Expecting His Baby Page 17

  He crossed the room. “You’re still wet.”

  “I—I guess I am,” she said lamely.

  “And you’re still wearing the pendant.”

  “I can’t undo the catch, it’s too small. But I—”

  He said, “Angeline came running up to me after I left you on the dance floor at the Gagnons. There’d been an emergency with Emmy, she’d fallen down the stairs and was crying for me. I wasn’t about to question one more emergency, not after the fire. Angeline had a cab all lined up—so off we went, top speed, Angeline filling me in with all the details…until I happened to look out the window of the cab and see we were going in the wrong direction. Well, you can probably guess the rest. No emergency. No fall down the stairs. Angeline had decided to take me to her hotel and seduce me. Step one in the remarriage campaign.”

  “That’s where Roland told me you’d gone,” Lise said. “To her hotel. Together.”

  “So that’s why you ran off into the woods—”

  “Wouldn’t you?”

  “Roland is the lover Angeline had in New York while she and I were still married. No doubt, for old times’ sake, she asked him to pass along that message to you.” His voice gravelly with anger, Judd said, “I’m sorry, Lise. How could you possibly have known what was really going on?”

  Remembering the way Roland had been so cool with Judd, Lise said, “It seems very obvious about Roland—now that I do know.”

  “Let me finish with Angeline. The count’s dumped her, to put it crudely. An indiscretion on her part. Unfortunately, Henri wasn’t amused, and chose not to forgive his wife for having an affair with one of his best friends. So Angeline, who’s used to living in the lap of luxury, decides I’m not such a bad deal after all, and comes hightailing back to Montreal with marriage on her mind. All for Emmy’s sake, you understand.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I took her to her hotel in the cab, went right back to the Gagnons to look for you, discovered you’d left and raced back here in the limo. End of story.”

  “Marthe told me Angeline had done the leaving and was planning to remarry you.”

  “Poor Lise. Everyone telling you everything but the truth.”

  “You really don’t want Angeline?”

  “I do not. It’s you I want, Lise.”

  She swallowed. “The way you wanted me in Dominica?”

  Briefly he rested his finger where the pulse beat at the base of her throat. He said huskily, “I’ll never stop wanting you that way.”

  But that’s not enough. Lise said carefully, “So you’re still not into commitment. Let alone marriage.”

  “You’re pregnant. Of course we’ll get married.”

  “No, Judd—I won’t marry you just because I’m pregnant. The child and I both deserve better than that.”

  “The child deserves a father.”

  “Any child deserves a father. But if the parents don’t love each other, the marriage is flawed from the start. I can’t do that, Judd, I just can’t.”

  “You don’t love me,” he said in an unreadable voice. “That’s what you’re saying.”

  She tilted her chin. “You don’t love me. So why should it matter to you how I feel?”

  “I told you I’ve lied by omission,” Judd said with sudden violence. “I had no intention of showing you in Dominica what our lovemaking meant to me. How deeply it affected me, body and soul. I wasn’t into commitment—you’re right. So why would I say that your beauty and generosity had knocked me sideways, had made me reexamine the way I’ve been living the last four years? That I was starting to want you in all the ways a man wants a woman? In his bed every night, waking up beside him in the morning…I wasn’t going to tell you that, Lise, because it scared the hell out of me.”

  “If we got married just because of the baby,” Lise said deliberately, “how long before you started to resent me? Underpaid Firefighter Traps Millionaire Into Marriage Of Convenience. It’s classic. And I won’t do it.”

  “It’s my child, too. We’re both responsible.”

  He sounded so reasonable, so cold-blooded. She said raggedly, “I’ll move away as soon as I can. I promise I won’t make any—”

  “Lise, hold on, I’m doing this all wrong.” Judd took her in his arms, his eyes running over the gentle slopes of her shoulders to where the pendant sparkled in the valley between her breasts. “Why did you come here like this? Half-naked and so beautiful I can hardly think straight?”

  She tried to pull the towel higher. “It was stupid of me, I didn’t stop to think.”

  He stayed her hand. “When you came around that door, I was sitting on the edge of the bed convinced I’d lost you. Forever. That the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with hated my guts.”

  “But—”

  “Yes, I was scared in Dominica, you’d turned my life upside down and I’ve always been into control. Lise, don’t you see? I’m trying to tell you I love you. I was in love with you in Dominica, I probably fell in love with you when I first saw you lying in that hospital bed. I love you and I want to marry you. But if—”

  “Not just because of the baby?” she blurted.

  “I want to marry you for yourself. But how can I ask you to do that when you told me out in the woods that you hate me?”

  “You love me,” she repeated blankly.

  “All I’m asking is that you stick around,” he said with repressed violence. “Stay here with me and Emmy. Because I can’t stand the thought of you moving away. Of us being separated by half a continent.”

  “I won’t move away. Why would I do that?” Lise’s smile broke through, as radiant as sunrise. “You see, I love you, too.”

  His hands tightened around her waist. “Would you mind repeating that?”

  She laughed out loud. “I love you, Judd Harwood. Love you, love you, love you…is that enough repetitions?”

  He said in a dazed voice, “I don’t think I can have too many. You’re sure, Lise?”

  “As sure as I’m standing here wrapped in a very damp towel. Judd, dear Judd, I love you with all my heart.”

  He pulled her closer. Then he lowered his head, kissing her as though there was no tomorrow. As though, Lise thought exultantly, he held paradise in his arms. She looped her hands around his neck, feeling the heat of his skin burn into hers, glorying in the thrust of his tongue and fierce pressure of his mouth.

  Judd raised his head long enough to mutter, “The towel’s slipping.”

  “So it is,” she said demurely.

  Laughter sparked his eyes. “What are you going to do about it?”

  “How about nothing? Letting nature take its course?”

  “Lise,” he said with sudden urgency, “you will marry me?”

  “Yes. Oh, yes, Judd. It would make me happier than I’ve ever imagined I could be.”

  “Thank God,” Judd said. “It’s more than I deserve. I was so insistent that I never wanted to commit myself to anyone other than Emmy that I refused to see what was right under my nose. You. Stubborn. Hot-tempered. Fiery and passionate.”

  She chuckled. “Not half as stubborn as you.”

  “Stop interrupting,” he said, kissing the tip of her nose. “I not only shut you out. I was also hell-bent on denying I’d fallen in love with you. I’m sorry, sweetheart. Truly sorry.”

  His lips were now wandering down her cheek to her throat. She said shakily, “You’re forgiven.”

  “Did I also say you’re astonishingly generous?”

  He’d found the curve of her breast; the towel was now around her hips and her whole body was one ache of desire. “I don’t think you mentioned that,” she whispered, dropping kisses on his thick black hair. “I’m so happy, I’m almost scared to believe this is all true. I’m not going to wake up, am I?”

  He straightened, drawing her closer. “The only place you’re going to wake up is in my arms. In my bed. Lise, I swear I’ll always be here for you. That I love you with all the strength in my body and the power of
my soul.”

  Touched to the core, Lise said softly, “That’s the most beautiful thing anyone’s ever said to me. Oh, Judd, I do love you.”

  He said, “Let’s go to bed. Now. Because sometimes words just aren’t enough.” Then his smile broke through. “Besides, I want to see you wearing nothing but an emerald and two sapphires.”

  “You think I’ll look okay like that?”

  “I know you will,” he said, and set out to convince he was right.

  Not that she took much convincing.

  EPILOGUE

  THE next morning the alarm clock woke Lise with a jump. As she reached over to flip the switch, she realized first that she was stark naked and secondly that she was in Judd’s bed. He said lazily, “Good morning…how did you sleep?”

  “Very little,” she said, blushing. “Thanks to you.”

  “I aim to please.”

  “Oh,” she said, “you do, you do.”

  “I’d better get up. Just in case Emmy comes looking for me. Good thing we set the alarm.” He slid a hand down her hip. “Still love me?”

  “More than ever. If that’s possible.”

  “Perhaps,” he said, his slate-gray eyes very serious, “love just keeps on growing.”

  “We could hang around each other and find out.”

  “What a good idea.” His fingers circled her belly suggestively. “There’s nothing I’d like better than to spend the morning in bed with you. But duty, in the form of my daughter, calls.” He hesitated. “She’ll be our daughter, Lise. Because Angeline’s heading back to Europe—all her contacts are there. How do you feel about being Emmy’s stepmother?”

  “I love her already,” Lise said simply.

  “Let’s tell her at breakfast that you’re planning on staying. Forever.”

  Because she felt almost languid with happiness, it was half an hour before Lise slipped into her seat at the breakfast table. Judd and Emmy were already there. Emmy said cheerfully, “Did you have a nice time last night?”

  For a moment all Lise could think of was the hours she’d spent in Judd’s arms making love. Then she remembered the gala and her long green dress. “Oh, yes, it was lovely,” she gabbled. “How about you? Was the popcorn good?”

  “Fabulous.” A faint shadow of anxiety crossed Emmy’s face. “My friend Charlene phoned this morning. She forgot to tell me yesterday that our school concert’s in three weeks. You’ll still be here, won’t you, Lise? Will you come to it?”

  Lise smiled at her. “Yes, I’ll be here. And I’d love to come to the concert.” She glanced over at Judd, feeling absurdly shy. “Actually, we have something to tell you, Emmy.”

  Judd reached across the table and took Lise’s hand in his. “How would you feel about Lise and me getting married, Emmy? That way Lise would always be here.”

  Emmy’s big blue eyes went from her father to Lise. “Married?” she squeaked. “For real?”

  “Definitely for real,” Judd said. “For real and forever.”

  “That’s a great idea! You wait til I tell Charlene.”

  Lise had tears in her eyes. “I’m so glad you’re happy.”

  Emmy shoved back her chair and ran around the table to hug Lise; her long black hair smelled sweetly of shampoo. “Course I am. You’re fun and real and brave.”

  It was an interesting endorsement, thought Lise, smiling through her tears. “I also make very good chocolate maple fudge—did I ever tell you that?”

  “Yummy.” Then Emmy pulled back, gazing speculatively from Lise to her father. “I’ve got a question. D’you think sometime you could make me a baby brother or sister? Charlene has one of each and they’re kind of cute.”

  “I’m sure we could manage that,” Judd said with a straight face. “Would you mind if it was fairly soon?”

  “Oh, no.” Emmy gave Lise a kiss flavored with pancake syrup, and hugged her father. “I’ve got such a lot to tell all the kids at school,” she crowed. “Oh, I’m so excited. Can I be a bridesmaid?”

  “Sure,” said Judd. “We’d better pick a date. How about two weeks from Saturday, Lise?”

  “Fine,” Lise said breathlessly.

  “Maybe some of the fire trucks could come,” Emmy said, her head to one side. “Like in a parade.”

  “A quiet wedding,” Judd said firmly.

  “I bet if I have a brother or sister it’ll have red hair,” Emmy added artlessly.

  And indeed when Matthew Judd Harwood was born seven and a half months later, he had unwinking slate-blue eyes and a thick fuzz of bright red hair.

  ISBN: 978-1-408-93937-6

  EXPECTING HIS BABY

  © Sandra Field 2001

  First Published in Great Britain in 2001

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