about something and nodded along, as if she’d just offered him the most valuable insight ever, had thrilled her. The ‘respect’ had turned out to be just for show, of course. Peter had only ever valued Peter’s opinion.
But with Lucas the respect had seemed genuine. The man had surely delivered a few babies over the course of his training, if not during his career as a GP, and he had seemed completely at ease leaving Marnie’s care to Kiara. She hadn’t got the impression from him—even for a nano-second—that he considered her less than capable of looking after her patient. She respected him for that.
And it spoke of the self-confidence he possessed that he hadn’t felt the need to micro-manage her—a stranger whose skills were completely unknown to him. A stranger who had kind of been a little bit rude to him, now that she thought of it. She’d been warm and kind to his son, but she’d been crisp and dismissive of him...right up until they’d shared that look. The one that had turned her insides into a warm cupcake.
‘Are you all right, Kiara?’ asked Marnie.
Kiara shook her head, as if that would shake away the image of Lucas now firmly embossed in her brain. ‘I’m just really delighted that your baby was the first one I helped to deliver,’ she said.
‘You and Lucas saved me from having her outside!’ Marnie laughed, then gave a sigh that was difficult to read. ‘Have you had a chance to chat with him yet?’
Kiara shook her head, even though it wasn’t strictly true. He had tried to chat, but she’d shut it down.
‘He’s such a good man,’ Marnie continued. ‘Not everyone would be as kind and thoughtful as he is, given his situation.’
Kiara’s eyebrows drew together. ‘What situation?’
Marnie’s eyes darted to the open door, then back to Kiara. ‘It’s not really my place to say, but a good man like that deserves to meet someone really special.’
Like me?
Marnie was making poor work of stifling a yawn.
‘Why don’t you have a rest?’ Kiara helped Marnie arrange her covers and pillows just so, unable to stop her smile twitching into something broad, as if she’d just received the best Christmas present ever.
Lucas Wilde wasn’t married!
She tried to pull her smile into some sort of control. Boyfriend-shopping was not on her list of things to achieve here. Delivering babies and decorating her house to collect money for charity were. And looking after herself. That was it.
Even so...just a handful of minutes with Lucas today had shown her a side of him that she really liked. Beyond the sexy hair, the beautiful grey eyes and those lips that really did look inviting enough to kiss...
A good man like that deserves to meet someone really special.
An image of her wearing a sexy elf costume, one leg wrapped seductively round a giant candy cane, popped into her head. And Lucas was wearing nothing more than a Santa hat...
Kiara! Stop it. He’s a single father, not a boy toy.
She wrapped things up with Marnie, who looked more than ready for a sleep, especially now that her daughter had nodded off, and headed down to the central desk to do her notes.
‘Well, that’s a new way to approach the desk!’ Nya smiled as she approached. ‘It’s not often someone skips to come and do their notes.’
‘Was I skipping?’ Kiara hadn’t even noticed. The Lucas Effect? ‘It was a great delivery,’ she said. ‘Always gives me a boost.’
‘You’re certainly in the right job if delivering babies gives you added pep!’ Nya gave her arm a squeeze, then showed her where to do her notes, telling her the two of them would soon sit down to discuss her future patients.
Kiara started filling out her forms, but she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering just a bit. Had Lucas Wilde really made her skip?
Sure, he was great. But finding out he was single couldn’t be the main reason she was so happy. She’d already had a three-year run at having a man as the centre of her universe. It had blown up in her face in spectacular style. And that was the thing she needed to remember. Along with the fact that perhaps she didn’t need to be quite as cool a customer when it came to a certain Dr Wilde...
Lucas scanned his patient’s test results, together with the symptoms she’d described, and gave her the information he knew she didn’t want to hear. ‘I’m afraid you have entered the phase of life known as perimenopause, Mrs Braxton.’
‘Oh, please...’ The forty-seven-year-old woman batted away his formal address, reaching for one of the tissues out of the box Lucas had extended to her. ‘Call me Becky. Everyone else does, and it’s the one thing that still makes me feel young. Well...that and my thirty-something boyfriend.’ She threw him a watery smile, dabbed away a few tears, then blew her nose, sitting back in her chair with a sigh. ‘It was a bit mad thinking I still might be...you know...’
Lucas did know, but he thought it best to let Becky say the words herself.
‘Able to have a baby. At my age.’
He held out the tissue box again. ‘It isn’t an impossibility, but I will caution you—’
‘That pregnancy at my age comes with added risk.’ She threw her hands up and gave a tearful laugh. ‘I know. Down’s. High blood pressure. Gestational diabetes.’
‘There are risks for both you and the baby, so if you are sexually active and still trying for a child it’s worth remembering the possible risks that could arise from a geriatric pregnancy—’
‘Oh, God! Let me stop you there.’ She repeated the words geriatric pregnancy with a tone of pure horror. ‘It just sounds so...so...old.’
‘Eighty-eight is old,’ Lucas said with a gentle smile. ‘A hundred and three is old. And, for the record, I have seen patients of both ages earlier this morning—both of whom, I am happy to report, are fit and well despite their additional life experience.’
Lucas hoped his smile would say what propriety wouldn’t allow him to. Becky Braxton was an attractive, intelligent woman, who was clearly in a happy, healthy sexual relationship with a younger partner who adored her, seeing as he’d texted three times already during her visit.
Children might not be on the cards for her, but that didn’t mean she had to buy herself a wheelchair and consider her life over and done with.
He tapped the test results he’d just printed out. ‘You are healthy and fit. Those are valuable assets.’
He was about to say she would have decades of other experiences ahead of her, but he knew first hand that life didn’t always work out like that. So he gave her a couple of pamphlets and said he was more than happy to talk through some of the physical changes she could expect over the coming years, or offer a referral if she preferred to discuss it with a woman doctor.
‘Heavens, no!’ Becky pooh-poohed the idea. ‘You’re ever so kind, but I suppose... Oh, I do hate to be personal, but when I heard about your situation, and saw you were getting on with your life, I thought, If young, handsome Dr Wilde can take one of life’s more serious blows on the chin and pick himself and get on with it...so can I.’ She pressed her fingers to her mouth, then let them drop into her lap, her expression anxious. ‘I hope that isn’t too intrusive? It’s just—you know—it’s a small village, and people know things about people here. In a friendly way.’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘It’s a very welcoming place.’
More than enough stews and casseroles had been left on his front porch when he’d first moved in, to make it clear that life in Carey Cove was about being part of a community. Not hiding away and licking his wounds as he had back in Penzance, when he’d been not even thirty, the father of a six-month-old son and newly widowed.
He’d learnt the hard way that life after a bereavement was not about forgetting—because how could you forget someone you’d promised to love till death parted you? You couldn’t. Nor could you stop loving them. Especially when you woke up to a three-year-old version of that person every single morning.
‘How do you do it?’ Becky asked. ‘Get on with life when it’s not going to be remotely like the one you thought you’d be living?’
‘Good question,’ he said, doing his best to lean into the question rather than avoid it. People came to their GP when they were feeling vulnerable. Frightened. He knew he couldn’t give her a perfect answer, but he could explain what he’d done. ‘For me and Harry—my little lad—it was finding a way to live with our new reality. It was less difficult for him, of course, but—’
‘I’m sorry,’ Becky cut in. ‘That was extremely personal of me. I suspect I need to go home, have a bit of sulk and a think, and then just get on with it. That’s what we British do, isn’t it?’
‘As long as you’re not letting anything fester,’ Lucas said, meaning it.
He’d known that if he’d stayed in the house he and Lily had thought was to be their ‘for ever’ home he’d have been tending wounds that would never heal. The move here had felt like a physical necessity.
‘If you need a referral to talk to someone, or would like some phone numbers of charities, I’m happy to pass them on.’
A thought caught and snagged his attention. He didn’t know what it was, but something told him Kiara’s move to Carey Cove had been for exactly the same reason his had. To give herself a clean slate. A fresh start.
Losing his wife had been a gut-wrenching loss, but he’d at least been able to pour his love into their son, ensuring that Harry felt as safe, happy and secure as they had wanted all their children to feel—their child, he silently corrected. Because there wouldn’t be more children, would there? Not without falling in love again, trusting his heart again. Taking the risk of stepping off the edge of a cliff and believing, once again, that this time he would actually get to spend the rest of his life loving and caring for someone who felt the same way about him.
He stemmed the thought.
Once in a lifetime had been a blessing.
Harry was a blessing.
Kiara was just—
Wait. What? Kiara wasn’t mean to have entered that particular thought process. Particularly when he was thinking about falling in love again.
He realigned his focus to where it should be. On his patient. ‘Have you considered adoption? Fostering?’
She shook her head. ‘No, not really.’ She grabbed another tissue, dabbed her eyes clear of mascara, and popped on her usual bright smile. ‘Anyway, it’s simply too embarrassing, sobbing my heart out in front of you. I’ll figure something out.’ She gave his hand a pat, as if their roles had suddenly been reversed and she was the one consoling him. ‘Thank you, Dr Wilde. No disrespect, but I hope our paths don’t cross again too soon. Unless—’ her smile genuinely brightened this time ‘—it’s down at the harbour? They’re turning on the Christmas lights tomorrow night. Your little one might like that. It’s always such a lovely evening. Mulled wine, mince pies, and of course all the lights.’
‘That sounds wonderful.’
Lucas saw her out of the surgery and as it was now lunchtime thought he’d pop upstairs to the room Nya had told him Marnie was in. He’d rung earlier, to see how the labour had gone, and had been delighted to hear she’d delivered her healthy little girl in record time.
A few minutes later, he was just about to enter the room when Kiara came out, chart in hand. Her eyes brightened at the sight of him. It was a nice change from the cool reception he’d been given the first couple of times their paths had crossed. Perhaps he’d surprised her, or caught her out... Who knew? There were a million reasons why someone’s initial encounters with another person might not be perfect.
‘I take it she’s sleeping?’ Lucas said in a low voice.
Kiara’s dark brown eyes flicked back towards the bed. She nodded, and gently pulled the door shut behind her. ‘Like a baby,’ she said. ‘With her baby,’ she added with a soft laugh, her gaze dipping and then lifting to meet his.
Something hot and bright flared between them, causing them both to look away. There was something both of them were shy of, Lucas thought. Was it something neither of them had expected or wanted?
It was a question he couldn’t answer.
‘How are you getting on?’ He gave a teasing glance at his watch. ‘What’s it been? Four hours? Delivered any more babies?’
Kiara shot him a shy grin. ‘Not yet. Although there have been a couple more December babies added to my roster, so I’ll definitely be looking forward to swaddling them in seasonal blankets.’
Lucas threw her a questioning look.
Kiara led him over to the supplies cupboard and pointed to a couple of fresh stacks of swaddling blankets with a variety of patterns: Santas, elves, holly and ivy, even bright red reindeers in a Nordic design.
‘I didn’t even realise we had seasonal swaddling,’ Lucas said.
Kiara flushed and admitted, ‘That would be my fault.’
‘How?’
‘Back in the hospital where I used to work, we would sometimes get samples from companies wanting to sell these. When I knew I’d be moving here at Christmas time I contacted one of the suppliers to see if there were any samples available, and they sent this huge box full. They’re last year’s designs, so...’
‘So Carey House is the lucky recipient?’ Lucas said. ‘I’m impressed. You’re not just a fan of Christmas at home, you spread the joy.’
Again, her gaze dropped, then lifted to meet his. The compliment—however generic—had obviously touched her. Her response, lightly pinkened cheeks and a tooth snagging on her lower lip, made his heart skip a beat.
Something—or more likely someone—had hurt this woman. Made her feel less valued than she should be.
‘Well...’ Kiara finally broke the silence. ‘I wanted to do something to show how appreciative I am of being taken on as part of the team here.’
‘Christmas swaddling blankets was a nice choice,’ Lucas said, and then, because he couldn’t help himself, asked, ‘You worked in London before, right?’
Kiara let out a low whistle. ‘Word travels fast in these parts.’
Lucas gave her a knowing grin. ‘Tell me about it. When I moved here—’
He stopped himself. He wasn’t ready to bring up the cancer, the months of praying that this time, this check-up, his wife would get the all-clear.
He began again. ‘When I moved here, I received a very warm welcome. There are fewer folk to spread the news to, I guess. Fewer than up in London, anyway.’
The expression on Kiara’s face suggested to him that she’d seen the dark shadows flit through his eyes when he referenced his move. Or perhaps she’d read him like a book the moment she’d met him. Seen the light blue shadows that had taken up residence under his eyes in those last heartbreaking days of Lily’s life and refused to leave. Sensed the void in his life he didn’t know how to fill or what or who to fill it with.
But instead of trying to prise more information out of him, Kiara volunteered, ‘I worked at London Central.’
Lucas looked impressed. ‘You’d certainly get your daily steps in at that place. I mean—’ He stopped, smacking himself on the forehead with the heel of his hand. ‘Not that you need to count steps. Midwives are some of the most active people I’ve ever met, and you’re obviously very fit and slender and—’ He was about to say beautiful, but something stopped him, so he faked a cough and asked, ‘Did you enjoy your time there?’
Kiara quite happily pretended she hadn’t noticed his weird gaffe. She was obviously private, too, but she did volunteer, ‘It was amazing. I started there straight out of university, and it was trial by fire, really. But the care there is much more doctor-led. Not to diminish what you do—obviously it’s super-important. But I guess before I did the job I had imagined that being a midwife would be more like it has been here from the moment I arrived.’
Lucas felt himself caught in her enthusiasm. The warm glow of her smile. ‘You mean pregnant women appearing on the driveway about to give birth?’
Kiara shot him a cheeky grin. ‘If she’d been riding a donkey and had a man in hessian robes alongside her it would’ve been even better.’
He gave her a disbelieving look.
‘No!’ She was laughing as she waved the nativity image away. ‘I was obviously delighted we got to Marnie in time, and that we didn’t have to worry about there being no room at the inn. It was more... Well, you, for example. You saw that the midwives had things under control and honoured the fact that it’s our area of expertise.’
‘But it is your area of expertise.’ Lucas felt he was missing something here. ‘That’s the point of midwifery.’
‘I know!’ Kiara laughed and clapped her hands. ‘Exactly. It’s just...lots of times in the London hospital there were incidents when male obstetricians would elbow us aside although we were perfectly capable of handling the situation. Women helping women, you know?’
Lucas scanned her expression, looking for something that might signal that she disliked or mistrusted men in general, but found nothing. Maybe there’d been a bully in her department? Or perhaps it was simpler than that? Perhaps she was referencing the traditional customs of childbirth that went back much further than modern medicine did?
Kiara must’ve sensed that she needed to explain herself a bit more, so she continued, ‘I like being a woman’s wingman. And her partner’s—if there is one,’ she added hastily, with a quick glance towards Marnie’s room. ‘Being with her almost from the beginning as she rides the world’s most exhilarating and terrifying rollercoaster of all. Bringing someone new into the world...’
Her passion spoke to him. It was akin to his love of being a GP. Helping people throughout the various stages of their lives.
‘You look like someone who loves her job very much,’ he said.
‘I do. I love it. Absolutely. And I just know I’m going to love it here too.’
Her eyes shone bright. To the point where Lucas knew he’d be caught in their brilliance for longer than was appropriate. So again he resorted to the fake cough manoeuvre and excused himself.
He was responding to Kiara in ways he’d never thought he’d experience with a woman again. Curious to know more. Wanting to be around her. Hyper-aware of himself when he was. And that wasn’t even counting the starring role she’d had in the erotic dream he’d had last night.
It scared him. He and Harry had only just got themselves into a steady, workable routine. He wasn’t sure he had it in his emotional toolbox to change things yet again. Not in this way.
He could feel her eyes on him as he left the ward...and for the first time in years he liked knowing that someone was looking.
He kept his pace slow and steady—and then, when he hit the stairs, surprised himself by hoisting his bum cheek up onto the banister and sliding all the way down.
When he got to the bottom, he was smiling.
And so was Nya, who’d seen the entire thing.