‘Nothing,’ Maggie said faintly, pushing against the imprisoning wall of his chest. ‘It’s just so hot in here.’
Nash didn’t like the look of her sudden pallor and swept her up into his arms.
‘Nash!’ she protested, clinging to his neck weakly, watching the jaws of bystanders drop as he strode out of the ballroom.
‘We’re leaving. Don’t argue.’
Maggie daren’t talk in the car on the way back to her place. Nash’s face, usually so laid-back and relaxed, was as dark as thunder. She knew he was blaming himself for their early departure and really didn’t want to hear an I-told-you-so from him.
He turned the engine off outside her place and she opened her mouth to speak to tell him it had just been a bit of light-headedness.
Nash let the buckle of the seat belt clink against the window as he threw it off his shoulder. ‘Don’t,’he growled.
Maggie sat while he strode around to her side, opened the door, helped her out and kept a firm grip on her as they walked up the path. ‘I’m—’
‘Don’t,’ he repeated.
Maggie waited while he opened her door and followed him into the lounge room. She’d left the Christmas tree lights on but even they failed to elevate his mood.
‘Sit.’ Nash pointed to the lounge chair.
Maggie was tempted to say Yes, master but thought it wise not to push. He paced for a bit and she watched without comment. He stopped and looked down at her then resumed his pacing, shrugging out of his jacket and flinging it on the coffee table.
She found herself hoping he wouldn’t stop there. There was something about brooding, intense Nash that was darkly sexy.
‘I’m not going to London.’
Maggie blinked, dragging her mind out of the gutter. So not what she’d expected him to say. She’d expected a lecture about the stupidity of going out after a concussion. That he’d warned her it was folly. Of thinking about her health and the baby. All things loaded with duty and responsibility. ‘Wh-what?’
‘You heard me.’
He looked foreboding but she stood anyway. ‘What are you talking about?’
Nash pointed to the chair. ‘Sit.’
Maggie raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Nash, for goodness’ sake—I was a bit dizzy. That’s all. Please refrain from talking to me like I’m a dog.’
Nash shut his eyes briefly and pushed a hand through his hair. ‘Sorry. I’m sorry, Maggie. It’s just that…’ He stopped. How could she know what that dreadful, gut wrenching moment had been like when he’d rounded that corner? ‘I thought you were dead last night. I thought he’d killed you. For a moment. The blood was…And you looked so pale just now. Like last night.’ He faltered. ‘I just felt ill.’
Maggie frowned. He was talking like someone who really cared. Well, she supposed he did. She was his lover, the mother of his child. But his concern seemed to transcend the boundaries of duty. ‘So what are you saying? You look at me and feel guilty and because of that you’re not going to London?’
‘Yes. No.’ Nash clenched his fists. Yes, he did feel guilt, he should have been there. But it wasn’t why he was staying. ‘I’m not explaining this very well.’
‘So explain it better.’
Nash took a deep breath. ‘Dancing with you tonight, I had a sudden realisation. It’s never happened to me before, which is possibly why I didn’t recognise it ages ago when it first hit me between the eyes. I mean, I honestly didn’t think it ever would because it just wasn’t my aim. I have my career and my promise to my sister and that just takes priority.’
Maggie looked at him even more confused now. ‘So…?’
Nash sighed. He was making a total hash out of it. ‘I love you, Maggie. I’m in love with you.’
Maggie stared at him for a moment before groping for the chair behind her and sinking into it. He wouldn’t joke about something like this, would he? Maybe he was confusing his fear for her and the baby last night with something else.
Nash rushed forward, kneeling before her. She’d gone pale again. Maybe he shouldn’t have dropped this kind of bombshell in her delicate state. ‘Are you okay? I think we should go back to the hospital.’
Maggie ignored him. ‘Nash, I understand that I gave you a fright yesterday but you really don’t need to make any rash declarations.’
Oh, God, she didn’t love him back. An incredible bleakness swept through him as he contemplated life loving a woman who didn’t return his feelings. Even with his love beating a tattoo in his chest, the knowledge was devastating.
He took her hands. ‘There’s nothing rash about it. I think I’ve known since the day I met you, I just didn’t have any past experience to help me analyse it. I love you. And the baby. I want us to be a family. Together. Here. Not from the opposite side of the world. I’m just sorry it took me so long to get it.’
Maggie looked into his eyes and started to hope. He looked utterly sincere. His face solemn, his tropical-island eyes serious. There was no sign of laid-back Nash. In fact, he looked in pain, like he couldn’t bear the swell of feelings inside him.
And she knew he was telling the truth.
‘I know that you may not feel the same way and that—’
Maggie cut him off with her mouth, pressing a hard kiss against his unsuspecting lips. ‘Oh, Nash,’ she whispered as tears welled in her eyes. ‘Stupid man. Of course I feel the same way.’
She gave him a watery smile. ‘I know I wasn’t supposed to fall for you. I know we had an understanding. And I know that I went and mucked that up by falling pregnant. And I know that I’m older than you. But I’m sorry, I did anyway. I just went and fell for you anyway.’
Nash let her words sink in for a moment, settling around the lump of dread that had started to rise from the pit of his stomach. Pushing it down, dissolving it like a snowman in sunlight. ‘Really?’
Maggie nodded. ‘Really.’
Nash suddenly felt lighter than air. He grinned at her. Then he stood, dragging her up with him, lifting her in his arms and twirling her round and round. Maggie laughed and held on tight.
He finally placed her on the floor. ‘Are you sure, Maggie?’
She nodded. ‘But what about you? You’re the one who’s going to be lumbered with an older woman.’
Nash’s head swooped down for a deeply passionate kiss. ‘I love you, Maggie. For the first time in my life I’ve fallen in love with an incredible woman. Last night you were on the floor in a pool of blood and I thought I’d lost you. Age is so irrelevant compared to that.’
Maggie stood on tiptoes and kissed him. He was right. If last night had taught them anything it was that life was short and was there to be lived. They didn’t talk for a long time then. Their kisses got deeper and eventually they tumbled back onto the lounge behind them.
Maggie put a finger against his mouth as Nash homed in on her lips. ‘Wait a moment.’
‘I’m sorry.’ He smiled, kissing her finger. He took a breath, desperately trying to dampen the fiery furnace burning in his belly. ‘We shouldn’t be doing this. You must be exhausted.’
She traced his jaw line with her finger. ‘No. I meant we can do this any time. Let’s get the really important thing out of the way. Let’s go and book me an air fare.’
Nash frowned. ‘What?’
‘I’m going to London with you.’
The furrows in his brow got deeper. ‘It’s okay, Maggie. I don’t have to go to London. I can complete my training here in Australia. I know you don’t want to go and nothing is more important to me than you.’
Maggie smiled, her heart filling with love. She pushed against his chest and they both struggled into a sitting position. ‘Not even the promise you made to yourself after your sister died? Great Ormond Street’s the best, Nash. The best.’
‘Yesterday it was the best. Today it’s just another hospital on the other side of the world, keeping me away from you.’ He slid his hand to her stomach. ‘From the baby.’
She rested he
r head against his chest as his words swelled in her head and a lump of pure emotion expanded her chest to an unbearable tightness. He really did love her. He was reforging his set-in-stone career path for her. ‘It won’t be on the other side of the world if we’re there with you.’
‘Maggie,’ Nash said, placing a finger under her chin and lifting it so he could see straight into her eyes. ‘It’s not important. I know you don’t want to go.’
She smiled at him, cupping his face in her hands. ‘I do. I do if you love me. If you want to commit, if you want to be a family with me and the baby, I’ll follow you anywhere, Nash. I just didn’t want to go on some whim to appease your sense of honour and responsibility. I didn’t want to travel to the other side of the world just to see how it panned out. But, Nash, you loving me makes all the difference.’
Nash’s heart beat painfully in his chest, fighting for room past the constriction in his throat. ‘Really?’
She nodded. ‘Of course. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.’
‘Even in the middle of the outback where the nearest supermarket or movie theatre is hundreds of kilometres away?’
‘Especially there,’ she whispered.
Nash shut his eyes and placed a hand over hers. He opened them again and looked into her eyes again. The tree lights danced in her irises. ‘What did I do to deserve you?’
‘Something good, I think.’
Nash smiled. ‘Looks like Santa came early,’ he murmured against her mouth.
Maggie gave a soft laugh, their lips touching. ‘It’s going to be Christmas all year from now on.’
Nash chuckled. ‘Ho, ho, ho.’
EPILOGUE
MAGGIE MANAGED TO convince Nash the next morning she was perfectly capable of going into work for her shift. They drove to his place so he could change his clothes and then headed into work full of Christmas spirit, despite not getting much sleep.
And she was pleased she did. They were able to give Alice and Brett the best Christmas gift they were ever going to get—they extubated Toby. With the tube out, Toby’s silent cries finally had a voice, if a little croaky.
He was even able to get out of bed and have a proper cuddle with his parents. Best of all, for the first time in weeks, safely snuggled in his mother’s arms, he gave them all a great big smile.
‘This is just the best,’ Alice said, looking down at a happy Toby with tears in her eyes. ‘There were a couple of times I thought this day would never come.’
Nash and Maggie exchanged looks. Toby’s parents hadn’t been alone in their pessimistic view.
After lunch Nash sidled up to Maggie. ‘Thanks for my gift,’ he murmured, rubbing the gum nuts together. ‘Guess we’ll both be able to keep in touch with our roots while we’re over there.’
Maggie nodded, the smell of eucalyptus wafting towards her. ‘Guess so.’
‘You missed your Secret Santa gift,’ he said.
She frowned. ‘No, I didn’t. I opened it while you were on round. I got a coffee mug.’
Nash raised an eyebrow. ‘Really? But I just saw one under the tree for you.’
Maggie looked puzzled as she walked towards the tree. ‘I must have missed it. It’s probably part of the first gift. They must have become separated,’she mused as she bent to retrieve the small package wrapped in a red ribbon.
‘Hmmm,’ Nash said noncommittally, grinning like an idiot behind her.
Maggie opened the second gift without giving it a lot of thought, pretty sure it’d probably be some kind of accessory to the first. Maybe a box of tea bags or something.
It wasn’t until she hit blue velvet that she realised the gift wasn’t from her Secret Santa. But from Nash. She turned to face him, her hands shaking.
‘Nash?’
Nash smiled down at her. ‘Open it,’ he murmured.
Maggie’s fingers were trembling so badly it seemed to take an age to prise the lid open. When she finally managed it, the ring took her breath away. A large square cut blue sapphire sat on the plump velvet cushion.
‘Oh, Nash,’ she whispered, unable to tear her gaze away from it.
Nash, his own fingers a little on the trembly side, took it out of the box. He’d made such a hash of the last proposal he was determined to make this one special.
‘Will you make me the happiest man in the world, Maggie? Will you marry me?’
Maggie couldn’t believe it. The background noise of the unit faded as the world narrowed down to just the two of them at this moment.
In a few short months all her dreams had come true. She, the man she loved and their baby were going to become a family. ‘Yes.’ She smiled, looking into his incredible blue eyes.
Applause rang out around the unit as they became aware of their surroundings again. Nash grinned at her as he placed the ring on her finger. ‘Merry Christmas, Maggie May.’
Maggie stood on tiptoe and wound her arms around his neck. ‘This is going to be a hard Christmas to top.’
‘I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing just that,’ he promised.
And they kissed in front of a very appreciative audience.
All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.
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First published in Great Britain 2009
Harlequin Mills & Boon Limited,
Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
Her Baby Out of The Blue © Alison Roberts 2009
A Doctor, A Nurse: A Christmas Baby © Amy Andrews 2009
ISBN 978-1-4089-1222-5
Her Baby Out of the Blue/A Doctor, A Nurse: A Christmas Baby Page 30