One-Click Buy: November Harlequin Presents

by Susan Stephens

  ‘Here,’ said Maverick. ‘Let me.’ He took the brooch and pinned it to Nell’s neckline, where she’d indicated.

  ‘It’s over one-hundred years old,’ Tegan told her, delighted her find from an estate jewellers had been so well received.

  ‘Heavens! It’s almost as old as I am!’ Nell exclaimed, setting the whole table erupting in laughter as she patted it with one hand, taking Tegan’s in her other. ‘I love it. You’re such a lovely girl. Isn’t she a lovely girl, Maverick?’

  Maverick grunted his reply, relieved from having to give a more comprehensive answer by the arrival of dessert and Nell’s cries of delight.

  Tegan had barely touched her dessert before she excused herself from the table, sending his hackles up. She’d toyed with the seafood entrée and the main course as well, chasing food around her plate but hardly catching anything more than morsels. Even her water sat untouched. That was no way to nurture a baby.

  Especially not his.

  Something ferocious twisted in his gut. Could it be? Was she really carrying his child? He’d promised himself after the Tina debacle that never again would he be put in a situation where he was at the mercy of a woman claiming to be carrying his child. And, when he’d first discovered the news this morning, it had been that bitter past first and foremost in his mind, driving his reaction in a rush of bad blood and acrid memories.

  But Tina had never been carrying his baby, and even when he’d believed she had he’d never encountered the curious burst of pride he felt right now.

  The thought that she was carrying his child…

  God, but it did things to him. It foamed his blood to white hot. It swelled his heart with pride. It made him want to damn her, and yet protect her at the same time. It made him want to howl at the moon and tear someone to pieces…

  ‘Your mother was like that with you, you know. Couldn’t bear to touch a drop.’

  Gears shifted and crunched in his mind as Nell’s words filtered through. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Vanessa. Not drinking. Your mother was like that with you. Not like me. Strong as a bear, I was. Never knew a day’s morning sickness…Maverick, where are you going?’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  SHE patted her face with a damp towel and breathed deeply. She hadn’t been ill, but it had been touch and go there for a while. Morning sickness. It had to have been a man who’d coined that expression and got it so wrong.

  She tossed the hand-towel into the basket on her way out. If she didn’t get back soon, guard-dog Maverick would probably put out an APB on her. But outside it was Phil Rogerson she bumped into coming the other way.

  ‘Having a nice lunch?’ he asked, smiling broadly.

  She smiled and nodded, expecting the exchange to end there and for them to go their separate ways.

  ‘Oh, I meant to ask you,’ he added, when he was almost past her. ‘Why is it that Nell calls you Vanessa?’

  She smiled, not for the first time appreciating the irony. ‘She didn’t think I looked like a Morgan.’

  His head tilted. ‘How odd. Well, she’s definitely a character.’

  Tegan had a quick glance around, saw they were alone and took a fortifying breath. There was no time like the present.

  ‘Actually, Phil,’ she started tentatively, ‘I’ve got something I need to tell you. Do you have a moment?’

  His brow creased into the time-worn lines that criss-crossed his brow. ‘Of course, my dear.’ He pointed to a small sitting area on the terrace just outside the restaurant. ‘Let’s sit there and you can tell me what’s on your mind.’

  ‘And that’s how it all came about.’ Tegan hesitated, trying to gauge his reaction. ‘I’m sorry to have deceived you, Phil. I hated doing it, but at the time I couldn’t see a way out of it. But I had to tell you myself, before you found out some other way.’

  He patted her on the shoulder. ‘Well, if it’s any consolation, I knew something wasn’t quite right. You knew far too much about Sam and what he was doing in Somalia to have just been relaying it from your sister’s experiences—but I couldn’t put my finger on how it was possible. But now that you’ve explained your sister is a twin…’ He nodded. ‘It all falls into place. So, what happens to you now then, now that your secret is out?’

  ‘I don’t know, to be honest. I know I’ve let everyone down. I’ve got a lot of ground to make up.’

  ‘Well,’ he said, patting her hands, ‘if you’re ever looking for a job, you come and see me. I’ll have you back on the dream team before you can say Jack Robinson.’

  ‘Thanks so much, Phil. I’ve been feeling so guilty. I had to explain to you myself.’

  He squeezed her shoulder as they stood. ‘I appreciate your telling me. And I think you must be a pretty special sister to not only do what you did, but to carry it off so ably. Hats off to you. And, don’t forget, Doris still wants to see your sister—ah!’ He corrected himself with a gruff laugh. ‘To see you, to talk more about what Sam was up to, whenever you can. Okay? Oh, and by the way, Sam called yesterday! He’s coming home in three months. Doris is over the moon. Talk about the best Christmas ever.’

  He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and wished her a happy Christmas before disappearing back the way they’d come. ‘The best Christmas ever’. She was happy for Phil and his family. They deserved it. But she was envious too. It was going to be a long time before she enjoyed the best Christmas ever. She stood for a moment at the railing, enjoying the soft summer breeze that carried the freshness of the ocean. It was the calmness she needed in the midst of a day of turmoil, until another stab of pain sliced through her. Damn! She turned to go inside and almost walked into a wall of man.

  ‘What the hell was that little cosy tête à tête all about?’

  ‘Maverick? I just wanted to tell Phil—’

  ‘Like you told Nell?’

  His eyes were wild, his face filled with fury, a nerve flicking in his jaw.

  ‘Told Nell what?’

  ‘I knew you’d do this. Even when I’d warned you not to say a word, you just couldn’t help yourself. You intended this all along!’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Nell knows about the baby. And I take it Phil Rogerson knows now, too. Before long the whole of the Gold Coast will know.’

  ‘What? How does she know?’

  ‘Don’t give me that! How do you think she knows? You told her.’

  ‘I did no such thing.’

  ‘I knew I couldn’t trust you, even when I’d warned you. I should never have brought you to this lunch.’

  ‘For once you’ve got it right! You shouldn’t have brought me here. I didn’t want to come, so you can blame yourself. But get one thing straight—I didn’t tell Nell!’

  ‘Then how does she know?’

  Tegan threw a wild shrug into the air and spun around. ‘I don’t know! Maybe she just made a wild stab in the dark because I wasn’t drinking and look like crap. Why don’t you ask her instead of accusing me?’

  ‘You don’t look that bad.’

  ‘God knows, I feel it.’ She shouldn’t have spun around. She clamped her hands down on the back of a chair and focused on a spot on the floor, dragging in air while trying to steady herself, praying it and the contents of her stomach wouldn’t budge.

  ‘So what did you tell Phil?’

  She squeezed closed her eyes. There was an edge to her queasiness that wasn’t there before—an intensity that squeezed her gut so sharp and tight it made sweat break out on her brow. Damn him; this was hardly the time to face up to an interrogation!

  ‘I told him that I wasn’t really Morgan. I told him I was sorry.’

  ‘And then you told him you were pregnant.’

  ‘No! What is your problem? Morgan and you are the only people I’ve told.’

  ‘This isn’t the first time this has happened, you know. I won’t be forced into marrying you, no matter how many people you tell.’

  ‘For the last t
ime—I didn’t tell Nell! I didn’t tell Phil. And I am not trying to force you into marrying me.’

  ‘And I don’t believe you.’

  ‘You can believe what you like,’ she said, already feeling another twist of pain, already determined to get back to the bathroom in the shortest possible time. ‘But the simple fact is, right now I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man left on Earth!’

  Which suited him just fine. Not that he believed her, or this act she kept putting on every time he went near her. Maybe she hadn’t told anyone, but she’d damned sure acted out the part to full effect. He went back to the table to enjoy his coffee and await her return, but the coffee tasted like mud, and then they served Christmas cake and port and still there was no sign of her. Where the hell was she?

  He wasn’t finished with her yet. She hadn’t started paying for the problems she’d caused him. She’d lied to him. She’d pretended to be her sister for seven weeks, and then had tried to justify not telling him every chance she’d got. Now it looked like she’d lied about not telling Nell she was pregnant.

  But, damn whatever her name, whoever she was—she’d been his woman for all of that time. Seven weeks in his bed, pleasuring him, matching his every need, taking him to places he’d never been.

  It galled him to think there were still places he’d like to go and she wouldn’t be there.

  Like she wasn’t here now.

  He threw his napkin on the table and found the maître d’, only to discover Tegan had ordered a taxi some twenty minutes before.

  She’d already left!

  His heart froze over in an arctic blast of bitterness. His accusations had been right on target, otherwise why would she have fled the first chance she’d got? She was as guilty as hell.

  The party was breaking up. Nell was looking battle-weary, the cameo at her neck taunting him, sticking into his psyche. Damn her! What was this rubbish she’d spouted about not marrying him if he’d been the last man left on Earth? He was the baby’s father, not someone she could just write off like that.

  He wasn’t about to be trapped into anything, but he wasn’t about to be written off that easily either!

  He’d take Nell home and then he’d go and find Tegan and set her straight.

  ‘I hate him!’ Tegan was reclining on the sofa where she’d collapsed the moment she’d got home, her head thrown back, her eyes closed, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose.

  Morgan successfully negotiated crutches and boiling water and placed a mug of ginger tea on the table in front of her sister. ‘This coming from the woman who told me just last night that she loved him.’

  ‘That was before he accused me of telling the whole world I was pregnant by him.’

  ‘What? Why would he think you would do that?’

  ‘To shame him into marrying me, of course. Seems he really doesn’t trust me. Not that I haven’t given him good reason, I guess.’ She put a hand to her stomach as another cramp seized her. ‘Oh God, I feel awful. This can’t be normal, surely?’

  Morgan looked at her sister, the concern for her twin evident in her eyes. ‘Can I get you anything?’

  ‘No, you shouldn’t be running after me. I should be taking care of you.’

  ‘Then we’ll just have to take care of each other.’

  ‘Thanks, sis. I’m just sorry you had to come home for what has to be the worst Christmas ever.’

  ‘At least I’m home. Anything has to beat being in a hospital miles away for Christmas. And, who knows, maybe things will look brighter tomorrow. Maybe there really is a Santa Claus.’

  Tegan tried to smile, but the cramps turned it into a grimace. ‘Oh, no, here we go again.’ She staggered to her feet to head for the bathroom when the room suddenly tilted and spun as the floor fell away, and then everything turned black.

  ‘Happy Christmas,’ said the two old women in chorus as Maverick got out of his car and started up the footpath. He grunted something in response. Christmas wasn’t happy from where he was standing. Two ugly mutts on extendable leashes made a rush for him as he passed, but he bared his teeth and growled at them and they wheeled around and fled straight back to their elderly owner, snapping at each other instead.

  He strode up the path, reached the front door, pushed the doorbell and waited. Then he pushed it again. And again.

  ‘Are you looking for the Misses Fielding?’

  He looked over his shoulder. Both old ladies were peering at him intently. The dogs were sniffing around his car. He pressed the doorbell again, harder this time. ‘Just one of them.’

  ‘I’m afraid you’ve missed all the excitement.’

  This time he turned around. ‘What excitement?’

  ‘The ambulance. It was a good half-hour ago. Came with lights flashing and siren wailing. I was just telling Deidre Garrett here about it.’

  Ambulance? He gave up on the door. ‘What happened? Who?’

  ‘That’s what we’re trying to work out. I never can tell which one is which.’

  ‘Neither can I,’ said the one with the dogs. ‘I’m always getting them mixed up when they’re together. And their names are so confusing too, don’t you find?’

  He wanted to bellow in frustration. ‘Just tell me,’ he said, as calmly and emphatically as possible, ‘what happened.’

  ‘We’re not sure. One of them got wheeled out on the trolley—they had the bag thing set up and everything, tubes going everywhere. And the other one sort of hobbled alongside.’

  ‘Hobbled?’

  ‘Yes, the one that was on crutches. She didn’t look much better. They bundled her into the back of the ambulance too, and went off with the siren screaming.’

  Tegan!

  Something had happened to Tegan.

  The baby!

  He shouted his thanks as he made a rush for the car, sending dogs scattering. They must have taken her to Gold Coast Central. It was the biggest hospital around, the best emergency department. She had to be there.

  She’d left lunch without a word. Oh God, what had he done? He’d even suspected her of faking it.

  If anything happened to her he didn’t know what he’d do. Tegan. And she was having his baby.

  Unless…

  Is that what had happened—she’d lost their baby? Their child?

  Please, God, no. Already he felt like he’d been gutted, his organs hung out to dry.

  Nothing must happen to her or the baby. He wouldn’t let it. Not before he had a chance to see her, to tell her how sorry he was for all the harsh words he’d spoken, all the things he should have said.

  Tegan.

  Please God, let it not be too late!

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ‘MORGAN!’ Maverick ran down the corridor towards the waiting room. ‘What happened?’

  Morgan swung herself around, stress lining her features. ‘Maverick. I’m surprised to see you here.’

  ‘How is she? Can I see her? I have to talk to her.’

  ‘I’m not sure they’ll let you.’

  ‘Is it the baby?’

  She shook her head. ‘She’s got food poisoning. On top of morning sickness. She was so dehydrated, she collapsed on the floor.’

  ‘It’s my fault. She hardly ate a thing, and I was so angry with her. It’s no wonder she got sick.’

  ‘No, if it’s any consolation, I actually think it’s my fault. I told her she should have something nourishing for breakfast, so I cooked her eggs. They think that’s what did it. It’s just lucky that her morning sickness took care of most of it.’

  ‘So then—the baby…?’

  ‘Is okay. The paramedics were fantastic. They were there in no time.’

  He collapsed into a chair and put his head in his hands. ‘Thank God!’

  She tucked her crutches together and sat down alongside him. ‘She thought you were angry with her.’

  He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, trying to block out the pain of remembering what he’d done, what he’d said. ‘I was. Very
angry.’

  ‘But you really love her, don’t you? I mean, you must, otherwise you wouldn’t be here. You wouldn’t care.’

  Something like a thunderbolt shuddered through him. He opened his eyes and looked at the green-grey linoleum floor. It was the same floor he’d closed his eyes on just a few short seconds ago, but somehow it looked different. Everything looked different. Brighter. Sharper.

  Everything felt different.

  Especially inside him.

  He loved Tegan. Loved her with a passion that went beyond mere physical desire. Loved her with a force that couldn’t have kept him away from her if it had tried.

  Why hadn’t he realised? Why had it taken him so long? Why had he cost her so much?

  His voice was so shaky when it came, it was a wonder it didn’t break. ‘I do.’

  Just saying the words made it more real. More powerful. ‘I do,’ he repeated, firmer this time, almost like a vow.

  ‘Then maybe you ought to tell her. She was pretty upset when she came home from lunch today.’

  He closed his eyes again, nodding. He could imagine. He’d been relentless in his accusations, relentless in his cruelty.

  Beside him Morgan sighed. ‘Just don’t be surprised if she doesn’t want to see you.’

  And pain sliced his heart anew.

  ‘What do you want?’

  It was the next morning before they let him in, after Morgan had convinced her to agree to see him. And her first sentence let him know just how low on the register he’d reduced himself to.

  He’d spent the night thinking about everything she’d said, replaying all her defences, trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle. She’d been right. She had tried to tell him, or at least talk to him, and he’d cut off her opportunities every time.

  He’d known something was up that time he’d returned from Italy and she’d been asking strange questions. She’d told him she wanted to talk. And then Nell had called and things had got messy.

  He hadn’t let her explain. And, in doing so, he’d driven her deeper and deeper into her duplicity.