She could feel herself blushing. Would they ever be having early nights together? She kept her eyes averted while she secured Nicole, then went to prepare her daughter’s breakfast, not allowing herself to think beyond the moment. It was best this way.
All was quiet as she mixed the baby cereal. Curious, she stole a glance over her shoulder and saw Dominic sitting there, looking at Nicole with a tender expression on his face. Her heart did a flip. Clearly he wasn’t as unemotional about his brother’s child as she’d suspected.
By the time she came back to the table, the tender look had disappeared and he was leaning back in his chair, drinking coffee.
“I thought we might go into Lorne after breakfast,” he said as she sat down opposite him. “We can take a look around the town. There’s plenty of stores if you need anything. Or we could walk along the beach.”
“That would be nice.” She placed a spoonful of cereal in Nicole’s mouth. The little girl swallowed it quickly. Heavens, the poor kid was hungry, and was it any wonder? It had been over six hours since she’d had that bottle in the middle of the night, and before that she’d barely eaten anything at dinner.
All at once, Cassandra’s own stomach cramped with hunger. She’d hardly eaten a thing yesterday.
“She likes her food,” Dominic noted.
Cassandra smiled as she fed Nicole another spoonful of the mush, narrowly missing. “Yes, she does.”
“It can be pretty messy feeding an infant, can’t it?” Dominic said, and she looked up to see him watching her.
“She’s just getting her coordination skills.”
“You don’t mind being splashed with her breakfast?”
She laughed. “Not when my daughter is the one doing it.”
It was meant as a lighthearted comment, but all at once the moment went beyond Nicole.
Suddenly it was about her and Dominic and his reaction to her smile.
She watched as his gaze dropped to her mouth…watched as deep down she knew that he wanted to kiss her…. Then slowly…slowly…his eyes inched upward again.
And locked on hers.
She could feel herself being drawn into them.
“Um…speaking of food, I think I’ll make myself some toast.” Jumping to her feet, she took the cereal bowl over to the sink and rinsed it.
A lengthy pause went on behind her, but she ignored it until Dominic’s chair scraped the floor as he stood up. “I’ve got some calls to make.” He strode to the doorway. “Let me know when you’re ready to go. No hurry.”
It was crazy that her hands were shaking as she dropped the bread in the toaster. It was equally as crazy that this “thing” between her and Dominic was gathering strength. It was like all bets were off now that they were married.
Or perhaps she just needed food in her stomach, she joked, trying to keep things inside herself on an even keel.
An hour later, after she had given Nicole a quick bath, had dressed her in some cute little overalls, and had changed her own top from the cereal-stained one, she went looking for Dominic. She found him on the deck, talking on his cell phone, but he wrapped up the conversation and they were soon on their way.
The ride into Lorne was quite pleasant, and soon they were strolling along the main street, past stylish shops and cosmopolitan restaurants in a beachside atmosphere. Dominic had offered to push Nicole’s stroller, and Cassandra secretly watched him and couldn’t help but think he actually looked a tad proud to be pushing her daughter around like this.
What wasn’t to be proud of? Cassandra mused to herself, being the proud mama herself.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked, catching her unawares. She hadn’t realized she’d been so obvious.
She went to tell him, then thought better of it. She didn’t want him becoming self-conscious in the way he treated her daughter. Then she smiled to herself. Dominic self-conscious? That’ll be the day!
“Who wouldn’t feel like smiling in such a beautiful town?” she replied.
He shot her a dry look.
After that they spent another hour walking around. Then Dominic insisted they have lunch in one of the more upmarket restaurants, but it was such a warm day that Cassandra suggested an outdoor café overlooking the sheltered bay. He looked at her oddly, but soon she was feeding Nicole her lunch from a jar of baby food, and then they ate fish and chips that tasted divine because she hadn’t eaten or done something like this in years. Cassandra could feel herself unwinding, and even Dominic looked more relaxed again.
They decided to go back to the house after that, where she put Nicole down for her afternoon nap, then grabbed a book from the living room while Dominic went off to work in the study.
Glad to have some time alone, Cassandra donned sunglasses and took her book outside, kicked off her sandals and stretched out on the lounger by the pool. The sun had grown hotter, and as she focused on the sound of cicadas in the surrounding bushland, the tension sapped from her.
She was deep in the story when Dominic sat down on the lounger near her, having swapped his trousers for casual cargo pants, his blue polo shirt hugging his chest, a thick paperback in one hand, dark glasses hiding his eyes.
Startled, she said the first thing that came to mind. “I didn’t know you liked to read.”
“Well, there you go,” he mocked. “You learn something new every day.” And they were back to being adversaries again.
Stupidly disappointed, she quickly looked down at the title of his book. “You read science fiction obviously.”
He indicated her book with a derisive twist of his lips. “And you read romance.”
Thankfully her sunglasses covered her eyes. “Why not?” she said as casually as she could, not wanting him to see his comment upset her. She wouldn’t give him that power over her.
“It’s not exactly your…forte, is it?”
He was just trying to goad her. “So you don’t believe in true love, Dominic?” she challenged.
“What I believe doesn’t matter.”
“That’s not the impression I get.” This was about him believing her unfaithful, so it did matter. It affected how he was treating her. In his eyes, she was only after the good life and nothing more. He thought her a woman totally incapable of loving a man for himself alone.
Suddenly sick at heart, she closed her book and got to her feet. “I think I hear Nicole waking up.” She started to walk off, aware of his eyes following her. “Cassandra?”
She took a few more steps, then stopped to look at him.
“Bring Nicole for a dip in the pool.”
Her upset heart tilted inside her chest. She’d been putting off the moment when she had to wear her bikini in front of Dominic.
“Or are you scared of the water?” he drawled.
She had the feeling he’d guessed why she hesitated. “I love the water,” she said, keeping her voice even despite her increasingly racing heart.
A second lapsed as he stilled—and the air thickened with sensuality. “Oh, that’s right. You like to take very long and luxurious baths, don’t you?”
The sun instantly felt hotter.
She moistened her dry lips. “We’ll be back in a little while,” she said, spinning away, heart thumping, knowing that the scrap of bikini Nesta had packed for her wasn’t something she’d normally wear. Even before she’d given birth to Nicole, the bikini would have been on the smallish side, but these days her breasts were slightly fuller, her hips a touch curvier.
Darn, she should have bought herself a new bikini in town this morning. It would have been the perfect opportunity to buy something a little less revealing, but just being in Dominic’s presence all morning had put a stop to rational thought.
Perhaps she could pretend it had been forgotten to be packed, after all. She pulled a face. Needless to say she could envision his reply to that.
Wear nothing.
Dominic almost expected to see his sunglasses steam up as he watched Cassandra walk away with a sli
ght sway to her hips. He shouldn’t be thinking about her in either a luxurious bath or a bikini. He didn’t need any more of a vivid imagination right now, not when he was trying to ignore the picture of him running his hands down her slender back and over the gentle swell of those feminine hips. He was a man who couldn’t take much more of this. Of her.
Dammit, how did she do it? How did she manage to take a highly controlled man like himself and nearly send him over the edge with wanting her? How did she shoot need through every part of him as if she had the combination to his desire? And more importantly, why was he letting her get away with it?
Pushing to his feet, he stripped down to his swimming briefs and was in the water by the time she returned, walking toward him in a Pacific-blue bikini that tore his imagination to shreds.
Was she deliberately teasing him? Or was Nesta? He’d told his housekeeper to make sure Cassandra had a swimsuit to wear this weekend, but he hadn’t expected these little triangles of cloth that left a whole lot of skin bare. God, he couldn’t deny Cassandra had the body of a goddess and the perfect figure to wear such a skimpy thing. He couldn’t even tell that she’d had a baby nine months ago.
And then he saw her begin to blush. It started in her cheeks then spread downward over all that bare skin, and no doubt under the material, as well. Yet who would expect her to be so easily embarrassed? She was an enigma.
She cleared her throat. “Er…could you take Nicole for a moment?”
He heard the words, and he forced his focus to shift away from the bathing beauty…to the little beauty she carried. Cassandra had crouched down near the edge of the pool and was holding her daughter toward him.
His daughter.
All at once it hit him. He swallowed hard. So far he’d managed not to actually hold Nicole in his arms, fearful of giving himself away to Cassandra too soon. “Dominic?”
He moved forward in the water and held out his arms.
And Nicole reached out to him…his daughter reached out to him…and he slipped his hands around her little body in the sun protective swimsuit while she put her arms around his neck and held on, and heaven help him, but the lump in his throat was so darn huge, he thought he might choke. “Got her?”
He couldn’t look at Cassandra. He swallowed again before answering, “Yeah, I’ve got her.”
He held his daughter…just held her…until she gave a little wiggle and then a giggle…and his heart almost burst through his chest.
“She likes it.”
He took a breath and looked up at Cassandra’s words. Without warning, something slipped past his guard and bonded with her. It was an odd moment. For the first time he was happy he’d actually married this woman.
She stood up and went to the steps, then slid into the water like a mermaid, dipping under the surface, then coming up in front of Nicole’s face. “Boo,” she said softly so as not to frighten the little girl.
Nicole blinked, then gave a little squeal of delight and started kicking her chubby little legs, and he needed all his concentration to hold her as she splashed about.
“She’s going to be quite a handful,” he joked half to himself, but Cassandra smiled back, and for once they were in total accord with this little person linked between them. He veered away from those thoughts. Cassandra couldn’t possibly know the very strength of that link.
“Do you want me to take her? She’s probably getting heavy by now.”
He didn’t want to give up holding his daughter just yet. “No, she’s fine.”
Then Nicole demanded his attention, and he started to walk her slowly around the pool, holding her belly down in the water like she was swimming, her face above the surface. He thoroughly enjoyed playing with her.
Just then he heard Cassandra say something, and he looked up to see her sitting on the lower step of the pool. She was watching them with a soft look in her eyes.
He walked toward her through the water, having completed the circumference of the shallow end of the pool. “Sorry, what did you say?”
“I said I’m glad you’re getting to know Nicole.”
Wariness rose inside him as he remembered what he had to keep secret. He nodded. “So am I.”
Something seemed to catch at her, and she looked down at the water.
His heart thudded. “What’s the matter?”
She lifted her head, her eyes sad. “She’s so like Liam.”
The pain hit him unawares, not because Liam was dead, but because this child in his arms didn’t belong to his brother. “I’m her father,” he ached to say, with an inner pain that had started the day Nicole was born. “I’m the one who gave her life.”
Instead, he lifted Nicole out of the water and handed her over to her mother. “I’ve just remembered I have to make a call.”
She blinked, a hint of confusion in her eyes as she took hold of Nicole. “Oh, okay.”
Then he swept by her up the pool steps, picked up his trousers and shirt and strode inside before he could say something he would regret.
Cassandra wished she hadn’t said anything about Liam just now, but Dominic had been such a tower of strength for his family that she’d forgotten mention of his dead brother might sometimes overwhelm him.
Like it had overwhelmed her a moment ago.
Not for her own sake, but for Nicole’s.
Her daughter looked so like Liam at times that in spite of everything it hurt to know that he would never get to see his little girl grow up. And that Nicole would never know her father. Sadness swelled in her heart again as the sun went behind a cloud. It felt cooler now out here. Nicole gave a shiver.
She stood up. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s get into something warm.”
She made her way up the steps to the deck, then went up to her room. There was no sign of Dominic, but his bedroom door was shut and she could hear the shower running. Tension tightened inside her at the thought of all that water dripping down his tanned chest, like it had in the pool. She’d pretended not to notice, but she’d taken a few peeks when he’d been busy with Nicole.
Hurriedly, she closed her bedroom door and put Nicole on the floor, going over to the wardrobe to get some clothes. It wouldn’t do to be thinking about Dominic in the shower, not when he wouldn’t be wearing those tight swimmers like she’d seen when he’d left the water. This time he would be naked. Fully naked.
All of a sudden Nicole let out a scream, making Cassandra jump. She rushed forward, seeing her baby’s finger caught in the bottom drawer of the bureau, her heart squeezing as Nicole screamed again.
Carefully, she eased Nicole’s finger out, relieved to see no blood, then picked her up and cuddled her close. Tears streamed down the baby’s cheeks, Nicole’s lips trembling as she held on to her mother for solace.
All at once Dominic burst through the door. “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”
Cassandra cuddled Nicole against her shoulder. “I left the bottom drawer of the bureau open a little, and she caught her finger.”
He came toward them. “Is she all right?”
She nodded, then patted the little back until the crying slowed to sobs. She eased back and picked up Nicole’s finger, inspecting it further. There was only a little bit of redness. “Let Mummy kiss it better,” she said and placed her lips against the pad of Nicole’s finger, love warming the very center of her being. “There. All better now.”
As if she were looking for the kiss, Nicole held her finger up in front of her face and frowned. She looked so adorable, with her wet cheeks and pouting lips, that Cassandra shared a smile with Dominic.
“She looks like you,” he said, and Cassandra’s heart swelled with pride.
A moment later she went to turn away when she caught sight of his chest. His bare chest. Taken off guard, her eyes followed the line of dark, silky hair growing down toward his hips, where a towel had been hurriedly thrown around him.
Her bones went soft. Oh, God, what would it be like to run her palms over him?
&n
bsp; Would he feel warm and smooth?
Or hot and springy?
Her gaze moved upward to his face—and found him watching her with a hungry expression in his eyes. She self-consciously broke eye contact and looked away, thankful Nicole wriggled to be free at that moment.
Putting her daughter down on the rug, when she looked up, the door was closing behind him on his way out. She sank to the floor in a daze and sat there for several seconds while she caught her breath. The incredible urge to touch Dominic had shocked her with its intensity. What was even more incredible was that if not for Nicole she would have done it.
Four
Dominic had said earlier they would eat alfresco tonight, so Cassandra refreshed her light makeup and gave her shoulder-length hair a quick brush, then smoothed her white cotton shirt down over the matching drawstring pants. Flat sandals gave her outfit a casually elegant look.
Then she went downstairs to find the table on the deck set for two and Dominic standing there dressed in chinos and a shirt, opening a bottle of wine. Behind him the sun was in the midhorizon and slowly sinking in the sky.
It all looked so…romantic.
Her heart jumped in her throat and she had to wonder, would he try and get her into his bed tonight? After the way she’d reacted to him this afternoon, she doubted he’d have to put in much effort.
“Is Nicole asleep?”
“Er…yes.” She stepped into the evening and walked toward the table. He met her halfway with a glass of wine, then held out a chair for her. She quickly took her seat before her legs gave way.
Soon he was sitting opposite her and holding up his wineglass in a toast. “Cheers.”
She held hers up, too. “Cheers.”
He leaned back and took a sip while looking out over the tranquil view of the pool and garden in the bush setting. Cassandra followed his example and could feel a little of the tranquility seeping into her bones.
Dominic turned toward her. “I’m expecting a business call later, but hopefully only after we eat. We’re having some problems with a supplier, and I want to keep informed.”
She frowned, worried about him for once, though she would never say that to him. “I thought you were going to take a break from work?” was all she said.
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